YouMatch – improving labour markets for youth

I am currently in the middle of a two week assignment to support experts from subsaharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa and Europe to exchange ideas and experience in getting youth into meaningful employment and income. The challenges are similar across the regions – in addition to the need to create employment opportunities (or encourage self-employment) – prejudice, lack of soft-skills, insufficient platforms for meeting and matching and providing youth with orientation are rife. Employers are complaining that they don’t have the applicants for job vacancies. Youth are stagnating in underemployment or by simply being in the wrong job for them. Economies are slowing and braindrain is hurting attempts to develop sectors such as IT.

German international development cooperation is networking experts from the three regions to get things moving and stimulate ideas, money and collaboration opportunities. http://www.youmatch.global

The willingness to embrace change and work together across sectors and countries is promising. As is the interest in investing in process consultation to ensure that the working groups retain their motivation and energy to collaborate after the workshops here in Berlin have ended.

Thanks to Darius Walker for supporting the workshops and making the participants feel welcome and oriented. Here’s a non-official shot of the subsaharan delegation. The photographer wanted a bit of action! (Photo thanks to GIZ)

TVET @ Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting

Great discussion on how technical and vocational education and training can lead to empowerment. Audience and experts are of one opinion: the need for public-private partnerships from start to finish.

http://www.adb.org/annual-meeting/2016/events/empowerment-through-tvet

Meister meistern Herausforderungen

Der deutsche Industriemeister ist eine Schlüsselperson in großen Unternehmen: sie haben eine Sandwich-Position inne, in dem sie den Großteil der Belegschaft disziplinarisch und fachlich führen und für die fach- und Termin gerechte Umsetzung und Ausführung der Managemententscheidungen verantwortlich sind. Gefühlt ändert sich nichts so schnell wie der Industriemeisterberuf, und viele der Kollegen arbeiten 45 Jahre im Betrieb! Allein die Digitalisierung hat den Job revolutioniert, geschweige denn LEAN-Ansätze, Umstrukturierungen, etc. Ein Meister verbringt heutzutage die Hälfte seiner Arbeitszeit am Computer.

Meister meistern Heraus-forderungen

Ein langjähriger und geschätzter Kunde von mir bei einem der größten deutschen Unternehmen hat diese Schlüsselposition erkannt und ich begleite ihn seit 2013 bei der Initiative “Meister meistern Herausforderungen”. Wie läuft die Initiative? Alles basiert auf den Input der Meister, die in einem ersten Schritt die derzeitige Belastungssituation analysiert haben und selbst Schwerpunkte für die Verbesserung identifiziert haben. Engagierte Manager begleiteten den Prozess und lieferten den Meistern die erforderlichen Informationen oder Unterstützungen. Auch bei der Lösungsentwicklung waren die Meister federführend dabei, mit den Managern zunächst die Optionen auf den Tisch zu legen und dann in umsetzungsfähige Konzepte zu gießen.

Die Skepsis war anfangs groß, dass diese Initiative einfach eine neue “Sau, die durch’s Dorf getrieben wird”. Dass sie ein beständiger Prozess geworden ist, verdankt sie der Kreativität und Veränderungsbereitschaft der Meister, dem Engagement der Manager und dem energischen Projektleiter, der im Laufe der gut zwei Jahre viel über sich und das Unternehmen gelernt hat und den Prozess als extrem wertvoll – für den Standort und auch für sich – sieht.

Ich genieße die Zusammenarbeit mit den Meistern. Ich habe viel gelernt und gelacht in den vielen Workshops, die ich moderierte. Ich schätze die Offenheit und Ehrlichkeit der Meister und ihren Willen, Dinge anzupacken und miteinander um die besten Lösung zu ringen. Mich hat auch beeindruckt, wie einige zugeben konnten, dass bestimmte angedachte Verbesserungen doch nicht so einfach umzusetzen seien, und diese Botschaft den Kollegen vermittelt haben. Das zeigt Größe.

Manager und Meister sollten sich viel häufiger die Zeit nehmen, auf Augenhöhe miteinander ins Gespräch zu kommen. Wir brauchen eine Diversitypolitik in den Unternehmen, die diese alte Grenze bewusst aufbricht. Gewinnen tun alle: Firma, Mensch und Prozess.

 

 

 

So the chase takes up one’s life, that’s all.

My wonderful professor from University, Lucy Newlyn, directed my attention to Robert Browning’s poem about hope and there’s a “motto” in there that I identify with and mean to think about for a while. Here’s the poem:

Life in a Love

Escape me?
Never—
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear:
It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed.
But what if I fail of my purpose here?
It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one’s eyes and laugh at a fall,
And, baffled, get up and begin again,—
So the chase takes up one’s life, that’s all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound
At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope goes to ground
Than a new one, straight to the self-same mark,
I shape me—
Ever
Removed!

Isn’t it a curious, beautifully understated and thoroughly modern line “So the chase takes up one’s life, that’s all.”?

 

International Corner at Germany’s National IT Summit

The whole Cabinet of Angela Merkel’s government was there – it was definitely the place to show Germany’s effort in becoming a player for Industry 4.0 and other digital trends. And it was really national – almost everything in German and full of German players. Which is ok. But digitalisation is obviously an international topic and there are very few national borders in the internet world.

New markets. New partners. New solutions – international cooperation and the digital transformation. 18.11.2015, Copyright: Thomas Koehler/photothek.net

Which is why I was proud and excited to moderate the only international corner at the IT Summit: “New partners, new markets, new solutions”, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation BMZ. We had a fantastic discussion and great fun too! BMZ’s just produced a summary of the event (attached). OK, so it’s in German, but hey… Zusammenfassung BMZ Panel auf Nationalem IT Gipfel 2015

SIMEI 2015 -sustainable wine must be good

2 years after the first International Congress at the world’s most important wine exhibition (SIMEI) in Milan, the 2015 International Congress brought experts and stakeholders from all over the globe to discuss sustainable wine and how sensory analysis can also be used to determine whether a sustainable wine is also good. As a wine hobbyist (yes, that also means I really enjoy drinking it!) I’m keen to support the socio-cultural, aesthetic and gustatory aspects of retaining a sustainable world for future generations.

http://www.simei.it/en/congress/sustainability

Not only the 60 selected stakeholders at the front get to voice their thoughts – the many interested members of the public who attended the international congress are also encouraged to vote!

Illustrious wine experts on how to define sustainability in wine production and consumption

There is an urgent need to be clearer and more definitive on how we interpret “sustainability” in the wine chain!

The stakeholders and experts are joined by a “sounding board” made up of wine production students.

Stakeholders really used the questions to brainstorm together!

Wine chain stock-take – quick mind map to visually record the main messages

A great discussion starter!

Day 2 on sensory analysis also sees stakeholders and experts joined by a different “sounding board” made up of wine production students.

Experts using my visuals to debrief – love it!

Structure!

Facilitation is about organising content.

It’s a bit like putting together this Scottish Highland picture: it’s not just about building a wall that should be robust enough to stand the elements, but also about ensuring that the big picture – in this case the mountain – isn’t lost in the process. It’s about changing perspectives – on the one hand to deal with the details where they’re needed, and also to become more abstract. It’s about empowering a group to work out the best way to put their expertise, ideas and interests together: building a wall that will not fall down at the first stress-test. And it’s about creating a result that is pleasing – that the group can take pride in.

How does it work? What are the essentials of structuring content as a facilitator? This list is not exhaustive!

1. Invest time and effort in establishing a joint understanding of and buy in for the goals, deliverables and agenda (structure) of the meeting. A group of people will only feel motivated and dedicated to building a wall if they’ve agreed that’s what they’ve set out to do!
2. Ensure joint understanding – this sounds obvious, but most of my speaking in the facilitated meeting is spent on making sure what people want to say is said and heard by the others (i.e. “translating” and summarising complex or unclear messages in the most efficient way possible – active listening). People need to share an understanding of
   1. where they’re coming from (history, problem or potential),
   2. whether they have a similar or diverse position on the issue and what that position is/those positions are (consensus/disagreement),
   3. what people feel is important and relevant or irrelevant (priorities),
   4. why people feel and think the way they do (rationale),
   5. how people suggest a problem should be solved or potential achieved (propositions),
   6. where opportunities for collaboration lie (partnership),
   7. the way forward (plan) and
   8. how success will be measurable.
3. Recording (visually) the main points of the discussion (see 2.) and how they relate to each other (this is wall-building),
4. Interrupting or even disrupting the wall-building to make sure people are still aware of why they’re building the wall, how high it has to be (i.e. in order to frame the mountain) and which stress-tests it will need to withstand. This can involve inviting external expertise – independent – into the group to allow it to question itself,
5. Making sure the right people are involved – the evolving and final structure depends on the input received!
6. Separating brainstorming (opening out) and prioritising/rating/ranking (funnelling and closing). If you mix these processes, you will not only lose the structure of the content, but also most of the people involved in giving it.
7. Ensuring 100 % participation. The results are useless if half the group lets you know at the end of the process that “it’ll never work”.This means structuring the room and time of a meeting to cope with dealing with multiple voices and, interestingly, creating an atmosphere not of power or importance, but of trust and curiosity. Only then will people listen to each other and stop merely thinking about how to say what they’ve probably said at many meetings before…

Getting a Group on Board

Again, I’m not a fan of a “warm up” or those getting-to-know-each-other “games” favoured by smiling trainers to manipulate a group into obedient acquiescence. Participants at workshops or conferences are not there to be part of my group dynamic process: they want to benefit from the content. However, as facilitators we know that creating a constructive group dynamic will contribute to that generation of good content and thus benefit each participant. So let’s make sure the on-boarding or “transfer-in” benefits both group and content. It’s an enabler, not a game. The fun is a byproduct – it’s not the aim.

This is something I tried out for the first time at a workshop where a diverse set of entrepreneurs came together in an open space to build an enabling community for their businesses. What followed was a classical open space agenda setting.

And this is what we did to get people focussed on the content, the group and their process:

1) Names and faces – a blitz round of introductions (this can be tedious and meaningless if dragged out. Get people to stand and they’re quicker)

2) Participants are encouraged to move around the room (making it theirs). They are invited to continue moving between the following stages.

3) Introduce the 1st of 5 stages: “Beam! Think about what makes you proud right now. What you’ve achieved. [after a while] Look around at all the self-esteem in the room.”

4) Introduce the 2nd of 5 stages: “Shout! Shout out all the things that are troubling and angering you and making you crazy. [after a while – it’s noisy!] Let’s use this energy today for something positive!”

5) Introduce the 3rd of 5 stages: “Whisper! Share a secret, a confession, an unripe thought with someone you meet in this room – keep it quiet – whisper into your partner’s ear. [after a while] Hear the seeds grow.”

6) Introduce the 4th of 5 stages: “Question! Ask someone else your question – the question you carry around with you. Don’t get or expect an answer, but listen to your partner’s question in return and neither give not think about the answer. [after a while] Feel the burden shared.

7) Introduce the 5th of 5 stages: “Thank! Silently formulate your concrete gratitude towards someone for something that has helped your business to grow. [after a while] Offer the floor to individual participants who would like to voice their thanks.

This process takes about 30 minutes in all and provided our group with an ideal framework and foundation for the ensuing thematic discussion – a mixture of trust and relationships, quiet reflection and openness, as well as individual and group confidence and humility.

European Corner at the Deutscher Stiftungstag 2014 in Hamburg

This was the second year I’ve had the opportunity to moderate the international part of the Deutscher Stiftungstag – the European Corner. It’s a great space for all those foundations interested in thinking outside the national box to explore future ideas they can duplicate, scale up and collaborate to develop together. The renowned sociologist, Professor Ulrich Beck kicked off this year’s discussion with a talk on Cosmopolitisation, which my panelists used to come to the conclusion that not only is the European project a process of Europeanisation, but of Europeanisations. Because the process is so different in different parts of Europe (beyond EU), for different societal groups (elite vs. non-elite, youth, political decision-makers, migrants, etc.). The conclusions and the text by Ulrich Beck will be made available on the Allianz Foundation’s website and/or @ http://www.stiftungen.org.

Working for the wine industry

A zenith of my career? The opportunity to work with the wine industry and moderate a large international congress in Milan with experts on sustainability and viniculture and viticulture was certainly a highlight of my year (and made many people envious, I can tell you!). The SIMEI fair attracts more than 70 thousand visitors each year and is hosted by the Italian Union of Viticulture (UIV).

Italian wine has never been as much in my focus as French, but in the few hours I spent in Milan, I had managed to clock up a good bit of experience – it wasn’t just the Barolos and Amarones that turned my head, but particularly a complex and head-swingingly fresh and yet heavenly subdued white from Sicily: Planeta “Cometa” – 2012. And I was so pleased to find that I’m not the only one who loathes pro secco: the Italians I spoke to don’t even consider it drinkable – the Cantine Ferrari we tried with the antipasti (omg) was wonderful: the right harsh bubbles and squeaky clean dry taste.

Anyhow – good to focus on one specific part of agriculture in considering the potential to increase sustainability. And I also learned a bit about the EU CAP post 2011, which is completely different to the unsustainable production-focus of the pre 2011 days. It was a great experience and a good conference with candid and forward-looking discussions.