Author: admin8

In association with Machwuerth Team International

The hectic pace of many change is viewed nowadays as problematic, yet restructuring and process optimisation are necessary for organisations that want to assert themselves in a dynamically changing competitive environment.

Internal consultants and process facilitators advise and provide support for executives and their divisions/teams for coping with upcoming change, a procedure that implies acting simultaneously on three levels:

On the contents level the change targets are formulated, the current situation diagnosed (strengths and weaknesses analysed ) and necessary steps defined.

On the methodological level the approach is determined, the required change architecture is created, project management is organised, procedures are structured and processes evaluated.

On the relationship level communication is designed, the culture and climate for the work of bringing about change are shaped, emotions are worked through and commitment and loyalty are developed.

While the executives concentrate on what needs to be changed, the process facilitator reviews, on an ongoing basis, the ability to change and the willingness to embrace change.

The pitfalls of business process facilitation
What are the specific pitfalls of process consulting to which many internal consultants succumb? How can you handle them?

1. You allow yourself to be roped in – and progress comes to a halt. The process consultant has to learn to perceive the contradictions in their role – to observe a process and, at the same time, to be part of it – and to structure it. They must ensure that the roles and responsibilities of all those involved in a process are properly clarified. They need observe the process sequence, time and again, from the perspective of an outsider and continuously reflect on their own involvement.

2. You are close to the hierarchy – and yet are a really long way off. By working together with the executives you can grasp at the coattails of power; before you know it you’re in the same boat as the executives, and rowing it along. Consulting needs another perspective. Process facilitators have to configure very carefully their closeness to and distance from all those involved in the process. Independence does not mean being noncommittal, but it does require relationships to be structured in a particular way and a process facilitator with the backbone to do this. The process facilitator gains authority through the quality of their services.

3. What you see is what you see – and already you’re mistaken. It’s amazing how often you’re right. In change processes lots of people are right; in change processes many different truths collide. Process facilitators have to be tolerant of different points of view, attitudes and aims. You need the ability to deal constructively with heterogeneous interests. You have to be willing to question your own view and engage with different perspectives. 4. You calm down – and in doing so cause upset. Everyone would like it best if the changes could happen without any noise. Unfortunately, some people get really upset. And that bugs executives. Process facilitators know how to work with resistance, are able to deal with emotions and can recognise the messages they convey.

5. You know everything better – and haven’t learned a thing. The longer you work as a consultant and process facilitator, the more vulnerable you become. Nothing makes you more conservative than success. Consulting for organisations and process facilitation requires a high degree of self-reflexivity. You have to be willing, over and over again, to submit to criticism your points of view, concepts and action strategies, to revise them and even, sometimes, to abandon them.

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Leadership has proven to be essential, especially in times of crises and change. Short span change cycles, conflicting targets, incomprehensible technical and economic processes, upheaval of traditional orientation patterns can only be addressed when, at all levels of responsibility, trust in the innate potential, courage to take on calculated risks and the determination to act resolutely are givens.

High external pressure in business environments leads to greater inner insecurity and feelings of loss of control. Therein, the leader’s task is to strengthen the performance potential of their team by making sure that:

• Team members deal with challenges in a constructive way and work out a form of orientation by themselves
• Every individual takes on responsibility for their own role in the process
• Enduring and stable trust-based relationships are formed
• Potential and competencies of the team members are continually improved and developed

Leadership has always been about handling difficult situations, hence all leaders look for orientation and support. Yet, its very concept implies that every leader will need, to a large degree, to provide a purpose, orientation and means to address the situation, as well as the necessary support.

Requirement Profile for Leadership
Seven main attributes emerge as prerequisites for successful leadership behaviour in today’s business world.

Responsibility and ownership Set oneself challenging goals, realize business objectives in a sustainable way, set priorities, communicate clearly and consistently, find solutions and implement thereof, define realities, act vigorously and with discipline.

Self-orientation Be aware of oneself, occupy and hold one’s ground, take up a position even for sensitive or unpopular topics, deal with the new and the unknown confidently, display a broad and flexible spectrum of behaviour according to varying situations along with a clearly defined personal set of values.

Entrepreneurial spirit Able to develop and advance business, be highly driven to succeed, be sensitive to market signals and perceive business opportunities; envisage and design products, processes and behaviour from the point of view of the customer; have the ability and courage to strike new paths when necessary while consistently enforcing quality control.

Ability to provide purpose and to prompt certain behaviour Provide purpose and understanding, communicate in authentic and credible ways, mobilize energy and strong work performance, encourage others, sense powers at play within the organization and recognize key leverage points for success, provide clear accountability and a transparent task structure to enable others’ success.

Successful relationship management Display a convincing and confident manner while proactively engaging with others, facilitate relationships based on partnership and cooperation, build and maintain networks with people of diverse backgrounds.

Emotional stability Have trust in one’s own abilities and strengths, remain calm and reliable under pressure, understand one’s own and others’ feelings, tolerate frustration, be able to deal with disappointments while remaining ready to act at the same time, display appropriate and target-oriented conflict-resolution behaviour.

Eagerness to learn and develop Learn from experience, thereby broadening the range of response; grasp challenging situations and opportunities therein; collect feedback of one’s own effect on others, take a long-term view and acting accordingly; develop a pioneering spirit by nourishing talent, developing team members and providing support in difficult situations; act resolutely on a lack of willingness to perform.

The leadership challenge of today consists of continuously working on these leadership qualities.

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When training managers the coach is confronted with two different mentalities. Some managers report on the continual pressure; they complain about that which does not work in their organization and about failures of upper management. They regard their subordinates as reluctant and uninspired. Other managers spontaneously start reporting on their targets; things they would like to tackle immediately, describing where they would like their team to be in one year. Even in today’s economic situation, where many primary set targets have been postponed, such managers keep their strategy while defining new targets. They want to benefit from the crisis.

There are also two different personality concepts that describe how these managers lead and define their roles. In one, managers administrate their area of responsibility and implement strategy; controlling the commitment of the employees and reporting to upper management. The others regard their area of responsibility as a domain of creativity; searching for ways to optimize things and encouraging their employees.

The Leadership Concept
For our purposes leadership is a management style that places high demands on management development. It is characterized by optimistic ideals, value-oriented attitude, behaviour and communication.

Such a style is primarily quite demanding for the managers; they need confront themselves with responsible self-management; questioning their own skills, things they want to achieve, where they want to go (without being dogmatic), their perceptions of action priorities and much more. Abandoning to a large extent their right to influence directly the behaviour of the employees by means of instructions, the manager’s actions aim instead at influencing the attitudes and the awareness of their employees. In order to achieve their goals employees are granted freedom of action and freedom of decision. They are challenged and supported at the same time. It is a form of leadership that purposes self-management, in which employees form close emotional connections.

Ask around in any company and you will always find some departments where the employees report that their boss is fantastic and that it is great fun to work with him/her. It is obvious that the leader has managed to win the employees’ trust and respect.

The basis for this is an authentic communication. The manager says what they think, does what they say, listens to their employees and is open-minded. However, they will also use force and focus on the common decision making process. For the manager it is not their task to motivate their employees. The manager believes that employees will motivate themselves as long as the visions, targets and forecasted future situation communicated by the manager create a motivating pulling effect. The manager uses symbols to describe their objectives; encouraging their employees to be creative and act in an innovative way.

The manager demands a great deal of their self and their employees. He/she creates an area of creativity that challenges the employee to act. The employees then feel that their work is worthy and that the company depends on their performance, their ideas and their potential. These are demanding challenges that sometimes reach employees’ limits.

In such a leadership concept, every employee has the feeling that the managers know him/her personally and that they respect him/her. The manager knows the differences between employees, appreciating the personal strengths and individual characteristics of each person. They do not seek a “perfectly working” employee, but rather one that acts out of self responsibility. This individual appreciation leads employees to build up self-confidence surrounding their own potential.

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The importance of kick-off events in developing management

In these days it is very important that not only companies as a whole, but also people within departments, work together as a team. However good everyone’s skills, teamwork improves thereon.Therefore the most important step at the beginning of a new project or cooperation is the building of a team.

Trainers who support this process are often faced with challenges and opportunities in equal measure as a result of the different background of newly made team members. Opportunities present themselves since during the process of becoming a team various practical issues, problems and/or ways to handle them will emerge upon which participants will be able to reflect. The result is a very wide range of topics that will benefit everyone.

The challenge is to form a team out of people who did not know each other before, so that common learning can take place on a foundation of trust.

At this point a kick-off event can be very useful; motivating participants and creating a “we-feeling” that naturally has a great team building effect.

Objectives for an example two and a half day kick- off event could comprise the following:

(i) For participants to get to know each other and for a foundation of trust to be laid for a mutual learning process
(ii) To make participants aware of the objectives, processes and content of their future work as a team
(iii) For the participants to reflect on their own personalities and the impact thereof
(iv) For participants to experience teamwork and work as a team in a mutual development process
(v) To motivate participants for the learning process
(vi) To agree on the organization for mutual work

Such an event could commence with an ice-breaker game. At this point the team is still in the formation phase, in which people tend to treat each other warily, yet nevertheless respectful but distanced. Upon the game’s conclusion the group should discuss the emotions they have just experienced. What follows next depends on the organiser of the event and its specific occasion but it should generally provide more possibilities for the participants to get to know, and to lose their caution around, each other. Why not let the evening end in a cozy get-together over a nice dinner?

The following days should continue to build on the results from this first day, improving communication and cooperation between team members.A good way to achieve this would be an outdoor activity which challenges the abilities of the group as a whole.

At the end of the event participants will be able to reflect on their work together; realising what they learned about themselves, about forming groups and about group cooperation.

With this foundation their growing together as a team will immediately accelerate, a fact that hopefully will also be clearly visible in the results of their work.

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Feedback is essentially just information that if used within a structured system can improve performance or process and increase awareness. It can concern individuals, small groups or even entire departments and companies.

It is important to distinguish between positive and negative feedback. While positive feedback reinforces existing patterns of desirable behavior and habits, negative feedback can be very risky. It can lead to unpredictable changes of behaviour and even a worsening of the original problem.

Where can feedback systems help?
Feedback systems enable a manager to recognise signals at an early stage and allow leaders to develop scenarios for dealing with problems. Feedback can help to design both goals and measures so that development with regular and continuous assessment of the current position can be implemented in a team environment.

Feedback Tools for Soft Skills
The wide range of tools that can be used to measure soft skills include customer surveys, employee surveys, analysis of management and employee potential, assessments, management style analyses, team feedback plus individual development and goal setting interviews.The quality management system should also be prepared for systematic troubleshooting as well as corresponding corrections and improvements from the perspective of a Continuous Improvement Process.

Structuring of Data
In most cases, the chosen tools produce a large quantity of data that requires handling before it can be used.A key requirement is the implementation of a management information system to structure the data. This involves the translation and standardisation of the data that should preferably contain as few variables as possible; it is important for a company to focus on specific information in an employee survey, such as detailed analysis of management style or targeting a specific feedback group. Any system must be tailored to fit the company that is using it.

Dealing with Data
The information produced by feedback systems is only useful if shared with employees. Results that are only seen and interpreted by managers are entirely useless. Measured data needs be reviewed by the team.Transparency is the only way optimisation is possible. It is best if every man- ager compiles an overview of performance data for his/her own area of responsibility that is then discussed on a monthly basis with the entire team. It should be routine to analyse potential errors and discuss preventive and protective measures. These meetings should also be used to review and measure specific issues, e.g. the processing of errors, individual development and goal setting interviews.

It is highly recommended that a company also holds an annual conference to evaluate the cumulative results from all feedback tools for each manager’s own area. Following the annual meeting, measures can be formulated and their implementation can be planned. The results of this conference can again be used by smaller teams to compare with their interim development. An additional quarterly reflection on the state of development is also advisable.

Any feedback system implemented can be further enhanced with the aid of an Information Technology tool that systematically records the activities and tracks planned and adopted measures, possibly listed according to fields of action, person responsible and measured results of feedback.

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