Frequently Asked Questions

How to decide and define an intervention?

• The objective on which the attendees will work on is the result of a collaborative work between the backer and the speaker.
  Out of this interview comes out the objective and its specifications.

What is the ideal duration of a seminar?

• The minimum duration to be able to find effective solutions is a full day for a tactical objective. We advise 1 ½ to 2 days for a strategic objective. The training of future trainers is done in 3 full days.
  

How many people can attend a seminar?

• A group starts with 5-6 persons. Above 13-14 persons, we switch to workshops. It is better if the different workshops can coexist in the same room. It happens more and more to have around 15 groups working together throughout a day to find the better solutions to an objective (from 100 to 150 people).
  

Who can attend a seminar?

• All kinds of environment are welcome, so as the different cultures. In pure creativity, the most important prerogative is the heterogeneity and the trainer is there to guide you in the choice of attendees.
  

Can the costs be integrated into the training budget?

• We are officially registered by the French Training Department.
  

What about the results?

• The tangible results: several customers gained rapidly a lot of money as well as several other things. Still it is very difficult to appreciate the results with standards indicators but others can be used. We advise to appreciate the results in terms of ROE (Return On Expectations) rather than on ROI (Return On Investment). Livingstone trainings can guide you in order to mark out this track as done for a dozen customers.
  Remember that the main source of profit will come from the inside of your company.

Is there any specific method?

• Several methods co-exist in Applied Creativity or in Innovation. The one we use crosses the knowledge trends and is applied thanks to different exercises developed by Livingstone Trainings. Our method has the advantage to match perfectly the company wishing to get results and reuse the tools learned.
  

Where and How?

• We intervene on every part of the globe, in French or English. In general the missions are constructed and concluded in 2 months.
  

What are the differences between Innovation, Creativity and Problem Solving?

• Problem Solving uses a range of tools to enable a group to solve a problem; it is the root of Applied Creativity. The Innovation enables as a team to improve a process or flow controlled in order to progress. The Applied Creativity brings a further break as it is then possible to access another field or to develop a new excellence. The group exercices are similar.
  

How to build the group of attendees?

• The attendees should be the ones who lived from far or close distance the issue that will be discussed. The idea is to optimize a sales parameter and apart from the salesmen, it is advised to invite the people responsible for production, finance, supply chain or reception for example. When the idea is to create « an efficient new », the heterogeneity is an important criteria.
  

Why is a method needed?

• If you have a look into the work of TOWERS PERRIN (about the employees commitment), only 15% of employees follow spontaneously their manager. The rest of them have doubts or simply refuse. It is therefore not easy to ask them new ideas knowing that most of them have the feeling not to be heard. A special pedagogy is needed and this is the expertise we offer to you.
  

Why is someone external needed?

• In this type of meeting, there is no sanction and no censor, otherwise it does not work. This is not the common field of the manager and a proper attention should be placed in order not to mix the roles.