Inviting Disruption:

The Power of an Outsider’s Perspective

In the grand tapestry of business, it’s all too easy to find ourselves woven into familiar patterns of thought. Yet, it’s often the threads that deviate, the ones that bring a splash of unexpected color, that make the design truly remarkable. And this is where an outsider, such as an external consultant, can play a transformative role.

The best part is that you do not have to listen to them.

Still, external consultants can serve as the challenging voice that nudges your team to break free from the conventional and venture into the realm of extraordinary possibilities.

They can help you see the facts from a very different perspective and with it, help your team unlock hidden opportunities.

The Outsider Advantage

An outsider, unencumbered by internal politics or preconceived notions, can view your business landscape with fresh eyes. They can question the status quo and challenge long-held assumptions, leading to innovative solutions. As Entrepreneur magazine highlighted, outsiders can bring a new perspective that helps businesses adapt to changes and stay competitive in the ever-evolving market.

The Role of a Consultant

A consultant can serve as this challenging voice. Unconstrained, and unbiased by their role and nature, they are best positioned to provide an objective assessment of your business operations, identify inefficiencies, and suggest improvements. They bring industry best practices and insights from working with other businesses, providing a broader, often challenging, perspective that can lead to innovative solutions.

Most of it, their job is to be blunt with you.

A Delicate Approach

But while simply being blunt is easy, providing relevant and constructive feedback on what really matters, is not. Among others, the consultant must be well versed in techniques to both identify the challenge and most importantly, establish and nurture “communication bridges” with you (the client) – i.e.: Empathy, at its best.

Design Thinking, a human-centered approach to innovation, is a prime example of how a challenging voice can lead to breakthrough constructive solutions. This iterative process, involves five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. It encourages teams to understand their users, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems to create innovative solutions.

Global design companies use Design Thinking to tackle complex challenges across diverse industries. They emphasize the importance of empathy in understanding the people for whom they are designing products or services. This approach allows them to question assumptions and explore a wide range of potential solutions.

At the end of the day, it is not about what tools were used, nor who got the idea. The end goal is to accomplish what we set ourselves up for.

Different challenges will require different tools and techniques, the name of these – irrelevant.

The Goal is what matters.

A good consultant will listen to the challenges the client is sharing and provide answers to the stated questions.

A great consultant excels in active listening and extends their understanding beyond the immediate context to gain deeper insights into the situation. They proactively challenge assumptions, embracing constructive friction to uncover the root challenges. Rather than simply delivering what the client initially requested, their focus is on helping clients identify the true underlying problems and providing effective solutions to address these.

As a result, great consultants often disrupt.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a challenging voice, brought in as an outsider consultant, can be a valuable asset to your team. They can push your team to think outside the box, foster a culture of open communication and growth, and ultimately, drive business success.

So, don’t shy away from dissent. Instead, embrace it as a catalyst for innovation and growth.

Remember, the journey to success is not a straight line but a winding road filled with challenges and opportunities. Embrace the challenging voices in your team, and together, you can navigate this road to achieve your business goals.

In the words of Albert Einstein, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Our take-away:

Let’s dare to think differently, dare to disrupt, and create a future that’s not just different, but better…