I recently came across this quote: "When we are forcing change, this will automatically create resistance. This effort is keeping things in place and preventing things from flowing. Instead, we want to create the conditions that allow things to change, based on their own flow." - Headspace And in a few simple words this quote is expressing what many people do wrong in managing change. And in many...

What are the top three people challenges in Singapore? Fast to quit: 60% Burnt out: 67% Disengaged: 80% ​This week I attended an event by the Association for SME and the speakers and panel were very insightful. The title: Stronger People - Stronger Business. Which leads directly into Organisational Health.

For years now, I have been helping teams and organisations to collaborate better - either within teams or across teams; either within larger organisations or beyond company borders. Enabling these teams to give their best. When did I start with this topic? The first time I dived into this theme was with my master thesis. At that time I was comparing and evaluating various forms of how companies...

Are you looking for ways to boost your productivity and control your costs? The Hive17 Human Operating System is designed to enable teams to give their best and one of the key elements is innovation. At Hive17 we often observe that medium-sized organisations have limited resources and may be stuck in traditional ways of thinking. Hive17 can help you to overcome these barriers and build a culture...

Every year, my Alma Mater brings about 70 students from St.Gallen to Singapore for an exchange semester - undoubtedly an unforgettable and important experience. As part of their program, they conduct a consulting project with their peers at SMU. Over the years, we observed one key ingredient for successful projects: effective collaboration within the teams. This year I had the honour again to...

This might be one of my rare posts about AI. Yesterday, I was invited by our partner GloCoach to an event to talk about "AI and Organisational Success". Here were some of the proposed questions: Will AI replace our workforce? Or rather, when will AI replace our workforce? And the questions then continued: how will AI replace people? With whom will they be collaborating? The discussion elaborated...

Not so long ago, I was called by my friends "Mr Gadget". And still today, I am looking at the latest laptops and mobile phones - I really would love to buy them. They seem to be so much better than what I am using today! Really? Here some interesting figures from the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum: In 2022 we might have produced 24.5 million tons of electronic waste Out of...

For a few months I observed a certain notion; a change that is forming and starting to emerge. And last week, a friend of mine shared a story that greatly describes my notion. Here is the story. My friend is regularly working in two different sites which are not far from each other and yet are very distinct. One day he met a colleague at the northern site, which has recently moved jobs from the...

We all make mistakes - they simply happen . One apparent place are our text messages - we make numerous typos, right? Although, these errors happen everywhere - big and small. And most of the time, our intention was doing the right thing. It is important to keep in mind that these errors are part of being human. Don't blame others. In this context, I often like to mention that errors depend on...

Earth Week - As a change manager I am interested in many different forms of change. One particular one is nature, our planet earth. It is inspiring to observe what happens and discover similarities to the changes we intend to create in our work and life. Our planet has evolved over millions of years and created spectacular lifeforms. Humans evolved over thousands of years to reach its current...

Every day we are confronted with challenges that require solutions - they might be small, they might be big. Following the same patterns and focus on past achievements is at best futile - what we need is creativity. And why not ask the creatives for their tips? Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game design since over 35 years and can celebrate decent success in his industry; and, he wrote a book...

There is a lot of things we have experienced and learned in the last eighteen months. And one is becoming clear: using our six senses is much better than using one or two in the virtual world. We need the physical world - at least sometimes. And my friend put it in a very nice quote: «Physical interactions are as important as the sun.» Thank you Daniel Benes for sharing!

A few weeks back, I shared some views how you can let go of control. Why would you want to do that? Because the people at the front know how to create value to our customers; and they need to be able act fast without barriers - control from the top. Have a look at the previous post: Letting Go of Control - Made Easy? Once you let yourself guide by others, how do you get up along the U? That's a...

Here is a conviction of mine, I have been sharing before. In an environment that is complex and continuously changing (who is denying now that we are in this kind of world?), we need to understand how we can create value and we need to act fast . Who knows best how we can create value? The people at the front. The sales people that talk to the customers, the people that are running through the...

​About two years ago, I stumbled across #slowdowntospeedup and this tag line represented a few things that I stand for. Today, this slogan is more relevant than ever. I observe people around me burning out, many peers feel huge pressure to deliver, and many organisations stopped their strategic planning cycles. Just yesterday, a person shared with me that they wished to find 3 hours in their...

For the people that know me, I like to promote the concept of People Excellence - driving operational excellence through our people. This recent article in the Bangkok Post by Arinya Talerngsri also emphasises the people in the transformation work. We are in an age where many thought leaders are talking about how we can robotise our workforce and create fantastic efficiencies. Arinya shares my...

Yesterday, I talked with a friend about the fact that we tripled the amount of meetings since we enjoyed more freedom of working at home - compared to 2019 where we already complained about too many meetings. The main point we contemplated is that now, we even need to schedule a random chat with our friends. Something went wrong. Let's face it; most meetings are inefficient and lack purpose and...

In the last post , I shared arguments to shift from command & control to guide & facilitate leadership. What does that actually mean? What are the new leadership routines? In the context of positive leadership, I am promoting two key activities for an effective leaders: establish a collective dream and actively let go. Let me start with one question: as a leader, are you controlling your entire...

When is the last time that you have been frustrated that you have not reached your objectives? This might be a personal fitness objective, an ambitious result for your sport or a project deliverable at work. In my practice, I observe that most people are setting goals that seem to be unachievable. Which can lead to frustration and in the best case, lack of celebration. Is this in itself a bad...