Whether entrepreneurial challenges in everyday life, strategy or change and transformation projects: Managers and their teams are one of the most important success factors. This is what motivates us to help our clients in strengthening the competence of their managers and teams.
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New market situations, competitors, structures, roles and technologies are constantly presenting companies with changing circumstances. Success is always determined by the way in which managers and employees deal with these changes constructively. This is where our targeted enablement comes in: We promote the development of competence where it is needed.
cidpartners advises organizations, executives and teams regarding successful collaboration and efficient achievement of goals. On the one hand this can be done in the context of clearly defined strategy and change processes. On the other hand it can be as ‘simple’ as improving day-to-day cooperation. This includes helping both managers and teams to meet challenges in their daily work in a constructive way.
Companies cannot expect managers to fulfil all that is expected of them ‘just like that’. Certain areas of competence need to be promoted in a targeted manner with a view to enhancing individual clear thinking, efficiency and leadership ability at various levels. The most common aspects include:
We provide customized management training and development programmes according to the respective initial situation. This includes professional management support in the form of coaching and sparring scenarios.
In the area of teamwork, there are usually many ways to improve cooperation and efficiency in a team. This is not a problem as such, but simply the normal situation that arises because teams are naturally more focused on the ‘what’ (content issues) than on the ‘how’ (cooperation issues) in their everyday work.
The crux of the matter: Getting the ‘how’ right is usually a prerequisite for doing the ‘what’ well. Therefore the ‘how’ aspects should be thoroughly and regularly examined. Typical stumbling blocks that hinder cooperation are, for example:
We specialize in providing teams with the support they need for sustainable development. We assess the initial situation and then design the appropriate concept together with our clients.
Mirjam Rieger loves and lives diversity and ensures collaboration and productivity in the most diverse contexts.
As an established management consultancy, we have facilitated numerous change and transformation processes. Thanks to the experience gained in these areas, we understand the challenges facing managers and teams and can address them with a comprehensive range of effective measures to support, enable and empower managers and employees.
Our trainers, consultants and coaches are all thoroughly trained and experienced in the field of enablement. And most importantly: They all know what the daily routine of managers and employees is like from their own experience. This ensures that the results in terms of enablement, knowledge transfer and person-to-person communication are sustainable. Individual requirements and starting situations are always taken into account, as indeed is the time factor. For it is important that the investment in enablement should pay for itself in a short time. Special care is also taken to remain up to date - with regard to both the ‘learning content’ to be conveyed as well as the methods and formats used to do this.
Whether through coaching or training: Managers and teams can only change how they do things in the long term if all development measures are based on sustainability and continuity. So-called ‘chaka events’ have no lasting effects. In other words, nobody at cidpartners pretends they can walk on water. On the contrary, we design all phases of competence development very mindfully and always with the aim of achieving the best possible results for managers and teams.
Theory and theoretical models are an essential part of conveying content. But the theory must be in line with the reality of everyday work and its challenges. So our job is to ‘translate’ theoretical models so that they correspond with what the company does in its daily business, for that is the only way to ensure adequate resonance. This indispensable practical relevance is an essential element of all our enablement measures. It applies both to their application with regard to concrete problems from everyday life as well as to the participants' hands-on cases.
Regardless of the business area, the capacity to adopt other perspectives is a great advantage. Being able to see people’s actions from different angles gives both managers and team members a new and more reliable basis for their own decision-making and for dealing with others. A capacity for ‘multi-perspectivity’ also promotes the aspect of self-reflection and therefore the ability to adapt one's own behaviour. These meta-competencies are an essential component of our enablement measures.
Theory is good, practice is better. Consequently, enablement measures should challenge the participants in a positive sense and awaken their own initiative. Courses in which the participants just sit back and ‘consume’ are unhelpful. We are convinced that a concrete ‘experience’ and subsequent reflection are crucial to be able to process content, break down inhibitions and form new behaviour patterns.
Accordingly, we focus on structuring our measures in an interactive way. In other words, team workshops and training sessions involve practical work. Participants apply content and gain experience in targeted practical phases: an important basis for the next learning iteration.
Learning should take place outside one’s own comfort zone. This is the only way to learn new ways of going about things and truly efficient flexibility. This is about trying out new things in a protected environment. Previous patterns need to be put into question so as to generate a conscious feeling of ‘creative discomposure’. Only through such practical experience can new behaviour patterns form and one's own repertoire of options be extended. Nobody develops further by remaining in a comfort zone.
The classical competence development model describes different phases of learning - or in other words: the transition of an individual from a lack of competence to state of competence. The model distinguishes four stages which are reflected in our enablement measures:
At this level one does not understand what is at stake or does not perceive one's own deficits. A striking example of this is cycling: A very young child cannot know how to ride a bicycle. And the child also cannot know that that is the case.
Someone does not know how to do something, but knows about his or her shortcomings or incompetence. So to take our example, the person knows what a bicycle is. And is aware that he or she cannot ride it. In cases of conscious incompetence, the person concerned will take a decision (often unconsciously): either to be satisfied with level 2 - or to strive for level 3. This represents an important aspect in the enablement process.
Bei bewusster Inkompetenz fällt eine Entscheidung (oft unbewusst): Entweder jemand gibt sich mit Stufe 2 zufrieden – oder er strebt Stufe 3 an. Ein wichtiger Aspekt im Enabling-Prozess.
At this level, someone understands or knows how to tackle something in order to achieve some objective. Nevertheless, the implementation of this knowledge - the step from level 2 to level 3 - requires a lot of awareness and effort. To stay with the example: The person can ride a bicycle, but must concentrate very hard and avoid any distraction in order not to end up in the next ditch.
Someone has a high degree of practical experience with their own abilities, and these have become second nature – available at any time in the blink of an eye without requiring much concentration. In our example, a person at this level can ride a bicycle without giving it a thought. Just as most people who drive a car with manual transmission just change gear without thinking about it after a while.
The model makes it clear: The important first step is to transition from unconscious to conscious incompetence, i.e. from level 1 to level 2. At this point it is essential that there are people who dare to tell us the truth. So we see it as our first task to make unconscious behaviour patterns or deficits clear and to reflect on them. And it goes without saying: This has to take place in a protected space and in a mindful manner. For it is true that the criticism received and the phase of becoming conscious of one’s incompetence often seem unpleasant at first. But it is the starting point for learning and further development.
We generally accompany executives and teams through all phases of competence development. We facilitate the transition from level 2 to level 3 through targeted impulses and transfer of know-how. We increase knowledge levels and behavioural flexibility during training and coaching by placing the emphasis on practical applications in everyday life. Ideally, this leads to transition from level 3 to level 4, because in the end it should be possible to apply the knowledge and/or skill learned without needing to think about the process.
Our training programmes often consist of several units, so that competence can develop to become ‘the normal way of doing things’. Networking the participants with each other can also make sense. Especially team development usually runs over several months.
