Archive for the 'Leadership' Category
Was definieren wir als Problem? oder schauen wir doch auf unsere Ressourcen!
Ein MANAGER fragt: ich höre überall SYSTEMISCH; Denkt systemisch! Systemisches Handeln für Führungskräfte! Wir sind systemische Berater! – Was zum Teufel ist systemisch?
Wie schaffe ich hervorragende Leistungen mit „normalen“ Menschen?
Stefan A. ist gerade Abteilungsleiter des Controlling Bereiches eines Konsumgüterunternehmens geworden. Er kam aus dem Corporate Development Bereich und hatte bisher fast nur mit „Hochleistern“ zu tun. Mitarbeiter, die selbstständig, proaktiv, kreativ und mit hoher Qualität ihre Aufgaben erledigt haben.
Diese neue Funktion ist eine echte Herausforderung für ihn, denn: Read the rest of this entry »
Coaching im internationalen Kontext – Erfahrungen und Einblicke
Ich arbeite immer mehr als Coach mit international tätigen Führungskräften. Mich hat bisher frustriert, dass die Welt des Coaching und die Welt international tätiger Führungskräfte kein relevantes Modell oder Konzept verbindet. Die zahlreichen Angebote kulturspezifischer oder interkultureller Coachings greifen in der Regel zu kurz, wenn es etwa um die Betrachtung unterschiedlicher Führungsverständnisse im internationalen Kontext geht. Auch die Forschungswelt bietet nur wenig Hilfestellung, um das Thema umfassend zu durchdringen.
Deshalb habe ich meine Praxiserfahrung und meine Lessons Learned in einem Artikel. Erschienen in Ausgabe 2/2009 des Coaching-Magazins. hier pdf download
Hier eine Lesermeinung:
„Glückwunsch, Ihr Beitrag „Coaching im internationalen Kontext“ war für mich einer der interessantesten seit langem – sehr ansprechend, konkret und theoretisch relevant aufbereitet, selten in der Qualität vorzufinden. Macht deutlich worum es gehen kann, sehr differenziert und zustimmungsfähig, auch die ausdrückliche Relativierung der Bennennungen von Coaching mit Betonung, richtig sei, was hilft – was ja nicht Beliebigkeit meint.“
TRICKY COACHING: DEALING WITH DIFFICULT CASES IN LEADERSHIP COACHING
Here you can find a case study of a difficult coaching situation and I how I dealt with it. Read the rest of this entry »
Obama’s example in this video is definitely a role model for me. Many people are moaning he is not doing enough, but which “werstern” president have quoted different religions and a Hadith from Islam in such an important speech. It is an important lesson for people working in a diverse environment, you can reach people hurts by connecting to their culture, it needs little effort and has a huge impact.
Video: President Obama quotes Hadith in Speech
common sense but not common practice!
Nobody knows about the future. Communities may help you learn from the unknown.
Today’s crisis has a major characteristic: no body knows what is going to happen in the future. From a philosophical view – we never knew what is going to happen, but we could at least pretend to know in the past.
7 years ago I did write an article on communities of practice as a powerful organizational form and intervention – after many frustrating experiences with an IT approach to knowledge management. In today’s environment they may become very useful. It is vital for every organization, in complex or even chaotic situations with many unknowns, to develop a leadership community that exchanges information, knowhow, views, and scenarios and stays alert to what is happening. Read the rest of this entry »
What does good Leadership really mean in the current crisis?
Obviously you have to get costs under control, but leadership in turbulent times is much more than that if you want to secure the future. Read the rest of this entry »
How to make decisions in such a chaotic situation?
Today’s finance and somehow also world crisis is challenging for many leaders. The tools they have learned, the experiences they have made are no longer helpful. Reading the newspaper every morning, you find tons of reports about top manager who are paralyzed with fear, even panicking, mainly because they just do not know what to do. They do not know what impact their decisions will have. To put it in a nutshell they lost all CONTROL!
Today’s situation is not just complicated or complex – it is chaotic. The turbulence is extremely high; there are no cause-and effect-relationships – so no point for looking for right versus wrong answers. The number of unknowable is increasing and everybody is under pressure to make decisions but we all lack time to think. Which results in high tension, pressure and even burn out. It is however a great chance to learn. I do not want to sound sarcastic, but we – as systemic consultants and researcher in the field – are preaching since many years that leading in complex and chaotic situations will become the norm and that leaders should start practicing. Today you can start. How? Read the rest of this entry »
Martin (CEO) called on the phone Friday 5pm:
Martin: “I need to talk to you, I want to make a decision if I want to continue working with my CFO or not! You know him, what do you think?”
Amel: “If you ask me if you should fire him or not, I am not going to give you an answer. However lets talk about what is going on in your mind right now. I can help you make your own decision based on your criteria and observation and reflect with you consequences for the business and for the organization.”
During our conversation, we found out the following main issues:
• Martin was not happy with the performance of the CFO nor was the top team. The CFO did not follow up on decisions made by the board if he did not agree personally, he would say yes and then act differently upon his convictions.
• We also found out that the CFO who was part of the organization since 25 years was hoping to become CEO himself, he never accepted Martin – an outside newcomer – as a boss. And the two were too different in their styles. Martin was suffering because of this lack of acceptance.
• The CFO had a lot of fans and high acceptance within the organization, Martin was afraid if he would fire him, that he will have an “internal rebellion” perhaps even sabotage and the organization was in a difficult turn around situation. Read the rest of this entry »
I am reading the book of Carly Fiorina, Tough Choices: A Memoir. Actually I am listening to it since a dear friend made me a gift of the CD’s. Carly Fiorina herself is the speaker. She talks about her whole carrier and about her time as HP CEO. I am impressed by the openness and details of different events. Almost every story includes a leadership lesson. For every person working in the corporate world, this book is probably reassuring since you discover that not only you has these weird corporate craziness experiences but that is totally normal!!!
One lesson I liked very much is when she says: “Any structure, even one that it awkward and unwieldy, can work with enough alignment and teamwork”. I used this immediately within a client project. The head of R&D wanted to restructure the whole department. So I interviewed him about his management team: how aligned are they? and also about the level of collaboration and teamwork. He discovered that he needs to work on these issues and spend his energy and the commitment of his employees on increasing alignment and collaboration instead of wasting a lot of energy and focus during a big reorganization. If after all efforts he still believed it needs reorganization – than yes, he can still do it.
common sense but not common practice