LEAD-OFF
Certified Scale Up Senior Coach
Certified Digital Transformation Professional
Certified Business Coach and Change Management Consultant
Certified 9-Levels of Value Systems Consultant
Certified Mental Coach - Ceus®
Driven by „Design Thinking“ and „Agile Principles“
24 years proven track record in developing People & Business, in multinational, medium-sized and start-up companies
Coach & organizational developer since 2016
Member of management boards (C-Level) in DACH and Bulgaria.
Strategic and operational accountability.
Extensive international leadership experience with cross-border teams up to 23 employees and matrix organization
Dual competencies marketing and operations-procurement
Specialist in innovation and change management: career path characterized by building up new functions, organizational development, restructuration, executive leadership
Profit & Loss accountability: business turnover up to 40M€ and budgets up to 270M€
Complex international change management project for a consortium in circular economy, with the target to create new value chains
Values and Emotions in action
Values drive decisions
Values are our reference to decide what is right or wrong, and steer our behaviour.
Matched values= satisfaction and success.
Mismatched values = frustration and poor results.
Values evolve over time and experience, and get embodied by emotions.
Values lay the fundament of a team or organization culture.
Mindset dictates result
Attitude and skills are the main forces for results.
Regardless of available skills,
a good attitude helps for good results, while a bad attitude will foster poor results.
Good strategies can only deliver expected results with an excellent execution.
As execution is matter of human performance,
a focus on individual and team leadership is key.
Emotional state and mindset are the core for attitude.
Change never stops
Yesterday's solutions are today's problems. Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
Individuals,
teams,
organizations
and the environment are permanently evolving and you need to guide & steer.
A learning organization will adapt where it needs, and shape where it can.
Challenging the statu quo and working on personal development are constant.
the origin of lead-off
Lead-off is a concept take from baseball, which is about leadership.
As a former competitive athlete in Baseball, I learned much about mindset, about developing skills around aptitude and potential, about making situational decisions and adjusting to consequences, about being an active part in a team, about the dynamics when you win… and the dynamics when you lose.
It is about managing own emotions instead of being managed by them. Focused mind & full energized.
In business life, I found many parallels to team sports and can state that attitude matters a lot.
The key is to reflect wether the system is managing you or if you are managing the system.
Human performance matters.
To exemplify, some parallels to business are given below.
In baseball, performance starts with you
The coach sets up a line-up of 9 players who will face the pitcher, and consequently have to get on base, progress and finally score points against the competition.
The first batter of the line-up is called „lead-off“. He is chosen because of his statistics of high on-base-percentage/performance so far. The one who has proven himself in this role will start.
By any means possible, the lead-off needs to get on base. Not necessarly a big hit does the job. An automatic base-on-ball after 4 bad pitches, or surprise the defense team with a bunt, letting the ball roll into the field slowly.
It is your choice, in context to the circumstances.
Once you are on base as a lead-off, the next batters will work on making you progress, until you can cross the home-plate again and score a point. This doesn’t mean you have to wait for them to bat. Your contribution as baserunner is to get the attention of the defense, preventing them from focusing on the next batter. „Stealing“ bases is also a way to progress on your own, but requires very good communication with the rest of the team members.
The tricky part, as the game goes on, is that the line-up is not reset every inning your team is batting. The next batter in line must start. So when you are up, despite the statistics you may have, if there is no one on base, you have to be the Lead-off. You have to take the part and perform.
In business, performance starts with you
The owner, the managing director, the leaders… set up teams and organizations, in order to run a business model and be successful with the customers, against the competition.
The recruiting process generally ensures that people are hired, who have the appropriate education, the suitable personality, and most importantly a proven track record of solving identical or similar issues. The one who has proven himself in that role will start.
Starting in a new company, a new team, you need to adapt and perform rapidly. It is less about you individually, than rather about you in the organisation, in the team… in the system you have entered and are now a part of now. You will make decisions, mainly based on experience, in context to the circumstances.
In a company, everyone has a specific role and specific tasks. Focusing on each areas that builds a competitive advantage is key. But it is the team work that enables running the business efficiently and successfully. The contribution to success comes from everywhere/everyone, but so do the distractions and the excuses. Great alignment is a must, and requires very good communication with the rest of the team members.
Markets evolve, competition evolves, the organization evolves, your team evolves, and you, for sure, evolve too.
Nothing is as constant as change. So when business gives you an opportunity, you have to take the part and perform.
Dare and adapt to the situation
in baseball
Once you have safely reached the first base, you are entitled to take a „lead“. This means you take a few steps away from the base, which is not a safe territory anymore. You need to be alert and anticipate the reactions of the defense team, because you might get caught. However, no risk, no reward.
The bigger the lead, the higher the risk of being picked off. But a big lead also means shortening the distance to the next base and therefore increases your chance of reaching it faster and being safe again. You decide and then you manage the consequences.
Dare and adapt to the situation
in business
All your life you will face new situations to which you will have to adapt.
It is necessary to leave your comfort zone and this costs a lot of energy. You need to be alert, learn, improve, become more confident to have a larger comfort zone in the end. However, no risk, no reward.
The higher a leadership role you take, the more exposed you become. You have to make decisions all along the journey and ensure results. You decide and then you manage the consequences.