The Process & Benefits of Agile, Hands-On Consulting
We started asking friends and colleagues what consulting means to them and by our best account it looks as though “consulting” has a long list of definitions, somewhat just defined by each executive’s excellent or less than excellent past experience. While sending a consultant off to one client to “set up shop” for as long as needed to integrate and implement a service still might work well for some, it does not work for all. For some, a cookie-cutter annual planning approach could leave a client feeling like they have a well-written document of in-market recommendations but no idea how to integrate and maximize on it. The inability to communicate learnings from a consulting project to internal teams for maximum impact can be frustrating. At EnticEdge the reason we call our work agile and hands-on consulting is because whenever possible we work as integrated team members to jump into your challenges with ease and best keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening to implement recommendations and services accordingly. We understand that communication inside companies ranges from well-oiled machines to places of siloed, frustrating pieces. Advisory services in business strategy and design can help the former weave in new thinking and perspectives on integrations for current plans and help the latter with important recommendations to reunify teams and execute in the market on common missions.
Hands-on, agile consulting can help companies on numerous paths, but at the start of a new calendar year, it’s always a good time to have some internal inspection and the start of February after the hustle of January, is the perfect timing to do so. At your own company, explore what you can do internally to better understand the mission, the business model, and the associated business plans for 2021 and how you can activate ladder-up goals for your own team that help meet those KPIs for your division. If your leadership still functions in a top-down approach, maybe it’s time to ask a C-suite member to join in on an internal team webinar to help activate team creativity and get team members re-energized around why your company has ‘xyz’ goals and how leadership views the company in the context of the world around it (and if that’s you, offer to do it). The fresh voice and perspective direct from a senior leader can have a motivating impact.
Once your team has more clarity (hopefully coupled with renewed energy) around your core plans and specific outcomes, you can best pinpoint what’s needed to meet those expectations and what skill sets need to be bolstered on the team. Next will be figuring out how you can support that happening, and don’t forget to include yourself in the equation. Reviewing that the team is clear on your customer’s unique value proposition and why they should care about your company’s service or product ensures consistent communication and reinforces that with those customers you’ve increased effectiveness.
EnticEdge’s more customized approach honors that each company brings an authentic story to the table, and that no new innovation has the exact same market journey or impact as the last. Having the team onboard and aligned is as important as the R&D that went into the innovation development or the new client you just signed. Recent market trends have proven the need for a flexible and action-forward approach to consulting exactly as companies are asked to nimbly integrate complete digital transformation. The rate of innovation has only accelerated, and world-events like the 2020 pandemic have improved the rate of adoption and on-boarding for new technologies. However, even before this, many companies were starting to take an agile and lean mindset towards innovation, causing a disconnect from more traditional methodologies of consulting. Recognizing this shift, EnticEdge has always had a hands-on, partnership approach with our clients, integrated virtually, with business strategy and UX design combined to execute in our increasingly visual marketplace. This differentiation means that while, yes, we incorporate well-tested strategy approaches, we also always strive to incorporate new techniques and thinking and do not just hand-off a pre-made, populated plan. So whether you prefer to call it consulting, advisory services, market strategy partnership, or something altogether different, that important support can be at your fingertips with agile consulting.
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