Stimulating Creativity and Innovative Thinking in Management Consulting

Research problem For the purposes of research, the designated problem is the building up of organizational capabilities for discovering innovative ideas in an enterprise setting and delivering them as a go-to-market product or strategy. Research scope Significant emphasis will be put on the descriptive study of best practices and the framework of their implementation to channel and stimulate functional creative process and bring about improvement in innovative performance in the companies. This empirical method of understanding the problem is a cornerstone of the following work. ● Object – the business applicability and economics of organizational innovative practices. ● Subject matter – the effective practices that lead to the positive economic impact when implemented. Objectives The goal of the descriptive research is to create a properly contextualized framework of practices which are proven to increase levels of effective innovation within organizations and are implementable on the large scale. And measure the economic effect wherever possible. Introduction Before starting this work, I would like to highlight the shifting focus on stimulating organization’s creativity and the level of proposed innovation that has been taking place for decades. Research and Development spending is a crude measurement for the desire of organizations to spur innovation. Yet R&D expenditures have soared and now consist on average 7 times the amount companies spend on traditional ROI king - marketing[1]. This indicated strong demand for innovation. The causes of such demand are many, but one thing is clear – it is here to stay. Research and development do consist of many subsegments, but the key one always has been best organizational practices, that is supposed to help drive innovations and create disruptions to get ahead of the competition. Improving the effectiveness of the people conducting research and development has been a focal point of several Human Resource and reorganization strategies (a subject of deeper dive in the main body). This does show the attention and the commitment of the companies to invest in their organizations as a whole and employees in particular performing their best when creating innovative solutions. This is why I believe the topic of creativity and innovation improvement is highly important. Achieved results The success of analyzed pan-European innovation project clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of consulting methodology in fostering the tangible improvement in propensity of SMEs to innovate. Utilizing the proposed service vast majority of participating organization managed to reach the desired outcomes in regard to their general business goals using innovation as an instrument to boost their performance. The methodology itself was also tested and improved based on the feedback from the early adopters of the system allowing new joining business to improve even faster with fewer hurdles. Conclusion In the client’s office I personally am often faced with opinion pieces that amount to a sense of doubt that consultants are able to bring tangible value to their company. Meaning also working practices and processes. My personal reason to engage in this study is simple. I want to prove that consulting practices that spur innovation and creativity can reliably improve the business environment where they are implemented. The flow of tested practices that can help to address the growing demand for creative solutions and implementable innovation – I am sure – is going to serve ones facing such a challenge well. The faster pace and often unprecedented scope and scale of the consulting work allows for development and testing of relevant business processes faster than even the most agile large corporate environment due to the nature of diverse project work. In the end, a deeper understanding of applied innovation and creativity and its subsequent enhancement is also a viable leadership tool regardless of the area it’s being implemented in. Whether it is a private sector job, public service or personal life, there is a good chance that best creative practices and structures are applicable.