,

Coaching – a powerful tool for individual change

While sometimes the solution to a specific work-related problem is obvious for external observers, the directly affected person might stand in his own way. He might not gain access to the right solution. Good advice or technical instructions are not of any help. Often facts are known, but cannot be utilized.

A clear case for coaching. Working on a solution starts with the analysis and clarification of the coachee’s concerns. Customized and focused. The key competency of the coach is to listen closely, to read nuances between the lines and to ask the right questions in order to disclose the key issue.

Then the coachee’s goal is identified. What would it look like if the situation or problem would have been solved already? Usually the coachee is capable of describing the goal and to capture it in an image. The coachee draws strength from this image, it gives him wings. Then, the path towards the goal has to be sketched, building the framework which leads towards departure . On the way it might be helpful to hand refreshments, to install safety nets, to reduce the risk of falling or relapse. And to make sure the coachee does not lose his courage. As soon as first milestones have been achieved and the remaining path towards reaching the final goal looks clear, it is the coach’s time to leave.

That is it for the process. Essentially coaching enables new links inside the client’s mind to gain access to solutions already known. After all, the coachee is the only one who knows best what fits him right. Although he might not immediatly know that he is already knowing it.

The movie below brings some inspiration on the topic coaching:

Coaching Explain Movie

Diagnostics in HR Development

A company’s success depends largely on the competence and commitment of its employees. However, qualified personnel selection and development is challenging. Basis of a systematic personnel development process is the personnel diagnostics. It serves as a tool to identify the potential of its employees and determine individual developmental needs.

Goals and Tasks of Personnel Diagnostics

Personnel diagnostics provides critical impulses to increase the success of organizations. Firstly, it helps to minimize the risk of ill placed personnel. Here, it performs a central role in the recruitment process. Secondly, personnel diagnostics plays a role in identifying high potentials and ensuring the professional success of individual staff members. Differentiated competence analysis ensure that a fit between person and function is guaranteed and that individual skills are developed and modified in accordance to job requirements.

Diagnostic Methods in HR Development

There is a wide range of different diagnostic instruments and procedures, by which the suitability within an internal selection process can be found, individual SWOT profiles can be created, and qualification requirements can be analysed. Typical processes are, for example, simulation -based methods, biography – oriented methods, intelligence and personality tests, as well as interviews.

The Assessment Center (AC) is one of the most popular and most commonly used methods, although its predictive capability has continually decreased in recent years. This is mainly because redundant and standardized exercises are used. The AC is a multiple diagnostic method that combines various partial procedures. For potential diagnosis within organizations, the promotable potential AC and the HR development AC are used.

Diagnostic methods absolutely must meet certain quality criteria. Particular attention should be paid to the qualification of the persons involved. Assessor training, applying the principle of multiple-assessor verification as well as the rotation of the assessors are therefore essential components. Finally, utilized instruments should be able to precisely measure the criteria.

To increase the informative value of the assessment center for an organization it is essential to firstly develop an organization and function specific competence profile and to apply it in the competence assessment. Secondly, the methods and exercises used in the AC must be aligned to the everyday work life of the participant with practical relevance.

Individual assessments / human audit methods have become particularly popular in recent years because they allow a greater individualization and e.g. allow cross-cultural aspects to be considered.

Trends and Challenges

Globalization and the associated increase in collaboration in international teams and projects, alongside the high volatility in the markets also require appropriate adjustments on a diagnostic level. „Working across borders ” is no longer the exception but the rule and requires the promotion of multinational diagnostics.

Individual values diagnostics also continues to gain in importance.

At the same time, virtualization is progressing and calls for appropriate adaptation in the personnel diagnostics space.

In recent years, a strong increase of online testing method could be observed. The online utilization of IQ tests, knowledge tests, personality tests or case studies enables the measurement of processing and response times, adaptation of tasks of previous test performance, as well as an interactive design. So-called self-assessments guide participants through the work environment on a virtual plane. Online method thus not only examine knowledge, but inform people. Therewith, self-selection can be leveraged.

Some skills (e.g. knowledge) may be transferred more efficiently and more cost-effectively through virtual channels than through in-class lectures. In other cases, personal contact is essential for an accurate diagnosis and cannot be replaced by e.g. videoconferences or calls.


Personnel Diagnostics at TCJG

TCJG utilizes personal diagnostic instruments in the development and promotion of people. Therefore, often use „Management Audits” not only for pure location determination but also as a means to derive development plans.

We also offer individual concepts and solutions for junior development programs. To identify talents and their potential we run programs such as the „Talent Development Workshop“ (support assessment for junior staff, as individual or group process). This gives us a good foundation to accompany these people on their way to leadership positions.

A special TCJG offer in personnel diagnostics is that of individual values analysis. This instrument is especially valuable for organizations concerned with brand engagement and cultural change.

Submitted by our blogger Kristina Ressler

The medium of film in e-learning

Be it personal or professional environments. Via classic channels such as movies or TV. Or mobile on-the-go, via tablet, cell phone etc:

A flood of video content accompanies us on our daily movements. In the field of training and higher professional qualification film has also long established itself as a learning medium.

Here, film itself plays only a small part in the overall context of so-called blended learning. It is yet to be seen in what way and to what integrative overall concept the medium of film will find its application in the field of learning 2.0.

Triggering emotions, increasing motivation. Depicting processes and content precisely. Completely individualized, practical and location independent. These are the classic core competencies of the established teaching video. But even here, the digital future has already arrived, enabling the learner to experience virtual environments via Augmented Reality. Hot topics here are Stereo 3D, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. These developments are supported by social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Co., which complement the interactivity of the content further. A huge range of variably usable tools are emerging, which offer the chance to expand learning 2.0 to a new level in the near future. But there exists the danger of getting lost in the maze of new media and losing focus on the topic of learning. Therefore, it is all the more important to integrate the films as a meaningful part in a modular and holistic learning path structure.

In addition, learning as we know it has been under scrutiny for a while now. As part of an innovative, free and global learning culture, the internet as a platform hosts numerous so-called MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses). They provide freely accessible teaching content. In most cases, content is delivered on the basis of video production in a variety of formats. Lifelong learning is therefore open to the public and completely independent of institutions such as schools and universities.

An interesting and entertaining contribution to the topic of future learning, offered from the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), a published and animated speach from Sir Ken Robinson in 2008:
Ted Talk Ken Robinson

Another very humorous TED Talk by Salman Khan tells the story of a now highly successful, non-profit e-learning platform, the Khan Academy:
Ted Talk Salman Khan

One example of a MOOC e-learning platform is Iversity:
www.iversity.org

A powerful video content creation software (with a free trial) is Videoscribe:
www.videoscribe.co

Adidas Learning Campus is spot on

Todays world grows ever more global and ever more digital. This entails great changes for the organization of work places as well as for society. The way people collaborate, share knowledge, acquire skills and learn continuously changes. People desire a flexible working environment and to be able decide themselves when and where to do what. Anywhere and anytime is the motto.

This also applies to learning. The future of learning is social, mobile, anywhere and anytime. Research shows that more than 80% of learning happens informally. This represents a great challenge for companies as how to design a work place that fosters and supports learning in this new way and that meets the learning needs of their employees.

Adidas is a great example for a company that took exactly the right approach. Its strategy – The New Way of Learning – brings learning back to the workplace and lets its employees equally teach and learn. Adidas provides an open and collaborative, social learning environment and creates a new culture of self-driven and life-long learning. For this, they founded the “Adidas Learning Campus” which enables its employees to decide when and where they learn, to choose what and how they learn and to network and collaborate. By creating an open and collaborative work place, Adidas has its finger on the pulse of current affairs and enables its employees to steadily learn and grow.

So, what does this mean for you or your company?

Adidas “New Way of Learning” strategy and its Learning Campus provide inspiration for how to face the challenges of the new (learning) trends. Rather than resisting change, Adidas jumped right into the wave of individualism with a collaborative spirit, inviting employees to co-create the future. They were able to take the timeless wisdom of “Everyone’s a teacher, everyone’s a learner” and apply it to the digital age. Chapeau.

A special TCJG Company Journey

The Company Journey Guides en route – our goal: the Starnberger Lake.

We circumnavigate the water, admiring the magnificent scenery and enjoying a hot, beautiful summer day – on Vespa scooters. On our trip we change the perspective to the other side. We, The Company Journey Guides, usually guides ourselves are now on a guided scooter tour around the lake and therewith are able to experience the perspective of our customers.

Enchanting scenery, beautiful insights and outlooks. Mild summer breeze. Laughter. Air. A delicious picnic. Seeking and finding guidance. Overcoming stumbling blocks in the form of manual gears and flat tires. Experiencing team work and support. Beat and happy to return.

We thoroughly enjoyed it. You need to experience it as well. We are working on it!

,

The new Leadership Report 2015

The new Leadership Report 2015 by Zukunftsinstitut is out! It shows the latest and most important trends for successful leadership in today’s and the future’s world of collaboration and innovation.

Today’s world is more fast-moving than ever. By planning everything precisely and in detail, companies are wasting their resources. Hence, companies have to be flexible in order to adapt to the changing conditions. That’s what the Leadership Report calls for – Organizational Agility. In this fast changing world it’s of great importance for companies to be agile and flexible and not to get lost in planning.

So what will the future for organizations and companies be like?

The future employee will be a knowledge worker who is an expert on a certain topic and works for several different companies for projects on this field. The future workforce requires a flexible organization form – a fluid organization as it is called by Zukunftsinstitut. This organization form is characterized by “open and interchangeable membranes” instead of rigid organization boundaries. The task of future leaders will therefore be to design such a workplace where employees are free to innovate and where they are emotionally connected to their task and workplace. Leaders should internalize and set an example of what makes up their company in order to be successful.

And what does this mean for you?

The future is about uniqueness and flexibility. So, stop planning, reflect on yourself and on your strengths, orientate yourself, fall into the chaos and lead!

Download the new Leadership Report by ZukunftsInstitut

What we love about Gmund Paper

Gmund, sustainability and corporate values

Surrounded by the alps and adjacent to a serene lake lies the Bavarian town „Gmund“ – and its name sake paper company. It is a family business, a paper manufactory, which has stayed true to its craft for 180 years. And this quite successfully.

Why specifically did we choose this supplier for the creation of our office equipment and not any other manufacturer?

Well, we are united by equal values ​​- sustainability, innovation and authenticity.

Like us, Gmund Paper creates its goods in Upper Bavaria and services the global market. And, like us, they do what they do with great dedication.

Gmund Paper is committed to continuous innovation – constantly developing new collections and offering innovative and customer-specific solutions. Like us. Not to mention the commitment to sustainability, minding the environment and mainly working with regional partners – without accepting compromises in beauty and goodness of their creations. Cooperating and collaborating with customers to find the best solutions and a clear commitment to the importance of learning and development. That clearly resonates with us deeply.

Check out GMUND Paper