Innovation consultants and facilitators – how do they add value?
Business is tough for innovation consultants and facilitators. As innovation projects are shut down and budgets are trimmed, there is less of a need for such people. I know because I feel this myself.
But leaving the current crisis aside, how do innovation consultants and facilitators best add value to companies? Two incidents in the last couple of years helped me shape my perspective on this.
The first incident takes me to Silicon Valley, where I met with a best-selling author and the kind of consultant who charge on the absolute highest level for his services. I wondered how one person could be worth so much.
Obviously, he had heard this question before and his response was that although he costs a small fortune a day he was still more cost-effective than bringing in a cadre of consultants. The reason is that he worked with the mindset of his clients being executives or innovation leaders; the key people. If he could make them do things right in the first place, he had done his job and saved the company a bigger fortune than he would cost them.
If we look at innovation as a discipline it is not one that requires a cadre of consultants offering their advice on the strategy and help on the implementation. It is much more suited for a sharp-shooter approach.
The other incident was a meeting with an innovation leader in a large US-based company. We got into a discussion on how they trained people for innovation and he mentioned they had just implemented a ban on consultants. They wanted facilitators, not consultants. The reasoning makes a lot of sense. Help us learn how to improve on our own without being dependent on consultants.
Getting key people into the right mindset and helping people develop on their own. I think these approaches are two great ways for innovation consultants and facilitators to add value. Clearly, there are other ways. What can you add?
Stefan,
Thank you for your post, I couldn't agree more with what you have said.
We had a great example this week of an organisation that desperately needs to change, one board member is anticipating that their situation will become more urgent, the CEO wants someone to do it for her.
Trust is a big issue, as is fear.
Jenny
Innovation consultants/facilitators open up for Dialogue by fostering a culture of listening deeply as opposed to talking extensively and by encouraging questions to be asked (ALL QUESTIONS). The law of two feet means anyone is allowed to participate and/or walk out.
At Georgia Tech within our center that works with small enterprises on a variety of culture-changing methodologies, we like to use the word coach instead of facilitator to bring across the point that as outside resources we are there to teach the client how to fish but not to fish for the client so I would agree with your 2nd example. The caution on the 1st example of the high-paid singular guru approach is that the "sage on the stage" for most organizations may not be enough catalyst to create the client culture change needed for embracing a sustainable innovation process longer term when the engagement is over. High-paid does not always equal high value add.
I like the second approach. I has a particically successfully experience last year with an external consultant. In the end, I found we actually need a good innovation process facilitator to create the ideas from our internal people. Given I feel we have a lot data, but simply we don't well utilize those data but continuousls run a lot studies.
[...] favourite innovation metaphor, for several reasons. Innovation is a natural, organic process. And innovation facilitators are like midwives. A healthy baby and a healthy mother are paramount. The process (natural [...]
[...] Innovation is an organic process, so is the cycle of conception, pregnancy and childbirth. And innovation facilitators are like midwives. The well being of mother and baby are paramount. The process (natural [...]
[...] by Stefan Lindegaard.”Business is tough for innovation consultants and facilitators. As innovation projects are shut down and budgets are trimmed, there is less of a need for such people. I know because I feel this myself.But leaving the current crisis aside, how do innovation consultants and facilitators best add value to companies? Two incidents in the last couple of years helped me shape my perspective on this.The first incident takes me to Silicon Valley, where I met with a best-selling author and the kind of consultant who charge on the absolute highest level for his services. I wondered how one person could be worth so much.Obviously, he had heard this question before and his response was that although he costs a small fortune a day he was still more cost-effective than bringing in a cadre of consultants. The reason is that he worked with the mindset of his clients being executives or innovation leaders; the key people. If he could make them do things right in the first place, he had done his job and saved the company a bigger fortune than he would cost them.If we look at innovation as a discipline it is not one that requires a cadre of consultants offering their advice on the strategy and help on the implementation. It is much more suited for a sharp-shooter approach.The other incident was a meeting with an innovation leader in a large US-based company. We got into a discussion on how they trained people for innovation and he mentioned they had just implemented a ban on consultants. They wanted facilitators, not consultants. The reasoning makes a lot of sense. Help us learn how to improve on our own without being dependent on consultants.Getting key people into the right mindset and helping people develop on their own. I think these approaches are two great ways for innovation consultants and facilitators to add value. Clearly, there are other ways. What can you add?”Article by Stefan Lindegaard:stefanlindegaard.com/2009/05/22/consultants [...]