Our group has taken up the task to come up with innovative ideas to improve the Owen Consulting Club. The club has taken some recent initiatives of generating new activities and is making effort to build up a base of structured tutoring sessions. They have approached us to suggest and implement solutions to increase clubs outreach and performance.
After an idea generation process, we refined the top ideas on three different fronts.
1) Innovate club activities to improve member involvement
This front adds innovative activities like trips and case challenges to increase the outreach and impact of the club. Collaboration with several groups like the executive MBA students and Owen faculty would also help add aspects to the club that could aid the overall performance of members.
2) Improving Club Awareness and promotion.
This front deals with increasing the awareness of club with in Owen and gaining momentum on its activities. Innovative ideas like having club merchandise or the consulting pod can help create positive culture around the student community and help in developing a problem solving attitude in general.
The teasers to be put up in lobby or restrooms can be innovation play fields to get the ball rolling for the club even with non members.
3) Increase Club’s presence and activities through an online sharing platform.
An online sharing platform like an internal website or a share point site for resource assimilation and communication is of utmost need to the club. Currently being dragged on shared folders and emails, the club lacks a central repository and platform for members to learn and interact. It can increase accessibility as well as usage of resources.
This can also provide a space to innovate with activities like weekly polls on issues, discussion forums, case book sharing, video pod casts from experts etc.
I like part of idea number 2. Trying to find things that will incorporate the participation of non-club members may give some unique perspectives to the members who do participate in those events.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea that would create equity for current and future students! #1 & #2 are excellent, and #3 is that I want to comment on. The central customize web site will not only help to organize all the information, but also give new space for ideas. For example students that are not involved full time in club activities could post their experience and suggestions in a blog. Students who pursue consulting jobs could exchange information and ask questions.
ReplyDeleteI like all the three ideas. In addition to idea #1, I think the club can also invite some alumni who are currently working in the consulting industry to the club. They can be mentor or advisor to those club members who want to choose a consulting career in the future.
ReplyDeleteTo make these professionals fully engaged in the club activities, the club can introduce more technologies to facilitate the communication such as video conferencing in case that they are not able to make it in the campus. Also involving them in the internal discussion forums would be a great idea.
I'm a little unclear as to exactly what problem you are trying to solve. OCC needs improvement, but is it that there is lower engagment/activity every year, or is it a replication of efforts every year with new leadership? I guess I'm not sure that increased outreach and performance means.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do really like the first idea, particularly in its engagemnt with members of the EMBA program. I think this would serve to both extend the exprience of OCC members, and network with a set of executives who hire and work with consultants on a regular basis.
Idea number two seems a little broad. Narrowing the task down to a specific idea will help in implementation.
Improving the Owen Consulting Club
ReplyDeleteOur group has taken up the task to come up with innovative ideas to improve the Owen Consulting Club. The club has taken some recent initiatives of generating new activities and is making effort to build up a base of structured tutoring sessions. They have approached us to suggest and implement solutions to increase clubs outreach and performance.
After an idea generation process, we refined the top ideas on three different fronts.
1) Innovate club activities to improve member involvement
This front adds innovative activities like trips and case challenges to increase the outreach and impact of the club. Collaboration with several groups like the executive MBA students and Owen faculty would also help add aspects to the club that could aid the overall performance of members.
2) Improving Club Awareness and promotion.
This front deals with increasing the awareness of club with in Owen and gaining momentum on its activities. Innovative ideas like having club merchandise or the consulting pod can help create positive culture around the student community and help in developing a problem solving attitude in general.
The teasers to be put up in lobby or restrooms can be innovation play fields to get the ball rolling for the club even with non members.
3) Increase Club’s presence and activities through an online sharing platform.
An online sharing platform like an internal website or a share point site for resource assimilation and communication is of utmost need to the club. Currently being dragged on shared folders and emails, the club lacks a central repository and platform for members to learn and interact. It can increase accessibility as well as usage of resources.
This can also provide a space to innovate with activities like weekly polls on issues, discussion forums, case book sharing, video pod casts from experts etc.
I think the online sharing platform is the strongest option. Most of the clubs at Owen do lack a base of communication. This would provide that. I especially like how it could provide a networking and information sharing opportunity for studnets. Wouldn't it also be cool if you could coordinate this platform with that of consulting clubs at other MBA programs?
ReplyDeleteI like options #1 & #2. I think it could be a great idea if each club had a room (or the room can be shared by 2 or 3 clubs). Indeed, having a room can allow members of clubs to feel “at home”. Today, club members mainly communicate by e-mails or phone calls. I am convinced that if people could meet in a room, relationship could be warmer and people would feel more involved in the life of their clubs.
ReplyDeleteI would think that folks who enter into the Consulting Club are doing so to primarily find consulting opportunities and to enhance their consultation skills. With those biases in mind, I would think that #1 would be most practical and easy to implement. I would look to create mentorships with alumni, board members, professors and EMBA's who are currently in consulting. One activity they should do is practice a case with them and get individualized feedback on their performance.
ReplyDeleteI also believe the more exposure a person has, the more prepared they are to be for interviews and jobs. With that said, they could build a SharePoint site and have it as a central locale for cases and questions. It should also post upcoming case competitions that revolve around consulting.
I think idea number 2 from a marketing perspective this will raise the awareness of the club but I do not think it will solve the club performance problems. That is why i would put my time in on number 3. Streamlining how people communicate can effectively increase the performance. That said, you need to make sure you come up with a simple solution. Remember we already have too many databases.
ReplyDeleteGood problem and good client. One of the most direct solutions would be to be clear on what the club's strategy is. What's the club for? What's its goal? If members (current and potential) knew that, it'd be easier for them to understand how to participate and to help.
ReplyDeleteYour idea #1 could be informed by this. Having trips and interacting with outsiders makes sense, but to what end. If the club is clear on the goals, you'll know which trips, which EMBAs and which faculty to engage with. Is this about the consulting industry, or about the act of consulting, or a student vehicle to gain experience in consulting? Inquiring minds want to know....
Awareness is definitely key. Sounds like you have some ideas for interactive activities in #2. But again, you'll want to choose only activities that are congruent with the strategy and goals of the club. Not fully sure what those goals are just yet....
#3 seems pretty neat. I recommend to another group and offer to you a couple of options - www.pbwiki.com which is a free wiki platform. Something like that or even google groups makes an easy, free mechanism for sharing resources. A blog might be good, too (or instead). And if you do a blog and make it open to the outside world, it may generate credibility for the club and its activities - especially for potential students seeking to come to Owen. It's hard to get access to club sites when you are not a student.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents!! Good work and good luck!!
I feel that #2 is the best idea. I think that anytime you can increase club awareness, you can get membership levels up, leading to increased idea and public relations. I personally do not know much about the consulting club, so i feel that something above the club fair that gets your message out will benefit the club in the long run. It seems like an inoovative and simple solution to the problem of awareness.
ReplyDeleteI like #3 the best. I think there should be an online platform that links back to group involvement. That way if people miss meetings they won't feel out of touch with the club.
ReplyDelete