Ideation and Concepting Analyst

Description

About HCC/CCI

Henry Crown & Company/CC Industries is a Chicago-based, privately-held company that manages business, philanthropic, and family interests on behalf of a multi-generational family. The business ventures fall into broadly-defined categories: wholly-owned operating companies, public and private equity investments, and real estate. The enterprise also supports individual and collective giving through Crown Family Philanthropies and provides traditional family office services across generations. The enterprise employs approximately 350 professionals in the areas of investment management, corporate development, financial operations, tax, research and innovation, human resources, information technologies, and legal.

Why work for us?

We are a private enterprise with more than a 100-year legacy and track record of financial success, supporting our communities, and taking care of our employees.  We plan strategically with a long-term time horizon and an integrated approach to access superior opportunities and optimize financial results.  Integrity, collaboration, and dedication are cornerstones of our workplace culture that create rewarding professional experiences.

Position Description

The purpose of the Ideation & Concepting Analyst role is to help others solve challenges, create differentiated thinking, and introduce basic ideation mindsets through ideation events. This role is at the front-end of our process and engages with operating companies and internal groups. This position exists to assist in driving innovative actions through these ideation events, conversations, and tools within the organizations that are engaged, typically in conjunction with a senior Ideation peer and/or personnel in an operating company and/or internal CCI group. The Ideation & Concepting Analyst will be primarily focusing on assisting in, learning from, and teaching basic elements of ideation and concepting to involved parties at operating companies and internal CCI groups by conducting or participating in events or conversations.

Responsibilities:

• Setting up and conducting “Voice-of” events utilizing active listening skills and low-fidelity, tactile methods to gather data about operations, possible concerns, desired changes, and ideas.
• Conducting “Casual Conversations” utilizing active listening skills with 1-2 people at a time to gather personal insight into operations, concerns, future paths, ideas, and challenges where ideation can help.
• Participating in, setting up, and conducting parts of “Innovation Jam” events for groups of 15-25 people to generate ideas around possible changes, concerns, or opportunities.
• Supporting “Solution Group” events with around 30-50 subject matter expert participants and playing the role of a catalyst in helping the group generate possible solutions through ideation tools.
• Compiling the input gathered in the above events into a visual representation of the concerns, ideas, and changes expressed in the target activity.
• Learning in the specific areas of ideation tools & methods, creative thinking, organization systems architecture, and the larger tie into strategic intent is vital to this position. An initial learning plan will be provided that encompasses advanced learning that can be directly applied into the various events mentioned above. The expectation is that this position actively learns this information and noticeably applies it to the scheduled events.
• Coaching people at the operating companies is sometimes requested as part of their growth plan to increase ideation ability.
• Facilitating small groups at the operating companies through changes or concerns is sometimes requested based on the neutral position of the Ideation & Concepting group.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in one of the following: Management, Business, Marketing Management, Experience Design, User Experience, or Organizational Systems/Design/Management.
• Certification in facilitation, innovation, and/or process design is ideal, but not required.
• 0 – 3 years of experience. 1-2 years of facilitating business teams preferred but not required.
• Working Knowledge: 
  • How teams communicate and the cycles the teams go through.
  • Creativity prompting to envision next steps.
• General Knowledge: 
  • Using visualization software, such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva, Sketch, or Figma.
  • Capability in Keynote and/or PowerPoint beyond bullets.
• Ability to effectively verbally discuss topics with a variety of stakeholders.
• Ability to document a process in a low-fidelity format.
• Ability to initiate open-ended questions that drive curious thinking from an individual or group.
• Ability to stimulate idea creation and show examples of output (low-fidelity to higher levels of fidelity).
• Strong capability to learn quickly and restate the learning to another.
• Proficient at listening first and responding afterward.
• Ability to travel overnight from 35% - 50% of the time in 2-3 day increments, usually in the form of every other week or every 3rd week.

The Starting Salary Range: $76k - $86k. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location. To see an overview of all our benefits please go to our career portal here.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, individuals experiencing disability and BIPOC are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At CC Industries we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.