Take Advantage of Knowledge Broker Role of Your Consultant

I love to hear from consultants with practical experience. Consultants, who know what they are doing, are great because they are truly knowledge brokers. By this I mean they have many experiences with many industries and thereby can assist in innovation. They have plenty of practical suggestions on how to innovate; the problem is usually the resistance of the organization due to their culture. Watch for companies who are fantastic innovators when it comes to products but do not innovate their business processes!

Eric Brown is one of those knowledge brokers who has been commenting for awhile - thanks Eric! His latest is a quick but impactful thought on my “duh!” post on McKinsey Quarterly’s revelation that you have to choose the RIGHT projects to succeed:

ERIC: Absolutely right Bob. Choosing the right project is key…but many organizations don’t know how to do that. Plus..they spend millions with companies like McKinsey to find out that they don’t know how to pick the right projects :)

PM411: ….and they do not have to spend millions with McKinsey types. The reticence that companies have in attacking how to set up governance/PMO models to solve this problem is very interesting. I think it stems largely from hesitance to introduce another layer or structure into the organization; it must be done correctly in order to avoid a backlash and failure. I’m not saying it’s easy. But think of the opportunities!

This isn’t rocket science- but it is organizational science. How do you need to change your culture and organization to be able to innovate? I believe that innovation is directly associated with strong governance/PMO models- what do you think? Do you use take advantage of the knowledge brokering role of outside consultants to spur innovation in your business processes?

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