WELCOME TO OTIUM

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Interview with Prof. Dr. Tom Sommerlatte.  For Tom, being a painter and leading a corporation hang together. That balance between ART and WORK is essential for him as a leader. He has brought artistic freedom and creativity into the workplace. According to Tom, the artistic spirit helps improve problem solving. To take people along Tom had to encourage his teams to break out of their routines. Artists have the courage to start from a white page. They want to accomplish something new. They are fully engaged. Tom believes that this is what Art can bring to Leadership!

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SVEN

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Today we would like to talk about Art-Work-Balance. I have the pleasure to be here with Tom. He used to be the Managing Director of a large international consulting firm, but always had the time to also be an artist. Tom is a painter and member of a group of artists (Group 50).

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Tom, we are here in your beautiful studio. Can you tell us if your artistic activity had a link with your work as a leader?

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TOM

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Well first of all, yes, it had a strong link. But I did not have the time, I took the time! And the reason why I took that time is that I felt that I benefitted in my professional work from the experience in the cultural and artistic environment. And that is the freedom and the creativity and the interaction with other people in the artistic world that allows you to feel this development of creativity very strongly. And I wanted to maintain this spirit in my professional work. And that in a sense has been one of the reasons of my professional success.

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SVEN

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So you have in a way imported that artistic spirit into your work. Let’s look at two things: (1) how you have done that for yourself as leader and (2) how you have inspired others in your company.

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So first, are there any “tips and tricks” so to say how you have organized your work personally?

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TOM

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Yes, it is actually first of all for yourself. And the way to do it is to fight for time to sit back and reflect. You will find that the more you do this the more productive you will be in the rest of your work.

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So you are protecting time in your agenda to think and sit back. That is certainly something we should all consider doing more!

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TOM

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But I had to fight for it and I had to train myself to take that time!

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SVEN

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As a leader you had the opportunity to shape the way people were working. In what sense has the experience as an artist influenced the way you have organized work in your firm?

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TOM

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Well, to take people along you have to act as a role model (See Tom’s article on Trust Management). You have to have the courage to behave in a different way. Sometimes this is considered to be a bit funny in the world of business. But some people will immediately understand the advantage of behaving this way and of being free to do things. Others may be stuck in a routine and follow a pattern and may find this harder – or may never make it. But the motivation to do it is really the joint experience of being creative in a new way. It is the experience of coming up with solutions and doing things that is very valuable and different from the routine.

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SVEN

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What you are saying here is that the problem solving that we do at work has a bit of that creativity that artists have when they create their “oeuvre”?

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TOM

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Right, because the artists start from a white page, they want to achieve something new and they are motivated to fully engage themselves. If we transfer this into the business context, the result will be a team spirit and a team culture where jointly we can create something which is much more than the sum of the individuals.

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SVEN

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Well I think that this is very inspirational, Tom. Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I would like to ask you a last question: we talk about art-work-balance. And that is certainly important for you also at the very personal level. Can you tell us why?

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TOM

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It is essential, in the sense that I cannot reduce one side to the advantage of the other. I need both. They are so interrelated that in terms of my professional and artistic life they hang together. One benefits from the other.

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SVEN

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Art-work-balance, both parts hang together. I think that is a great conclusion. Thank you very much Tom for this conversation!

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The choices to take a new job, to change company or to give a new orientation to our career are highly strategic personal and professional decisions. It is very important to have a robust decision process to avoid regrets and second thoughts. This article outlines a simple tool that will make better career decisions.

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Every now and then, we have to make an important career decision. This could be a choice between two internal career options or because we have been contacted by a headhunter who offers an external opportunity. In some cases the decision is very clear an easy, because we have been looking for exactly that job. In other cases we might end up agonizing because we are not sure what option to choose. In this article I will outline a simple and practical tool that should help you in this decision process.

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Let’s first take a closer look at these difficult career decisions. It is interesting to understand that there can be quite different reasons why they are difficult to make. The challenge might come from the fact that they are very close and that we have trouble figuring out which one is the better one, because the pros and cons of both options are quite in balance. Maybe there are just certain smaller aspects that make the difference.

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On the exact opposite side, we may have to choose between two very different options. This is for example the case if we have the possibility to give a completely new orientation to our career. As an example, we might have responsibility for a certain function in a large organization and we are being offered a prestigious role in a consulting firm that operates in this field. This implies moving from an operational responsibility to an expert role. Or we might be operating in the public sector and a private company offers a senior role in their management team.

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These choices can give a very different orientation to our professional activity. They might represent fantastic development opportunities, but the simple fact to make more fundamental changes makes such a decision potentially very difficult.

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We may ask ourselves questions: Am I going to be able to adapt to the new environment? Is this type of role what I really like, or will it maybe become less interesting after a while? Am I going to be able to live up to that new challenge?

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Very often, one of the two options is the status quo: I could either continue to do my current job or change. Obviously, the status quo option is often considered as the safer bet, simply because this is what we already know. The uncertainty of the new is usually perceived as a certain risk. The human nature being in general rather risk averse, we could have a certain inclination to favor the “stay where you are” option and might miss out on opportunities simply because of our need for security. That is obviously far from optimal, because we might lose out on the chance to accelerate our career, foster our personal development and discover new environments.

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It is therefore very advisable to ensure that our decision process is as robust as possible. But what to do? The classic approach is to establish a list of pros and cons. This is indeed a very advisable. We should also ensure that we can collect advice from competent individuals. This is even more helpful if they know us, because they can then factor in the way they believe the job options would correspond (or not) to our profile, needs and expectations. Finally, conducting a thorough due diligence about the company, its products or services and its culture will complete the information we may have been able to gather thought he interview process.

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But once all of these important activities have been completed, we might be confronted precisely to the dilemma mentioned above, where we struggle to come to a clear decision. This is where the tool I would like to outline here can hopefully be helpful. I have been able to recommend it to a number of individuals who have confirmed to me that they have found it useful and I therefore thought should share it here.

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The approach is very simple. All you need is 3 days, ideally in a time where you can do some introspection and where you are not totally absorbed by other important matters.

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On day One you set yourself a time where you will make a final decision between both options. Let’s say at 6pm. You use the day to reflect thoroughly. You may review the list of pros and cons again and again, make some last calls to colleagues and friends to collect their advice and latest at the set time, you write your final decision on a piece of paper and you consider it as your final decision for the time being. You will then observe an interesting phenomenon: once you have chosen on option, your perspective will change on the options.

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Maybe you will feel relief which will comfort your confidence. Maybe this will trigger in the contrary even greater doubt. Most likely the fact of having made a decision will allow you to step back a bit. Similar to a painter who has accomplished an important step in his or her work and who steps back to observe the accomplishment. This is very helpful in such a decision process. The leisure time in the evening, maybe certain sportive activities or hobbies will help detach even more and observe the decision from some distance. And of course the night be beneficial as well. Sleeping it over is very often helpful as we know.

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Now the important part in this decision support approach that I recommend is that you will start the exact same process 2 more times: on the next day, you should again set a time where a “final” decision will be made. As you understand now, these final decisions are milestones which can be revised on the following day. But they are still firm decision on that specific day. It is indeed very important to come to a clear decision between the options and to consider it final on that day. It is advisable to write the decision down.

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On the second day you have the possibility to make a new temporarily final decision. This might confirm the decision from the previous day or it might actually go in the opposite direction. Both cases offer you interesting insight. If the decision is the same, that indicates that the reflection time has rather confirmed the rational decision you made of the first day. If the choice on the next day is in favor of the other option you can start to reflect about the reasons that have made you change your mind.

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At the give time you write that decision down. You try to step back in the evening and overnight to let the more intuitive processes operate, which may throw different light on your decision or in the contrary, give you that feeling of having made the right choice. You have still one more run and the option to change your mind. But on the third day, the decision will be the final and definitive one. You will have the opportunity to recap all the thought you had over these past three days and get back into some of the due diligence you have done. At the set time, you come for the third time to a decision, but this time it should be the definitive one.

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You will see that you will approach that third decision milestone with greater serenity, because you have experienced that exact same decision process two times already. Serenity helps because it eliminates the noise that distracts our thinking. You will probably feel able to make a more robust choice thanks to that.

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In addition, you will be able to consider the two previous decisions.

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• The easiest is of course if you confirm the first choice a third time. That would mean that you are quite clear.

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• If you have chosen option A two times and then you finally move to option B, that usually means that a certain regrets or second thoughts have emerged that you had not given the same importance before the decision was made, but that suddenly turns the situation around. It is good to make that experience before the final decision is due, because sometimes these turning points occur when it is too late.

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• The third possibility is that you had made an initial choice (for example for option A), you have then had doubt which led on the second day to a different decision, but then finally you confirm your fist choice, which usually allows you to feel quite reassured that the initial decision was the right one.

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I believe that this process will help you to make the best possible decision. The advantage of this tool is that you put yourself into a real decision situation but with the possibility to revise the choice. You can place yourself in to both perspectives: the perspective before and after the decision, while keeping the freedom to revise the choice.

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Does this mean that it will always be the right one and that it excludes any wrong decisions? Of course not. But I believe that it will make you decisions more robust. You may also ask if the third decision can’t be changed again and if this process could not be extended to 4 or 5 days, or even more. You have of course the freedom to adjust this decision tool to your specific needs and requirements. But my recommendation would be to keep it to a well-defined duration (3 days are the optimal time frame in my eyes) so that you keep the “tension” that is required to make it “real”. It the process goes on for too long, the “final” decision of the day become less committing and that would alter the efficiency of that decision tool.

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I hope that this will be useful for you and I would value greatly to get your feedback.

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We are in the daily race for higher objectives and strive to over-achieve. Ambition is good, but is sometimes overshadows what we truly aspire to. Aspiration is related to our deeper desire. The closer we get to our aspired state the more fulfillment we experience. We should be careful not to miss this in the rush. That article might help to connect to what we truly aspire to.

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nWhat is the difference between Aspiration and ambition?

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Let’s first look at what they have in common. As a matter of fact, these two terms are sometimes used as synonyms because both terms speak about a projection into the future. They designate a state that we wish to reach in the future.

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In both cases there is action and energy that is associated to this desire. There is a motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve that future state. Be it to reach a certain physical performance in sports, to reach certain material goals, a business performance or career objectives. As such, both ambition and aspiration are positive.

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But I believe that there is a fundamental difference between these two drivers. It is the source of the energy. Aspiration is based on our deep desire. It is like an inner force that pulls us to aim for higher goals. It is more deeply connected to who we are. Connecting to our deep desire will help us understand even better what we truly aspire to (see my video on How to connect to my deep desire) Reaching these goals will provide us with fulfillment, meaning and true satisfaction.

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It will actually allow us to bring the best of ourselves fully to the surface because the closer we get to the state that we aspire to the more we are leveraging on our talents and strength. We operate in the space that is “our space”. This could in an ideal case get us closer to what the Greeks have called ataraxia. The absence of desire. The state of fulfillment where nothing more is needed. This will allow us to be serene and generous.

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The associations related to ambition are slightly different. The starting point of an ambition is usually more competitive. It is what I will reach versus the other. It is related to standards and over passing these standards. It is related to performance and over-performance.

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The motivation is less a deeply intrinsic one, but one that is stimulated by a certain situation or context. Very often certain external factors may stimulate our will to win. For example if there is an audience who is watching. Ambition is largely a performance in the eyes of others. It is usually quite visible.

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We see here the difference to aspiration, which is more something we achieve for ourselves. It might go unnoticed for the others. They might simply see a greater happiness or serenity but not perceive what is triggering this. In the case of an ambition to objectives are usually clear and over passing they is the declared goal.

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Now there is of course nothing wrong with ambition. In sports for example this has tremendous virtues. It is thanks to the encouragement of others that athletes beat the records. There is a real symbiosis between the football players and the fans in the stadium.

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But if our energy has this as its main source, the fulfillment may not be reached for two reasons: either the ambition goes for always more. You have hardly reached one objective or beaten one record when already to want more and so on and so forth.

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The other reason is that once you have reached the ultimate goal there is nothing more to aspire to and you might fall into an empty hole. What am I going to do now that there is no objective anymore to run towards? Ambition is an energy that vanishes once the goal is reached. Aspiration in the contrary is an energy that is sustainable once the desire state has been reached.

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I believe that this has quite important implications for all of us. We should of course have a healthy dose or ambition. But we should be careful not to get trapped in our ambition and to lose sight of our true aspiration. As a matter of fact, it requires some efforts to connect back to what we truly aspire to. We should be careful not to miss this in the rush of things….

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Many studies have shown that people today prefer videos to text, especially among the younger generations. This is a clear trend. The incredible richness of content on YouTube is a result of this. But from what I can observe, leaders are still not always very familiar with this tool and sometimes even reluctant to stand in front of a camera. I hope that this article can help overcome some of these barriers and make your communication more efficient and more powerful. I will outline here the 4 key steps to shoot YOUR video. You will find practical advice on content creation, shooting, post-production and on the publication of your video. Get started, now!

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I am frequently asked to talk about my YouTube experience: What equipment is needed? How to prepare a video? How to shoot a video? How to create and promote a channel? What does it take to do the post-production? And …. do you get professional support from a specialized agency?

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The answer to this last question is simple: I do it all by myself – and it is actually easier than it may look at a fist glance. I’d be happy to share my experience here. This could be relevant for those of you who may want to publish videos on YouTube or other social media. But I believe that this article is also relevant for leaders who want to leverage on the power of videos for their internal communication on the company Intranet or on corporate social media such a Yammer.

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These are the 4 steps that I would recommend to follow:

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1) Content comes first!

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The most important part is the content. You need a topic that can be outlined in a few simple messages. The best is to have one key idea that you want to put across. I would recommend writing it up first. This will help you ensure that the content is clear for yourself and well-structured with an introduction, a central part where your outline your main arguments and with a closing. The optimal length of a video in my experience is 3 to maximum 6 minutes.

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I usually read the text of my video a couple of times before the shooting to have the key points in mind. It is important to feel passionate about the messages that you wish to deliver. I was once told by a professional YouTuber that you have to have 2 or 3 times more energy in front of a camera than you would need in a normal conversation. The camera “absorbs” energy. It therefore requires a lot of passion and conviction to be impactful in your videos.

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2) Technical equipment for the shooting

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What technical equipment is required? The simple answer is: Your smart-phone has all the features you need. Later you may decide to sophisticate: You may buy a tripod (but books are good as well to stabilize your camera) and you may invest into a microphone. But you phone is all you need to make a start and to gain experience.

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Let me tell you a little story. When I decided to start my YouTube channel, I went into a professional camera shop. I thought I needed a top equipment to put all chances on my side. Maybe there was also the idea that I would have to go all the way if I had spent a lot of money. So I went into this shop with the idea that I would invest a couple of thousand Euros to have everything I need. The friendly lady behind the counter asked me if I have an IPhone. I said yes. And to my great surprise she advised me to try things out just with this device. How right she was! I started to gain experience. But then I came back with specific needs: a microphone (and a second one for interview videos), for a tripod, a black scree, light and then more light. And so I did become a good customer! 

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For the shooting, I would recommend doing this when you can isolate yourself for a couple of hours. It is important not to be disturbed. Any interruption during the shooting destroys the take. And according to Peters law, this happens usually when you are about to make your best take 😉 I would also recommend putting all devices on flight mode and on silent.

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Personally I don’t use any script or prompter, because that takes away most of the spontaneity. In some cases, I use a flip chart with a couple of bullet points to remember the flow of the argumentation.

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I usually do between 5 and 10 takes. The later ones are often the better ones, mainly because they are shorter. After a couple of takes you see where you can be crisper, clearer and what aspects you may be able to cut out. Short is good! I would recommend watching each take before shooting the next one. That will allow you to check what can be improved from a content perspective, but also technically in terms of light, sound and framing.

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The background matters. It is worthwhile spending a bit of time to find a nice place with an attractive background. This will have an impact on your average watch-time per video. People do stay longer if they find the picture attractive, not just what you say.

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Make sure you have a stable and comfortable body position and that you speak with conviction. Be present! Remember, the video is absorbing energy. It takes quite some passion to be impactful. Finally, I think it helps to talk directly to the people who are “behind the camera”. I usually think about someone who I hope will see the video and who might be particularly interested in its content.

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3) Post-production

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The less post-production is needed the better it is, because that can otherwise become very time consuming. I use I-Movies for the post-production. It is readily available on your I-Phone or I-Pad and quite simple to use. Alternative software is of course available as well. You will find many very helpful tutorial video on YouTube to get started. The basics are fairly simple.

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I think it is helpful to watch other videos on YouTube to learn. You will see that jump-cuts and hard-cuts are used a lot. To be honest, this is not so much my cup of tea. I do exactly the contrary: I try to have the fewest cuts possible. Many of my videos are just one take from the beginning to the end. I think that makes them more fluid and easier to listen to. But this is really a question of style. I am sure that you will find out what suites you best.

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4) Publication

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In case you wish to publish the video on YouTube, you should create a Thumbnail, which is the icon or cover page that will be visible in the search results. It should contain the title of your video and an attractive photo. Again, you will find great tutorial videos on this and also on how to set up your YouTube channel.

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Social media do a great job in getting your content to the people who are interested in it. For business related topics, Linked-In is a very powerful tool. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great multipliers as well.

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For those who wish to establish a Channel and grow their audience, I would recommend a regular pattern for publications (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, …). The regularity will allow you audience to know when they can expect a new video. In addition, the YouTube algorithm will promote your videos more if the robots can identify a publication pattern.

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I guess that this is all you need to know to get started. So have fun! You will be amazed by the positive feedback you will receive and by the number of people who will see your content. Video communication is very direct and engaging. It is clearly the communication channel of the future. Jump into it and use the comment section to let me know about your experience!

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This video shows how we can use architecture to reflect about our leadership style. Should we provide more structure and direction or should we rather create space so that our teams can gain greater autonomy? There is no right or wrong, but the analogy to architecture can help us assess our style and adjust it to the needs of our teams and of the business.

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I have recently read “Experiencing Architecture” from Steen Eiler Rasmussen (MIT Press, 1964), where found an interesting classification of different styles of architecture, which could be used in analogy also for leadership styles.

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Architecture and leadership

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This is not the first parallel that is drawn between architecture and leadership. A number of words from architecture are used in our leadership language.

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We speak for example about creating space where people can work together, about building a structure for our organization, about the strategic house and about keeping everyone under one common roof.

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FILLING the space versus CREATING space

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It is therefore not surprising that this book from Rasmussen has inspired me as well.

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The chapter that I found particularly thought-provoking classifies architecture into two schools: one that if focused on FILLING the space and another one that is focused on CEATING space.

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An example of the “filling space” architecture is the Gothic style.

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The Renaissance or the Bauhaus are examples of the “creating space” architecture.

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Leadership styles

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In terms of leadership, many of us have probably experienced the difference between a leader who is very present and who is constantly filling the space with ideas and by providing direction and advice, versus other leaders, who are actually sometimes quite distant and who leave a lot of space for their team members to take initiative.

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More interventionist leader

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Just as in the architecture, there is probably as such no right and wrong. A more interventionist leader might be highly engaging, motivating and inspirational.

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Her/his proximity might drive their teams to the highest levels of performance and might create a strong team spirit that is centered on her/his personality. Such a bond might be of great benefit especially in a crisis situation, where holding very closely together becomes a critical success factor.

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Leaders who offer more space

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But in the same way, you could argue in favor of leaders who offer space to their team, so that they can develop their own entrepreneurial spirit and initiative.

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This leadership style that is focusing on ensuring that team members have the necessary space, but without being interventionist is probably particularly suitable for individuals who have reached a higher level of autonomy and maturity and who need that environment in order to develop their full potential.

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Assessing our own leadership style

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Both style have their advantages and might work well, if they are exercised with mastery. But being aware of these differences is certainly very helpful. It allows us first of all to assess our own leadership style.

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We can also reflect back on the experience we have personally made with different leaders and what has worked for us. We can then reflect on our own leadership practice and ask ourselves the question, if our style is adapted to the needs of our teams and to the specific business context.

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Questions to ask

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What is our concept? What leadership design we tend to follow and why?

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Is it adapted to the needs of our teams and to the business requirements we are confronted to?

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Is there opportunity to optimize our leadership practice?

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Would it be helpful for our team members, if we gave them more direction and proximity or should we – in the contrary – step back, leave them more autonomy and focus on creating an environment where they have more space?

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I hope that this analogy to architecture can be a useful basis for this reflection on your leadership.

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Book reference: Experiencing Architecture, Steen Eiler Rasmussen, The MIT press, 1964.

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A lot has been written about the challenges millennials have to integrate into our organizations. But they are now moving themselves into management or project leadership roles. I have therefore observed the behavior of millennial leaders and want to share feedback in this article.

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nWe have heard a lot about the millennials, about the difficulties they have to accept hierarchy, how challenging they find it to cope with agenda constraints and more generally speaking, to integrate into our organizations. But we have heard little so far about the way they behave as leaders.

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I believe it is now time to ask that question, because these millennials, – who were born in the 80’ and 90’ – are now reaching management or project leadership positions. I therefore observed their behavior in such roles over the past couple of months.

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Millennial leaders have grown up with social media and I believe that this is influencing also how they operate in leadership roles. During a project for example, I could observe that they tend to reach out frequently to their community and that they have a quite inclusive and participative approach.

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At an early stage of a project or decision making process they connect in order to collect relevant experience that others might have made when confronted to similar questions. Once different options or problem solutions have been identified, they connect back to their network in order to check if that response to needs and expectations.

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And once the proposal is ready to be presented to top management or before a final decision will be made, they often check back again with their community to ensure that there is broader support.

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I believe that this approach is giving a lot of strength to the millennial leaders. Drawing on the collective intelligence of their network at an early stage enables helps them to have more robust problem solutions. This participative approach helps also for the implementation phase, because it helps ensure broad buy-in and support.

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Finally, I believe that their inclusive way of working impacts also the leadership posture of the millennial leaders. It allows them to speak on behalf of the group. They often position themselves as the representatives of a collective process instead of operating only in their own name. This gives them a lot of credibility and legitimacy.

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So I believe that there is a lot we can learn from the millennial leaders!

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In view of the significant budget that many companies dedicate every year to management consulting, a number of companies have created an internal organization expertise. The purpose of this article is to share some thoughts on the benefits that such a team can have (part 1), and to outline recommendations on how to build-up such a team (part 2).

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Part 1: What are the benefits of an internal organization team?

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Let’s distinguish two different situations to answer that question: (a) The case where a large reorganization project is required and (b) the day to day operations where smaller organization topics need to be addressed.

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1. Large organization project

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Such large projects are very resource intensive and it is clear that an internal team is usually not sizable enough to cover this fully. In such a situation, the internal and the external consultants should therefore work together. I will outline here why I believe that having such a joint project team can be very beneficial for the company. To do so, I suggest looking at the 3 main steps of the life cycle of such a large project:
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1.1. Project preparation

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The starting point of any organization initiative is the identification of a need for change and the decision to address this issue. This decision is usually taken by top management. Very often, the first reflex leaders have is to contact consulting firms and to discuss the issue and the way to address them with these consultants. These first interactions lead later to a more detailed briefing of a limited number of consulting firms in order to request a proposal from them.

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In many cases, this briefing remains relatively high level and unspecific, because no detailed issue analysis has been conducted beforehand. That is usually due to the fact that (a) the confidentiality of the topic does not allow a broader involvement of employees and (b) because of a lack of organizational expertise that is needed to come up with a more detailed problem understanding. As a result, the issue analysis is largely delegated to the consultants.

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You could ask: so what? Isn’t that part of their job to assess the situation before coming up with their recommendations? Yes, of course, they will have to start the project with a detailed problem analysis. But it makes a big difference, if real problem awareness has been established in the company first enhancing its ability to undertake the change. This is part of any change curve that you are certainly aware of. That initial understanding of the issue and of the need for change is a key component of change management. It allows the leaders to confirm and specify the needs analysis and to obtain on that basis a common understanding of the problem. This will also allow obtaining alignment within the leadership team on the decision to start a project and to conduct it with external support.

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Delegating this initial assessment completely to the external consultants is one of the reasons why the implementation of project recommendations is often not very satisfactory. This is usually due to the fact that the initial buy-in has been missed. The company’s ability to gain a true understanding of the issue and to share this at least within the broader top management in order to obtain a common commitment for change is therefore an important step of the project itself, which cannot be completely externalized.

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The internal consulting team can therefore play an important role in this preparation phase. They can conduct such an issue analysis before external consultants are contacted. This more specific issue analysis can then be integrated into the Request For Proposal (RFP), which is used as a basis for the selection of the external consultant. This is usually a much better basis to define the nature and scope of the project. The more specific that request will be, the clearer the proposition from the pitching consulting firms will be. This more detailed description of the needs will also allow to engage with the consultants during the selection phase in more in-depth discussions and to evaluate the different consulting propositions. The quality of the selection process itself will thereby be improved.

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1.2 Project implementation

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As mentioned above, large organization projects are usually very resource intensive and it is clear that the internal organization team cannot provide the full staffing. But they can and should be part of the project team and should work closely with the external consultants.

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As a matter of fact, their knowledge of the company and of its ways of working can be of great support for the external consultants. The internal team can help identify the appropriate people to contact in the organization in view of information needed and can advise who to involve in certain parts of the project. They can also help ensure regular communication to the different parts of the company concerned by that change initiative.

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1.3 Knowledge transfer

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The question of knowledge transfer is of particular importance. A lot of knowledge is generated during the course of such a project and usually walks out of the door, when the consultants leave the company. Of course, most of the analysis is documented in project presentations, but only those who have been involved in the project itself will have the insight leverage on that analysis in the future. Otherwise, the documents become quickly obsolete and large electronic files get lost in the data jungle.

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Sustainability of the consulting recommendations is sometimes quite limited, because nobody inside the company is able to adjust the consulting recommendations to new requirements, if a change in the business environment occurs. The only solution is to bring the consultants back in, which can make the company dependent on these external interventions. The role of the internal consultants as members of the joint project team is therefore to absorb this knowledge in order to be able to adjust the organizational solution to new requirements after the consultants have left. That includes transferring the knowledge about the methodology that has been used during the project, the knowledge concerning the issue analysis and the assumptions that have been made during the development of the solution.

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On that basis, the internal team will be able to do the post project maintenance. This will contribute to making the outcomes of the consulting intervention more sustainable and will thereby help increase the return of that consulting investment.

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2 Smaller organization projects

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In case of smaller organizational adjustments, the internal team can be expected to conduct them without any external support.

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As a matter of fact, conducting such projects in a more autonomous way can have many advantages. In case more resources are required to conduct certain project tasks, a higher level of involvement of people from the departments concerned by the change initiative can be quite beneficial. The role of the internal consulting team can be to provide methodological support, to ensure the project management and to be involved in the project work, but in a participative way instead of “doing on behalf”. Even if that approach might take a bit longer in the problem analysis and in the definition of the recommendations, it will usually lead to a much higher level of buy-in from the people concerned and thereby help accelerate the implementation phase.

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In addition to the support of specific projects or change initiatives, the internal organization experts can also help build up the organization capabilities within the company. That is particularly important for the leadership population, where a better insight in the different facets of organizational optimization (including structure, processes, skills and company culture, see my article on Organization Design) can allow making organization effectiveness a permanent topic instead of undertaking the ad hoc changes only when the issues have become urgent.

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Finally, senior leaders can take advantage of having the internal organization experts as sparing partners, with whom they can bounce ideas back and forth. Such exchanges can be very fruitful and can help anticipate organizational adjustments early on. Such a proactive approach based on the internal understanding of the current and future business requirements can make the change journey much less disruptive.

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3 Conclusion

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Based on this, I suggest that it can be beneficial to have internal organization expertise in place. That internal expertise will certainly not substitute external interventions in case of large projects, but can play an important role as members of such projects. Outside of large change initiatives, the internal organization team can lead organization projects without external support. This team can also help raise the organizational understanding of leaders in your company, which will help anticipate change requirements and make organizational adaptation less disruptive.

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This leads to the second question: How to build such a team? That will be covered in part 2 which will be published next week!

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As HR leader, I get very often the question how to best manage the first 100 days in a new job. This article outlines what to consider when you will shape YOUR first 100 days in order to make that start in the new role as efficient as possible.
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nIf you dive into the literature on this topic of the first 100 days in a new position, you will discover that there are quite different schools of thought on this topic.

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1. The action-oriented school

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One school of thought is saying that any action that has not been taken during this first time period will become much more difficult to take at a later stage. The idea is that any bold decisions should ideally be announced at the very beginning.

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This is based on the assumption that during this first phase in the new job, you will be perceived to be more neutral than those who have been in the organization since longer and that this gives you a higher legitimacy to trigger change. With other words, the fact that you are free from influences gives you permission to act and it would therefore be a missed opportunity if you did not use those first 100 days to take quick and bold decisions.

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Authors, consultants or coaches who share this perspective would usually recommend starting to collect as much information as possible about the new job and the new organization even before starting, in order to be best prepare to make important decisions during these first 100 days.

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Does that make sense? Yes, it does and you would be tempted to follow this approach immediately, if there was not another perspective that you can come across and which is interestingly going exactly in the opposite direction!

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2. The listening-oriented school

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According to this other school of thought, it is advisable not to take any action, but instead, to be in the listening mode. The recommendation is to interact with as many people form the organization as possible, to let people share their perspectives and to hold your judgement back. The advice that those who defend this perspective would give, is to stay as open as possible; to avoid rushing into any premature conclusions; to consider as many points of view as possible; to stress test your beliefs and to be in a learning mode.

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Some would go as far as recommending that – if possible – your predecessor should still keep the operational responsibility, so that you can be as free as possible to observe, to understand the culture of your new environment, to make up your mind on the strength and weaknesses of that new organization and to assess the teams.

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The assumption here is that any information that you have not taken in from the people in the organization during these first 100 days will be much harder to collect later, because people will find it more difficult to share certain pieces of information with you. Staying low key and being in this non-threatening mode creates a privileged space to access information. This is also based on the experience that once you have taken full responsibility, you are caught up in the fire of day to day management and making time available will be difficult.

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3. Who is right, the action or the Learning oriented school?

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Isn’t that amazing, how these two perspectives are directly opposite one to the other, but both make sense? Who is right, the action oriented school or the listening oriented school? As so often, it depends. I believe it depends on YOU and on the specific situation that you will move into, when you take the new responsibility. Let’s take a look at these two aspects.

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3.1 It depends on you!

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First of all, it depends on you, because the choice of the approach is related to your personality. I believe that it is actually very useful to understand that these two approaches exist, so that you can make a conscious decision of how you want to shape these first 100 days.

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Make them YOUR first 100 days! As a matter of fact, the very first decision that you will make in the new job is to choose what approach to take and this will send a strong signal to the organization about who you are. As you know, there is never a second chance to make a good first impression. This first signal can be very impactful, especially if you actively communicate about the approach that you have chosen to your new entourage.
nThat will be a first landmark of your leadership style. You may decide to tell everyone what your roadmap for the first 100 days is, or maybe only to those, who will be close to you? Up to you to make that call, based on your personal preference and of your assessment of the situation.

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The experience you may have been able to make in the past of taking a new responsibility (either in your current or in a new company), will certainly play a role in your decision as well. This experience might help you assess the time you will need to familiarize yourself with the new environment, before being fully operational in that new role.

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Finally, it is important to point out how important it is for any leader to build a strong team or to be accepted by the existing team, if it is already in place. Developing a relationship of trust within the leadership team is certainly a key success factors when moving into a new role and should be one of your first priorities. The speed by which you will be able to leverage on your leadership team to make strategic decisions and have full support of that group, will contribute significantly to your successful onboarding.

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3.2 It also depends on the situation

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The choice about how to approach your first 100 days will also depend on the situation of the organization you join.

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a) A crisis may require to shortening the time for listening

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If you are confronted to a crisis, which you have been recruited to fix, it is very likely that you will not have the possibility to listen for 100 days, because it will actually be expected that you move much faster into trouble shooting. The only option that may have in that case, is to still preserve a certain time for the listening mode, which could be for example of only 50 days or less.
nEven just 3 week of listening mode can make a big difference and give you deeper insights that you might not be able to gain so easily, once you are fully engaged in the operational management.

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b) The question of your predecessor

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The other factor is the question, if your predecessor is still available for the handover period. It is a very privileged way to move into a new organization, if you can have an agreement that your predecessor keeps the operational responsibility for the business during a transition period.

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This allows you to be more in the observation position outlined above. This is not always possible, because your predecessor might have moved on already. Also, the context of the change of incumbent has to be taken into consideration. But where possible, taking advantage of such a transition can be very advisable.

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c) The time to prepare

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Last but not least, it depends also on the time you had to prepare. The more time you had before the start of the 100 days to collect information about the new positon, the more likely it is that you can move efficiently into the action mode quickly.

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4. Conclusion

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So we see that there are many factors to consider. But the point I would like to make is that this decision about the way you want to manage your first 100 days should not be taken lightly. Think about your preference, think about the situation and make a conscious decision. Make sure that you communicate about that decision to the organization and to your teams, because that will already be a strong first signal that you will give them about yourself.

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I hope this helps and I wish you a great start when you will be moving into a new position!

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Interview with Prof. Dr. Tom Sommerlatte from the Trust Management Institute.

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Trust is a key driver of performance. A robust trust base contributes to efficient interactions within the organization. Trust allows organizations to learn faster, to innovate and to adapt to changes in the market. Trust is the foundation of employees ability to operate efficiently in their work environment and of good leadership. But managers are not sufficiently aware of the components of trust. They may therefore even destroy the trust capital by inadvertence. This article outlines the trust dimensions and how leaders can manage trust in their company.

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Why is trust so relevant?

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Sven: I am very happy to talk to Tom Sommerlatte (President of the Trust Management Institute) who is an expert of trust and trust management. Tom, you have a career in management consulting, you are member of the advisory board of large organizations, you are a Professor in systems design and you have researched trust. Can you tell us why you have this interest in trust management?

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Tom: This is based on my personal experience in change management. I have been able to observe how important it is to ensure that you have the buy-in of the employees in the organization and I have witnessed how difficult is often is to obtain that support for the change initiative. The research we have conducted has shown that this is usually because of a lack of trust.

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Dimensions of trust

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Sven: Can you tell us what the dimensions of trust are?

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Tom: Dimensions are essentially threefold: One is the trust profile of the executives. It is their ability to trust other people and to be trustworthy in their eyes. The second dimension is climate of trust in the organization. And thirdly, trust is based on the so-called psychological contract between the institution (e.g. the company) and the people in the organization.

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The psychological contract

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Sven: OK, so you describe 3 dimensions: the leadership dimension, the trust climate as you say and you talk about a psychological contract. Can you help us understand better what this contract is all about?

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Tom: In organizations (and in life in general) we use legal contracts that are signed by both parties based on agreed terms and conditions. In organizations you have such agreements that govern the interactions such as organization charts and job description, etc. But over and above these written rules, there is typically a tacit psychological agreement between the leadership and the people in the company on what is the give and take on both sides.

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Change management

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Sven: What happens if there is an organizational change? Do parties then re-negotiate the contract?

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Tom: In legal terms this is what happens when parties change the terms and conditions. They re-negotiate the contract. Due to the fact that the psychological contract is tacit and therefore not visible, this is usually forgotten. What actually has to happen in order to maintain the trust culture in the organization is to ensure agreement of both parties on the new terms and conditions. This negotiation doesn’t happen literally of course, but it is part of what we call change management. It is expressed in behavior on both sides which should aim to reach a new agreement. When this is done, this usually improves the results of the change initiative significantly.

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Sven: We understand that the psychological contract covers the unwritten rules in the company. In case of an organizational change, people need to re-agree on those rules, right?

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Tom: Yes, because one side can’t decide to change ways of working and expect the other side to follow, if that other side does not understand why this is done and therefore does not buy-into that change.

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The role of leaders in trust management

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Sven: You talk about different sides. So let’s look at the leadership side. What is the challenge of leadership in managing trust?

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Tom: The main basis is self-confidence of the leader, which is based on his or her conviction that trust leads to better business results. The second requirement is related to communication and the ability to be open and franc. That means to be accessible and to welcome suggestions from people in the organization. This allows developing a common understanding and a sense of human community.

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The role of employees

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Sven: What should the employees do to enhance the trust in our organizations?

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Tom: The employee has to accept that being trusted also means being given authority and responsibility and that it requires personal initiative. This goes hand in hand with the confidence that initiatives will be rewarded and that mistakes will not be sanctioned. That confidence is a major element of a climate of trust.

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Conclusion

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Sven: Many thanks’ Tom. It is fascinating to see the different facets of trust. It shows that we should lead change carefully to ensure that we preserve (and hopefully further develop) the trust capital in our organizations.

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Chip Anthony heads up a sizable industrial activity in Chattanooga (Tennessee). We visited his production site together and I was amazed by the fact that Chip reached out to many people calling them by their names, shaking hands, asking how they were and saying “thank you!”
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A powerful way to building trust and engagement

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I was intrigued and asked Chip about this practice. As you will see in this video, Chip believes that saying “thank you” is a powerful way of building trust and engagement. He does that naturally because he really believes it. He is grateful to his staff for their commitment and contribution. He sees a reinforcing link between the interest he has for each one of them and their contribution to business success.

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Surely the trigger of positive energy

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This is probably a very “Chip Anthony” thing, but it might be worthwhile asking ourselves how often we say thank you to our teams and if doing that more often could not trigger a lot of positive energy.

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One more exAmple of great leadership behavior!

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This series of WOW HOW videos shows examples of great leadership behavior that are not so visible, but that are great examples to follow. I believe that this approach that Chip has of saying “thanks you” is one of these WOW HOW behaviors.

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