Live Workshops: What Happens When You Innovate Outside of the Bubble?
Innovative change doesn’t happen in a bubble. CO-OP Financial Services, Mastercard, and OpenIDEO asked credit union members, students, and designers to join us for a workshop on Financial Longevity, to rethink financial services for those over 50.
Our aim was to bring people together to share ideas, collaborate, and learn more about human-centered design. We kicked things off with an interactive workshop at Tech CU in San Jose. Together we tackled design methodology – how to interview stakeholders, identify needs, brainstorm and test potential solutions. Our hope was that these exercises, grounded in design thinking, would kickstart the creative process. Wow, were we impressed!
Our workshoppers were enthusiastic and creative from the onset. Every attendee was a major contributor to the overall success of the day, starting with a willingness to open up and share during the interview process to contributing a multitude of ideas during the brainstorming and prototyping phases. It was amazing to see the caliber of financial products and services our participants came up for the over 50 sector in such a short amount of time.
Join us for these upcoming Workshops: Dallas/Fort Worth Tuesday, November 29 Boulder, Colorado December 1 The events are free. RSVP HERE!
Over the course of the workshop, one of our teams developed a comprehensive product for achieving financial goals. In just three hours, the team moved through interviews and research, into ideation and finally prototyping. They started by thinking about the issues that affect their members’ financial planning – family circumstances, sudden events, lack of exposure – and began to brainstorm about the kinds of tools, activities or educational materials they might be able to design to address the needs created by these events. The team came up with a solution that creates a pathway for members to follow in order to meet their financial objectives. By the end of the workshop the team had built a testable version of their product and shared it with OpenIDEO’s global network of innovators. The prototype was a lo-fidelity experiment, but it’s just the beginning of what could become an actionable product with access to real funding. For the team from OpenIDEO, the experience of watching the teams embrace their creativity was inspiring. For attendees, it was eye-opening. Jeannie N. Sugaoka, SVP of support services at Tech CU says the workshop was among the biggest learning experiences she’s had in the past 20 years. “We don’t want to get stale—the world is changing around us and and it’s much easier for us to collaborate together, brainstorm together, and come up with ideas that will be important not only to us as individuals, but as a society,” she says. “My staff, they have no idea what I’m going to be bringing to them at the next staff meeting, but we will be conducting a brainstorming/creativity innovation workshop.”
Nathaniel Burns, an engagement consultant for CUNA (Credit Union National Association) found that the experience pulled him out of his comfort zone, and made him rethink what creativity might look like. “I’m going to take back the idea that [innovation] doesn’t have to be a big idea,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be brand spanking new. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
We are thrilled to see the progress that comes when credit unions come together as a community, and we can’t wait to see how our attendees use their big ideas and our human-centered design toolkit to iterate and implement their ideas.
These workshops are ongoing, and we’d like you to be a part of them. Innovate with us! We’d love to pool your insights and experience with others in the industry – and give you the tools to tap your own creativity to come up with revolutionary ideas. As an added bonus participants are eligible for the $10K THINK Prize and a ticket to the THINK Conference in New York.
Join us for these upcoming Workshops Dallas/Fort Worth Tuesday, November 29 Boulder, Colorado December 1 The events are free. RSVP HERE!
Join us for these upcoming Workshops: Dallas/Fort Worth Tuesday, November 29 Boulder, Colorado December 1 The events are free. RSVP HERE!
Over the course of the workshop, one of our teams developed a comprehensive product for achieving financial goals. In just three hours, the team moved through interviews and research, into ideation and finally prototyping. They started by thinking about the issues that affect their members’ financial planning – family circumstances, sudden events, lack of exposure – and began to brainstorm about the kinds of tools, activities or educational materials they might be able to design to address the needs created by these events. The team came up with a solution that creates a pathway for members to follow in order to meet their financial objectives. By the end of the workshop the team had built a testable version of their product and shared it with OpenIDEO’s global network of innovators. The prototype was a lo-fidelity experiment, but it’s just the beginning of what could become an actionable product with access to real funding. For the team from OpenIDEO, the experience of watching the teams embrace their creativity was inspiring. For attendees, it was eye-opening. Jeannie N. Sugaoka, SVP of support services at Tech CU says the workshop was among the biggest learning experiences she’s had in the past 20 years. “We don’t want to get stale—the world is changing around us and and it’s much easier for us to collaborate together, brainstorm together, and come up with ideas that will be important not only to us as individuals, but as a society,” she says. “My staff, they have no idea what I’m going to be bringing to them at the next staff meeting, but we will be conducting a brainstorming/creativity innovation workshop.”
Join us for these upcoming Workshops Dallas/Fort Worth Tuesday, November 29 Boulder, Colorado December 1 The events are free. RSVP HERE!