Approach
I set up The Innovation Practice to help businesses untangle strategic problems through facilitated workshops. I am a facilitator, not a consultant and focus on helping companies think for themselves in a structured way.
The process I follow is simple: I listen very carefully to what business leaders tell me and from this, understand their challenges and requirements. I then continue to learn about their business and research the environment around it.
Using this and what they have told me, I create completely customised, but structured workshops designed to enable leadership teams to come up with answers themselves. The overriding objectives of all my workshops are to give teams the space and time to think, to help gain team alignment and to turn ideas into actions.
Five themes are core to what I do
Collaboration
I design collaborative processes where the right people work together under my guidance and facilitation
Engagement
I design highly interactive & visual experiences. Work should be fun otherwise why bother!
Speed
I push teams through well scoped, iterative design processes which continually clarify options and direction
Innovation
I bring experience of classic & highly innovative business models & value propositions to challenge traditional thinking
Customer
Any organisational shift should have the customer at the centre. I ensure this is not forgotten!
Founder Ludo Chapman
I have over 35 years’ business experience ranging from launching and leading start-ups to running a mid-sized business. I started out by setting up a software training company before becoming CEO of a scientific instrument business, Grant Instruments. More recently I helped technology start-ups get funding, leading product launches and setting up their sales channels, both in B2B and consumer markets.
I set up The Innovation Practice having decided I didn’t enjoy running businesses as I never got time to do the stuff I loved. I was either travelling around the world or stuck in the office knee deep in tackling operational issues and dealing with everyone else’s problems. I never had time to think.
So, although it has taken me many years to achieve, I have found my perfect place. Every day is different, I meet great people and work with amazing businesses and do all the stuff I really enjoy - thinking, designing, innovating, learning and presenting, and most of all I get to help people and that is what drives me.