Running a business and keeping it at the forefront requires constant decision-making. In an ever-changing world with an abundance of data, finding a signal among the noise is increasingly difficult. Knowing how to find clarity in complexity can enable an organisation to focus on its most critical challenges.

CPM Australia are a sales and marketing group, providing outsourced sales services, B2B and B2C sales, training solutions and retail marketing services.

Interested in upskilling their staff in customer-centricity, CPM engaged Swinburne Design Factory Melbourne (DFM) to train their organisation in design thinking and innovation practices.

“Organisations can benefit hugely from having the right tools to unpack challenges and create fit-for-purpose solutions,” DFM Senior Lecturer and Innovation Coach Pauliina Mattila explains. “We can bring clarity and perspective and upskill organisations, so they can stay equipped to solve their own challenges.” 

The Partnership

Multi-staged

DFM delivered light-weight training with wide reach for 80+ staff, followed by more in-depth training targeting specific business challenges. 

Customised

DFM worked with CPM to identify the right audience, depth of upskilling required, and best challenge areas for each stage of the training.

Invigorating

Participants described the experience as inspiring and “the best thing they have done in this setting”. It equipped CPM to reframe their own challenges and identify the corresponding solution pathways.

Innovation training for long-term impact

Through facilitated innovation training, DFM equipped CPM Australia to reframe their challenges and create fit-for-purpose solutions.

Phase One

The first phase involved innovation training for over 80 staff, delivered as part of CPM’s strategy days. This short workshop provided a taste of design thinking and innovation, enabling staff to:

  • better understand what their clients and end-users might need

  • reframe their challenges

  • ideate fit-for-purpose solutions.  
     

Phase Two

  • Building on this, the second phase entailed in-depth training for a smaller number of senior staff. This encompassed:

  • dedicated scoping and exploration of CPM’s most pressing business challenges

  • identifying opportunities to implement and introduce problem-solving strategies to improve business performance

  • assisting CPM to deliver their strategy and inform future strategy developments for the business.   
     

Tangible results

Through customised innovation training, DFM helps organisations solve challenges they face every day. 

“It’s a double benefit,” Pauliina says. “Staff upskill to perform at their best and use their own business challenges in the upskilling process. So, they gain training and outcomes at once.”

Immediate wins for CPM included:

  • identifying and exploring of opportunities for future innovations and business enhancements to address current business challenges

  • creating tangible, considered outcomes and approaches to be further developed and implemented within CPM post-workshop

  • documenting future steps to achieve and operationalise the approaches.

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