Many teams work remotely now, which poses new challenges for leaders. E.g. communication skills, like active listening, question techniques, summarizing and structuring have been key to keep Zoom meetings productive. But also topics like self-care and resilience have gained importance. And how to strategize if the whole context is constantly changing?! The trainings offer a space to reflect about own patterns and experiment with new forms of leadership behaviour. What I really appreciate is the opportunity to cooperate online, e.g. for one hour sessions on mindfulness by Sukha Yoga Berlin. My hypothesis – the future of leadership development will be hybrid trainings, combining the best of both worlds.

Cooperation with Sukha Yoga Berlin

Team development requires interaction and exchange – and it is surprising how well that works with video conference software. Yet, participants attention is short-lived – a good “flow” with smooth transitions between breakout and plenary settings is key for the overall experience and workshops need to be well planned and prepared. Collabarative tools (e.g. online whiteboards like Mural and Miro) have become really intuitive and help to gain overview if they are carefully designed.

ecoligo.investments - investments into fighting climate change

Change Forum Myanmar offers leaders and managers, practitioners and professional advisors a platform to share, reflect and learn, drawing on insights from change makers in and outside the country. The first two-day event took place in Yangon in December 2019 with approx. 220 participants. Highlights included an input by Ed Schein on Humble Leadership, a lively Open Space, Dr. Douglas O’Loughlin’s keynote on the OD landscape, 16 parallel sessions, a panel on System Change and captivating closing remarks on Myanmar’s transformation by Dr. Tin Maung Than and Dr. Aung Tun Thet.

Change Forum Facebook page

The training takes up concepts of horizontal and lateral leadership and conveys a resource-oriented and solution-focused understanding of steering and managing impact-oriented projects. Own patterns of communication are reflected in experiential settings, tools and approaches (agile methods, design thinking, etc.) are tested with regard to their relevance for foundation projects. Other topics include team development and self-management.

Bertelsmann Stiftung

The Bertelsmann Health Community is a strategic, cross-divisional group that exchanges on the topic of health through a network of all relevant stakeholders in Germany. Working together, the community develops health projects and steers their implementation nationwide. Since May 2019 I support the BHC in the further development of exchange formats and through facilitation of the semi-annual meetings in alternating divisions.

Picture: Bertelsmann Health Community, see link for source below

Bertelsmann Health Community

Over two months, Lenya Bass and myself accompanied GIZ Myanmar in a creative process of telling stories from the field. Teams developed short movies that put beneficiaries and their perspectives at the center. The ever increasing complexity of development cooperation sometimes lets us lose sight of what really matters, what inspires us and what makes this work so rewarding. Well-told stories can be a base for reconnecting. The process culminated in the annual event with more than 200 people co-facilitated by our MyCAN alumni Htate Htar Pont, Thet Win Htun and Kyaw Thu.

Myanmar Change Agent Network (MyCAN)

Private sector actors are seen as a key player in achieving development objectives such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together with Impact Hubs Berlin and Jakarta, we developed and implemented a design thinking based training for ISED Indonesia to promote Inclusive Business partnerships. The training organized by ISED involved 4 Indonesian companies, GIZ staff members and Government officials. Our lessons learned were integrated into Impact Hub Berlin’s BEYOND series and a handbook, available for download (link see below).

Download the handbook

The Wikimedia movement aims at becoming the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge by 2030, focusing on two objectives: knowledge as a service and knowledge equity. To advance with this strategic direction, Working Groups composed of people from across the movement are developing recommendations coordinated by a Core Team. I’m supporting the WG “Roles & Responsibilities” with inputs on Change Management, Organizational Design / Self Organization (Teal) and with storytelling work.
Picture: WG Meeting in Utrecht with Madelon van Tilburg (Buurtzorg)

Wikimedia Strategy Process

The Prignitz is colorful! For Robert Bosch Stiftung, we examined and evaluated successful examples of civil society and volunteer work for migrants and refugees in the beautiful Prignitz (Brandenburg). And we discovered much more than even the well-informed Angelika Hahn and Heimo Grahl (District Administration Prignitz) had expected. Together with Lenya we created interactive stakeholder maps which we handed over to key multipliers.

Interim report on the project (German)

The Bertelsmann Foundation aims at helping people proactively shape their future through its projects. Project managers often work directly or indirectly in advisory roles. For this context, systemic approaches offer a wealth of useful models, methods and tools. The course comprises 5 modules and focuses on the intersection of policy advice, cooperation management and organizational development in which the foundation operates. The third round is scheduled for late 2020.

Bertelsmann Stiftung