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Who is your heir?
While doing a career we can be so focussed on our own success that we hardly think of the next generation. But this one-way-street thinking incorporates the risk of missing valuable support along your career journey. This support comes two-fold: first of all, you need people who fill in your position once you move on to your next step. And secondly, a hungry next generation pushes you to progress as it generates a healthy competition that ensures that you don’t become lazy (which you don’t want to become anyway). Ideally, this next generation is part of your network and wants to see you bloom as you want to see them…
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Air time: how to get more time from your boss
Get into first row!
Screaming at people is not an option
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Why should I even head for a career?
Whenever I ask women what ‘career’ means to them, I hear ‘personal development’, ‘having impact’, ‘developing others’ and further more. What is never a driver is ‘money’, ‘power’ or ‘status’. Interestingly, most coroporate careers offer exactly that: status, power and money. They are tightly connected to the hierarchy levels within the ranks. And ‘running through these ranks or ‘climbing the ladder’ is the general definition of doing a career. As this system has been designed by men for men, it is no surprise that there are little incentives that are attractive for women. Unfortunately, a lot of women do not pursue a career because the immediate gratification seems irrelevant to…
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Why you need to defend your team culture
Toxic! I hate working for you!
Wanna keep your job?
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What it takes to make a career
„What does it take to make a career in consulting?“, is a question I get asked on a regular basis. Coming from several years of university, young professionals want ideas on how to be successful in their new realm. Therefore, I put together some key learnings I have seen working over the past years. For sure, they are not comprehensive. But they are proven principles that will make you successful in your team, with your clients and you can even apply them in other life areas. SERVANT MINDSET – I love working with people who have experience in service, e.g. from travel business or gastro. Serving people requires a lot…
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Do you have a leadership mindset?
This crisis kills my empathy
When silence kills your team spirit
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‘I messed up’ – how you turn your messy leadership moments in fruitful team culture
A few weeks ago, I messed up in a team meeting on a Friday afternoon. I was tired of the week. I was at my worst. I was unfair to my own team. When I took some time on Saturday to reflect on the week, I realized what had happened. During my tiredness, the worst side of my ego took over and I let my own team feel as loosers. When I saw what I had done, I was angry at myself, unhappy and shocked. Instead of building a cool cuture where everyone thrives, one selfish comment attacked so much trust and teamspirit. As I could not call my team…
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Build the workplace of your dreams
Your positive attitude is fake
Your self-talk influences your career
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When silence kills your team spirit
I remember a team call that went horrible bad. For some reason the atmosphere already alternated from ignorance to arrogance of the participants and not one idea made it through the devastating critics of the outnumbered naysayers. As a result noone wanted to share any idea, thought or update. It hit climax when the boss asked an important question and noone of the management people in the call wanted to answer. The silence weighted heavier than any argument could have. I was reminded of this call when I recently went into another team call in which one team member ignored the question of the moderator. Even after offering three time…
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I am in the wrong job
My job adds value
What it takes to make a career
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Who is your minister of honor?
For a few weeks now, there is the role of ‘minister of honor’ in my team. Whoever holds this role is responsible to encourage all team members. And although this sounds somewhat silly or easy-to-do at first sight, it it neither nor. People who have been in this role mentioned that it isn’t easy to find the right words for a chat message to encourage someone. They said that they were wondering how to live this role in a creative way. Actually, these are reflection moments that I cherish. If you hand out responsiblity in your team, you give a person the chance to grow. In this case, the minister…
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Make appreciation stick
How do I decide what to do first?
Are you smarter than a 4-year-old?
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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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My manager doesn’t care
Words have power
Make appreciation stick
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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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How to be hated by your team easily
Will you regret your success?
Bitter or better?
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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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UNFAIR!
I am in the wrong job
How to start a consulting career in time of crisis
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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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I am not too stupid, I am just grieving
Sometimes life sucks
UNFAIR!
