My Approach

LISTEN

To help you, I first need to understand you and your situation, your story, your challenges, and your goals. Listening to your story, without reservation or prejudice, is therefore the first step in any engagement. That is why I seek the opportunity to meet and interview you before we talk about what we can or should do.

Often, I ask many questions, and carefully take in your answers. I know from experience that this listening phase of the engagement, when done right, significantly increases the potential for success further down the line.

CLARIFY

While some clients are very clear about what they are seeking to achieve through our engagement, most approach me with challenges that aren’t easy to define. That is completely normal, as we are dealing with the complex and nuanced worlds of the human mind and people relationships. Once I have a basic idea of your situation, it is my objective to facilitate greater clarity. I do this using a combination of the following approaches:

• Q&A. I usually prepare some specific and targeted questions, and ask them either in the form of a face-to-face interview, or in a written questionnaire. Depending on the situation, and with your approval or request, this may include other people relevant to the situation, such as your team members, including business and/or HR executives.
• Conceptual brief. Sometimes I will introduce you to some of the frameworks and development approaches I use.

If you have an idea how and why we should apply particular frameworks or tools, you are welcome to make a decision with me on the best way forward.

• Draft proposal. Once I have developed a good idea about how to best help you with your challenge or need, I will develop and submit a draft proposal to you. I call this a ‘draft’ as we invite your feedback and maybe adjust the final proposal to ensure we are all completely aligned and confident our engagement will be a success. The draft proposal usually captures:
  • your stated requirements
  • my approach to helping you meet these requirements
  • the likely benefits and outcomes of the engagement
  • the methodologies to be applied
  • a program or schedule for the initiative
  • …and of course an itemized quotation

TAKE ACTION

The customer situations that I get involved with, and the methodologies and tools I use, are quite diverse. The duration of an initiative can last from a 2 hour personal assessment to a 24 month-long ongoing learning & development initiative with regular scheduled interventions such as workshops, on-going team coaching sessions or soft skill trainings.

Some engagements take place over the phone or Skype, and some face-to-face, at your office, or at a hotel or conferencing facility.

For all engagements, I promise you:

• To be your dedicated coach: I am respecting you for you who are. I am here to keep one eye on your goals and one eye on where you are in the presence. Together we will close that gap.
• To act as an effective facilitator: with the right facilitation skills, experiences and a natural facilitation personality, your intervention will achieve its objectives.
• Relevant learning content: I will ensure that delegates relate to the program and its learnings and activities by preparing examples, case studies and activities that are meaningful and relevant to all delegates, by clearly managing expectations of program outcomes, by inviting delegates to put forward their own contributions and by using a coaching, training and communication style that recognizes the cultural background and context of the delegates.
• A practical approach: I employ a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach throughout, and appeal to the delegates’ preferred mode of learning, with a focus on practical and experiential application. All theories will immediately be demonstrated by practical examples and activities. Optionally, I may focus not only on applying the new knowledge during the session, but also through ‘back-to-work’ assignments with specific instructions and practical guidance.