Are important decisions not being made?
Everyone appears to agree in the meeting. Afterwards, nothing moves.
INDEPENDENT Executive sparring for leadership teams
Sometimes an organisation does not have a strategy problem.
The conversations that matter are simply no longer taking place.
Perhaps you recognise your organisation here.
What I keep seeing
Has a strong expert become the bottleneck?
Expertise is increasingly taking the place of collaboration. No one addresses the real issue openly.
Do discussions seem to have no end?
Week after week, the same arguments return. The project itself has long since ceased to be the real issue.
Are good people quietly withdrawing?
Some leave. Others stay – and eventually limit themselves to doing only what is necessary.
In my experience, organisations rarely get stuck because people lack competence. More often, the conversations in which responsibility, expectations and conflict are genuinely clarified are no longer taking place.
Standardised frameworks are often no longer enough in such situations. Especially when people have already disengaged internally, change rarely comes from the next workshop. What matters are the people – and a setting in which the conversations that have so far been avoided can become possible again.
How I work
- I do not take sides.
- I do not replace your leadership.
- I do not produce reports that replace the conversation that needs to take place.
- I help leaders have the conversations they have so far been avoiding.
Experience
I know responsibility not only from the outside: as a founder and entrepreneur, as a leader, as a crisis manager in complex large-scale projects and today as a coach and sparring partner. I have built businesses, led large teams and worked in situations where delayed decisions had serious financial consequences.
This experience shapes how I listen before I speak – and how I create settings in which difficult conversations can become possible again.
When working together is a good fit
Probably not the right approach
- You are looking for the next standardised leadership seminar.
- You want an external voice to confirm existing opinions.
- The key people are not prepared to examine their own part in the situation.
A conversation may be worthwhile
- Your leadership team is stuck.
- Important conversations are no longer taking place.
- You want to restore the team's ability to act.
How would you like to begin?
Perhaps you have already formed a sufficient impression. Perhaps you would first like to understand my way of working in more detail.
Begin with a confidential conversation
If you recognise your situation in what you have read, we can use an initial, no-obligation conversation to clarify together whether I am the right person for your concern.
If not – or if someone else would be a better fit for your situation – I will tell you openly.
Read before you decide
Freely available position papers, Executive Papers and case studies offer further insight into how I work, how I think and the principles that guide my actions.
You can read the materials at your own pace, download them and share them if appropriate.
Understand the right setting
Some situations do not immediately need a new solution. First, they need conditions in which the crucial conversations can become possible again.
The following seven chapters show why the setting also shapes what becomes possible.
When good solutions alone are no longer enough
Difficult situations rarely arise solely from a lack of knowledge or competence.
Those involved often already know what needs to be discussed. Yet the crucial questions remain unspoken, familiar arguments repeat themselves and even sensible measures lose their effect.
In such situations, applying another method or scheduling the next workshop is not always enough. The first step is to understand what conditions a conversation needs so that different perspectives can be voiced again and responsibility can be shared.
This setting can be created within the organisation, in a meeting room or in a conventional workshop. Sometimes, however, greater distance from the familiar working day is useful.
What matters is not whether the setting is conventional or unusual. What matters is whether it suits the situation and the people involved.
What this can mean for organisations in practice is explored in the following story, told in seven short chapters.
Chapter 1
When organisations lose momentum
Sometimes everything appears to be in order from the outside.
The figures are sound.
The processes are running.
Meetings are taking place.
Decisions are being made.
And yet there is a sense that the organisation is not living up to its potential.
Not because competence is lacking.
But because something has been lost that is difficult to measure.
Conversations become shorter.
Dissent becomes rarer.
Key performers withdraw.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
At this point, many organisations respond with new measures.
Another strategy.
Another workshop.
Another leadership programme.
Sometimes that helps.
Sometimes, however, the feeling remains that the real problem has not been touched.
Chapter 2
When good solutions lose their impact
Most organisations employ intelligent people.
People with experience.
With responsibility.
With a genuine desire to make good decisions.
Why, then, do situations arise in which the same issues return to the table again and again?
Why do conversations remain on the surface?
Why are problems described repeatedly, but rarely truly understood?
Perhaps the answer does not lie with the people.
Perhaps it lies in the environment in which these people work together every day.
Chapter 3
Not every setting makes the same conversations possible
Over time, organisations develop their own patterns.
They do not arise deliberately.
They arise from roles.
From expectations.
From success.
From time pressure.
And eventually, conditions develop in which certain things can be said as a matter of course.
And others can no longer be said.
Not because they are unimportant.
But because there is no longer room for them.
This is where my work begins.
Not by looking for a method.
But with a different question.
What conditions does this conversation actually need in order to take place again?
Chapter 4
What a different setting can make possible
A different setting does not solve a problem.
It does not change people.
It does not replace responsibility.
But it can create conditions in which change becomes possible again.
Conversations that have long since fallen silent in everyday work can begin again.
Different perspectives do not have to be resolved immediately.
Responsibility can be taken again without anyone losing face.
A problem does not have to be solved immediately.
Sometimes it is enough for it finally to be understood together.
Perhaps a difficult conversation does not first need better arguments.
Perhaps it first needs a setting in which the conversation can become possible again at all.
Chapter 5
Why I do not always work in the same way
Different ways of working have emerged from precisely this experience.
Not every situation needs the same support.
Sometimes an entrepreneur or managing director needs to regain clarity away from day-to-day business.
Sometimes a leadership team needs a setting in which different perspectives can be expressed without being judged immediately.
Sometimes this protected space is created through a qualitative employee survey, in which observations can become visible that no longer had a place in everyday work.
And sometimes it becomes clear that the place itself can become part of the working setting.
Not because unusual places produce unusual solutions.
But because different situations require different conditions.
The method follows the situation.
Not the other way round.
Chapter 6
Experience, not promises
I deliberately make no promises of success.
Every organisation is different.
Every person brings their own story.
That is why I make some of my thinking and Executive Papers freely available.
Not so that you believe me.
So that you can form your own view.
If you are interested in methods, background material or qualitative employee surveys, you will find more in-depth resources there.
And if you would like to understand why the right setting can sometimes matter more than the next method, you will also find personal reflections from different working environments.
I do not write about these environments because they are unusual.
I write about them because they changed the conversations that took place there.
Perhaps something you read there will prompt a thought that allows you to see your own situation in a different light.
Chapter 7
Perhaps it all begins with a conversation
Perhaps what your situation needs right now is not another attempt at a solution.
Perhaps it first needs a moment in which what has long been at work can become visible again.
A setting without the usual pace.
Without the expectation of having to provide an answer immediately.
But with a willingness to look honestly.
If you feel that now is the right time for precisely this, you can decide for yourself how you would like to begin.
How would you like to begin?
A 15-minute introduction
You would first like to establish whether I am the right person to speak to about your concern.
Executive resources
Position papers, Executive Papers and case studies offer further insight into how I work and think.
Why the setting matters
The booklet brings together research findings, personal experience and observations from my work with people and organisations.
You can read, download and share it free of charge.
I come to leave.