7 Advisory and Consulting Process
Recall from the Chapter 1, Innovation is “responding to change in a creative way” (BDC, 2020). Now “change” refer to an external change, an internal change, or an existing need that has not been yet that has emerged out of our continuously evolving and rapidly changing world! When these changes are particularly challenging, they can result in a variety of problems (which we looked at in Chapter 2) for organizations or individuals and can manifest in countless forms, from losing a substantive mount of market share to not being able to keep up with the potential growth. The reality is we are constantly facing changes which impact how well the needs of various groups or organizations are being met, and because of this, there is IMMENSE opportunity for entrepreneurial thinkers to have a career and make a life for themselves by meeting those needs.
There are two key streams of thought in the business world when it comes to meeting unmet needs:
- Start your own business to sell a product or service to meet the need
- Help organizations or individuals improve from the inside out
Now these are not mutually exclusive as you could start your own advisory firm in an area where you demonstrate expertise; however, you can effectively enable innovation to occur and solve problems or meet unmet needs through either stream, both of which require a similar approach, which is discussed in the readings and videos below. It is important to understand the value of taking this approach not only for completing Assignment 5, but also as you look to developing your career as an entrepreneurial thinker!
By the end of this section you will have demonstrated the ability to:
- Understand how to solve problems and create opportunities through the advisory and consulting process.
- Reflect on the creative and innovative problem solving process.
- Apply the creative and innovative problem solving process to a challenging situation.
- Develop robust and thoughtful client proposal documents.
- Present creative and innovative ideas to a client.
- Propose value-generating consulting opportunities.
Read/watch:
- Read Unleashing Innovation Chapters 7 & 8.
- Read What do Consultants Really Do article.
- Read Turner, A. Consulting Is More Than Giving Advice article.
- Review the Deloitte Implementation Methodology interactive model.
Assignment:
Assignment 5: Advisory Project
