The Sandblast Effect of Corona and Other Crises - #MyProBonoContribution

Most of us are struggling with the overwhelming effect of the global Corona pandemic. In Bavaria, we are now in the 6th week of shutdown, people and politics struggling to find a way in and out of this situation.

The Corona Crisis unveils the true nature in its best and worst form, clearing away persistent debris like a sandblaster.

What amazes me most is the clarity this major global crisis unveils. It works like a sandblaster, clearing away the noise and debris, making transparent what lies at the core. It is absolutely impartial for the quality - it shows the true nature in its best and worst form, much more than any crisis I experienced before.

• Be it Behavior, where we see a lot of help and support, creativity and mindfulness in communities and between complete strangers while experts are concerned about an serious increase of domestic violence and suicide rates.
• Be it Leadership and trust in companies, where we see leaders caring for their teams and customers including trying virtual collaboration for the first time while others try to control their employees behavior even from afar and clearly don’t trust that they do their best.
• Be it Social Systems, where some countries and healthcare systems react fast and manage to keep in front of the wave while others drown.
• Be it Political Leaders, where some dare to act fast and others ignore the facts and make crazy, dangerous suggestions.
• Be it Business, where organizations use the break to reflect and reinvent themselves while others immediately lay off a large number of their employees (which may also have to do with the political and social system).

I see many examples where experts are offering their insights for free in virtual settings and am inspired by them. Being in the very lucky position of doing a sabbatical to write my book and start my new consultancy right now, I’m now also teacher for a 9 year old, soccer trainer, proxy goal keeper and full time cook. Talking to people from my global network as well as friends and family, I have the feeling that slowly, there is room to reflect the experience. The newness and sometimes panic is over, we all created a new (intermediate) normal, nerves are running thin and many start to ponder what they learned and how to go forward.

I expect to see a wave of change once we settle in a new normal, including a peak in divorces and newborn as well as people changing their job and organization, after being disappointed with their company and leadership during the crisis.

As a pro bono Consultant at Schmid Stiftung ( https://www.schmid-stiftung.org/ ) since it was founded, I occasionally help NGO’s to understand the crisis they are in and create ideas how to approach them. It is not taking away regular, paid consultancy business from colleagues, but a format that allows leaders of those organizations to reflect their situation and get inspired by an expert in dialogic organizational development. Then, they are better prepared to start a project to tackle the issue.

An orientation dialogue helps reflect with diverse perspectives, drawing from the views of an experienced coach to get inspiration and new ideas how to proceed.

In this situation, I want to put an offer out there without the NGO limitation #MyProBonoContribution : starting 11 May 2020, I am offering my time for an “orientation dialogue”.

I’ll invest max 1 hour per workday, for a total of 10 days, for a phone call or virtual meeting, to be used by people who want to reflect but feel they are stuck and get dizzy circling around the same thoughts and ideas. First come, first serve basis - no matter if you are a single parent or leading a large organization.

Below you find some of my background for you to reflect, if you are in a space where my experience may be helpful for you.

If you are interested, send me a private message in LinkedIn and we’ll figure out a time and way to connect. The first step in the talk is to clarify what you expect, if and what I can offer and if we feel that may fulfill your expectation. This is the first step in an orientation dialogue. Only after that is clear, we will invest more of our time to tackle whatever it is.

Now you may think “oh, my problem is not worth this, why should she invest that time in me” ... don’t worry. For one, sharing is caring and I love to learn about new situations and step by step open Gordic knots. And on the other hand, in every dialogue, I learn something for myself, be it because I reflect on something I haven’t thought of for a while or because it is new to me. I really appreciate that. I also do not promise to sit still while we are talking. In my experience, my brain works exceptionally well while I’m weeding my garden or shuffling horse manure, so I may be on the phone with you while my hands are busy.

Good, you are still reading, so here are some of my experiences to draw from:

Organization: Nearly 30 years of experience in driving global Digital and People Transformation programs, building global communities and creating stages for people to collaborate on, working with C-Suite to shop floor employees, coaching leaders, teams and large organizations; over 20 years of virtual collaboration with teams around the globe, including new 3D formats with avatars.

Professional: Expert on adaptive organizations, how to build and nurture them. Free download of my Doctor Thesis (German) and Disputation slides (English / German) can be found here.

Private: 10 year single mother, working full time in a challenging job with international travel while working on my doctorate, which I finished age 50.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Stay healthy - body and mind!