How to work effectively with the core business, gain their support, and harness the advantages of being an innovator within a large organization.
Corporate Politics for Innovators
An 8-weeks cohort-based collaborative learning program with Tendayi Viki, Associate Partner at Strategyzer / Author of Pirates In The Navy... starting 24 February 2025
Click play for an introduction to the program by Tendayi Viki, the program facilitator.
Close the gap between innovation ambitions and results.
The gap between companies' innovation ambitions and their capabilities is huge. Despite 83% of companies prioritizing innovation, only 3% reports they have the right capabilities to scale innovation.
This gap is caused by a "human" issue, involving how people interact and deal with each other. For innovators, departments like IT, Legal/Compliance and finance are the hardest functions to work with in innovation. Yet, we can't make progress without them.
No single team or leader can drive innovation alone. It takes a village to innovate.
Innovation involves multiple functions within an organization, and collaboration is crucial for success. It requires institutionalized processes to ensure continuity beyond individual relationships.
For innovators, it's crucial to build relationships and produce win-win outcomes for different functions. And yes, this is what we mean with politics... like it or not, you are part of a large organizations and "politics" are inevitable.
Join this program to navigate corporate politics effectively, and learn how to work effectively with the core business, gain their support, and harness the advantages of being an innovator within a large organization.
What will you get out of the program?
1.
Understand how to turn perceived obstacles into enablers and amplifiers for your innovation work, and turn pushback into superpowers
2.
Position yourself to leverage the (unfair) advantages that corporates have over startups, such as brand, customers, distribution channels and relationships
3.
Embrace the role of being facilitators of conversation between innovators and the rest of the business, at the right time, and in the right way
4.
Learn how to collaborate more effectively with Finance, Legal/Compliance, HR and other functional leaders
How it works.
Deep Dives are cohort-based collaborative learning programs. That means you'll work together with peers from other companies and industries, also tapping into the expertise and experiences of fellow innovators, beyond the guidance of Tendayi Viki, the program facilitator.
This Deep Dive is an 8-weeks program with the following structure/components:
Teaching sessions with Tendayi
You'll join 4 x 1-hour teaching sessions on
- Monday 24 February
- Monday 10 March
- Monday 24 March
- Monday 14 April
Group discussions/Q&A
To double click on the most difficult items, you'll join 4 x 1-hour group discussion/Q&A sessions on
- Thursday 27 February
- Thursday 13 March
- Wednesday, 26 March
- Wednesday, 16 April
Focus on ***your*** situation
This is not a course full of theory... you'll take action and make progress. You'll get weekly assignments to complete in between the teaching sessions to complete and report back on insights you've gained. This helps to put into practice what you've learned directly in your organization.
Ongoing async support and further resources
Beyond the live sessions, you'll get ongoing async support as well as access to additional resources via the Innov8rs Community hub.
Whether you need some help, or want to share a big win, you'll be able to connect with a curated group of fellow innovators via the platform too.
You can bring your key stakeholders to the sessions...
You can choose to join as individual, or get two or three seats to participate.
The second (if two seats) or third seat (if three seats) could be used to bring one of your key stakeholders to the session. That way, rather than working with some stories and hypotheses, you and them will develop a mutual understanding and trust that makes everything easier.
Get 1:1 support from Tendayi to address company-specific challenges
If you like to work on something with direct and personal support from Tendayi, you can book additional 1:1 coaching sessions for yourself/your team, at an additional fee.
Limited spots available - you can ask for availability when your participation to the program is confirmed.
Maybe the best investment in "innovation" you'll ever make.
Participation to this program comes at €2800 for one seat, €4800 for two seats, or €6800 for three seats.
Since the program will help you close the gap between ambition and results by institutionalizing more effective collaboration with your key stakeholders, the impact of this program could make the difference between your innovations getting to market versus failing all the time (and you keeping your job versus "innovation" being stopped).
Are you ready to master Corporate Politics? Let's get started!
Learn how to work effectively with the core business, gain their support, and harness the advantages of being an innovator within a large organization.
If you/your team are interested in joining this program, please apply via the form as a first step.
Since this is a cohort-based collaborative learning program, we'll review applicants and match them with the group as it's forming. We aim to welcome a diverse group of innovation professionals from across industries (plus avoid having competitors in the room).
If we accept your application to join, you'll be offered the seat to participate in the program. We'll follow up by email within 48 hours of your application.
For any questions about the program or the application process, please contact Hans Balmaekers via hans@innov8rs.co
