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How weakness could be our strongest teambuilding (Part 2)
So, now that you want to change (see Part 1 of this article), let’s examine in Part 2, how can you change your company culture. Culture is naturally created from the top. That means, whereever you are the ‘top’, you can shape culture. If you ‘only’ have an intern you can lead, than this is your playfield. Actually, it is the best playfield you can get as you can try and learn without hurting too many people. Culture shaping always starts with shaping yourself. If back biting and proclaiming colleagues a ‘lame duck’ is normal behaviour for you, you won’t find anyone who trusts you. You might feel superior –…
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How weakness could be our strongest teambuilding (Part 1)
“I would never go back to that company”, a friend tells me. “There is a culture where you cannot share your real emotions. You are forced to play cool at all times. This is toxic.” I nod silently. Although the professional business environment certainly encourages less emotions than other work places, there is a tendency in some company cultures to extinct emotional up and downs in order to not seem ‘weak’. To be precise: not ‘weak’ towards clients or competitors, but even within the same team the competiveness can be so challenging that grief, sleepless nights and illnesses are hidden. In consequence, colleagues who hit bad luck in life are…
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My manager doesn’t care
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The best is yet to come
What sounds like a phrase of a fortune cookie, could actually have more impact in your life than you’d think. The headline displays a certain belief towards life which is rooted in an underlying narrative that everyone defines for him/herself. Have you ever heard sentences like “If I just had xy, then I could do/buy/move …”, “I cannot do x because …” or “If my boss/team/client wasn’t that way, then …”. Those narratives attribute responsibility away from the speaker towards other people or circumstances. In short: “If you cannot swim, it’s due to the lousy swimwear.” And although there might be tough life circumstances, attributing all your ‘why nots’ to…
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This crisis kills my empathy
My life is f***ed
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The wonder of first sight
Do you remember a moment when you visited a place for the first time and you fell in love? There was this specific sparkle and the marvellous feeling of having found something special. The wonder of first sight feels warm and cosy. You look at every detail, inhale the air consciously, touch leaves, trees or water and explore nature with your whole being. This feeling also shows up when you see something cute or extraordinary beautiful – a newborn, puppy or piece of art. Fascination takes over and you concentrate on every detail in this moment. Time stands still as you explore every attribute while absorbing the beauty and wonder…
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Happy Birthday, isn’t it?
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This crisis kills my empathy
Working in virtual teams has been around for years in project management and consulting. But the extend in which we now work remotely is new. And this is why project leads and management members in consulting need to adapt their leadership style accordingly. Before the pandemic, a good portion of the day was already spent at the laptop and in calls. But there were breaks to chat with colleagues over a cup of coffee. Often these talks were work-unrelated and even with people who weren’t on the same project. We just bumped into them by accident when leaving our desk. But in home office or people-reduced corporate offices, we don’t…
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Why I don’t want your advice
“Forget all I have advised you in the past years“, my boss says in our last meeting on my last day of work “and just continue doing what you think is right. You will need it where you are going.” I am smiling. He is smiling. The past years, I have been some sort of a troublemaker in his department – in the best sense of the word. I brought in new ideas, conducted trainings in project management for the colleagues, started cooperations with HR and delivered some projects despite adversity. But I didn’t blend in with the colleagues who just wanted to do their job. He advised me from…
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Are you successful?
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You are not good enough
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What I would tell my younger self
When I listen to people who have done a successful career, it all sounds like a pathway of pre-aligned steps. Even the hard moments contribute to the bigger picture in the retrospective. It feels so natural that all decisions, ups, downs and detours lead to a well assembled storylining. It is hard to believe that the future of these people actually was a blank page waiting for them to write their first paragraph. Recently, I was writing down my own CV with all the projects that I delivered and all the different topics I pursued. While I was writing, I could actually see the same red line in the past…
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The lies you believe
“The grass is greener on the other side” expresses what we often believe – that someone else has a better share in life than we got. When I just recall the talks I had the past weeks…. the university in that other city which managed pandemic-restrictions and classroom-trainings better … that other company that made more deals in these times … that friend who gets better support from the family in caring for the children. We all have the tendencies to compare – and somehow we manage to always loose within the comparison. We actually find reasons and angles in which the grass on the other side really seems to…
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Why leading a few is harder than leading many
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My job adds value
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Grief is a sneaky bitch
The warmth of the sunlight is touching my face, I can smell the first flowers of the year and the birds are singing a melody of hope. In these moments I believe, I can actually make it. That life has something positive for me that needs to be explored – despite the cold black emptiness within my heart. This icecold horror that nests within my core is a constant reminder that my life as I knew it, is over. Forever. ‘Forever’, echoes the creepy darkness while releasing a good portion of hopelessness. I loved my life. I didn’t want anything to change. All of this happened to me unplanned, unwanted,…
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My life is f***ed
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What social work on sunday morning at 6am taught me
It is early sunday morning. Cold. Dark. Rainy. The group of people meets to work together for a few hours for a social cause. ‘How is the energy level’, the leader of the group asks and smiles into the tired faces. You can call a 5 on a 10 scale a good average. One person puts it quite nicely: “Now I am a 5, put I am here because I know that at the end of our session, I will be a 10.” Four hours and a lot of work later, the group gathers for the wrap up. Everyone smiles and is happy. The work ran smoothly, there was time…
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