Spectrum

One global workforce trend for driving innovation in the 21st century is cross-functional teamwork. While most organizations are aware that this requires a diverse spectrum of people, tasks and skills, they don’t know how to translate it into action. Our collaborative method Spectrum builds innovation teams in organizations and unlocks their full potential based on the company’s needs.

For all those companies who plan to kick-off their innovation journey and for those who want to run a pulse check about their innovation endeavors, Spectrum can be the starting point, their new day-zero.

The Spectrum Workshop Format

Spectrum is usually run as a one-day workshop, but time scope can vary depending on the team’s needs. The method consists of four main phases (Why, What, Who Does What, and How), guiding the team through their innovation journey.

To shape a group into a team, it is focused on fundamental team characteristics like vision, mission, team set-up, and team culture. Each step includes several collaborative exercises and discussions that lead the participants towards becoming an innovation team.

Phase 1, why, defines a shared team identity and gives orientation about aspired actions and objectives through a vision and mission exercise.

Phase 2, what, aims to position the team more precisely according to the three innovation areas – Human (Desirability), Technology (Feasibility), and Business (Viability).

Phase 3, who does what, shifts the perspective from team to individual level, highlighting personalities and skills of each team member.

Phase 4, how, addresses the future team culture and collaboration. The team agrees on three key values based on a choice of inspiring picture cards.

The Outcome

The outcome is a large poster – called “Canvas” – which not only highlights the results of the workshop but also guides the team on their ongoing journey towards becoming an innovation team. The Canvas stays with the team as a ‘living’ document and should be iterated over time.

The Canvas acts as a reminder of the decisions made and helps to track changes the team has achieved over time, such as new hires and upskilled profiles. It also supports to understand how to re-structure the team in case of team members leaving or other organizational changes.

Try out Spectrum

If you are interested in Spectrum or if you would like to run a workshop, you are recommended to take the following steps.

1. Download the entire material needed to prepare and run a Spectrum workshop below
2. Watch the “Spectrum Introduction – Deep Dive” video
3. Read the document “How to Run a Successful Spectrum Workshop – The Spectrum Moderator Manual” below

It is recommended to plan a Spectrum workshop well in advance, at least several weeks, to ensure sufficient preparations.

Instructions for Download

If you are planning to run a Spectrum workshop and have not done it before, you will need to download the entire package of the Spectrum material. To learn about what items are in the package, you can have a look at the descriptions in the section for the separate downloads below.

The details on how to use all the material can be found in the Spectrum Moderator Manual (see also below).

The full Spectrum package as zip file. File size: 34 MB.