CDC Blog: A different way of working

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A different way of working

Posted At : February 25, 2010 6:47 PM by David Kunzmann

Graduate Programme: Consulting

This blog was written by Laurie Edwards. Laurie is an Associate Consultant who joined Capgemini in September 2008.

The most refreshing thing about my current secondment to Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) is the break from traditional patterns of working. The ASE works differently. The thing that people tend to notice when they first walk into the ASE is the physical environment. Moveable walls, which can be written on, fill the space; music is playing; there are plants, books and toys dotted around. The environment, however, is just the face of the ASE. What is really exciting is the work that goes on here. Try asking a room of children how many of them consider themselves to be creative geniuses; then ask the same thing to a group of executives. The ASE principle is that everyone can unlock their creative genius, if only they are given the opportunity and the belief to do it.

Whilst creativity and fun are vital components of the ASE experience, the work that this enables is everything. Event days are long: usually at least eight hours, with minimal breaks, for the participants and much longer for the facilitation team. In a daylong event for fifty people, this translates to about 400 hours of focused work. The process, which underpins the design of each event, ensures that this work is directed most effectively towards the problem in hand.

The first thing I was taught when I joined the ASE team was a definition of facilitation. It is very simple. To facilitate (stemming from the Latin root-word facile) means to make easy. Everything in the ASE is designed to make it as easy as possible for the participants to do the work required to solve the problem in hand. This means that your work as a facilitator could involve clearing away dirty plates after lunch just as much as wrestling with complex design problems during a sponsor meeting. The two are equally important.

Having done a degree course (English and Theatre Studies) that was largely concerned with creativity, I was delighted to find that consulting can involve more than analysis alone. That is not to say the latter is not important. When combining analytic and intellectual rigour with creative insight and the power of group genius, the results can be truly amazing.