Coming from a consulting
background, most of our assignments are related to designing a strategy for our
client – new product introduction, revenue increment strategy, data and
analytics strategy etc. And by default,
our minds are wired to use standard mental models, proven analytical models in
our work. But time are changing and so is the demand. Clients are now looking
for innovative, disruptive solutions to set an example, increase their market
share. And I believe, this has led the consulting world to acknowledge the
missing pillar of ‘creativity’ in their modus operandi. If you see the trend,
in last 3 years or so, we have courses on ‘design-thinking’ on online educational
websites, in premier institutes. Big consulting firms have roles related to it
and are boosting about this newly acquired credentials.
In my view, this is the need of the
hour – bringing creativity in strategy. But often, our conventional thinking
holds us back in accepting it, practicing it in our daily routine tasks.
Recently, I read an HBR article which resonates the same idea – “Strategy needs
Creativity”. It list four effective and different approaches to embrace
creativity in our thinking –
1. Contrast
2. Combination
3. Constraint
4. Context
Contrast- Going by its
literal meaning of strikingly different from something. We need to challenge
the underlying assumptions of the problems we are looking at and seek answers.
Do they still hold true? For example, IKEA challenged the conventional
furniture business by questioning is it necessary to deliver assembled
furniture only? Can we create furniture that consumers can assemble themselves
and reduce assembly costs? Who knew, people all over the world would embrace
this idea. Similarly, look at how Netflix has challenged the conventional
notion of video stores, took advantage of growing telecom reach, by delivering
videos to the customers on their devices in much more convenient manner.
Combination- In today’s
world, this is most sought out approach. Look around and we are surrounded by
numerous such examples where in two independent products or services are
working together in sync and delivering value. Be it banking and telecom,
health tech, transport etc. For example, Nike+ IPod, where in Nike shoes counts
the steps and communicate with IPod. And with the advent of IoT, we are bound
to witness many more disruptions in coming times.
Constraint- Some
results are best delivered under constraints. We are challenged to work around
within the given boundaries of work and deliver results. So, instead of
thinking what we are missing, our mind starts thinking how to take the best
advantage of given condition. Many artists make use of this approach to produce
one of the finest piece of art. This is a way to turn our weakness into strength
unlike SWOT analysis, wherein our focus is on strengths.
Context – This is the most
heavily used approach in consulting these days. We often do a lot of context switching
across industry esp. in analytical use case scenarios. Clients often wants to
know what is best in-class solution / strategy. And they are open to ideas
which have been implemented in other industry and can be tweaked in their
context. With machine learning based AI solutions gaining momentum, this
approach will play a key role in deciding how a product can be used in
unexpected ways, discovering new ways of looking at problems at multiple dimensions.
With these four
different approaches making its way in the world of consulting, we can surely
expect amazing and out-of-the-box strategies in market to blow our
minds. As far as being a consultant in this new age world, it means, we need to
put our creative hats and sync the ideas with our conventional competencies to
sustain and grow up the ladder.
P.S.: You may read the full HBR article here - Strategy-needs-creativity
