A session of pop-up coaching could benefit you if..

Pop-up coaching is a one-off session of talking with a professional who may or may not be knowledgable in your field, but definitely knows about structures, has experience in corporate life and business and can be a sounding board and neutral advisor for your issues.

You are likely to benefit from a one-time coaching session if you want to..

- set goals in your personal and individual life and need some reinforcement
- check if you're on the right track with your goals and endeavours
- solve a conflict or dilemma that has come up in one of your projects or teams
- get a better grip on the changes happening in your organization, department, team or project, be it as a Sponsor or as an affected Stakeholder, or as a Change Management team
- test if coaching is something that may generally help you in your career, or find out if you are compatible with a particular coach

It is usually a low-risk investment of time and money that can pay off immensely.
Book a session to try it out!

World Cup 2014 Semi-Final - Learning points for OCM

Germany - Brazil 7-1, a spectacular match - What can we learn from it?

Like in the corporate world, the pressure is on. Because they are condensed to the max, and success and failure are so measurably apparent, joint efforts such as football matches - and music concerts - serve as good examples on how we do in Organizational Change and what the big points are.

Agility & Team spirit

From the beginning right through to the very end the German players were agile and purposeful, they kept eye contact with the others on the team, they were able to let go and pass the ball to a team-mate in orchestrated choreographies, each team member doing their part but also keeping an eye out for the whole.
For a change project in the corporate environment this means that the information flow needs to keep going. Communication channels within the project / project office have to have the necessary definition to spur purposeful action, and at the same time enough openness to keep the teams motivated.
Even in large corporate companies, or even in Tech Consultancies, as many colleagues have confirmed in 'shop talks', there is often no - or not enough - culture of communicating with each other, and social/knowledge management apps are often merely a sad document grave. 
And if this is in the change project teams themselves - how can the word be spread out to the company?

Freedom & Responsibility

Teams need leeway to act on opportunities & synergies, in football and in corporate life. Overcautious micro-management only displays lack of trust, and kills motivation and 'enablement'. 
Participative leadership means team players can grasp opportunities, or create synergies, in OCM for example with SMEs, or the communications or organizational development departments, to optimize success.
It also means they will be able - and willing - to take responsibility and take charge of emerging needs. In the semi-final for example, the 3-0 was scored, because ".. There are lots of defenders in there but nobody is taking responsibility to pick anyone up." (Rio Ferdinand, in the BBC Analysis of the match).

Strategy & "Setting the Course" from the get-go

First of all: Having a Strategy is good. Change has become such a big issue, spanning whole organizations, so it becomes more and more apparent that OCM, as well as Organizational Communication & Culture are STRATEGIC issues. Yes, the ROI is not as easily measured as the goals and chances in football, but if you look at any successful initiative they will have had a STRATEGY on change and company culture, and, what's more important, they will have ACTED ON IT.
There is nothing like setting the course from the get-go - in our example scoring 5 goals in the first 29 minutes - to boost the morale of a team, because it takes pressure off the players. Aligned with the overall strategy, this move is likely to foster more success.
In change initiatives, the OCM Lead is often brought in 6, 8, 10 months into the initiative. This does not only not save money, as intended, it also looses the strategic point and the chance to boost motivation on the project tremendously.

Leadership & Lack of Leadership

The 5-0 in our example was scored due to lack of leadership in the other team: ".. the captain, supposed to be the leader, .. has abandoned ship I am afraid. He has disappeared." (Alan Hansen), and "That is embarrassing. When you do that, you are leaving your team-mates in the lurch. As a centre-half, he has to win the ball there." (Rio Ferdinand)
Much more could be said here, watch this spot for blog posts on Leadership topics.

Don't give up

From many examples we know about "not giving up when times get rough", and Oscar's goal in the last minute is one strong demonstration.
However, "not giving up when things go well" is also important. How many times have teams felt safe and leaned back into complacency. And then lost

DO IT

Football is not rocket science. Change Management is not rocket science. What a facebook friend commented on as "the unrelenting efficiency of the German team" is merely doing what is known to work. To the last consequence.

Yes, it takes creativity, yes, it takes the magic of the moment. Like jazz improvisation.
And like jazz improvisation, that too, can be learned. But most of all it takes a team.
And, yes, especially in this moment, I am proud of having grown up in a culture where there is a notion of "doing the right thing" - effectiveness, and "doing things right" - efficiency.

Success factors of Organizational Change Management are out there, and one just has to take them seriously and act on them. More on this in my next posts.

Thanks for your time, feel free to comment!

All quotes are from http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28221160, the BBC Analysis of the match.