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What to do when a team member quits
“I need to leave the team”, she sighs. After training her the past year in different roles, I have offered her a leadership position in the team. And while she was thinking about it, she realized that she needed to focus on another role in her life. And that role is not in my team. I have mixed feelings: I am more than proud that she thought deeply and made a decision (these are the type of people I want in my team!) all while I am sad because I will not work with her in the future anymore. Did people quit in your team, too? It is very easy…
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This crisis kills my empathy
What will last?
Attention: trap ahead!
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Why the next promotion is not a goal
I am chatting with a friend about goals. “My next goal is the promotion in a year from now”, she says. I am nodding. Sounds reasonable. There are these job profiles which make goal-setting easy – there is always an upcoming promotion. A system that mimics the trained sequence of school and university deletes the necessity of finding a ‘why’ for continuing the job. You don’t have to think for yourself. You can just follow the beaten path. I am wondering if this is one of the reasons why you find so many uninspired and uninspiring people in hierarchical companies with clear career paths. I am wondering if this missing…
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Consider LOVE in business
Why focussing on your people will bring your business from good to great
How to survive the journey of becoming a cool boss
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RoL – return on love
„Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.“ The Bible, Ecclesiastes 11:1 The picture of shipping grain across the sea implies uncertainty. Back in the days, you couldn’t know whether your ship will reach it’s destination. You didn’t know whether the grain was still good when reaching the harbor; or if the goods were valuable at the market. After many weeks, your sailors would return and you would find out what you get in return – Spices? Salt? Fine linen? … or just some average payback? Despite the risk of not getting a return, people continued sending grain over the sea, trusting that…
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Leadership is a talent
Bitter or better?
Your list of „Why not“ kills your career
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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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Are you successful?
What social work on sunday morning at 6am taught me
Air time: how to get more time from your boss
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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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Is it opportunistic to take that new job? Or: When loyalty becomes a toxic value.
Will your tombstone inspire others?
How to have a great team meeting
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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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Get into first row!
Why being ‘predictable’ will make you a great leader
Resilience through thankfulness
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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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Do you dare to dream?
Build the workplace of your dreams
Get into first row!
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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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Meaningful Team Calls – but how?
How to survive the journey of becoming a cool boss
Use feedback to speak potential
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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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How to survive the journey of becoming a cool boss
Your list of „Why not“ kills your career
Will you regret your success?
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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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Your career is fueled by a learner’s mindset
Are you smarter than a 4-year-old?
Walking with purpose
