I am Stefanie Koch.
Consultant and coach for leadership and work.
As a boutique consultancy, I often have to pick up the pieces of failed change processes, often those of large consultancies: The Big Five. So that employees can finally get back to work. With joy and effectively.
I would much rather get involved before McKinsey & Co., and not only when the elephant has walked through the shop. But life is not a bed of roses.
If you now know exactly what I am talking about, we will understand each other!
Do you see this in your company?
“The best people are moving to the competition.”
“Nobody wants to take personal responsibility.”
“New Work has only made everything worse.”
“Our purpose workshop has only made everything worse.”
“We are stuck in the participation trap and are meeting ourselves to death.”
“The mindset needs to change, they say. I think that’s bullshit.”
What I can do for you and your company:
I always start with this question: What is stopping your employees from doing the job they signed up to do?
I can clarify this question with you on three different levels:
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Disclaimer: If you want, I can design a gigantic change architecture for you - including a strategy workshop, leadership training, singing bowl meeting and speech on the steps. Been there, done that.
But I prefer to take a minimally invasive approach and take a calm look at your organization - which often doesn't need as much in change processes as you think.
Perhaps the strategy just needs to be communicated better.
Or there needs to be clarity about responsibilities.
Or it needs to be said courageously what will no longer be the case in the future.
We'll find out this one first step - and then observe how the organization reacts to it.
And then we carefully plan the next steps.
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I love teams. And teams hate workshops.
Why? Because they often associate workshops with ring-a-roses and striped socks and cards and coffee mornings.
I don't want to go out on a limb like that - but since nobody can read my writing very well, everyone has to think and work together. There's not a lot of fuss. Still, it's a lot of fun and easy-going, otherwise nobody can manage two days in a conference room.
Teams often can't change the world, and they know that. But they can often make their own world a better place if they manage to honestly lay out their cards. And they can give good impetus to those above because they are much closer to those below than many a boss's boss.
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Every now and then you just go crazy.
Or you can't see clearly anymore.
Or you think you're working with crazy people.
You don't know your own company anymore.
Then you need a refuge, and maybe someone who can help you sort yourself out. To press the reset button. To find initial answers to questions you would never ask out loud. Coaching can't change your mindset. It can't bring about a sense of duty. It can't conjure up motivation.
But if the goal is to see things more clearly again, your environment, and especially your own path - then it can really make a difference. For managers or employees.
What I CANNOT do for you and your company:
I don't manage any projects where I'm on site with my clients 5 days a week.
I really like being with my family, and sometimes on my couch. I leave the hours of scrubbing to McKinsey & Co ;-)!
I don't give classes that require attendance.
Some classes with psychological or sociological content can be just the thing for some people. For others, they are hell. No one should end up in hell before the end of their life - only volunteers come to my training courses. The same applies to coaching.
I don't work as an agile coach/scrum master.
I could, but I don't want to. That's just not my role - too rigid, and with too many expectations that often can't be met.
I don't just moderate any topic.
I can't not think for myself. I don't want to either. Every AI can do that these days.
I don't work without coffee.
Tea is not an alternative.
Which customers I want:
You are a manager
who feels more comfortable with a boutique consultancy than with McKinsey & Co.
who doesn't need these big names for their ego and their own positioning.
who has no interest in buzzword bingo and corporate theater.
who sees their employees as responsible people who don't need to be constantly "taken along" or "picked up."
who knows that the employee is not the problem.