Inspired by College President Carl Kuttler, St. Petersburg College in Largo Florida has created a Collaborative Lab that is attracting hundreds of local businesses and organizations for unique ThinkTank innovation sessions. In the three years the center has been open, over 100 clients have passed through for more than 200 engagements.
The Collaborative Lab holds sessions on a wide variety of topics such as strategic planning, process re-design, branding/marketing, focus groups, and issue forums/consensus building. Here’s an exerpt from a St. Petersburg Times article about the lab: “David Feaster, the area president of Whitney Bank, said that the voting technology encouraged employees to vote candidly. ‘If the CEO was in the room, you wouldn’t want to be the one raising your hand and saying, ‘This is a stupid idea, ‘ he said, comparing the response cards to a less-secret ballot. Feaster was also impressed by the documentation: The Labs promise to deliver each session’s records – including minutes from brainstorming sessions, voting results and photos – by the close of the next business day. Feaster said he’s been in strategy meetings where the only documentation was papers taped to the wall. ‘And what happens to those things?’ he said. “They get stuck in the closet.”
Read the full article from the St. Petersburg Times: “Team time: It has the place, the process and the technology”
Click here to view one of the best websites any GroupSystems customer has created to advertise their services: The Collaborative Labs at St. Petersburg College
Filed under: Community Outreach, Economic Development, Marketing/Branding, Strategic Planning
