Why your innovation training didn't stick
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR EARLY SUPPORTERS
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Hey there, innovation champions!
"We've tried innovation workshops before. They didn't stick."
I hear some version of this regularly from tech leaders. The details vary—sometimes it was a design thinking workshop, sometimes creative problem-solving training, sometimes a consultant brought in for team development.
But the pattern is always the same: Great energy during the session. Then... nothing changes.
Here's what I've learned watching teams after these experiences: The training wasn't the problem. The follow-through was.
The Post-Training Energy Fade
Let me paint a picture you've probably lived:
Your team completes an energizing training session. Maybe it's design thinking, maybe it's creative leadership, maybe it's innovation methodology. Everyone's pumped. They learned new frameworks. Practiced new techniques. Left with fresh insights.
Monday morning arrives.
Inbox: 127 unread emails.
Slack: 43 notifications.
Calendar: Back-to-back meetings.
By Friday, those new behaviors? Buried under the avalanche of business-as-usual.
This isn't a failure of the training content. It's what I call the implementation gap—the chasm between learning something and actually doing it consistently.
What I See When Teams Come Back
When I work with teams at companies like Google, Meta, and Salesforce, I'm often not the first person they've brought in for innovation work.
Many have been through excellent training programs. They know frameworks. They understand concepts. They can explain the theory.
But when I ask "What are you actually DOING differently?" the room gets quiet.
The gap isn't knowledge. It's practice.
Think about learning any skill—speaking a new language, playing an instrument, getting fit. You can attend the best weekend intensive course available. You can learn perfect technique. You can understand all the theory.
But without daily practice, nothing sticks.
The Implementation Bridge
This is exactly where micro-experiments come in—not as better training, but as the practice system that makes any training stick.
Here's what this looks like in reality:
After teams learn about user-centered thinking in ANY training program, they can practice:
- Experiment #11 (Switch Seats, Switch Minds) in weekly meetings—15 minutes role-playing different perspectives
- Experiment #42 (Customer Safari) during sprint planning—observing users in their natural environment
After learning about rapid prototyping in ANY workshop, they can practice:
- Experiment #18 (Ugly Prototype Sprint) during product discussions—20 minutes building deliberately rough versions
- Experiment #1 (Crappy First Draft Showcase) in team sessions—15 minutes creating terrible first attempts without judgment
See the difference? Instead of waiting for another training session or trying to remember what they learned months ago, teams practice the principles in bite-sized experiments embedded into their existing meetings.
Why This Works: Daily Practice Beats Periodic Training
When I worked with 125 project managers at PMI San Francisco Bay Area, we didn't have days for training. We had 45 minutes.
But here's what happened: The experiments we ran were designed to be repeatable. Group leaders told me afterward they were going to run variations in their own team meetings the following week.
Why? Because the experiments were:
- Short enough to fit into existing meetings
- Simple enough to run without special facilitation
- Practical enough to address real current challenges
One attendee told me it became much easier to connect with people for the rest of the day after our session. That's the power of practice—it creates immediate, felt change.
Emmanuel Hyppolite, who was there, put it this way: "She shared real tools and models (not just buzzwords) that participants could apply immediately."
The key word: immediately. And then repeatedly.
The Real Success Pattern
I've seen teams transform their innovation capability, and it's never from one big training event. It's from systematic practice over time.
The most successful pattern I observe:
Learn the framework (from whatever training source makes sense)
+
Practice daily (through micro-experiments in existing meetings)
+
Get support (coaching/facilitation to ensure implementation)
=
Lasting capability change
Remove any of these three elements, and transformation stalls.
Training without practice = concepts that fade.
Practice without frameworks = random activity without direction.
Both without support = good intentions that die under operational pressure.
What This Means for Your Team
If you've invested in innovation training that didn't create lasting change, here's the good news: The learning wasn't wasted. You just need the practice system.
Innovation at Work provides exactly that—52 micro-experiments that help teams practice the innovation behaviors they learned (or need to learn) through daily integration into existing workflows.
Think of it as:
- Training = Learn the concepts
- The book = Practice the behaviors systematically
- Ongoing support = Make sure it actually happens
The most successful transformations combine all three.
The Honest Truth About Implementation
Let me be direct: Most teams can't create lasting innovation capability from a book alone.
Books provide the practice framework. But comprehensive transformation—the kind that fundamentally changes how teams operate—requires more:
- Strategic workshops at key milestones to build intensive skills
- Leadership coaching to navigate resistance and cultural barriers
- Team facilitation to ensure experiments get implemented, not just discussed
It's like fitness training: You need the workout plan (the book), intensive training sessions (workshops), and accountability that ensures you actually do it (coaching).
But here's what's different: You don't need to start with everything.
Start with systematic practice. See what changes. Then bring in strategic support where it creates most value.
Your Next Step
If past innovation training didn't stick, you now know why—and how to fix it.
The gap isn't better training. It's systematic practice that makes training stick.
Ready to bridge that gap? Join the book waitlist to get the 52 experiments that turn any innovation training into daily capability.
Next week, I'm tackling the question: "Your background is arts and creativity—how does that translate to our technical business?" Spoiler: It's exactly why I can help analytical teams innovate.
That's it for this week!
Creatively yours,
Melissa
P.S. When you’re ready to build a culture of thriving innovation, so your team can Create the Impossible™, here are three ways I can help:
1) Download my FREE Innovation Culture Assessment to evaluate where your team stands
2) Download the first 50 pages of my book, The Creative Sandbox Way™, to reconnect with your creativity
3) Click here to schedule a complimentary Innovation Strategy Session
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