Shortly before nine o’clock in the morning. The room is slowly filling up. A coffee cup in hand here and there. A yawn. Phones to the ear. Mutual greetings. Focus comes slowly. And then the facilitator approaches the topic step by step and – as learned as important in many trainings – asks for the expectations of the participants. And …
Facilitator’s ABC: Point Thread Bandwidth
One large room. Thirty-one people from one organization. Many have long tenure with the company. Diverse departments. All connected to technology. The big boss comes in and says why everyone has come together and where to go. No questions. No resentment. Big boss leaves. Facilitator takes over. Greeting. Warming up with each other. Question: do you all know why you …
Rethink, Redefine the Idea of Work
by Christelle Kamanan, contributing journalist, August 2022 The job market, as it is, is not wanted anymore. With all the progress in technology and other areas, there is no point in having most people spend that much time working. It’s urgent to rethink and redefine the concept of having a job and its role in society. Other paradigms are flourishing …
The Future of Work
by Chrsitelle Kamanan, April 2022 Well-being, a fair work-life balance and a meaningful job are part of the top criteria of the working class. It accompanies the urge for drastic changes to face environmental and social challenges. Companies undertake them with Future-of-work, which should provide employees with more self-accomplishment, efficiency and agility. This model is supposed to pave the way …
Facilitator’s ABC: habit
H = Habit 6am. Alarm goes off. Yawn. Stretch. Bathroom. Cold shower. Dress. Espresso. Getting ready to leave. Left turn at corner. Red light as always. Usual parking spot taken. Grunt. Morning to everyone. My desk. My screen. Same faces. Routine to-do-list. Lunch. Customers call. Discussion with superior. As predicted. Prepare to leave. Drive home. Some shopping. Run. Eat. Beer. …
Don’t care about being authentic
by Christelle Kamanan, January 2022 Authenticity is the current buzzword. People speak of being authentic either to define a brand or to speak about personal objectives and relationships. It does not make much sense, and it is useless and vague. Being authentic does not indicate what you want, and it also does not say anything about you. Claiming authenticity equals …
Facilitator’s ABC: abundance
A = Abundance There is so much to do, says a poster of the FDP for the federal election 2021 in Germany. Probably true. There is always plenty to do, especially if you know or have mastered something. Topics are interwoven, a thought leads to an association leads to an expression of opinion and before you know it, a new …
Facilitator’s ABC: speed
S = speed I do speed! One of the five priorities for managers in the new normal is speed. Things should happen quickly, says one of the large consulting firms. The digital must be implemented quickly, resilience should be anchored quickly in the organization and among employees, new collaboration models should be developed as quickly as possible…….. . Whatever you …
The Unknown & Normality
Extraordinary events interrupt the more or less steady flow of routine work with noise. Man’s first reaction to the loud interruption is fright. This is followed by the question of how to cope with the unknown and how to reintroduce, bit by bit, tested small routines that come closer to the goal of normality desired and strived for on all …
Facilitator’s ABC: fog
F = fog Fog is a wonderful state. The world disappears and does not distract the imagination by sight. The hand in front of the eyes is just visible, then a dense wall of water droplets. Now, one can stress one’s memory when moving in familiar territory. This sometimes goes well and often one notices how the conviction to know …
4.0: hurray!
What you read: A company should organize optimal working conditions for work teams so that they can independently use 4.0 technologies, as well as use them effectively and in a health-conscious manner. Reality to be encountered: Coping skills in the functioning of ERP, MES, PLC et aliter are not mastered by everyone in an organization – be it plant operator …
4.0 > easy!
What you read: A manager should promote and use the employees’ own initiative and self-organization for 4.0 processes. Just demanding this with words is not enough. A manager should create conditions that make it attractive to act independently, learn in the work process, face uncertainties, and manage the existing complexity. Reality to be encountered: Independent thinking and acting are two …
4.0 hurray!
What you read: The management team of an industrial company can design and use 4.0 technologies in such a way that the people involved retain control over the systems or know how the systems work and can intervene. Reality to be encountered: The shop floor escalates, managers call experts, troubleshooting begins.
OWSP = One-way street passivity
Television. An illuminated screen. Wo/Man gazes blissfully at the moving images. Comfort in loneliness. Variety. Entertainment. Oh, how we love the screen. The smartphone speaks to us, whisks us away to strange worlds, makes the world lie at our feet. And obeys commands. I am the mistress/master of the world on my sofa. And then suddenly I am supposed to …
Facilitator’s ABC: cohesion
V = virtual Virtuality or reality? Are we sure that these are two different things? Or are they not rather varieties of the same thing? How is it that we are so used to thinking in terms of opposites? How is it that we are always faced with the choice of two things? Either – or? Perhaps this is the …
Facilitator’s ABC: knowing for the sake of knowing
A = Agnotology The noblest form of knowledge is nonknowledge. To know that one has nonknowledge and in a quality in which one can work with nonknowledge means that one needs a considerable amount of knowledge on the subject of knowledge. Nonknowledge is hard to acquire, since knowledge is the currency with which the value of a person is determined. …
Critical Thinking
The Probem Everyone thinks. It is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced. Yet, the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of …
Unexamined life
What does it mean to live an examined life? By John Dennis, Science and Enlightenment fan “The unexamined life is not worth living” is one of Socrates’ most famous statements from Plato’s Apology. …… In my opinion living an examined life has different meanings for each individual: For Cicero the examined life was a life rooted in honesty and serving …
Customer Experience
The company is a leading global manufacturer of standard software, services and solutions. His name appears on my phone bill with a monthly amount for a service I purchased. I would like to cancel this service. The number that appears on my phone bill only gives me a busy signal when I call. The reception of the German head office …
Umdenken: complexity
If complexity and uncertainty are too great for the average educated person in a responsible position, the very same person should have the idea and courage to ask someone who is familiar with the subject. Some ideas: logicians, scenario thinkers, probability calculators, philosophers, complexity researchers, design thinkers…to mention a few. They all exist. Are they heard?
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