Katharina Wiench

I grew up in a bilingual German-Czech family and seem to have received a healthy portion of self-confidence and (Švejkian) optimism. With all realism, my glass (of beer) is always half full! Since my childhood years, it has been natural to question things with an appreciative mindset and to move them gently and sustainably at the same time.

As an economist by training, I spent 16 years in medium-sized companies and large corporates and was regularly reminded that „hard“ organisational design and process management lead to nowhere unless you orchestrate them with „soft“ aspects (e.g. communication and culture). In my changing roles as a manager, I loved the degrees of freedom for experimenting responsibly and simply making things happen bravely. And I learned what it needs in any change: The ability to navigate while drifting.

At some point though I came to the honest conclusion that within those rigid structures I was less in the driver seat than my managerial illusion had repeatedly told me. I did the unthinkable and left my cosy professional environment. I exchanged the alleged certainty of a year-long management contract with a free, fulfilling and most of all independent lifestyle as an external facilitator, coach and sparring partner.

Since then, I support all kind of management teams in times of change (often a spart of a facilitator tandem). I interweave traditional systemic methods with (collaborative) organisation development, with process design, and with modern management tools. What I like most, is mixing known with experiential techniques in order to co-create synergies between different disciplines. It is this little piece of unconventional Dadaism which balances my rather structured personality.

In the last 5 years, I was also co-founder, tandem coach and tandem researcher as part of a diverse female entrepreneurial tandem. It was fun, inspiring and it taught me so much. Both my own tandem experience and the results of our joint research (e.g. „TopSharing in Management Today“) fuel my work with „Joint Leadership“ teams, when I support them to bring „TopSharing“ to life and to productively question the traditionally heroic narratives around leadership. Because it is my purpose to make organisations „simply better“! Because „post-heroic leadership“ is more holistic, more diverse and more sustainable!