Executive Coaching in Italy and Switzerland – a look into the present and the future

Executive Coaching in Italy and Switzerland – a look into the present and the future

Alexander Rehm has been working as an executive coach and leadership expert for many years already. He is originally from Munich but lived in Italy for a long time and is currently living in Switzerland. He works as a coach in both countries and knows the cultural differences between them. We talked to him about his work as an executive coach, the role of executives in the digital transformation and the future of face 2 face coachings.

 

You have lived in Italy for a long time and still work there as a coach today. Currently, you’re living in Switzerland. Has your work as a coach and the expectations of your clients, the executives, changed over the past few years?

 

Alexander: 20 years ago, coaching was not an issue at all in Italy. It was more the opposite: anyone who needed a coach was “sick” in the eyes of the others. Italian companies were usually very hierarchical and once someone made it to the top, the person was quite resistant to any “advice” or coaching. Unfortunately, this has hardly changed in many companies until today. Most of my clients work for international companies, therefore their leadership culture is obviously different. The reason for coaching is almost always a result from feedback, either directly from the supervisor or through 360° feedback. In that sense, my work has hardly changed, even though the expectation of me as a coach is going in the direction of consulting. Some clients are genuinely disappointed when I tell them that they cannot only get some advice from me about what they can do better. They actually have to work on themselves to trigger the desired change.

 

What is the situation in Switzerland, what differences do you see between the two countries?

 

In my opinion, the biggest difference between the countries is the attitude. In Switzerland, coaching is a perfectly accepted tool for personal development. I think that Swiss executives are more actively taking on further training opportunities than their colleagues in Italy. As a coach, you may have less need for explanation, but the topics are usually very similar.

 

A very general question: In your opinion, what are currently the biggest challenges that managers in Italy and Switzerland have to face?

 

Leadership has so many different aspects that answering that question could fill an entire book. Therefore, I would like to direct my answer to one topic – and that is the understanding of leadership especially in the context of differences between the generations. Nowadays, we have up to 3 different age groups or generations in a company. Very hierarchical structures and leadership styles are not up-to-date anymore. Just yesterday, I had a conversation with a client who told me how difficult it would be to have a good friend as an employee. When I asked him why he thought so, he said that he would feel uncomfortable giving him instructions. So I asked him why he thinks that his other employees would like instructions. I think that’s when something happened to him…

 

Executive Coaching in digital times

 

We live in a VUCA world and digitalization has an impact on many aspects of our lives. In your opinion, how do you have to act as a leader to respond to this change? Is that an important topic for you in coaching?

 

What does digitalization bring with it? Change! Changes or rather the fear of it or even the refusal to face it is always a key issue in coaching. Therefore, I do not see a big difference to a merger, a restructuring, an adjustment of the business model, etc. Something I notice, however, is the lack of understanding, which opportunities the digitalization offers for the companies. It is not (more) about the replacement of the typewriter by a computer, but the integration of all digital possibilities in the business process. In my opinion, many internal but also external change managers should do a better job here.

 

Are you using many digital tools in your coaching and how do you see the future of face 2 face coaching?

 

My coaching is always a mix of face 2 face sessions and short virtual sequences. Often it is about keeping the client involved in the process and therefore, Skype or Zoom calls are the ideal tools. But I am a bit concerned about the large number of offers on the subject of speed or telephone coaching. What makes us coaches, is the ability to hear between the lines – and that is not possible without the perception of body language in my opinion. So I think that also in the future, coaching will be a good mix of digital and face 2 face coaching sessions.

Executive coaching

Online tools can, of course, add some value to a coaching session but what makes a good coach is the ability to hear between the lines and this is not possible without the perception of body language.

You have worked in an international environment in sales and marketing for a long time. What was the reason to start working in the field of human resources development and specialize in leadership development?

 

At some point, everyone is wondering if this is it and what the reason is to get up every day. I was able to live out my passion for human development as the head of a European organization. The results were so encouraging that I – within the group – reoriented myself towards leadership development. The establishment and leadership of the company’s Academy inspired me to live my mission as an independent coach after many years.

Where do you see the biggest challenges in leadership development in the next few years? On the one hand for coaches, on the other hand for executives themselves.

 

Leadership development will (have to) go even more in the direction of personality development. Business schools like IMD in Lausanne or INSEAD near Paris have been recognizing this for a long time. They offer a good mix of management knowledge as well as best practice examples and intensive coaching sequences in their programs. In these sequences, e.g. the results of a 360 ° feedback are discussed in small groups. The coach has a rather moderating role here. The participants are taught coaching techniques based on current practical examples, which help them to strengthen their self-perception. I believe that all of us – leaders and coaches – will need to be even more flexible and willing to learn in the future.

Our interview partner
What are your favorite coaching topics?

Life crisis, leadership problems, the lack of (self) motivation, reorientation, location determination and difficult top managers who believe they know everything but still feel that something is missing.

What motivates or drives you in your job?

I have a strong need to work with leaders, to help them find access to their own issues and to keep them involved in the process. I want them to not only think about possible solutions but accompanying them with the implementation of those solutions.

Do you have a personal motto or slogan?

My mission is to support leaders finding their own purpose

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Leadership development in Norway – an outlook to the future

Leadership development in Norway – an outlook to the future

We are living in a world that is constantly changing. Due to the digitalization and globalization, we are much more connected, which has its benefits but can be challenging as well sometimes. John Livden works as a trainer, mainly in Norway, but as well with international companies. We talked to him and wanted to know more about the current challenges for leaders in Norway, the influence of the digitalization for leadership and development measures and his outlook on the future.

John livden leadership training in norway expert
About the interview partner

John Livden works as an executive coach and leadership trainer. His passion is to work together with people and help them succeed. He enables people to discover their uniqueness and possibilities, inspires them to take charge and full responsibility for their own lives and help them grow into their full potentials as leaders/managers and human beings.

According to your opinion, what do you think are currently the biggest challenges for Norwegian companies when it comes to leadership and how can they master them?

 

John: I think that the biggest challenge is actually the gap between management and leadership. Managing the projects, the people and the organization takes up so much time for leaders. My experience is, that a lot of leaders really feel this pressure. There so many things they have to do and the thoughts they have in their mind. I think that one solution to this problem could be the implementation of new agile leadership styles, where the leadership tasks are not only with the leaders but also with other employees of the company. This has a lot to do with coordination and cooperation between people and the way they work together. Successful leaders should be able to manage the complexity around them and still find time to actually build relationships, to communicate and to be there for their employees.

 

You are working with international companies and leaders. What are the most important skills when working as a trainer on an international level?

 

I think you need to have a good radar. You can’t know everything because you are not native. You have to be aware that you are working together with people from another culture. Try to find connection points and try to understand the differences. And probably most important, always pay respect for their culture. Keep in mind that there could be cultural elements that are inhibiting the learning process which leads to conflicts. In this case, sometimes cultural differences can be a hinder for development. As a trainer and consultant, you have to be aware that you have challenge things from time to time. Make sure to know how to do this in a good way.

 

What would you tell a trainer who has her/his first training in Norway? Do you have any tips?

 

I think, when we are specifically talking about Norway, it is important to understand, that the Norwegian culture and the Norwegian working-culture is very different from, for instance, the German or even the Danish one. Actually, many people see the Scandinavians as one entity, but there are differences between Norway, Sweden, and Denmark as well. We should definitely be aware of this. It is really interesting to see the differences the way people make decisions, how they approach problem-solving, discuss and handle conflicts. For example, the difference in the overall picture between a Norwegian and a Danish, when it comes to a business setting is following: The Danish has a much more continental influence on their business style and is more business oriented, as well as a little bit more formal and hierarchical. Of course, we do have hierarchies in Norway as well, but we have a much more egalitarian view on the work life. The power distance between the managing director and the genitor often seems lower. This is as well a difference to Germany or Austria. They are much more formal in the way they are working and how they are addressing each other. But I think this will also change with generations. In Norway, we are very informal in general, also in the workplace. Some people can also experience it a bit rude, when you really meet in eye level and people speak their mind, in some cases more freely.

leadership development in norway hierarchy

The working-culture in Norway is very different from, for instance, the German or even the Danish one. The power distance between the managing director & genitor often seems lower and the view on the work life is much more egalitarian.

The influence of e-Learning in leadership development

 

So you said that this informal/formal way of addressing will change with generations. We can already see many changes between the generations in companies. Keyword: digital natives and digital transformation. How do see this? How does the digital transformation influence the work life in Norway already?

 

I think, when it comes to the Norwegian society, we are in the middle of the shift. Sometimes I am a little bit surprised when I am working in Germany for instance, and see that they are not there yet. Online we are connected, this is the way we live. But this can be very stressful for leaders, who are for instance 50+. Much more stressful than for a 20-year-old, who is growing up as a digital native and who is working seamlessly with different online platforms and systems. For a leader who did not grow up in this digital time, it could be challenging. It creates some tension between the way how his/her generation is doing things and “the new way of doing things.” All in all, I think that in Norway, we are really getting along with the digitalization on all levels of society. Public services, social security, taxes, the medical system, etc. – everything is online now. It is getting more and more digital and people are getting used to it. When they don’t, this will be a real problem. I have been putting a lot of effort, also in my interest, to use more digital tools.

 

This is something you probably also see as a training and development guide. Are you using a lot of e-learning during your training?

 

It really depends. In this case, I am kind of more a “classical trainer” who loves one-to-one-interaction: physically in the classroom but also in some group-settings. I know, that there are more and more courses available on the internet. E-learning is a component in almost every company. Many companies have e-learning platforms for many different skills, not only leadership skills. Our business world is very digital already, all of it and I think we will see more of it in the future. Besides that, I think that you cannot rely on digital solutions at 100%. For me, leadership has a lot to do with who you are and what you do. You can learn the theory, you can study the method, you can have check-lists but you cannot substitute the factor of human leadership. Leadership development is very closely connected to personal development. It is also about a leader being responsible for his or her behavior, attitude, communication and the way they come across. You can read this in theory but basically, you need to do it in practical life.

So when we are coming back to e-learning, I think that you can study the theory with the support of e-learning but the human interaction is missing. I really embrace the digital shift and I see a lot of positive things and, as I said before, I think that we have just seen the start of it. But we still need the human element. You can automate things and use things such as artificial intelligence but things can go crazy if we leave leaderships just to algorithms. As a leadership trainer, team trainer and organizational development consultant it is very important to have this human factor. This factor is based on relation, experience and knowledge – theoretical knowledge is not enough. This is perhaps also the deviation between leadership as a technique and leadership as an art. There is no 100% right answer to this. It takes a person and a character. In my experience, the most giving leadership development programs are the ones, where we go so close to the person, the leader and where we challenge them on a very personal level. This can be quite deep actually.

 

So would you agree that e-Learning is more an add-on and can be used for theory or as a follow-up?

 

Yes, it can be a real add-on. Also in my consultancy, I have an online platform, where we communicate, share things and thoughts, where I can show videos and so on. But this is something in addition to the personal contact and the group exercises. 

 

How do you think that this will be in the future?

 

I think it will definitely change and we will probably see much more of the digital tools and the digital way of making learning opportunities like virtual reality. Of course, this is something positive. But I also think that we can lose ourselves in being human beings when we just rely on the digital things. Leadership is very practical and it happens in real life and in real life situations, where you cannot control what is happening between people. So there will definitely be surprises and it takes a character to be able to do that.

 

So all in all: What do you think will be the biggest changes and challenges for organizations, for leadership but also for the training and development industry in general?

 

We are living in a dynamic world, in which the demands of the employees will be different in the future. The younger generation won’t be willing to work every day from 9 to 5. This generation wants to be more flexible. Therefore we have to find much more flexible solutions and this flexibility leads to complexity as well. For leaders, it will be more difficult to control the work of their employees and to keep an overview. If you are giving the people more freedom, you are losing some control you traditionally had as a leader. This had been a very huge change and I think we have only seen the start of it. This is one example of what will change in the next years. So it is important to create a company culture, where flexibility is a big part of it. But it is important as well, to be able to be one unit, one company, one organization. Many leaders have already lost and will probably lose some of their formal power and structural power, so what will there be left? Leadership will be more about the relationships, the communication, the flow of things and much more. Leaders have to make up a new mindset and that requires much more agility and the ability to drive in a world that starts to work quite differently than it was in the past.

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Diliana Docheva, Ph.D., works as a facilitator, consultant, speaker and development guide for more than 25 years. We talked with her about international leadership development, why it is important that managers have to let go their personal control and involvement in every decision, and about the currently biggest challenges for companies in her home country Bulgaria.

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Nataliya Sergiyenko is working as a trainer for more than 15 years and is focused on providing business-trainings for multinational companies. Last year, she left her home country Ukraine and moved to Texas, where she is continuing with working as a trainer for sure. We asked her about her training experiences in the US, the differences to Ukraine and the skills you need when working as an international trainer.

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International leadership development in Bulgaria

International leadership development in Bulgaria

What is it like to work as an international training and development guide? What are the biggest challenges of our time for companies – in Bulgaria and in general? Diliana Docheva talked with us about international leadership development and gave us insights into the development field in her home country Bulgaria.

International leadership development in bulgaria with diliana docheva

About the interview partner

Diliana Docheva, Ph.D is working as a facilitator, consultant, speaker and development guide for 25 years already. She is passionate about the need for ideas-age leadership and all topics connected, like strategy execution, innovation, redesign, engagement and much more. She believes that life should be an adventure and inspiration. Her role as a development guide helps her to live that because you never stop exploring and learning to help others, learn and develop. Her personal motto? If there is a way, I will find it. If not, I will create it.

“The royal crown is heavy” – why managers have to let go their personal control and involvement in every decision

 

What are currently – according to your opinion – the biggest challenges for organizations in Bulgaria?

 

Diliana: The common challenge is the control paradigm that often holds managers and organizations back. We have this saying in Bulgaria that goes “the royal crown is heavy” which implies that the person on top is to bear the burden of all responsibility, decisions, fire fighting etc. That leads to micromanaging and loss of effectiveness. For example, many companies still control work hours, instead of work productivity and goals achievement. Big, especially international companies, must overcome bureaucracy and start empowering people. There is no other way to be fast, innovative, and utilize the talents.

Some other companies, managed by their founders, face the challenge to transform their management. It is natural that is contra-intuitive and difficult for such founders whose entrepreneurial spirit and personal qualities led their companies to success. Just what brought you there is not enough to hold you there. They need to let go of their personal control and involvement in every decision and operation and need to adopt another role.

Organizations whose managers rightly use and organizational culture as a control mechanism and lever for results, are far ahead of others in attracting and retaining talents, engaging people and build loyal customers.

 

 “Nice to have” or a strategic factor of success: How do you experience that organizations in Bulgaria view (international) leadership development at the moment and how will that be in the future?

 

The companies I was privileged to work with for decades are aware that this is a crucial success factor, so they seriously invested in that development. I foresee that soon, those companies will focus on developing leaders on every level, not just managerial level. The role of a team as an organizational structure is getting even more important.

I wish to believe that more and more managers will give up on “I know it all” attitude and will be more open to learn together with their teams and associates.

 

You are a trainer for many years already. According to your experience: are there any differences between development measures in Bulgaria and other countries in Europe?

 

For 25 years in fact. Frankly speaking, I do not name my colleagues and myself trainer but facilitator, guide or consultant 10 years already. The role is different. Our role changes from trainers to guides and helping minds. I’d not say there are significant differences just one that for sure applies to companies I work with. They would not go for ready-made solutions. They want tailored, even unique programs to address their unique challenges and opportunities and development needs of their people. Also, we are not quick to trust everything that comes from abroad, especially from the other side of the Atlantic.

 

Speaking the same language is not enough – what you need when working as an international training and development guide

 

What is most important when working on an international level? What skills does it take to be an international training and development guide?

 

Most important is to truly love this job as every time there is a new challenge. It is important to love, to learn and do your homework before every project no matter how well you know your subject. You must be very attentive and flexible. As well, you must be very mature as a trainer. I believe trainers have two independency levels to reach. First is to be independent of the natural need to have people to like us. I’ve seen many trainers entertaining participants to receive a good evaluation after the training. But we are there to help and teach, which often means to challenge the participants, to provoke, to ask difficult questions or to give straight feedback. The second level is to be independent of a training design. This is the maturity and skill to change the original design to meet the needs of the group.

 

What are the typical challenges when working on an international level? Can you think of any challenging situations you’ve experienced? What are your tips?

 

My tip is the saying “expect nothing (you are used to), experience everything with an open mind. The main challenge is remembering that knowing the language doesn’t mean knowing the culture. The thing is to understand people.

One very challenging situation was when I conducted a seminar in Ukraine in the Russian language. The program was designed in Germany and – for me personally – was very logical and practical, and I’ve delivered it successfully in other countries already. Soon after I started I had a feeling that I am losing the participants. I decided to stop and make a short funny exercise to figure out what is wrong. What came out was that the main concept on which the whole process in the program was based is absolutely not acceptable, even unthinkable in Ukraine. No chance to follow the program as designed. So, I had to redesign the whole program ad hog to supply them with the skills the company needed but in Ukrainian way.

International leadership development in Bulgaria - Knowing the culture

“Knowing the language is not knowing the culture – the thing is to understand the people”

 

International leadership development is a lot about intercultural awareness and empathy. For a training professional doing a module of a leadership program in Bulgaria: To what shall he/she pay attention and what are your tips of success in order that the training is really beneficial for everyone?

 

It is important to design a dynamic interactive seminar with lots of activities and discussions. A certain way to lose people is to show hundreds of slides. We also love to discuss which makes the timing tricky. Often it is truly difficult to stop the discussions, so if a trainer runs out of time, I’d suggest shortening the presentation, not to stop a discussion. Do not expect participants to be on time really. If the topic is not interesting people leave the training mentally and do their own stuff. In fact, a couple of times I’ve witnessed people leaving physically a seminar, led by a foreign trainer when they are not engaged. Also, you should expect that dinner lasts for hours.

 

Development measures in times of digitalization

 

In times of the unstoppable digitalization – do you think that classroom trainings will vanish completely at some point and how do companies in Bulgaria cope with these changes?

 

Training yes, classroom no. For a long time already, many programs in Bulgaria are blended or e-learning. At the same time, despite participating in such programs, people need to get together, develop ideas, create, discuss and synergize. Ideas is the key word here. Knowledge and information are everywhere and readily available. Even without e-learning or blended learning programs, people could learn. Businesses need ideas to progress. We already don’t live in a knowledge but ideas-age.

When I started training business in Bulgaria in 1993 I think I was the first, I had to explain to prospects what “training” is. Most of them were hesitant to consider such service because their employees have university diplomas. Then there was a training boom. Now, my clients need provocation, room for new ideas, help to reinvent or renovate their businesses or solutions to the challenges they face. There are no ready-made solutions. There is an ocean of information, models, and tools and a need to help navigate through them.

Certain skills, for sure, will be needed and such training will be provided by internal trainers. That applies to “must skills” for a company or job. Beyond that to put everybody in the same training program to get the same competence set is a management of failure. The management of success is to develop the individual talents of every team member.

 

Which role does the digitalization in general play in Bulgaria? Is the country/its organizations “ready” – what do you notice?

 

As everywhere,digitalization speeds up everything, makes everything very transparent, processes more efficient and it also redefines some jobs of course. I think Bulgaria is very much advanced in the digitalization shift. Many businesses are already digital. Thankfully, this might be because of the generations of brilliant IT specialists we have, and successful start-ups who led the way. Technology has always been playing an important role in Bulgaria. Although many organizations are yet to align their management systems with digital reality.

 

According to your opinion: What will be the biggest challenge for the training & development industry in the next 5 to 10 years?

 

It is to move from WHAT knowledge to deliver to HOW people are to apply it to their specific situation and to WHY to do so. We also clearly see two trends. One is the increasing need for individual consultancy, not coaching but consultancy. The second is the need for projects aiming to transform the whole organization. So, both the challenge and development of our industry will be to align one-to-one services with massive programs for hundreds or thousands of associates. This will require lots of collaboration and teamwork among consultants. As the need for deep expertise in certain fields is evident as well, I am confident that we consultants will work in partner networks where every partner contributes her expertise and we benefit the synergy of collaboration. The age of big franchise-based companies with rigid programs is over.

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Laurie Santos is originally from California but moved abroad in 2006 and had been living and working in Africa, the Middle East, and different European countries since then. For about 7 years, she lived and worked in Kuwait and still has many customers there. We wanted to know more about the (cultural) differences between the Middle East and Europe and gain some insights into leadership development in Kuwait.

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International leadership development

Insights from the United States and Ukraine. Nataliya Sergiyenko is working as a trainer for more than 15 years. Last year, she left her home country Ukraine and moved to Texas, where she continued with her work as a training & development guide. We talked with her about the differences between those two countries when it comes to leadership development, digitalization & more.

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MDI 2025 – Lego Serious Play as an agile method during our team workshop [experience report]

MDI 2025 – Lego Serious Play as an agile method during our team workshop [experience report]

Incredible 40 billion Lego bricks are said to exist in the world. After they conquered the hearts of many children, the small colorful stones are now conquering the seminar rooms in the management & development industry. We wanted to experience this method ourselves. Therefore we had a Lego Serious Play workshop, where we asked ourselves: What will MDI look like in 2025?

 

Impuls Workshop Lego Serious Play – Our Hard Facts

 

Duration: 3 hours

Number of participants: 15

Facilitator: Dominik Etzl

Question: What will MDI look like in 2025?

Framework: MDI team workshop 2018, day 2

Goal: First of all, we are always looking for new agile methods and wanted to experience this one as well. Furthermore, we wanted to find a common vision for MDI in 2025.

 

Think with your hands

 

This is basically the only rule in Lego Serious Play, wherefore it is unstoppable that all participants are starting to build once the little bricks are spread out on the table. But that’s not a problem at all, as Lego Serious Play is not about thinking and planning for a long time, it’s just about doing it.

While our facilitator has given an overview of the method and different fields of application, we have already developed the first buildings within a team. In addition to the intuitive and unstoppable building, we also had some warm-up exercises, with questions such as: What motivates you in your daily work?

Lego Serious Play Teamworkshop Marketing

„It motivates me that we are a team many different characters with different tasks. Nevertheless, we have one important thing in common: we all work at MDI. The cooperation with my colleagues and the helpfulness within the team motivates me every day. ” (Judith, Marketing)

„While building my model, I realized that I do not have a strict division between my professional and personal life. All my different activities and roles in life are symbolized by the different branches in my model. Having the ability to flexibly move around on those branches and combining one with the other motivates me tremendously.” (Julia, Marketing)

Lego Serious Play Julia
Lego Serious Play Teamworkshop Consulting

“When my colleague asked me what motivates me in my job, I shaped a smiley. I think it’s important to be able to laugh a lot, no matter how serious life is. I don’t miss that at MDI. There is a lot of laughter and fun in my work environment, and that is something that motivates me to go to work! Apart from the good mood in the office, we have a great relationship with our clients and coaches! This atmosphere motivates me a lot.”(Valmire, Junior Training & Development Consultant)

Since no specific know-how or skills are necessarily needed to work with Lego Serious Play, we came straight to the point fairly quickly: What will MDI look like in 2025?

In order to obtain different results here, we have divided our team into three groups according to their functions: Consulting, Project Management, and Solution Development together with Marketing. What was the concrete task? Everyone had to build their own vision first. Afterwards, the individual versions were assembled on a large board and supplemented or shortened.

The unstoppable euphoria about building new things has temporarily paused here because the question was complex and we wanted to take some time to think about it. But after a few minutes, all three team tables (Consulting, Project Management, and Marketing + Solution Development) were already starting to build their ideas and visions.

 

The ideas and discussion

 

After 20 minutes, it was time to introduce our future visions to each other. What we quickly noticed was, that new ideas were coming to light – even though we didn’t have a lot of time. The models we built, were the ideal starting point for discussions. We did not only discuss the models within the whole MDI team but also within the small groups and departments.

But what are the next steps for now?

We brought the Lego structures of “MDI in 2025” of all the teams to our office so that the ideas, we collected during the workshop, would not be forgotten. In the next few weeks and months, we will see which ideas will be implemented. However, it is already clear that we did not only get to know another agile method but also gathered many new ideas and motivation for future projects, through this workshop.

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE TOPIC

Why Lego Serious Play?

  • Everyone is actively involved and makes their personal contribution to answering the question
  • Knowledge is taught and the learning effect is enhanced
  • Thoughts are illustrated
  • Tangible models remain stronger and longer in our memory

 

In which areas can Lego Serious Play be used?

  • In the search for new ideas and innovation
  • To create a shared vision and concrete strategies for your own company
  • Team Development
  • Communication, values, and behavior can be reflected by this method
  • To analyze future scenarios in a playful way

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Development Approaches: Leading a business through the digital transformation

Modern technologies have changed our working conditions. Digitalization has become the number one leadership challenge. Therefore many leaders are facing the question, how to successfully lead their organization through the digital transformation. But what are the consequences of the digital revolution for leaders? And what do you need as an agile leader in this digital times?

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International leadership development with Mondi

Video: Agile Leadership - orientation and basics

OKR, Kanban, Scrum, Design Thinking, Management 3.0, Lean Management…the list of tools and concepts around agile leadership is long and somehow it seems that everybody is talking about it. Alexandra Sock is a trainer at MDI expert when it comes to agile leadership. In this video, she gives you a short overview of agile leadership and the different methods.

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Boosting innovation by developing experts

Experience report: Implementation of OKR at MDI

MDI implemented the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) method in the beginning of 2017. Gunther Fürstberger, CEO if MDI, gives us some insights about the method and its implementation. What were the challenges in the beginning? How does the method work and what’s the difference to other goal management methods?

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Design Thinking – What is behind the hype and what benefits does the concept have?

Design Thinking – What is behind the hype and what benefits does the concept have?

Design Thinking was founded in America and now often sounds like a wonderful IT-Start-Up fairy tale: managers are sitting in a play corner and play with building bricks and developers visit their customers directly and design new products together with them. This way the company develops incomparably innovative products and earns a lot of money as well. We asked the Design Thinking trainer Ursula Weixlbaumer-Norz: What is Design Thinking actually and how does a company profit from it?

Design Thinking – Which values does the concept have?

Ursula Weixlbaumer-Norz: Design Thinking originally comes from America but is nowadays established in Europe as well. Together with the d.school in Stanford, the HPI School in Potsdam plays a pioneering role in the development and dissemination of Design Thinking.

The benefits of the concept are explained quite easily: the designers of the IDEO innovation agency developed Design Thinking as a method for solving complex problems in modern times. First of all they explained and illustrated the innovation process to make it more understandable and learnable. This is one main characteristic of Design Thinking. All in all Design Thinking is an innovation process with 6 different levels. Each level includes different methods, which can be selected according to the specific challenge and the problem-solving competence of the participating leaders and teams. The concept works across all industries and business sectors.

So Design Thinking is “just“ a new creative process?

Only in the first moment – but if managers and companies are ready to use and to exploit its full potential, it can be much more than that. Therefore I would like to quote the HPI school: “What was first developed in Stanford as an innovation method for products and services, turned out to be much more than this. It is a new way to see people in relation to work, to think about the concept of work and to ask how we want to live, learn and work in the 21st century. The aim of Design Thinking is to provide new and surprising forms of a creative collaboration. We-intelligence is the new slogan and collaboration becomes the basis for a new work-awareness*.” (*Translation of the original quotation in German)

6 levels of the design process

Design Thinking – a new design process consisting of 6 levels

What is the difference between Design Thinking and other innovation and creation techniques?

Design Thinking is often named together with agile management methods, “Lean Start-Up” or “Scrum”. As already mentioned, the special feature is that it is not only a technique, but also a whole new kind of collaboration where you can work with flexible rooms and especially profit from interdisciplinarity. At a current customer project which I am doing as a MDI trainer, the participants of the Design Thinking workshop were not only the employees and leaders of the client, but according to the concept of Design Thinking also entrepreneurs, start-ups, students and experts from other companies. They all contributed actively on different challenges – it was incredible to see what it triggered in the participants.

 

As a way of thinking, Design Thinking contributes to the solution of complex problems in all areas and can be applied to a variety of questions – not just for the development of new products and services but also for the improvement of internal processes and services.

Keyword Agile Leadership: What does it mean to you personally? Why do you deal with agile methods such as Design Thinking?  

I am an entrepreneur myself for a long time and a former start-up. And also before that I have already been working in a very agile and international working environment. That is the reason why I am always looking for new innovative methods for myself but especially for all the leaders I meet in my workshops. And I am convinced that Design Thinking can help leaders and teams to deal with complex problems in a strategic and structured way.

From the perspective of HR departments: For which leaders is Design Thinking suitable and what is the benefit for the company?

The method suits especially leaders who have to deal with complex issues. I am teaching Design Thinking at MDI as a tool for those leaders. And one thing I am very happy about at the moment: the HPI School just published a study on the effectiveness of Design Thinking. A large majority of the respondents (71 percent) say that Design Thinking has improved the working culture, especially in the team. Innovative processes have become much more efficient for many users (69 percent) and the involvement of users or consumers is more frequent (48 percent). Cost savings (18 percent) or profit growth (29 percent) were less important. “It is, of course, difficult to measure the exact and direct financial value of Design Thinking. However, the responses show that business processes and customer experiences are sustainably improved which increases the profitability in the long term*” said Jan Schmiedgen, one of the three authors of the study. (*Translation of original quotation in German)

Interview Partner

MDI trainer Ursula Weixlbaumer-Norz answered our questions about Design Thinking. She is working together with MDI Management Development International as an international Management and Leadership trainer for many years.

Since 2016 she improves herself within agile Leadership at IDEO, Strategyzer/Business Model Canvas and the HPI School of Design Thinking. Since 2017 she is offering workshops on Design Thinking, some of them especially designed for leaders.

What serves you next?

Leaving the comfort zone - More courage for more training results

Mimic resonance as an intercultural competence – Including self-test

Mimic resonance means to recognize mimic signals, to intepret them correctly and to deal with them appropriatly. As a powerful leadership tool it opens an even bigger power in matters of interculturalism. To get an idea about your own ability to read facial expressions we prepared a little self-test for you.

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Emotional leadership

Emotional leadership – Dealing with employees in an emotionally intelligent way

Emotionally intelligent leadership isn’t only a topic that is pretty trendy at the moment. It’s a topic that strikes all of us. But how can you, as a leader, recognize and handle emotions? And what do terms such as emotional intelligence and resilience actually mean?

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International leadership development

Key competitive factor: International leadership development

The ongoing internationalisation of the economy – first and foremost conditioned by technological progress – entails the necessity of international leadership development. Well trained leaders and managers are a crucial competitive factor on the global market. It’s possible to copy technologies but never company and leadership cultures or the people living them. In order to not only survive on the global market but to create competitive advantages, to grow and to master even complex challenges, there are some important points to consider.

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New Joint Venture: MDI and Haufe Akademie do leadership trainings from South America to China

New Joint Venture: MDI and Haufe Akademie do leadership trainings from South America to China

Highly competent and motivated leaders, acting in favour of their organisations and therewith consequently advancing it, are a competitive advantage on the global market. Since more than 50 years we support organisations investing in the development of their leaders. In terms of international training roll-outs we have a strong new partner since 1st July 2016.

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