We’ve received an increasing number of requests to run a shorter version of the Sandpit innovation event. This is, no doubt, a reaction to the recession and a reflection of the pressures on organisations to deliver greater value with less time and less money.
A five-day Sandpit often produces astonishing results, but what happens if the event is compressed into a shorter period of time? Do breakthroughs happen in the same way, or is there a minimum time required to achieved innovation? In an attempt to answer these questions we’ve designed a shorter event, a Mini-Sandpit or a Jumpstart. It is literally that – a jumpstart to enable the right people to come together and start the creative process. If a Sandpit is a marathon, the Jumpstart is a sprint, the 100-metre dash that allows people to get their creative juices flowing, which hopefully results in solutions to challenges or problems.
Compressed Innovation
Jumpstarts follow the same process as a Sandpit except the process usually starts before the event often with online introductions and networking, and continues after the event with groups working together to refine and add substance to their proposals and ideas. Interestingly this provides an opportunity that’s not necessarily part of a traditional Sandpit: the chance to invite and involve new people who haven’t attended the event to participate in the emerging projects. In that way, the Jumpstart has a wider reach and perhaps is even more inclusive.
A typical Jumpstart begins, as does a Sandpit, with introductions and networking activities. It moves very swiftly to exploring and defining the challenge areas. By the end of the first day, participants are immersed in the challenges inherent in the situation. We might include some catalyst talks by experts to stimulate further thoughts about the challenge, as we do with a Sandpit – a lot depends on how much time we have for input.
Then the fun starts: this can be organized chaos with groups forming and reforming and individuals deciding where they want to be and where best they can contribute. By the end of the second day, the groups are deep at work on challenge areas and beginning to formulate ideas and solutions. This continues into the third day, and the event finishes with groups pitching their ideas sometimes for seedcorn funds.
The difference between a Sandpit and Jumpstart?
Time and depth. With a 5-day residential experience, participants have an opportunity to explore a challenge in an environment with few distractions, and the intense focus of their new colleagues. There’s time to ask the follow-up questions that go deeper into a root problem. There’s time to play with potential solutions that wouldn’t get explored when pressed for time. There’s the incubation factor as well. At a Jumpstart, you’re heading home on the third afternoon. At a Sandpit, you’re still developing your ideas, and the extra time allows for further refinement and the emergence of surprising solutions you hadn’t expected. The feedback from participants after a Jumpstart always includes a few comments like this: “It was great, but I wish we’d had more time to explore this further.”
Having said that, the Jumpstart serves a purpose. When time and resources are limited, the shorter program can ignite new thinking and spur conversations that wouldn’t otherwise occur in typical day-to-day interaction. It’s a smaller spark for innovation, but a spark nonetheless.
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Know further: Learn more about the Sandpit process here or send us an email with your questions about the Sandpit or Jumpstart programs.