Approach

WHY:
Because the world is turning faster and faster and the challenges for companies are becoming more and more glaring. As we all know, it is not the biggest that survive in the long term, but those who can adapt the fastest and best. For companies, this means reinventing themselves and continuously evolving. In this new VUKA world full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, it is not old knowledge or the tried and tested that helps, but the ability and courage to find and follow new paths. According to management pope Phillip Kotter, most companies are hopelessly overburdened with this. Because they are mostly based on management systems from a time when incremental development, increase in efficiency and optimisation were the prevailing mantra. Today, however, new ways are needed to make organisations adaptable so that they can successfully find and walk their way to their vision through this new world.

HOW:
OKR is the name of the game. Or in other words: OKR is not everything, but without OKR everything is nothing 😉. Objectives & Key Results is a framework that allows 1. the entire organisation to be aligned with a common vision and to create transparency about the path, 2. to create motivation and ownership across all levels, 3. to focus on the essentials, 4. to become agile as an organisation and to learn continuously. Google, Amazon, Microsoft but now also some companies in the brand and retail industry are applying OKR with great enthusiasm and success.

WHAT:
We help our clients to introduce OKR and to involve their employees in the development process of the organisation. As specialists, we bring together decades of industry experience with deep change expertise. Our profound knowledge of the fashion and lifestyle market, business models, trends, consumer behaviour and value creation processes allows us to ask the really relevant questions and provide inspiration, thus supporting our clients quickly and effectively in the search for and implementation of their transformation path. We succeed above all because, in addition to our consulting and management experience, we are also trained OKR and Scrum Masters, coaches and systemic consultants and understand exactly what it takes for change to take place successfully.

A typical project for the introduction of OKR lasts one quarter from the start through the planning and implementation phase to the retro and review. Such an implementation requires the selective support of 1-2 business developers. While the first cycle mainly serves to familiarise and warm up to OKR and the process, the second cycle already aims to involve other parts of the organisation. In the process, employees are also identified who have the desire and talent to be trained by us as a certified systemic OKR coach (SOC) in order to support the process on their own in the third cycle. The aim is to enable the organisation within two quarters to go through the third OKR process as independently as possible and to continuously develop it further through the Retro and Review phases. The resulting confidence in one's own agility is the basis for a successful change that is oriented towards the consumer and supported by the entire organisation. That's when the transformation will come off well 😉.

WHY:
Digitalisation has put and continues to put a lot of pressure on offline retail. It is not surprising that especially shoppers, who know exactly what they are looking for, prefer the internet and come to the shop less often. This loss particularly hurts because these are the purchases with the highest conversion rate. For offline retail, this means that the remaining visitors tend to look for more sophisticated products or do not even know what they want. In other words, less frequency and even with a lower conversion rate. If offline retail does not want to lose its economic raison d'être, it must substantially increase its performance on the sales floor.

HOW:
How is that supposed to work then? It's not as if the best has not been tried before to make the most of the sales teams. There are bonus systems, sales competitions and a lot of sales training. Dan Pink has done some impressive research and found that today, in the post-industrial age, sustainable extrinsic motivation doesn't really work - in fact, it's counterproductive. Extrinsic incentives, i.e. carrots and sticks, can often diminish long-term performance, destroy creativity, encourage "cheating", promote short-term thinking and even become addictive. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is sustainable in the long term and comes primarily from 1. meaning, 2. proficiency and 3. autonomy. While classic sales training strengthens the area of "proficiency", the other two areas are more about working on the soft dimensions such as attitude, self-esteem, strengths of the individual and the team. This is mainly achieved through appreciation, trust, delegation, transformational leadership.

WHAT:
We call the project VauKaPee, with the aim of substantially and sustainably increasing the performance of the sales teams on the ground. The project essentially consists of 2 two-day workshops, with a development phase of about 8 weeks in between. Usually 12-15 regional managers and selected branch managers take part in a workshop, who can later apply the newly experienced and learned leadership principles to their teams. The central principle of the workshops is "experience first, then label" and the perma-lead concept. This means that the various practice elements are not only taught theoretically, but aim to be both cognitively understood and emotionally experienced by the participants. Only then do the learning elements settle in and can find their full effectiveness and application later in practice. The two workshops are facilitated by 2 TRE consultants and the intervening development phase is accompanied by 1 TRE consultant based on the participants' actual requirements.

WHY:
Digitalisation has virtually exploded the innovation dynamic, the number of touchpoints and the flood of information towards the consumers. Every day, an average of 50 Whatsapps and 26 emails, 3-10,000 advertising messages, depending on the assessment, and all this with a total oversupply with enormous comparability, not only in the fashion industry, as the example of more than 85 different types of toilet paper in Germany proves. The result: information overflow! With an attention span of supposedly 8 seconds, it is no wonder that it is becoming increasingly difficult for brands to be heard and considered relevant. The classic approach of positioning a brand in a matrix between presumed competitors, filling a brand core and, last but not least, creating an expensive brand book is simply no longer good enough.

HOW:
Even brand development needs to become agile. It needs a brand development process that is iterative, learning and involves the whole organisation. The world and the consumer has become so complex and fast-moving that the brand needs to continuously evolve. It must not only be understood in all areas of the organisation, it also has to inspire. Only then can the value proposition in the product, in communication, in customer service, on the shop floor, in the digital space be delivered in a truly comprehensive and stringent manner. And this can only be achieved if the brand development process is mission-driven and customer-centric. In other words, the mission and vision of the brand must be so clear to everyone that it serves as an energy field and inspiration for an unmistakable value proposition that is boldly and consistently aligned with the desires, dreams, needs, lifestyles and preferences of the targeted personas. With all the background noise, the brand can be heard and understood much better, so that a genuine relationship can  emerge from it.
 

WHAT:
We call the project AME, in which we support our clients in an agile process to challenge and further develop their brand. As specialists, we bring together decades of industry experience with deep change expertise. Our profound understanding of the fashion and lifestyle market, business models, trends, consumer behaviour and value creation processes allows us to ask the really relevant questions and provide inspiration, thus supporting our clients quickly and effectively in their brand development. We succeed above all because, in addition to our consulting and management experience, we are also trained OKR and Scrum Masters, coaches and systemic consultants and understand exactly what it really takes for such a process of insight and implementation.

Such a project typically consists of a series of 5 workshops. The process is supported by 1-2 business developers who focus primarily on facilitating the workshop phases and orchestrating selective deep dives. The starting point is the first joint workshop "TOUCH BASE" in which the aim is to create a common conviction for the starting position and to whet the appetite for the process. This is followed by a phase with the "EXPLORE" workshop in which we ensure that our clients approach the consumer through inspiring analogue and digital experiences and open themselves up to new things. Then we are ready to work with our client in the "CREATE" phase, filling the brand canvas and outlining the brand in different dimensions. In the "DEVELOP" phase, there is enough time to describe the brand in its various dimensions and to formulate strategic thrusts. In the last phase, "INVOLVE", the organisation is gradually involved in workshops and events in order to take feedback into account, further develop the brand and create enthusiasm and ownership. This is also the interface where concrete initiatives and projects are derived from the strategic directions and the framework conditions for successful implementation are created. If you want to learn more about how to win over the organisation for the implementation of a vision and strategy, look here --> OKR.