Growth creates complexity. This is true within an organizational and even more in a personal context. 

New roles bring new responsibilities, require new skills and the expectations into the individual’s performance change. Routines from the past, however, do mostly not assist us for the challenges ahead. It is an inconvenient truth, that all of us are often irrational in what we do. We trust our instincts, our learned experiences from being in the system, we are overwhelmed by emotions and we are – often unknowingly - guided by beliefs and fears derived from the past, all of which subconsciously motivate us to make decisions. 

Having a clear picture of ourselves in the work setting and the ability to see the system itself at work is crucial for leveraging one's existing potential. Without this understanding, our decisions often push us straight into failure instead of success. 

If this is combined with the high pressure of an executive position, more than just the personal wellbeing is at stake.

In my understanding, professional performance cannot be separated from the ability to manage one’s own emotions and behavioral blindspots. 

Developing and improving these human leadership skills and combining them effectively with the demands of life, social and corporate realities is key to succeeding not only as an executive but also as a human within the personal space. 

My focus is on creating substantial value in terms of measurable success for the client. I strategically coach executives and high-potential leaders on fully leveraging and increasing their existing strengths, task-related competences and professional performance while staying connected and grounded within themselves. 

Individual Complexity

Corporate leadership teams and professional partnerships are like cooking pots with boiling personalities, highly susceptible to overflow. 

Statutory governance alone does not create effectiveness, especially in times of transformational changes. Culture, intergroup or interpersonal conflicts, leadership effectiveness as well as internal needs for creativity and innovation all create inter-connected complexity. And in all these cases, the degree of influence executives and boards wield in the organization should not be underrated. Excellence and performance of board level groups is often taken for granted. In practice, it rarely comes without conscious efforts by its members. Executive groups combine the minds, perspectives, and emotional experiences of several high-performance individuals. The behavior of each member as well as the systemic and behavioral aspects of the group have significant influence on the performance of the whole entity. At the same time, the group’s behavior must be recognized as the reflection of organizational issues.

Organizational changes never happen in isolation from the organization’s executives. 

Consistent team and organizational performance requires thorough understanding of the individual tasks and roles and awareness for the interpersonal and group dynamics within the organizational context. I advise and support board level groups and professional partnerships on navigating processes of change, increasing effectiveness, group leadership, resolving conflicts and resistances constructively and generating stronger commitment and greater accountability and performance within the organization. 

Organizational & Group Complexity

Leading a family business as well as being part of a business family is a different game of complexity.

While regular businesses focus mostly on the management perspective in their decisions, family businesses have much more to take into consideration. They operate within highly interconnected and complex sub-systems of family, management, ownership and individual family members. Each plays a crucial role. And it is only by looking at the entirety of these dimensions that we can understand and address situations within a family business. 

In my role as trusted family advisor, my full focus is on the holistic strategic needs of the overall family and the family business. I either work with an individual family member or the family as a group. 

Major themes, I assist my clients with include 

succession/continuity planning and new generation leadership support 

parallel planning  and value definition process for the family and family business

set up of governance structures and family office

transition from family business to family enterprise

Family Business Complexity

Managing Complexity &

Strategies are like highways to a desired destination. We mostly have more than one option, even if not visible at first sight. 

The solutions often lie in the blindspots of what “we don’t know we don’t know”. Executives know more about their businesses than anyone else and are deeply involved on a daily basis. It is, however, exactly this intense involvement, that often blocks organizational problem solving and innovation. 

I support organizations and professional partnerships in translating complex issues into simple and workable terms and in finding their best strategic options. My focus lies on organizational change dynamics in relation to the human dimensions of a transition process. I am using a multi-disciplined diagnostic approach, combining my knowledge in business, governance, organizational behavior and psychodynamic systems analysis, in assessing each client's unique strategic challenge and for designing a specific intervention proposal. 

I support clients strategically in the fields of

Strategic Advisory

Strategically developing higher effectiveness and increased performance requires the active willingness to adopt new ways of thinking – otherwise, it is a waste of time.

I work with board members, executives and high-potential leaders to create substantial value in terms of their leadership performance and their contribution within the organizational context. My clients are genuinely curious high-performing individuals who happen to be confronted with a complex situation in their private or professional leadership role. And who have a continuous desire to grow in their roles and as human leaders by recognizing, accepting and working on their blindspots. 

Jointly, we are developing strategies for navigating within systems of uncertainty and organizational complexity, exploring and identifying leadership drivers and blockers and ultimately changing into a state of higher efficiency and performance.

leadership/partnership performance and effectiveness

dynamics of personal and professional change

career transitioning into a leadership/partnership role

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Executive Coaching

The roots of group and organizational problems differ completely from those that form the basis of individual difficulties. 

Without an understanding of those differences, no adequate, long-term solutions can be achieved. Executive groups face numerous special challenges that range from external change factors (like digitalization or restructuring needs) to the interpersonal human interaction between the individual team members. My role in working with executive groups is to assist in decoding the teams’ conscious and unconscious socio-dynamic levels of functioning and jointly build trust and collaboration as basis for higher performance, effectiveness and ultimately success for the organization.

group effectiveness during transition and change

team performance and interpersonal connectivity

decision-making dynamics and change resistance within groups

assimilation of new partners/board members

conflicts within the partnership/executive team

More about Organizational and Group Complexity
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