Our Innovative Approach Toward Recruting a Right Employee:
What does a consultant focus on when having a first talk with a potential client looking for help on open innovation issues?
Let me share my thoughts on this. Perhaps other consultants – or someone from the client side – will share more insights on this.
First, I try to get an idea of their current initiatives. What have they already done? What is working and what is not working? I try to understand if they have to start from scratch, make major changes to their current initiatives or if they “just” have to improve their current initiatives and approaches.
Next, I try to get a better understanding of why they really want to embrace open innovation. What are their key reasons for wanting to do this? What would they like to gain from this new approach? Some times companies want to do this just because other companies do it. That is not a proper reason.
Other questions focus on the corporate culture. What are the organizational strengths and weaknesses with regards to innovation? What about the employees? Do they have a not-invented-here culture? How and to which extent do they need to train executives and employees in order to understand open innovation?