Innovation and Problem Solving through Collaboration Groups create value that individuals can't create alone. Why? Because many issues are so complex one person does not have the experience, insight or knowledge to resolve them on their own. Groups collectively have the resources required but struggle to work together towards a shared goal. Whether responsible for strategic planning or product design or organizational development, groups need structures, processes and tools that allow them to develop and implement their ideas.

Our proven collaborative planning methodologies and tools will help your groups become effective problem solvers:

• Replace mind numbing, morale defeating meetings with stimulating collaborations that produce useable results.
• Address complex issues in highly participative ways.
• Radically improve key processes.
• Develop and execute a strategic plan with significant buy-in.
• Generate creative, out-of-the-box ideas for innovation, growth and problem-solving.
• Achieve high levels of consensus that result in faster, better decisions.

• strategic planning
• project planning
• new product development
• process improvement
• marketing focus groups
• risk management
• crisis intervention
• change management

Collaboration Software Training and Facilitation

Get hands-on practice in setting up and using the latest software tools for collaboration. These tools will help your organization mine more "wisdom" from employees, partners and customers and make decision making, idea development, and problem solving better, faster, and significantly more cost effective. Facilitating with collaboration software:

• Guarantees all voices are heard by allowing anonymous contribution
• Promotes creative brainstorming and daring outside-the-box thinking
• Reduces many ideas to best ideas to final outcomes dramatically fast

ThinkLets Remove Barriers to Innovative Thinking

In most meetings, participants rely on using routine thinking patterns. By always channeling thought down predicted rigid pathways, this habit can block innovative and problem solving insights. We will introduce your group to Thinklets, a collaboration technique that enhances thinking processes, encourages creativity and breaks meeting impasses.

• Thinklets stimulate productive group interaction and dramatically increase meeting effectiveness.
• Thinklets work with or without software support.
• Thinklets give your group the power to break away from conventional thought to find innovative solutions.
• Using thinkLets as building blocks, the facilitator can develop collaborative processes that your organization can repeat in the future.

UNO’s Center for Collaboration Science is one of the top six collaboration science programs in the world researching and implementing technologies to increase meeting efficiency and effectiveness. UNO is fortunate to have two experts in collaboration science who are internationally known for their research and practice in the field.

Robert O. Briggs, PhD, professor in UNO's College of Business Administration, is a co-founder of the collaboration engineering discipline and co-inventor of the thinkLets design pattern language for collaborative work practices. He lectures worldwide on collaboration theory and practice.

Gert-Jan de Vreede, PhD, is Kayser Distinguished Professor in the department of information systems and quantitative analysis at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He researches and has published widely on collaboration engineering, field applications of e-collaboration technologies, the theoretical foundations of (e)-collaboration, and the diffusion of collaboration technology.

CONTACT
Jennifer Metzler
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha NE 68182
402-554-2900