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Coaching in the corporate world

You have probably already heard of it. You may still have a few questions about deploying this approach. A real-life example is therefore better than too much theory! For this reason, we would like to share with you a situation in which OTP was recently involved.

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Applicants today increasingly want to know whether the company matches their own beliefs and working methods. When filling new positions, it is important to pay special attention to this point. You will be successful in attracting candidates if they are convinced that they will fit into your company.

With our Topscore® approach, we look at the question of which values, standards, working methods and communication characterize our clients’ corporate culture as early as the evaluation of the requirements profile.

Thanks to our specific approach, we are able to make accurate statements about your company’s corporate culture and framework conditions as early as the job advertisement stage. In this way, we ensure that incoming applications are not only analyzed on the basis of their professional skills, experience and social skills, but also in terms of their cultural fit.

Important advantages of the “cultural fit” are:

• Team cohesion and cooperation:

A good cultural fit promotes harmonious team cohesion. Employees who fit in well with the corporate culture tend to interact better with their colleagues and work together more effectively to achieve company goals.

• Work morale and commitment:

Employees who identify with the company culture show higher morale and commitment. They feel more connected to the company values, which has a positive impact on their performance.

• Innovation and creativity:

A positive company culture fosters an environment that encourages creativity and innovation. Employees who feel comfortable in their working environment are more likely to come up with new ideas and develop and share innovative solutions.

• Employee retention and loyalty:

Cultural fit contributes to employee retention. Employees who identify with the corporate culture are more likely to stay with the company. This can reduce turnover and significantly reduce the cost of recruiting and training new employees.

• Communication and conflict resolution:

Employees who are a good cultural fit with the organization tend to have better communication and are more effective in resolving conflicts. Shared values and norms create a foundation for a positive communication culture.

• Ability to adapt to change:

Colleagues who fit in well with the company’s culture are often better able to adapt to change. A strong cultural base can help reduce resistance to change and facilitate the adaptation process.

• Corporate image and reputation:

Employees who represent the corporate culture help to build a positive image of the company. This can have an impact on the external perception of the company and on the attraction of potential candidates.

Our Topscore® approach – the match with your corporate culture

The corporate culture is the personality of your company. It influences how employees work and communicate with each other, how structures are set up and how the company itself functions.

To ensure that the candidates are a “cultural fit”, we use our Topscore® approach to record specific characteristics of your corporate culture according to the following dimensions:

• Leadership behavior
• Communication
• Work-life balance
• Development opportunities
• Team spirit, trust and respect between colleagues and superiors

By examining your company values and comparing them with the ideas and values of the candidates, we obtain solid information on the accuracy of fit. We identify and present you with candidates who show a high level of identification with your values!

We look forward to an initial discussion with you! We take the time to look at the situation from your perspective and find individual solutions.

Rolf Sommer
Senior Consultant

You don’t like conflict?

That is quite normal. While some people appreciate confrontation, many others prefer to avoid conflict. This is even more pronounced in a professional environment where you don’t necessarily want to “make waves”. In fact, people tend to play down or even suppress conflicts within a team. This strategy is risky. However, confronting them can be too. But if a conflict is handled correctly, it also brings positive elements with it.

Yes, conflict can be positive!

Contrary to all expectations, conflict can be positive. When conflict arises in your team, it means that the team members are reacting to each other, contributing and getting involved. From this perspective, it is therefore positive. Of course, the biggest challenge is to manage the conflict successfully. This is also the reason why many of us dislike conflict: dealing with it can be painful. It is never pleasant to “put your finger where it hurts”.

Get the keys to managing conflict

Through situational role-plays, the teaching of specific methods and the transfer of best practices, OTP supports your teams and managers in successfully managing conflicts as part of training courses.

First, the team’s situation is examined in a reflection phase, the team members are listened to and the severity of the conflict is analyzed. Is the conflict emerging? Is it already entrenched? Is it recurring? These are questions that make it possible to defuse the conflict as early as possible or to deal with it if it has already become entrenched. 

The manager then has to choose the right course of action. Depending on the scenario and configuration of the conflict, they will sometimes adopt a more mediating stance (mediator). Sometimes they will take on more of a leadership role that sets the direction. If the leader is part of the conflict, the intervention of a third party is recommended.

A case from practice

Our case takes place in a medium-sized company. Within this organization, several teams from different departments work together. The managing director calls us and reports recognizable tensions between two very heterogeneous teams. The conflict is already deadlocked. Communication between the two teams is deteriorating. Individuals are finding it difficult to work with others and the actual business mission is being undermined. In this context, we intervene by offering a one-and-a-half day workshop on team building.

As a player outside the conflict, the role of the OTP consultant is to act as a facilitator, so that things that cause anger can be said. By providing a framework and avoiding certain excesses. 

The consultant also shares keys to communication, enabling participants to take a step back and realise that each person has different needs in terms of interaction and expresses themselves in a different way.

The second part of the day focuses on summarising the conflict situation, and above all on finding solutions, first individually or in sub-groups, and then together. The aim of this first day is to produce a plan with concrete, measurable actions.

It is advisable to schedule another half day several weeks or months after this first day to take stock of the situation in terms of managing the conflict and how it is evolving. And potentially to make relevant adjustments to the actions decided upon. During this final stage, it is interesting for the teams to take a step back and observe the progress made. It can be rewarding for the team to see that it has been able to move forward, evolve and progress.

Your benefit: An approach tailored to the respective situation

To prevent conflict situations and provide managers with tools, we can design training workshops that will not provide “turnkey” solutions, but will be fine-tuned according to your own structure, and to the needs of your company and your team.

In the case of a proven and established conflict situation, we can also intervene in the form of “team-building” days, as explained in the case study above.

Whatever the nature and format of the conflict, we’ll take the time to put together an appropriate package to meet your specific needs. So don’t hesitate to contact us.

So that the conflict can be positive and help your team to progress.