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Creativity techniques

There are over 100 creativity techniques in existence worldwide that can be used to generate ideas, with some of the methods differing only by minor variations. If you want to use creativity techniques, start with techniques such as brainstorming, the 635 method or stimulus word analysis. The more often creativity techniques are used, the better the results achieved. Regular use of the techniques promotes the development of creative thinking skills and can thus, in a positive sense, become routine.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a method of creative thinking and is used to find solutions to almost all types of problems. The knowledge of several people is used to solve the problem, so that synergy effects are created here. You start with the problem analysis, from which a question is derived. Thought-psychological blockades are switched off and the subconscious is activated so that fantasies can develop freely. After a first collection, the "raw protocol" is revised together, ideas are concretized and unrealistic ideas are sorted out. The group work ends with the implementation. Five to seven participants with different knowledge and experience are optimal. If possible, no superiors should participate in a meeting. They influence and block the free flow of ideas, consciously or unconsciously. Use a moderator.

635 method

In the 635 method, ideas from other participants are taken up and developed further. This leads to an improvement in the quality of ideas. The area of application is almost unlimited and particularly suitable for clearly defined issues. The synergy potential is particularly high, as the focus is on the further development of other ideas.

It starts with six people writing down ideas about the problem they are looking for on forms with six rows, three columns and within five minutes (hence the 635 method). Then the forms are passed on in a clockwise direction. In five minutes each, everyone adds to and varies the previous idea. After 30 minutes, the round is completed and the ideas can be evaluated by the participants together. In this way, a reduction to the most suitable ideas is made. The (target) number of participants for this method is six, but it can also be carried out with fewer participants.

Mindmapping

Mindmapping activates the pictorial-spatial thinking ability and thus enables a new way of looking at a problem. The topic is mapped in a structure and can be restructured as desired. Essential points are worked out, new connections are made and secondary aspects are illuminated. The structure remains open and can thus be supplemented at any time.

A large sheet of paper and different colored pens are needed as working materials. The central concept is written in the center of the sheet. New ideas, which are arranged radially around the initial idea in the center, form paths and chains of associations. This reveals connections that can be discussed and prioritized. Mindmapping can be developed alone but also in a small group, for example on a flipchart.

Thinking Hats according to de Bono (Six Thinking Hats)

The six-hats method offers another way to improve meetings and structure thought processes. This method uses hats, with each hat having a different color, each representing a specific role:

• Weiss: Analytical thinking - Focus on facts and requirements, achieve goals
• Red: Emotional thinking and feeling - Focus on feelings and opinions, in need of harmony
• Black: Critical thinking - Worry about the future, anxious, looking for problems and negative aspects
• Yellow: Optimistic thinking - What is the best-case scenario? Counterpoint to the black hat
• Green: Creative, innovative and unconventional thinking - new ideas, creativity, practice is in the foreground
• Blue: Ordering, moderating thinking - Maintains an overview of the processes and sees himself as a moderator

Participants take turns assuming each of the aforementioned roles, arguing and expressing their ideas according to their respective roles. Parallel thinking sets in. Conflicts are avoided by each participant taking each role and yet all positions are considered.

Thinking Chairs

The Walt Disney method of thinking chairs consists of three roles, with the same approach as the six-hats method:

• The dreamer thinks in images, subjectively oriented and enthusiastic, is open to others' visions and is not constrained by rules.
• The realizer takes a pragmatic-practical point of view, thinks about what to do and what is needed for it. He tries out the dreamer's ideas before they are criticized.
• The critic challenges and checks specifications of others, the goal is constructive and positive criticism, asks what has been overlooked and where the risks lie.

By putting oneself in a situation, person or role, a problem is seen from different perspectives. This creates a playful approach to ideas and an expansion of the radius of ideas through projection onto certain roles or viewpoints. Both the thinking hats method and the thinking chairs method offer the following benefits:

• Creating distance from the problem
• Capture multiple perspectives
• Resolving tensions, preventing positional battles and confrontations through anonymity
• High acceptance of the result

An essential element for the successful collection of ideas is putting them in writing. A lack of minutes can have a negative impact on the motivation of the participants as well as on the evaluation of the ideas. Therefore, the following points must be observed:

• The minutes are to be kept in public, all ideas are to be written down on the flipchart, made visible in the form of cards or visualized with a laptop and beamer.
• Errors can creep in through abbreviation or through incorrect interpretation of the ideas. Therefore, the formulation should always be approved by the idea provider.
• When summarizing to a generic term, there is a danger that original ideas will be lost. The concrete identification of ideas must not suffer as a result of keyword-like logging.
• All ideas must be written down, there must be no filtering or evaluation by the recorder or moderator.

Creativity techniques can be used to generate ideas that can then be developed into innovations. Case studies have shown that successful creative companies do not use just one measure to increase creativity, but rather a mix. Incidentally, training courses for creativity techniques are also part of this mix.

Companies must recognize dangers

Most companies are aware of the dangers of mental stress and invest in preventive measures. After all, employees who can cope well with strain and stress are more productive. In all areas, often surprisingly simple methods and activities lead to the goal. However, a prerequisite for successful health and exercise management in the company is an appropriate and exemplary corporate culture - at every level!

One of the companies in the service sector that actively and specifically promotes talent development, sports and preventive health is the CSD Group, headquartered in Liebefeld BE. The engineering and consulting company is active in the fields of environment, construction and energy, has 20 locations in Switzerland and 10 more in Germany, Belgium, Lithuania and Italy. CSD Ingenieure AG, with over 500 employees, is one of the largest engineering firms in the country. With almost 10 percent apprentices and trainees, CSD invests in the education of young people and in the future.

Mr. Gallati, you have held management positions in both the private and public sectors for many years. How important are healthy and fit employees for service and administrative companies?

Franz Gallati: A good corporate culture that focuses on respectful and motivating dealings with all employees and fellow human beings is medicine and motivation for good performance - whether at work, in everyday life or in sports. The same principles apply everywhere, which are ultimately the basis for success. One should come to the office every day happy and upbeat. At CSD, we actively try to promote this and offer a number of things to do so. This not only promotes mental and spiritual balance, fit and healthy employees are better motivated and more agile - in every respect.

Consequently, the Latin or Roman proverb "Mens sana in corpore sano" (In a healthy body dwells a healthy mind) applies more than ever?

That's exactly how it is! I know and feel that myself with every additional year. A healthy and moderate life in earlier and younger years helps you later. But you should get at least half an hour of concentrated exercise three times a week. In other words, you should do sports intensively. Nice words, because I know myself that with today's professional and everyday stresses and dangers, this requires a lot of discipline and toughness.

As an engineer in the canton of Schwyz, you helped design some infrastructure and transport projects. Quite a large number of your cadre employees at that time were very good athletes (or still are). Could you detect any differences in terms of resilience, health and performance compared to less active employees?

My experience is that sporty employees also have a so-called sporty way of thinking and acting - in other words, they are more resilient, more efficient and capable of exceptional performance. And in addition, they usually have a healthy and necessary capacity for criticism. This was also confirmed to me by Beat Villiger, a long-time Swiss Olympic doctor, on the occasion of a joint bus trip in New York. Those people who do sports regularly have a much larger store of the so-called "positive stress", which is good for health. In addition, there are endorphins, i.e. happiness hormones, which help to reduce stress hormones - with the pleasant side effect that feelings of happiness arise after mastering difficult tasks.

You are the head of the Zurich office of CSD. You have changed fronts, so to speak. What distinguishes CSD in terms of working conditions, development and workplace health promotion, i.e. of work-life balance?

The change of front was not a particular change or difficulty for me as a trained construction tradesman. The second point is an important issue for us, which has been fully integrated into the company and is also accepted by everyone. Active health promotion, good working conditions and a corresponding company culture are fixed components of the CSD daily routine. For example, we have a separate shower in the office so that the necessary infrastructure for personal hygiene is available for employees and athletes who ride their bikes to the office. In addition, we have a running group that gets in some sporty and sometimes intense work every Tuesday at the running meeting. And: You wouldn't believe the problems that can sometimes be solved in passing. Finally, it is also crucial that you not only propagate terms such as work-life balance, i.e. the balance or harmony of work and private life, on paper or on the website, but also set an example as a boss.

Exercise against stress

It is not only preventive physicians who first advise exercise in the case of strong psychological strain and stress. David Fäh from the Institute of Epidemiology, Biostatics and Prevention at the University of Zurich found that regular exercise, such as running or cycling, improves the ability to switch off and deal with stress. In addition Fäh continues: "A main problem of the modern working world is that natural stress can no longer be discharged." The hunters of prehistoric times had it easier in this respect - but probably only in this respect! Although regularly disturbed by wild animals, our ancestors were able to relieve stress during the chases, especially after a successful hunt and especially when eating the prey together afterwards.

So it's no coincidence that many top managers often engage in endurance sports. The intense exercise is an almost ideal balance to the heavy workloads. Another positive side effect is that ideas and solutions to problems often come surprisingly easily during exercise. Every company must find the right strategy for its corporate culture and health promotion. It all comes down to dose and measure. It is undisputed that health-promoting measures reduce sick leave and other absences - and thus naturally also increase work performance: Healthy and motivated employees identify with their company, show more commitment and thus contribute to the company's success.

Mr. Gallati, you hear the saying everywhere: "As a boss, you can't want to please everyone." What do you think of that?

In principle, that's even true. The staff should and must know that they do not have a boss who wants to and does chum up superficially. The decisive factor is how one deals with problems and questions from employees. The important thing is the style - and how you can turn justified criticism into something positive and constructive and work through mistakes. In other words: "C'est le ton qui fait la Musique!" Of course, a boss must be and remain capable of learning.

Can you switch off well? And how does that happen in concrete terms?

Yes, very well indeed - fortunately! Especially also because of my sports activities. I try to do sports every day, sometimes more and often more. I have arranged it in such a way that in the early morning on the exercise bike I think about upcoming things, read files and study. In this way, I can ideally combine and link health and everyday work at the beginning of the day, so to speak. A healthy diet and sufficient sleep are important here - in other words, in every situation in life and at work: moderate and not excessive!

A few years ago, you ran the New York City Marathon in three hours and took part in the 150-kilometer Inferno Triathlon, with the longest part, the 100-kilometer bike course. So regular sport is important to you, why?

For me, sporting activity is an important and necessary balance to the often strict, hectic everyday life in our industry. Sport and exercise give me strength for everyday life, i.e. not just for professional activities. And it has a nice side effect: You learn to approach problems and open questions in a targeted manner, to analyze them and to find good solutions.

And now you are also president of Swiss Cycling, probably one of the most difficult sports associations to run, where within two years you have restructured the finances of the umbrella organization of Swiss cycling, which was on the brink of the abyss, and have been able to win back a lot of trust with clever personnel renewal of the board. How do you reconcile all this without "stress"?

Quite well, actually. What is and was important for me is that I gave up some other commitments and memberships in clubs and associations in order to concentrate fully on my job and association activities as president of Swiss Cycling. And probably the most decisive thing is that my wife Bettina supports me fully. This is all the easier because she is also an enthusiastic sportswoman and biker. It is important for me to accept and do only those things that I can fully support and enjoy doing. Then there is usually no dangerous stress. It's like hobbies: I don't know anyone who has had a burnout because of it.

Self-service model instead of help desk

IT specialists in SMEs spend a lot of time solving problems for customers and internal employees. Whether resetting passwords or making blocked email accounts functional again: To relieve the IT specialist, such services can be outsourced and taken over by the cloud specialist. By building self-service platforms, employees and customers are given more autonomy and can perform simple tasks themselves. This avoids incidents, reduces costs, and IT staff can devote themselves to more complex tasks again. In addition, it pays to outsource time-intensive work to the cloud. The best example is the migration of the mail server to the cloud: the back-up is the responsibility of the cloud partner, and outsourcing relieves internal storage requirements and reduces the probability of a server crash.

"Managed Cloud" as a magic word

Small and medium-sized enterprises often employ a generalist who takes care of all aspects of the cloud. There is a lack of money for an additional specialist to take care of security, Big Data or the online store, for example, which is not without consequences. Limited resources can mean that in an emergency it is not possible to react quickly enough to a security breach or that customers do not receive the desired service in the online store. This is where "managed cloud" comes in: a solution that is perfectly tailored to the needs of the SME and is both created and operated by the cloud provider. The company is provided with a personal contact person who is available at all times, so that it can concentrate on its core business without having to deal with technical details.

Transparent billing models

The advantages of the cloud are obvious. But it needs a trustworthy and competent partner. It is important that he only charges for the services actually purchased. This means that the SME only purchases the necessary infrastructure so that access is secured and volume peaks can be fully covered. If the workload is higher, additional resources are released and the services are ramped up. Billing is on an hourly basis. Here it is worth working with an internationally active cloud provider who can provide the necessary resources as and when required - regardless of whether they are needed in Germany or abroad - without any problems and instantly.

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The seated posture is perceived as relieving compared to standing. The posture is more stable when sitting than when standing. But static holding work can cause back and neck problems. Accordingly, up to 80 % of employees who perform daily VDU work report multiple health complaints such as aching eyes, tense shoulders or back problems. So sitting is more for comfort than for health. However, the human organism needs movement to remain healthy in the long term. For some time now, the use of sit-stand office workstations has therefore been recommended. In practice, it has been shown that even with ergonomically adjustable office furniture, the recommended alternation between sitting and standing hardly ever takes place. Among other reasons, this is because employees lack the knowledge to adjust the furniture correctly, and those who do not suffer from physical problems lack the motivation or acceptance.

Sitting for long periods endangers health

Recent research on sitting in the office shows that the health risks of prolonged sitting do not relate solely to physical tension. Rather, a number of negative health consequences occur when sitting for more than four hours a day. For example, the metabolic basal metabolic rate, i.e. the body's metabolic activity, fat burning and muscle activity in the legs, is reduced. This has been shown to increase the risk of a whole range of serious diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, high blood pressure and osteoporosis. According to the current state of research, the consequences of prolonged sitting cannot be compensated for by recreational sports. Accordingly, measures to reduce the risks need to be differentiated between those that reduce or interrupt prolonged sitting and those that aim to promote physical activity. Current research contributions indicate that measures to promote physical activity cannot reduce the time spent sitting at the same time.

Get up once every half hour

The recommended measures for reducing prolonged sitting can be summarized as follows: "Stand up, sit less, move more, more often! On the one hand, the measures are aimed at reducing the total time spent sitting and instead spending more time standing or walking. It should be noted that standing should not be static and should not last longer than 20 minutes at a time, otherwise negative physical consequences can also occur. On the other hand, the measures are aimed at interrupting long periods of sitting at a stretch - ideally this should happen every 30 minutes.

Initiate behavioral changes

Measures to reduce prolonged sitting can basically be divided into two different categories: behavioral and behavioral measures.

1. Behavioral measures intend to generate a change in behavior among the individuals concerned. These include incentive systems, reminders, competitions or self-commitment and goal setting. For example, posters can be put up reminding employees to stand up in between walking. Or pedometers can be distributed, followed by a team competition to collect the most steps per team.
2. Proportional measures start with the work situation and working conditions. These include, in particular, adjustments to the infrastructure and design of the office environment, such as the use of height-adjustable desks, decentrally located printers or coffee machines and water dispensers, and the attractive design of stairwells. In order to achieve the highest possible effectiveness of the measures, behavioral and relationship-oriented measures should be used in combination.

Sensitize employees

An important prerequisite for the success of the measures is communicating the knowledge that prolonged sitting poses a risk to health. Many people are not aware of the far-reaching negative health consequences of prolonged sitting. The people affected must be motivated to change their behavior and accept the measures implemented.

Responsibility for ergonomics is therefore not limited to the furnishing of workplaces, but includes regular measures to motivate, inform and convince people to behave in a healthy manner. Here, in addition to conventional awareness-raising measures through information and training, innovative measures that combine ergonomics and work effectiveness are also conceivable: For example, standing meetings often shorten the duration of meetings, and meetings while walking ("walking meetings") stimulate creativity.

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Competence-oriented education and training in the professional environmentHumans are curious by nature, they want to develop and lead an autonomous life. This sparkling joy of discovery is particularly evident in young children, up to around the age of seven. Unfortunately, if we take a closer look at the enthusiasm for learning among 7- to 14-year-olds, we see that something often goes very wrong shortly after they start school. School may still be a good place to maintain social contacts and exchange ideas with one another, but unfortunately the classroom often becomes a collective bogeyman. This does not exactly speak well for the Swiss education system. On the other hand, Switzerland achieved an "outstanding result" in the 2012 PISA study, according to the EDK communiqué. No other European country achieved a significantly higher mean score than the Swiss Confederation. With these two sides of the coin - the desire to learn or the frustration of learning - we are already at the core topic: education controlling and competence-oriented education and training in the professional environment.

Learning over time

Our parents' generation learned a trade and practiced it until retirement age: "Cobbler, stick to your last," they said. That has changed fundamentally. Ever shorter development and knowledge cycles, faster technological leaps and innovations, and the trend toward specialization are permanently changing our working world. The rapid upheavals are reasons why the specialist experience that individuals acquire in their professional environment has a steadily shorter half-life. Since the turn of the millennium at the latest, the willingness to engage in "lifelong learning" has become a must for every specialist and manager in order to "stay on the ball" and be able to survive on the job market in the long term.

Only a fraction of today's forty-year-olds are still working in their learned professions; new fields of work are being added and familiar ones are disappearing. The ability to deal with change is becoming increasingly essential for coping with everyday life. To prepare for this, managers and HR developers must become experts in modern learning strategies and in change.

Learning with pleasure in a professional environment

The following six prerequisites stand for effective and enjoyable learning in a professional environment:

1. The learning content should meet a real need, both for the company and for the learner.
2. Only those things should be learned that can be implemented in professional practice in a timely manner (learning on the fly is obsolete).
3. Learning opportunities and not ultimate truths are to be conveyed. This is important so that the seminar participant can seamlessly link what has been newly learned with his or her previous experiences in a self-determined manner.
4. Even before the start of training, new areas of responsibility and work should be discussed and the job description adapted.
5. Employees want structured and timely feedback in order to orient themselves and develop further. Employees can also deal well with negative feedback, provided that the person giving the feedback also gives suggestions for optimization.
6. The corporate strategy should be transparent across the hierarchy. People want to be made aware of the company's plans for the future and then play an active role in shaping them. Ideally, employees are shown personal perspectives by the manager and negotiate together that are in line with the corporate strategy. In this way, the individual feels part of the whole.

If only a few of these points are taken into account, learning with pleasure and the successful integration of the new knowledge into everyday working life are a given.

Competence oriented learning

When we watch people at work, we can observe their concrete behavior and the implementation of their competencies: We see them welding two steel beams, creating a quote, designing a graphic, or talking about conflict with a third party. What we see is the output of their performance and their concrete achievement. What is going on inside people remains hidden: Why a performance is delivered in exactly this quality is not accessible to observation. For a person to be able to bring forth his or her full potential, two conditions must be met:

1. He has access to his accumulated knowledge and skills, and
2. he has the inner readiness to actively use his potential for the task set.

Education controlling in companies

Robert Watermann, an American management consultant, has reduced educational controlling to the following formula:

• "Give your employees work that requires them to use their skills to the fullest.
• Give them all the information and training they need to do this.
• Explain to them clearly what there is to achieve. ... And then - leave them alone!"

The following steps have proven effective for modern education controlling in companies:

1. Regularly identify training needs and desired additional competencies, e.g., during annual reviews.
2. Define new areas of responsibility and fields of work in which the employee can directly apply the skills learned after completing the training.
3. assess the time required for the training measure and the transfer to everyday life and, if necessary, temporarily reduce his workload.
4. Seek appropriate continuing education opportunities that meet the need.
5. Conclude contract with the employee.
6. Complete continuing education.
7. Final meeting and hand over the expanded or new area of responsibility to the employee.

Education is measured by the future - not the past

Intelligent training controlling is always oriented towards the future and focuses on what has become different or more efficient in everyday working life after the training.

Many companies, on the other hand, are still oriented toward the past. They look at the deficits of the employee or manager and are surprised after the training measure that little or nothing has changed. The answer is obvious: Boss and employee focus on the past failures when selecting the training program. Thus, "new knowledge" often has to be built up. It would be better to focus on the existing competencies that are worth maintaining and to integrate the newly learned knowledge there. In order to focus on the resources and less on the deficits, work could be done with the following questions:

• What have I been doing well with my current skills?
• What additional skills would be supportive of my current and future role to help me do my job more efficiently and effectively?
• What benefit or gain would my area, my company and I have if I were to acquire these competencies?
• How many resources (time and money) are my company and I willing to invest so that I can acquire these competencies?
• What should I be temporarily relieved of at work so that I can muster the resources needed to acquire these competencies?
• What do I need to temporarily relieve myself of (e.g., social contacts, hobbies) so that I can muster the resources needed to acquire these skills?

From the employee's point of view, the desire for a sustainable, competence-oriented training program could be expressed as follows: "Show me the goals I should achieve, accompany me on the way there, reflect back to me where I am in my learning process, and also bear with me if I sometimes use side paths. Let me make my own decisions, but also let me know what consequences my decisions may have for me" (adapted from: Bönsch, Kohnen, Möllers et al., 2010, p. 44).

Do not look at deficits

Modern education controlling with a focus on competence-oriented education and training does not look at the deficits, but at the already existing competences and picks up there. The closer the new knowledge to be learned is located to the interface between knowledge and non-knowledge, the better it can be integrated by the participant into his or her everyday working life and there is no danger of being over- or underchallenged. With this approach, training budgets are used optimally with maximum output for the employee and the company.

Seminars on exercise and nutrition, training for resilience and burnout prevention: Some managers "order" some measures to support the health and fitness of their employees. This makes me wonder: Have you ever thought about the half-life of the knowledge acquired from a two-day seminar? Maybe it is a few hours, with luck a few days. After four weeks at the latest, what you have heard and all honorable intentions have usually ended up in the graveyard of good intentions. You yourself and your colleagues follow the same rut as before. The sheet with the back exercises for the office collects dust in the desk drawers, the apple in between is exchanged for the chocolate bar again and the bicycle is left in favor of car or bus and train.

Really learn and make a difference we can only through consistent practice and regular application! Building physical and mental fitness or resilience, resistance, etc. in a seminar is utopian, so why offer a seminar at all? Why do you approach the topic of health management half-heartedly, even though you want healthy and fit employees? Good corporate health management is a process, not a singular measure! This process begins with determining where the core problems of you and your employees and colleagues actually lie. Are there ergonomically designed workstations? Is the daily flood of e-mail being managed effectively? Are working hours flexible and family-friendly? Is there interest in a joint company running club, hiking, rowing or other sports group? Is there a need for a short nap, or power nap, during the lunch break? What do my employees want and need? What do I need as a manager to become healthier and fitter?

That's right, Especially as a supervisor, I have to ask myself what I need to become fitter! People often talk about the role model function of managers. But is it really lived? If you want to approve or introduce a power nap on mats or couches in the office, you should set a good example! Don't look askance at your employees and colleagues when they roll out their mat, but join in! Get involved in regular running, rowing or walking! Start a group that does back exercises in the office during a 10-minute break. Encourage people to eat lunch together and sit down to do it. So my advice is to join in! Nothing is more effective than health management lived together. A group is also less likely to let the new initiative fall asleep, provided the goal set is concrete.

My experience has taught me: If the boss doesn't get involved, you can forget it. Nevertheless, I often find that the topic of health management or promotion is only really accompanied and initiated from the very top in exceptional cases. Don't just leave it at the wish of "more efficient employees" or an "order" from a trainer or seminar leader. Take the initiative as a manager and establish a program that is accompanied for at least six months! Then there is a chance that a real change will take place. And not only according to the motto: BGM = Please healthy employees! Make the topic of health a real management task, as the actual name "Occupational Health Management" already says. In the end, everyone benefits - working healthy and fit is much more effective.

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Independent work is hardly promoted in frontal teaching. The lack of motivation for self-learning is compounded by the "neglect of social skills." And yet, little variation or deviation from this form of instruction can be found in professional courses and schools. Certainly: frontal teaching and presentations have their justification, because simple contents can be conveyed quickly and efficiently with them. Group lessons and team activities as an alternative cannot be used everywhere. In this case, training games represent a great enrichment.

Holistic learning

Training games, or interactive training methods, are very easy to incorporate into face-to-face classes because they are small, interesting units that are fun and engage all participants in the topic of the class. They are the tool of choice for adding variety to lessons. A good educator should trigger something, not bore. Training Games help to support a good trainer or presenter: In order to convey something in a sustainable way, the interaction of cognitive-intellectual with physically experienced and affective-emotional aspects is elementary. It is about holistic learning that is oriented towards individual learning processes. Basically, it is nothing other than "learning with head, heart and hand". A concept postulated by the Swiss pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi as early as 1746 to 1827. Training games work because they are action and goal-oriented and involve the head, heart and hand.

Use heart and hand

We need the head in learning. "The sole purpose of an activity is to give rise to a debriefing. Learning does not take place during the activity, but during its debriefing in the reflection phase," says Sivasailam Thiagarajan, the inventor of the Training Games. For this reason, all activities are action and goal oriented and serve as a basis for debriefing. We need heart and hand in learning. Understanding alone is not enough. We must first experience something in order to then live it. Having fun while learning is desired, because if our senses are addressed on the emotional level, we remember longer. Head and heart play into the hand, the hand into the heart and into the head.

Action-oriented training triggers learning processes that focus on experiencing, discovering, exploring, sharing and reflecting. A recipe for this is provided by the interactive training methods from Thiagi, which are about head and hand work - with the participation of the emotional level.

Physical activity and mental work

Let's take a look at how such games work with two specific examples:

The game called "35" can be used to find a definition, a good answer, or to encourage sharing about a topic. To do this, all learners are given a moderation card. For example, if the topic is "knowledge," the educator asks an open-ended question, such as, "Write your definition of knowledge on the card." After everyone has written their definition, learners walk around the room and swap cards with each person they meet. Thus, their own card is somewhere. On a signal, learners stop and group in pairs. The two answers are compared and a total of 7 points can be distributed per team of two (i.e. 0 and 7, 4 and 3), depending on the usefulness of the answer. These points are written on the back of each card. Walking around, exchanging cards and scoring are repeated four more times. After the fifth round, the participants add up the points on the card they currently have. The trainer announces that he is counting down from 35 (maximum score), and when a participant has the appropriate score, he reads the card aloud. Usually the top 3 to 5 answers are read aloud and can be incorporated into the lesson. In this case, the participants' definitions of "What is knowledge?" can be compared to the trainer's definition, and the differences can be discussed.

During this activity, the participants are intensively engaged with the question posed, because when scoring, two answers at a time are directly compared. In addition to the physical exercise, group work takes place between two people. The participants get to know each other better and make a decision together. Furthermore, their contribution is used.

Build in competitive momentum

The game "Teaching Quiz" can be used as a repetition game after a larger theory phase. The participants are divided into two groups and given the task of working out two closed questions and one open question for the other group. The basis is the material just covered. After the questions have been defined, the first group starts with the two closed questions. For each correct answer, the other party receives one point. Now the second group asks their closed questions and their open question. The answer to the open question cannot be looked up in the teaching material and is therefore evaluated by the asking party with up to three points. Now the first group asks its open question and evaluates the answer. Thus - perhaps - a winner is determined.

The aim of this activity is that an interactive repetition form runs. In order to be able to ask closed questions, the material must be reviewed. For the open question, further development takes place based on the topic.

Bridge to what you have learned

In both examples, it is important to take time to reflect on the process and the outcome, i.e. to choose a suitable form of debriefing. The debriefing anchors what has been learned in the participants' memory, while the game itself forms the bridge to what has been learned.

Even these two simple examples show the ease with which in lessons, meetings and workshops all participants can be involved and thus activated and playfully contribute their opinions and contributions. Experience has shown that training games have consistently positive effects. The trainer does take a certain risk, because not all parts of such games can be controlled. But there is no substitute for the positive and creative effect that occurs in the classroom or meeting.

Mr. Keller, you can't miss the figure of Papa Moll at the Zurzach thermal spa. How did this connection come about?

Dominik Keller: That's how it happened: The creator of Papa Moll, Edith Oppenheim-Jonas, was commissioned by Pro Juventute in 1952 to develop comics. She lived nearby, and her stories have been inspiring young and old ever since. Our common roots provided the impetus for cooperation. In the children's bathing area, for example, we have taken up the theme of Papa Moll. And next to the restaurant, there's the Papa Moll Museum, which appeals to young and old alike: original paints and brushes by Edith Oppenheim-Jonas are on display, and of course the matching book entitled "Papa Moll goes swimming" is not missing.

Who should visit the Zurzach Thermal Baths and why?

All those who seek rest and relaxation and want to have a good time. The original fathers of the thermal bath wanted to offer a bath for the people. We have remained true to this basic idea. The entrance fee is only 19 francs for two hours, and our guests can use all the facilities. What was once a bath for the people is now an oasis of well-being for the people.

Mr. Keller, what is your vision?

In a nutshell: We want to be number 1 as a wellness thermal spa and thus become the total provider of a health and relaxation destination for the whole family: For example, the father does a metabolism check, the children have fun with Papa Moll, and the mother gets pampered in the cosmetics area. The goal of all of us should be to maintain our quality of life into old age. We are moving so fast, we don't feel body and mind anymore. However, lying in 36-degree water has great effects and triggers memories of prenatal times when we lay in amniotic fluid. This knowledge is new - we are still at the beginning with it, but the effects are striking.

Let's talk a bit about your background. Why did you become a technical merchant 20 years ago?

My colleagues had started a year earlier and had been raving about the TC ever since. That's how I got involved. But the teachers were also "fans"! The VWL lecturer, for example, always cut out an article from the newspaper "Cash", which we then dealt with. The Anavant association managed to make fans out of us! This is certainly also due to the fact that the exam is difficult and the pride is great for all those who pass it.

What did you do in the first years after the TC?

I founded a consulting firm and a company in the solarium and wellness sector. Thanks to the TC, the respective company foundation was easier and the training gave me a lot of security for the demanding company management.

How does the TK deal at the time influence your current role as CEO?

The advantage of all TCs is the holistic view. Because the TCs have enjoyed practical training in advance. That is also the case with me. I can talk to all 135 employees at eye level, even though I'm not a specialist in anything - you don't need to be as managing director. I was offered my current position because, as a self-employed person, I wanted to sell fitness equipment to the thermal spa for a few thousand francs. But as a TC, you can see and think outside the box. That's why I didn't offer fitness equipment, but a concept. That was well received, and although I was not yet 30 years old and therefore rather too young, I took up the challenge with the TC behind me. Originally, I thought I would be involved for 2 to 3 years, but that has now turned into 17 years.

Can you still remember the TK exam?

Yes, especially the nervous atmosphere in that big room in Basel. In the evening, we were so frustrated because of the difficult questions that we climbed onto the hotel roof and jumped into the swimming pool from there! People must have thought we were suicides!

Are there still situations in your everyday life today that you can connect with the TC training?

There are always those. Actually, whenever things need to be questioned, questions formulated and topics reflected upon.

Who do you think should do the TC?

Actually, anyone who has a good basic technical education and wants to become self-employed or aspires to a management position. Today, our country has far too many specialists and far too few generalists who see the big picture. Thanks to TC, the interrelationships of all specialties become more tangible and feasible. Because of the practical training, TC students benefit from the very beginning of their education by linking theory with practice.

Do you think you can pass the TC exam today with a grade of 4 off the top of your head?

I don't know, I'd probably do well verbally, but not so much in writing (laughs).

Bad Zurzach http://www.thermalbad.ch

ANAVANT http://www.anavant.ch/de

Dominik Keller joined Thermalbad Zurzach AG as Managing Director in 1998. He developed the company from 45 employees at the time to over 135 today. In total, well over 40 million Swiss francs have been invested during this time. The former aircraft tinsmith graduated in 1995 with a federal TK.

Sustainability is close to Dominik Keller's heart. Under his leadership, for example, it was possible to completely dispense with oil heating at the Zurzach thermal baths and thus with more than one million liters of heating oil per year. Instead, an environmentally friendly wood chip plant supplies energy, coupled with heat recovery. As a subsidiary, Thermalbad Zurzach operates the unique Airport Fitness & Wellness Center at Zurich Airport as well as a new project in Baden - always with the philosophy "by people for people".

"Today, leadership can no longer just give instructions. It must engage in processes that are open to results. The key to success lies in joint performance," says Prof. Dr. Peter Kruse, German management consultant and honorary professor.

Change in thinking and behavior necessary

Teams, working groups and project groups have become the mainstays of successful organizations. Sustainable working relationships between the group members must develop and are mandatory prerequisites for the successful achievement of results - however, they can only be planned and influenced to a limited extent. In addition, the constellations of different groups are becoming increasingly complex, power symmetries more twisted, team compositions more volatile and time-limited. This leads to situations that are hardly predictable and raises many questions for managers.

Leadership has indisputably become more demanding and requires a change in mindset and behavior. According to the personnel service provider Hays, modern leadership follows new patterns. It involves employees more, actively involves and networks them, manages groups and uses the resulting energy positively for people and the organization. For example, social competence (78 % of respondents) is the top priority for managers. Anyone who works with groups knows that this involves a complex and dynamic network of relationships that calls for new leadership behavior.

Contemporary leadership skills

Current surveys show that organizations and people today do not need more or less leadership than in the past. Rather, leadership is needed that aligns its role with the current zeitgeist. The success of cooperation in groups does not depend on leadership alone, but on the overall interaction and cooperation skills of all team members. Whenever people work together, complex, group-dynamic processes take place. These run on a deeper level than the factual level and influence the overall result of the teamwork - positively as well as negatively. The decisive factor on the part of leadership is how and with what understanding it steers a group. This involves striking a balance between active control and the development of a group's self-controlling powers.

If leadership succeeds in perceiving, understanding and productively using the dynamics and power plays of a group, it can produce top teams and achieve performance benefits such as shared commitment, identification with the task and satisfaction. To do this, people need meaning, autonomy, and sustaining relationships. SMEs in particular have a great opportunity here to stand out from competitors - especially large companies - in the job market. The size of the company alone makes it easier to involve a large number of employees, to bring them into a relationship with one another and to jointly find the degree of autonomy that leads to top performance. The meaning is not given by the leader - it emerges through the joint process. This requires leaders to have a positive attitude towards people and to be able to engage with the process of the group.

The question is whether the old generation of managers can still meet today's requirements at all. The answer is yes. Because behavior can always be adapted, and the human brain can adjust to new things. Here, too, it comes down to a positive basic attitude.

Leveraging the team dynamic

Experience shows that calibrating one's own leadership behavior cannot be achieved in a quiet room alone, nor by learning traditional management theories. Instead, it is a matter of the leadership personality of the managers themselves.

Group dynamics training is a suitable form of learning for leaders. They differ from other training courses because they do not use standard recipes. Instead, they promote the development of personal effectiveness and strengthen diagnostic competence for the sensitive management of groups. They provide conceptual knowledge and train practical action competence. What is special about this form of learning is that the usual separation of experience (emotion) and cognition (cognition) is eliminated. Leaders can experience personal behavior and their own effectiveness among peers, examine conscious or unconscious leadership behavior, deal with attitudes and behaviors, and gain experience with new leadership practices. Finally, useful skills are strengthened, functional strategies are retained, and less useful ones are adapted or abandoned.

Leadership is and remains decisive for whether organizations become good or bad places to work, whether people in organizations experience joy and meaning or demotivation and disorientation. A group dynamic training is a way to initiate inner changes that increase the understanding for oneself and others in the leadership task. This leads to better results with less effort and more effectiveness. Those who can deal with complexity and lead with purpose and energy have an easier time. Thus, the type of leadership will remain a decisive competitive factor in the future.

Husi Giessmann Lippuner http://h-g-l.ch/

FHNW http://bit.ly/2ddVgCj

Customer events as a means of employer brandingIn the "Executive Summary" of a study by the Family Business Foundation and the University of Bern, it is shown that people with respect for traditions, social norms and a high sense of responsibility evaluate work in family businesses more positively than those who seek power, prestige and a hedonistic lifestyle. This finding is the opportunity of smaller companies to be able to recruit excellently trained cadre employees and specialists. Smaller or medium-sized companies thus have a valuable unique selling point (USP) for personnel recruitment compared to large companies.

Career goals

Good training and the will to achieve top performance are not only present among the "young wild ones". More traditionally oriented employees also have similar career goals, but appreciate an environment that does not interfere with their professional and personal goals and desires. This includes flexible working hours and co-determination in work and product development. Equally important is the openness of the management to change and further training related to corporate goals in order to jointly master future challenges.

Inform labor market

To compensate for the disadvantage of being known as a large company, building a brand as an employer (employer branding) on the labor market is essential. Identify your values together with the staff and verify the lived reality in the company by interviewing the employees or even with an external test group. Inform the job market about the lived values, the strengths and special features of your company. Only if the job market knows them, the lived reality and your reputation match, highly educated but value-conscious people will be interested in your company. You need to create experiential events to credibly convey the positive work environment in your company. This is done advantageously in small, specialty-based events that allow personal contact with management and prospective employees. Such events are not only suitable for recruiting specialists, but also for customer surveys on services and researching future needs of your customers.

Event instead of job advertisement

At such well-structured events, the management has the opportunity to present the company, the culture and the wishes for social and professional competencies of the top performers. In the subsequent individual discussions with the relevant line managers, technical questions can be answered. It is known that it is more effective to discuss working conditions, products or services with those concerned than to place a nicely worded job advertisement. Such events are usually less expensive than professional, external search assignments. In addition, you gain first impressions about interested parties and receive a much better quality of the incoming applications. In this way, you secure employees who appreciate values such as responsibility, integrity and honesty and thus strengthen your brand as a company in the long term. So, when filling the next vacancy, compare not only expertise and experience but also the basic attitude of the applicants to your corporate policy, because employees with a high claim to power can very quickly weaken the values of your company because of their egoistic career goals.

SMEs gain in attractiveness

With uncertain future expectations, smaller and medium-sized companies gain significantly in attractiveness over companies with high wages and fast careers because of their high stability and companionable working environment. So actively use all opportunities to establish your company as an attractive brand on the labor market.

An example: According to our present world view, the earth is a slightly flattened sphere. In the Middle Ages, the paradigm of the earth as a disk dominated. At that time, ship captains chose their routes based on nautical charts, which were shaped by this view of the world. As a consequence, captains avoided the boundaries of the world to avoid the danger of plunging their ship into the abyss of nothingness - an interesting impact of a model on our actions. Does this raise the question of what implications today's models have on the decisions of managers?

What is a model?

Basically, a model always represents a section of reality. It is an abstract, conceptual representation of a real system. Thus, a model is always theoretical in nature. A crucial question in the selection and evaluation of models is whether they explain a fact consistently, provide useful insights, or enable a forecast that results in helpful recommendations for action. In this respect, a model is always also of a practical nature.

How often do you use models?

Initial findings on the frequency of use of models make it possible to divide the responses of managers into three groups. The first group is of the opinion that models are rarely used for decision support and only in special situations. The second group perceives models as theoretical constructs with little practical use that are rarely applied. The third group associates models in particular with the regular use of planning tools such as SAP, Excel or MS Project. All answers are correct. However, each one assumes a certain, rather limited concept of model. Few people are aware that we use models every day.

What models do you use, and in what way?

When asked which models they use, bachelor students of business administration at the Bern University of Applied Sciences gave accounting or business cycle models, the St. Gallen Management Model or mathematical models as examples. This list reveals different types of models. The four most frequently used distinctions are explicit versus implicit models and static versus dynamic models.

An explicit model comes closest to the everyday understanding of a model. They are conceptual representations of a real fact existing outside a person (e.g. simplified images of an automobile). In contrast, there are implicit models, which always exist only in persons. The term mental model clarifies the relation of the model type to individuals. A mental model contains our individual logics and assumptions about specific effect factors and causal relationships. We use them to estimate the consequences of actions. Explicit models always act only as information providers for the creation and improvement of internal, mental models.

Mainly static models

The majority of models used in business administration are static in nature. They are relatively inexpensive to create, easy to use, and usually quick to learn. Examples are the St. Gallen Management Model, McGregor's Motivation Model or McKinsey's 7-S Model. They are used for cross-sectional analyses, i.e. for the creation of still pictures of states. The dimension "time" is not explicitly considered. Dynamic models differ here in that they explicitly consider the dimension of time. They are created to make changes over time understandable and thus influenceable. In relation to the needs of reality, dynamic models are rarely applied. Often, short-term measures are taken to optimize situations, which are bought by delayed, long-term negative effects. Why are mostly static models applied, if they have disadvantages? The answer probably lies in the small number of people who can understand, apply and criticize dynamic models. This model competence is not taught systematically in university studies. Feedbacks and time delays are largely ignored, and the users thus follow a fundamentally limited world view like the earlier nautical charts of ship captains.

For what purpose do you use models?

Models are used to support decision-making. They help to structure one's own thinking and approach. In the context of an analysis, they serve as a map for orientation. They allow details to be related to the overall picture or details to be understood in their context. They promote the formation of a common language ("unité de doctrine") in management bodies and in companies. This increases the ability to act. In summary, the use of explicit static and especially dynamic models makes managers better thinkers - which is why models are also called thinking tools. They provide the basis for decisions and thus influence the competitiveness of companies. Superior models form the competitive advantage of the future.

How often are models questioned?

According to statements by Executive MBA students, once decisions have been made about models, they are rarely questioned. This is despite the fact that the need to be able to scrutinize current models for appropriateness, usefulness and dangers is continuously increasing. By model competence, we do not mean an assessment such as "the model is not applicable to our business", but the competence to maximize the usefulness of a model while balancing hazards through its application. This is important because the potential dangers of models are usually not recognized. Often, users lack awareness of the basic assumptions of a model. This should be created through university studies. Currently, studies are rather filled "with models" - "about models" is not addressed and taught enough.

Managers with model competence are vital for the survival of companies

The model "the earth is a disk" assumed a danger ("crashing into the depths at the edge of the disk") that did not exist in reality. This prevented the captains from choosing a shorter sea route between two points if it would bring the ship dangerously close to the edge of the world. The model thus limited the potential performance of the captains. Let us now apply this insight to models in business management: static models assume that no hazards can arise as a result of the passage of time. However, experienced executives confirm that the actual dangers in everyday business come in particular from dynamic developments.

Bern University of Applied Sciences https://www.bfh.ch

Info: Dynamic challenges in a globalized economy are increasing rapidly. Paradoxically, however, dynamic models are taught least often. The research group "Strategy and Simulation Lab" at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Economics is already making an innovative contribution to raising awareness. In courses, dynamic models are developed and applied to promote model thinking and build model competence.

Many believe that more experience leads to more knowledge and more competence. This is not necessarily the case. If a person always uses the same knowledge and routines, then the person only becomes more experienced, but not an expert. Consultants who always implement the same type of projects become better at implementation, but not necessarily more competent. To become an expert, two things are important:

• First: consciously try out different things, and
• Second: to learn specifically from the results.

Non-experts

Take such a trivial example as the use of office packages. Most users are very familiar with the programs and can process their tasks quickly and with good results. Does this mean that these users are experts? Not at all. Most users know only a few functions and do not know how they could solve their tasks in another way, sometimes with considerably higher efficiency. Because the usual procedure works sufficiently well, nothing new is tried out and nothing new is learned. The supposedly positive feedback that such people receive misguides them. They believe they are competent and have everything under control. The experience that "things are going so well" leads to an illusion of control, an overestimation of one's own abilities and can contribute to disproportionate self-confidence.

Experts

In contrast, experts are constantly learning by systematically testing new possibilities and learning from the results, the successes and failures. The feedback shows which approaches are successful and which are not. They also allow us to see what other factors contribute to success. Take outstanding musicians, for example: they have not only undergone a very long training, during which they have usually specifically sought the critical feedback of other outstanding musicians. Rather, they are constantly trying out new possibilities. They experiment with how they could interpret a piece differently and perhaps even better or more interestingly. The fact that they are masters of their craft does not mean that they rely on the tried and true. Because they always expose themselves to the possibility of failure, they learn what makes them successful and where their limits lie. This reduces the danger of overestimating their own abilities and clinging to an illusion of control.

Thinking Traps

Thought traps are a consequence of how we perceive, think, learn, and feel. They result from our mental processes. As a rule, we are not aware of these processes, which is why it is usually not recognizable in everyday life when we maneuver ourselves into a thinking trap. Knowing the phenomena of a planning error and the illusion of control, and knowing that people systematically overestimate themselves does not protect them from the thinking traps. How good do they think they are at their job? My guess is that most rate themselves as average to above average. What influence do you have on your work results? Most probably assume a great to complete influence. Then please visualize the influence your supervisor and their customers have on what you do and how they evaluate your work results. How much of an expert do you think they are in their field of work? Then please ask yourself when was the last time they tried a new approach, a new way of doing things, even though they were skeptical.

In order to recognize thinking traps and avoid them, we have to actively question ourselves and our actions again and again.