Projects

Company:
Plant/location with 750 employees (part of a global group with 200,000 employees); manufacturing industry / plastics, chemicals; high-end-/high-tech-product (cleanroom conditions).
Project type/duration:
Organisational development; selective support over the course of 2 years
Role:
Organisational developer; consultant to the site management; external project management
Initial situation:
The site has an outstanding position in terms of process characteristics (quality, safety, lead times) relative to comparable German plants (top 2% of the industry), but is in the bottom third relative to the Japanese plants of the parent company. The project's goal is to close this gap.
Tasks/core activities:
The analysis shows that, on the one hand, process deviations are mainly due to inattentive or not clearly oriented work behaviour, which in turn is not guided by effective leadership. On the other hand, there is a certain lack of clarity in the leadership matrix (professional vs. disciplinary leadership) as to who has which leadership responsibility and tasks, how leadership is coordinated across the different axes and levels of the matrix, and which common approaches are goal-oriented. There is also a lack of clarity at the leadership level on how to deal with such overarching 'cultural' issues. In all these points, dysfunctional old cultural patterns are identified, goal-oriented new patterns are developed and successively lived as a new normality, the state of progress is systematically reflected and the necessary clarifications at all levels (individual-personal mindsets and patterns of action; cooperative negotiations and clarifications; introductions and adjustments of processes and organisational instruments and routines) are implemented and secured in their sustainability.
Result:
The plant closes the gap to the Japanese sites in terms of process characteristics and advances to the top within the group of EMEA sites. Satisfaction with the work situation increases at the employee level, and the management team experiences itself as significantly empowered and disencumbered. Topics that became apparent in the course of the project, such as the design of communication routines and a future-proof system of qualification and knowledge management, were also solved.

Company:
Heavy manufacturing industry (metal processing); main plant with 700 employees of a company with globally 30,000 employees.
Project type/duration:
Organisational development; selective support over 2 years
Role:
Organisational developer, change facilitator, leader & management trainer, safety expert
Initial situation:
The factory's accident and injury rate is among the worst decile of comparable factories. The direct and indirect financial costs of the accidents (from insurance levy to interruptions in production) are high as the annual profit generated at the site.
Tasks/core activities:
The focus of the external support is on the intensive accompaniment and support of managers at all levels on site (shift supervisors to site management / board members) - from topic-specific training and qualification via cross-hierarchy-level team building and development of collaboration to general support and supervision with regard to management activities and effectiveness. Processes and instruments are adjusted (creation of transparency through more precise and meaningful KPIs; overhaul of meeting routines; inspections; securing managment on-site presence; redesign of operational processes), the employees are included in the change in large group processes, the cooperation of management and staff functions (HR, Health&Safety, ...) is reorganised - the site undergoes a plant-wide change process in which leadership and cooperation are realigned, far beyond only the safety issue.
Result:
Within two years, the accident frequency drops by 60% to 40% of the previous year's average, while the severity of accidents (which is more relevant from a financial and human point of view) drops by 75% to 25%. This drastic improvement in both values proves to be sustainable in the following years. The costs of the external support are amortised 10-fold every year. In addition, significant improvements in the areas of quality, adherence to deadlines, productivity and staff loyalty can be observed.

Company:
building materials manufacturer (4th generation family business); 100 employees at 5 locations
Project type/duration:
Organisational development; 3 years
Role:
Organisational developer, consultant
Initial situation:
The company's management experiences its organisation as 'sluggish' in change processes and suspects fundamental, deep-rooted causes for this.
Tasks/core activities:
The project team (external organisational developer, site operations management, HR, product development) thoroughly examines and reorganises the company. Team structures are reorganised, middle management positions are partly reassigned and partly realigned and qualified in intensive individual coaching and joint workshops. Tasks, competencies and responsibilities as well as implementation strategies are (re)defined for all management positions and for all staff units. The process landscape, including management, coordination and support processes, is restructured. The changed strategy is implemented. Clarifications among executive family members and non-family members relieve unnecessary friction. All measures are closely accompanied, from conception via implementation to assurance of sustainability.
Result:
The functionality of the company increases significantly, which is reflected in productivity efficiencies and process reliabilities as well as in the ability to implement changes and deal with critical events: the unexpected permanent absence of two key persons due to illness is coped with just as quickly as changes in the key customer structure and the associated product and production requirements - challenges that were considered 'unmanageable' before the start of the project. In addition to the desired strategic realignment, the organisation is 'empowered' in the sense of 'higher level' learning: strategic adjustments in the following years succeed quickly and efficiently.

Company:
Solutions- & Services-providing company with 600 employees spread over several locations.
Project type/duration:
Strategic and (IT-based) process realignment; support over one year plus 'aftercare'/operational excellence support in continuation for one more year.
Role:
Organisational developer with focus on implementation as part of a multidisciplinary consulting team; part of the project steering committee (external co-lead) and the change communication team; support of implementation
Initial situation:
A change project that combines a strategic reorientation with information technology/process-related changes has a clear impact on work situations in large parts of the organisation as well as on the required leadership practice - i.e. a 'hard' transformation goes hand in hand with an 'implicit' cultural change and benefits from intensified implementation support.
Tasks/core activities:
The core task of the organisational developer is the comprehensive support of the implementation process: Based on the clarification of the transformation's goals (involving a multitude of perspectives and positions from within the organisation) and winning the support of the decisive stakeholders, the architecture of the change (inlcuding the steps and phases of the roll-out and the red line of communications) is designed (and repeatedly, iteratively adapted and optimised in the project's course). The management team is closely accompanied, supported, coached and qualified for implementation and communication of changes; forums for exchange, clarification and consultation are provided. Specific topics are deepend with selected target groups and concrete implementation options are worked out together. The experiences made in the depths of the organisation are fed back to steering committees and the organisation's top management and evaluated there.
Result:
Despite its high impact, the implementation of the transformation succeeds within scheduled time and without interrupting the organisations abilities to deliver. The combination of external support for the roll-out and external co-project management makes a decisive contribution to this.

Company:
Organisational unit (60 people) within an agency of about 300 employees.
Project type/duration:
Leadership team support over the course of 3 months
Role:
Mediator of conflicts in the management team; relation-focused facilitation as expert for psychosocial dynamics; content-related counselling as organisational developer regarding strategic and structural improvement potentials.
Initial situation:
The management team (comprising the upper levels of the organisational unit, 9 members) experiences itself in dissent and without shared alignment. Dissent refers to viable future strategies and mindsets about visions and missions (self-image, delivered services, ways of selling and providing services). In addition, performance regarding implementations of improvements is experienced as unsatisfactory and insufficient.
Tasks/core activities:
In a series of workshops with the management team, personal conflicts are mediated and solved and interpersonal conditions for substantive work are created. Then an alignment of the organisational unit fitting the overall corporate strategy as well as practical guidelines for the respective teams are worded. Finally, potentials for improvement (especially structural and process-related potentials) are assessed and ways of implementing them are adopted: for drastic structural organisational changes, the corresponding transformation architecture is drafted, smaller issues are transferred into already common project structures. The external support changes from an initially more mediative and interpersonal-personal role to a substantive advisory role based on organisational development and transformation competence.
Result:
The leadership team subsequently experiences itself as surprisingly capable of cooperating and working aligned. Cooperation is experienced as unburdened and disencumbered, both from interpersonal interferenes as from inadequately organised processes previously bypassed by improvisations or individual workarounds. At all levels of the organisation, the organisational unit is experienced as more efficient and effective. The following staff barometers and 360-degree feedbacks reflect the change with significantly risen results.

Company:
Agencies; advertising and marketing; 280 + 90 employees
Project type/duration:
Merger; selective support over 2.5 years in several project phases and with various objectives
Role:
Organisational developer, transformation consultant
Initial situation:
Two agency groups (featuring partner and network structure) with complementary products want to offer an integrated, joint product in accordance with the perceived change in market demands. Given this purpose, they choose to merge legally, regarding organisational structure, production process and process structure, technological infrastructure, and leadership and management structures and cultures. In the course of the merger, synergies are also to be exploited through shared services and process efficiency/excellence (a topic that has been postponed for years - the status quo is characterised by 'uncontrolled growth', non-standardisation, problems with efficiency and scalability) . The merger is culturally challenging in so far as that the merging companies have hitherto seen themselves in a competitive relationship (e.g. in recruitment) and had defined themselves through sometimes diametrically opposed corporate and management philosophies. In addition, 'transformation/change' as well as 'process management' are partially not understood as the object of leadership activity.
Tasks/core activities:
The management team is gradually led towards a new understanding of its role. A common identity and compatible procedures in leadership and cooperation are found or developed. The organisational structure, process landscape and role definitions are revised and the staffing of positions negotiated. An internal department for process support & process excellence is established and its cooperation with the overall organisation is ensured. The entire change process is structured and sequenced and the activities in the individual agencies are coordinated.
Result:
The merged agency is efficient and successful in the market. It produces new products in a functional, scalable and efficient way and can exploit new business opportunities, with significant results in terms of client acquisition and turnover.

Company:
Manufacturing of products from high-tech materials; 300 employees (15,000 employees in the parent company)
Project type/duration:
Organisational development; selective support over 2.5 years
Role:
Organisational developer, trainer, change consultant, conflict facilitator
Initial situation:
Sales performance has been stable below expectations for years; product potential is not being fully exploited. Difficulties in the attempt to train new employees in the globally active sales department (25 existing employees in different roles) reveal 'wildly grown', often intransparent and hardly comprehensible structures and processes, an 'administrative' mindset and lack of innovation, entrenched conflicts in the department and excessive distance to production and r&d departments. A special challenge is the complexity of the non-standardised product (customised solutions), which requires coordination of a large number of people with specialised expertise in all sales activities.
Tasks/core activities:
The sales department is being reorganised in terms of structure, processes, culture and, in part, persons. Role profiles, performance criteria, performance measurement and responsibilities are sharpened and newly defined. Communication routines are restructured. A new head of the department is appointed. Massive cooperation problems and frictions within the team are overcome; the influence of personal networks reaching up to board members are addressed and their effects limited. Synergies are won by merging activities and efficiencies are raised by optimizing processes. Business development is supported by new appointments. Interfaces and collaboration with production and r&d are restructured.
Result:
After initial, partially harsh personal eruptions, the sales department gradually finds its way to a performance- and development-oriented, cooperative new normality. The development and adaptation of products according to customer needs (solution development) is faster and more dynamic, and sales performance settles into the expected range.

Company:
Food chemistry, site (300 employees) of a chemical group (>100,000 employees)
Project type/duration:
topic-related consulting and support; selective support over 2 years
Role:
Change consultant, trainer, expert
Initial situation:
The site's overall process reliabilty (uncompromisingly crucial in food chemistry) is good and more than satisfying - however, some 'near deviations' are causing concerns among the site management ("first signs of...?"). In addition, the site would like to anticipate the group-wide introduction of a standardised BBS (Behaviour Based Safety) tool and find a tailor-made solution for its plant. Finally, the leadership, communication and feedback culture is seen as rather one-sidedly focussed on error and 'negative-heavy' - in this respect there are wishes for change.
Tasks/core activities:
Together with the internal staff, a BBS instrument suitable for the plant is developed. On the one hand, it systematically directs communication among employees and between managers and employees towards recognition, positive feedback and support of functional behaviour. On the other hand, it supports the assurance of necessary process reliabilites. The management team is advised and trained in their leadership practice; all employees at the site are trained in giving feedback and communication skills. All employees participate in team-specific workshops; there, team-specific topics are worked through and solved. Key persons are supported in individual coachings. An additional series of training sessions and workshops helps lower management levels to gain skills in leadership and clear ideas about their leadership role (duties, responsabilities, competencies). The higher management levels benefit of workshops about 'higher level leadership / leading leaders and creating culture' and clarification of strategic mid-term goals for the sites structural and cultural development.
Result:
The site benefits from its tailor-made BBS tool both in terms of process characteristics (citing the responsible internal manager: "runs much more reliably now; I sleep better at nights") and in terms of 'cultural' benefits: leadership and cooperation change noticeably and are described at all levels as "freed of ambiguity and fear" and "more functional, more effective". This is directly perceptible in, among other things, the rapid and efficient implementation of changes in the aftermath of the project ("would not have been possible before our project with this speed and ease; we also learned something at a 'higher level' regarding how to collaborate in changes").

Company:
Automotive supplier; all German locations of a German family-owned company with 25,000 employees worldwide.
Project type/duration:
Germany-wide management training series (all managers from team leader level upwards) within fifteen months
Role:
Trainer and consultant
Initial situation:
In its German locations, the company suffers from rising departures by resignation (change of company) and rising sickness-related departures of managers and experts (mostly long-standing, respected 'high performers'), which are increasingly affecting productivity (especially innovation and development of new products, where the lost expertise can't be quickly replaced). The recruitment of new employees is frustratingly slow despite comparatively high salaries. Inside and outside the company, the corporate culture is considered 'demanding to exaggerating' - from implicit values via working mode to working hours for non-tariff employees (e.g. experts and leaders).
Tasks/core activities:
Based on a joint assessment (external consultants together with middle and senior managers in a series of workshops), guidelines for productive yet employee-friendly work culture and procedures are phrased and worded, comprising both organisational (workflow, management and transparency of workload, flexibility of work times, dialogue and feedback routines) as personal dimensions (mindset, moodset, value attitudes, leadership style). All leaders and managers (from shop-floor to board) participate in a training series transmitting the respective guidelines and detailing specific solutions for specific departments. Individual coachings are offered and widely attended. The company's management is supported in setting up a department that permanently monitors the topic from within.
Result:
The training series leaves a significant impact on leadership culture. Leadership strategies are more carefully chosen and reflected (especially short vs. long-term consequences). The relevance of monitoring and managing employee's overall tasks and managing the availability of their performance's requirements is widely understood. Thanks to individual coachings, leaders gain awareness of the risk of dysfunctional changes in their own leadership behaviour during phases of high pressure and stress. The loss of key employees decreases. The newly established internal department finds the managers it cooperates with as well-prepared (with the corresponding acceptance and motivation to cooperate).

Company:
Global engineering group (approx. 300,000 MA)
Project type/duration:
Leadership development program; 2 years each
Role:
Personality developer, coach
Initial situation:
A business unit of a global engineering group wants professional support for its talent circle (young and future managers; high potentials with up to 10 years of professional experience; globally drafted). Instead of a typical 'training', a measure more focussed on 'personality' and 'relational skills as base and prerequisite for leadership skills' is considered as useful. Objectives are: enabling better leadership performance on the one hand; growing and providing the personal cadre for the long-term development of corporate culture in terms of mindset, awareness and self-leading skills on the other.
Tasks/core activities:
Over a period of two years, the target group attends several connected workshops each year. There, they focus on their personal patterns of perception, interaction and behaviour; they reflect about their personal authenticity and their organisational role, they learn by personal experience about leadership and relations, dynamics in groups & relationships (power, conflict, diversity, roles, stress, development). For this, a deep-reaching repertoire of methods was chosen (individual, personal, also emotionally touching, and yet 'acceptable' in the context of a series of group workshops). The transfer to everyday work was assured both inside and outside the workshops; and finally, the coach was available for personal support also between the workshops.
Result:
Participants leave the two-year series with awareness and clarity about themselves, specific own behavioural patterns and their effects, possibilities of alternative behaviour, implications for their own leadership style, and finding personally viable decisions regarding career paths etc. They gained access to personal skills which contribute broadly to their development (self-leading skills, authenticity and integrity, awareness and reflection, interpersonal exchange regarding personal topics, coping with difficult emotions during personal development). Due to the positive experiences, several new series start every year.
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