When we are consulted...
At the beginning of every assignment we always discuss how we can be most helpful to the client. This includes creating ideas about how to affirm and strengthen people, how to develop and resolve difficulties and how we monitor the effectiveness of our work.
Examples of recent assignments:
- An initiative for a new way of working in a large organization started recently. The sponsor of the project speaks to us about the challenges of this initiative and how key stakeholders were misaligned. Taking stock of these difficulties he wants to make sure that the project delivers. We engage with a wide network of stakeholders and their insights, dreams and commitment to make a difference. This leads to new information and energy for the initiative throughout the whole organization. The project team can refocus its efforts to meet organizational demands.
- An organization asks us to improve their learning from successes and mistakes. Structured approaches to learning have been in place for long but recent results suggest that they are no longer effective. We work with the organization to employ new approaches to learning, for instance through appreciative inquiry, storytelling and dialogue. These participative learning methods help people to make sense of both personal experiences and organizational principles, and give rise to pride and accountability in the organization.
- A manager has been appointed to lead a major change initiative. Current approaches to managing this transition do not fit. We explore with the manager what successful delivery would look like and how to build sustainable results. Consequently tasks and targets of this initiative are realigned and assigned to organizational units which have the necessary resources, expertise and long term interest in the outcome.
- Some members of a team going through a transition feel left behind and unsupported. We help the team leader to make sense of this situation and explore ways of how to go on differently.
- A leader strives to build a high performance team. We support – first with executive coaching and later with the design and facilitation of key team events. In a collaborative workshop we develop a team agenda that integrates the historic and local knowledge of all involved and reflects the team’s passion for contributing to the organizational goals and development.
- A leadership team is dissatisfied with the performance in a key area. Past efforts to improve resulted in ‘more of the same’ solutions and there is a sense that the organizational culture needs to shift. We help the organization to realize the potential of appreciative learning through an in depth inquiry into its existing good practices. This process leads to a deep understanding of what matters to achieve successful outcomes, new initiative to spread insights on best practices and significantly improved performance across the organization.
- A team is responsible to change business processes across several countries and thus has to build cooperation with a wide group of managers and employees. We help framing the initial change plan and train the team in organizational change skills.
