TRAINING
Unfortunately, we often get to hear from our clients, that many experienced organizational consultants are only reluctant or no longer available to deliver short trainings. Some of them even doubt the usefulness of isolated sessions or simply feel called to do something better than delivering individual trainings
We have a different opinion: Sometimes virtual half-day trainings or classical two-day sessions are exactly the right measure to convey content and train skills to employees or managers in order to practice new behavioral patterns.
We love individual training and are passionate trainers!
Our portfolio includes the following training modules:
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Leadership fundamentals
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Leading leaders and management teams
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Leadership in transformation processes
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Leading global teams and intercultural competence
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Leading up
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Change adoption in project management
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Conflict management
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Matrix leadership
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Power and politics
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Self-management
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Virtual leadership
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Interview training
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Leading difficult conversations
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​Leadership in projects and lateral leadership
Various training modules can be combined and of course adapted to your needs.
We can draw on a wealth of experience from over 1,000 training days and have inspired well over 5,000 training participants; in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Spain, Israel, Oman, USA, Canada, China, India and many other countries.
Our trainings never get theoretical, boring or too trivial. The following attributes are not only important to us; we are also particularly pleased that our clients keep them reporting back to us in feedback rounds:
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100% application focus
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Adaptation to the customer's culture, processes and systems
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Clarity in statements and language
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High level “edutainment”
All training courses can be carried out physically or virtually, in English or German, at the client's location or in our beautiful premises in the Five Lake country.
We are particularly passionate about Talent programs and Leadership development programs. In addition to tailoring and implementing individual training modules, we also support you in designing development programs, including offering the following services
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Selection of talent, e.g., in (virtual) development centers
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Evaluation and selection of external providers for programs (e.g. international business schools)
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Selection and briefing of experts for lectures as well as keynote speakers
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Design and implementation of accompanying measures (e.g. coaching, transfer projects, virtual add-on modules and other learning measures)
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Development of accompanying communication formats (e.g. message tracks, CEO films)
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Ongoing program management
We also offer Train-The-Trainer programs, particularly in change projects and in large companies in which a large number of people need to be trained on a certain topic. In these multiplier trainings, the participants are not only trained methodically, but also prepared and strengthened for their role as trainers and/or change agents.
ASSESSMENT
With our assessment solutions, we support our clients in reliably identifying talents and their potential and making good staffing and promotion decisions. Our aim is to not only contribute to making the “right” personnel decisions, but also to select matching assessment designs and to promote the customer's desired development and change processes through coherent communication.
Our Assessment solutions are therefore not “off the shelf”. We are convinced that every assessment design should reflect the current business situation and that assessors need to know this for running sensitive conversations and giving useful advice. Therefore we take time to familiarize us with what your organization and the participants will be engaged in in the future. Our goal is to ensure we are sufficiently knowledgeable in the relevant topics and thus gain the acceptance of the participants - especially for the realization of assessments on top management level this is crucial.
For this reason, every assessment starts with a briefing to understand your objectives and, on this basis, to build an agenda and to develop an assessment design that supports these objectives. The length of assessments vary from 2 to 6 hours. Depending on the objective, we take on different roles. Most often we act in the role of a neutral assessor who is asked to bring an independent perspective into a personnel decision-making process. We also often design processes in close collaboration with our customers as one assessor among several.
We attach particular importance to the atmosphere created in the discussions and the relationship building. Allowing people to be assessed by external parties requires trust. Our long-standing customers repeatedly tell us that we know how to create a personal and positive interaction experience - even when we address critical issues. We are open and interested assessors who are driven to get to know our conversation partners as best as possible. In our view, this interest in others creates the prerequisite for trusting dialogues and deeper insights, from which not only the clients benefits in the end, but also - through transparent and appreciative feedback - the participants.
Depending on the objective, we distinguish between three different assessment services that we offer regardless of level - in Germany and internationally.
Our Selection assessments/audits help to get to know the short-listed people in a selection process better for the final selection decision and for identifying the necessary requirements and supporting measures for a successful onboarding. We put into the focus of the assessments not only the candidate's fit with the requirements of the target function, but also the cultural fit with the company, the leadership mindset, skills and toolset as well as the participant's existing expectations.
The lack of talent - accelerated by demographic change - is increasingly limiting the growth dynamics of companies. This makes it all the more important to identify and retain your own talents. Our Talent identification & development assessments contribute to making visible talents and their individual strengths, development potential and development expectations and – based on this – help deriving suitable development paths and measures. We attach particular importance to promoting the self-reflection capability of talents. We consider the exposure to challenging situations and differentiated behavioral feedback to be particularly effective in helping talents gain a better understanding of their strengths, resources, development potential and limitations to effectiveness.
In the course of success-critical organizational change processes such as strategic realignments, restructurings and merger integrations, the following questions often arise:
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How do we position ourselves organizationally and in terms of people?
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How do we distribute tasks, competencies and responsibilities?
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With which people do we implement the desired goals and changes?
Our Organizational assessments create the necessary transparency by identifying the individual people in a certain part of the organization or management level in individual assessments and by discussing our perceptions and recommendations with you. At the same time, we help to make overarching organizational strengths and development potential visible and to identify measures to support the desired change.
Our sessions can be carried out physically or virtually, in English or German, at your location or in our beautiful premises in the Five Lake District.
CHANGE/M&A CONSULTING
In today's companies, change is rather the rule than the exception: Nevertheless, week after week, we see how much many employees struggle with major organizational or process changes. In our service area Change Communication & Training, we offer professional support for your transformation projects.
Typical questions in our Change communication consulting that we will answer together are:
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Who speaks to whom, when, through which media and on which change-relevant topics?
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How can we create formats that are interactive and in which those affected by a change can ask questions and participate - without at the same time giving the illusion that everything is negotiable?
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How do I develop a credible, authentic, evocative but also motivating change story?
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How do I ensure that all managers and other responsible people pass on the same messages to their employees: What does a good “songsheet” look like?
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How can I significantly increase the credibility of my communication in contrast to pure top-down communication by selecting and training suitable change ambassadors at different hierarchy levels?
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How do I measure the impact of my communication?
Closely related to this is the design and implementation of Change trainings. Typically, the most important target group of these trainings are team leaders, project managers and other key players who have to implement the change.
Some typical questions we discuss in these trainings:
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What exactly is the change about (e.g. also in connection with CEO movies and fireside chats)?
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What effect does the change have on me and my team (Change Impact Assessment)?
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How can I pass on the benefits of change to my team in a meaningful way?
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What reservations are to be expected and how do I deal with rational, emotional and political resistance?
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What do I do if there is uncertainty within a change? How do I develop tolerance for ambiguity within my team?
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What options do I have to deal with boycotters and saboteurs?
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How do different types react to changes and how do I find the right lever for each individual?
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How do I deal with the high demands change puts on myself? How do I create stable zones?
Good change consulting is more than just “a few training sessions to explain the change curve. It is most effective when the accompanying measures are planned well in advance (preferably before the start of the project!) and when there is a close interconnection of change communication, change training, coaching, large group events, feedback groups and other design elements in which people are coming together to discuss and learn.
Another related service area is our Pre-merger consulting: From our point of view, a decision about an acquisition or a merger - and the decision for a later successful post-merger integration - requires more than just a convincing business rationale, a common vision and strategy as well as clarity with regards to contractual, financial, tax and organizational matters.
In particular, M&A processes that are know-how and innovation-driven are about people, their motivation, goals and their attitude towards shaping a common entrepreneurial future.
Before making a decision about a merger or an acquisition, we support our customers in analyzing the success-critical people factors for a reliable buying decision and for identifying measures for a successful post-merger integration. Our work focuses on five central dimensions and questions:
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Motivation of the sellers: Why is there a willingness to give up independence? What individual future expectations do the seller(s) have?
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Agreement on the goals and strategy of the key players: Is there a congruent picture of both companies and their key players with regard to the future corporate goals and strategy?
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Fit of corporate cultures: What values shape the corporate cultures of both companies? Where are there similarities or differences? How is leadership organized and lived?
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Competencies and distribution of competencies: What central competencies characterize the key players / the target organization? How are competencies and responsibilities distributed and organized? What consequences would the departure of key players have on the further development of the company and the merger?
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Retention and integration ability of key players: Who are the key players in the company beyond the salespeople? How do they assess the merger and their own future in the new context? Are there any commitment risks and how can these be mitigated? What roles (as well as responsibilities) should the key players take on in the new context?
Mergers are a demanding and success-critical change challenge. Our goal in our service area Post-merger integration consulting is to design with you the process of merging two formerly independent companies well in order to realize the expected merger potential.
As a partner of the buying company, we accompany you in the conceptual planning and implementation of the integration. We act both in the role of trusted advisor and feedback provider when dealing with PMI challenges and as an expert when it comes to questions of communication, motivation and the design of the change process. Ideally, we will be at your side in an advisory role already prior to the merger decision, in order to plan supporting post-merger integration measures as early as possible.
A particular focus of our support is on the development of a clear, inspiring and engaging communication concept that shows to the various stakeholders what opportunities result from the merger. We also support the development of a post-merger integration plan. Among other things, this plan defines the roles and responsibilities of each employee and provides answers to the question of who will work where, how and with whom in the future.
Many years of experience in supporting M&A processes show: There is hardly anything more damaging to the success of the integration than uncertainty or a lack of perspective regarding the own future on the side of the employees of the acquired company. The resulting unrest and dissatisfaction can quickly lead to regretted losses of key players. We help to minimize this central risk and create the conditions for motivation and creative energy to rise.
WORKSHOP FACILITATION
"Of course, before a workshop like this, you ask yourself whether you should spend money for “a little bit of facilitation”. After these two days, I can safely say that it was a good investment. We would never have dealt with the topics in such an open, well-structured and sustainable manner without you.”
We think this feedback from the owner of a medium-sized company sums it up well.
Even if we cannot bring in-depth specialist knowledge to every topic: The right methodology to make topics discussable and a good, stringent facilitation are worth a lot when it comes to clarifying concerns. This is also the case because external facilitation gives to the client the opportunity to concentrate completely on the content of the workshop.
When moderating High performance team workshops, we might be working on the following questions:
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How do we create the basis for good collaboration?
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How do we clarify mutual expectations?
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How do we build trust within the team?
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How do we make our meetings more efficient?
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When moderating Strategy workshops, we might deal among other things with questions such as
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discovering the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of our own team or our company
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analyzing the (internal and external) environment
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deriving ideas for our future work from higher-level strategies or developing new ideas.
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making decisions about what we will focus on and what topics we will consciously not address.
Last but not least, our strategy workshops help also to cascade the jointly developed strategy down to the own team in a meaningful, inspiring and well-aligned way, with a sound strategy communication plan.
Conflict workshops can be facilitated
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between two employees,
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within an entire team or
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at the interface between different departments.
As facilitators, we ensure (also through preliminary interviews) that all critical points are brought to the table and then dealt with in a fair, constructive and solution-oriented manner. We use classic facilitation methods and see ourselves as a neutral partner.
COACHING
In our coaching sessions, we work with senior leaders, talents, project managers and experts individually on their professional and personal challenges.
Typical question in our service area of C-level advisory could be:
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How can I tackle a restructuring initiative, the establishment of a new strategic direction or a necessary cultural change and operationalize and implement them sustainably in the company?
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What level of participation makes sense and is necessary?
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How do I create a powerful leadership team and integrate difficult characters well into my guiding coalition?
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How do I organize my succession?
Typical questions in 1:1 coachings could be:
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How do I best prepare for a new role or have a good start?
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How do I deal with difficult leadership challenges (downward, lateral or upward) or solve (simmering) conflicts at interfaces?
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How do I personally deal with periods of massive workload, setbacks or disappointments?
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How can I build my personal brand?
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Typical questions in team coachings could be:
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How can we use our different personality profiles, strengths and characters to our advantage?
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How can we develop further as a whole team?
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How can we ensure that we have a good internal reputation in our company?
For a coaching process to be successful, the "personal chemistry" must be right. The decision always lies with the coachee. In order to do justice to this fact, we can rely on a large, international and diverse network of competent, experienced and empathetic coaches. All coaches at 5L Partners share the following basic principles:
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Coaching based on previously defined goals
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Eye level in all conversations
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Clarity and empathy
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Head and heart
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Strict confidentiality
Coaching sessions can take place at the client's location, virtually or in our beautiful premises in the Five Lake District. We are glad to put you in touch with our coaches and offer a free introductory and get-to know meeting.