Performance Team

Performance Team

Hello, I’m Kerstin…

I am passionate about people and believe that putting them at the heart of each business delivers results far greater than the sum of their parts.

In addition, people usually want to perform and contribute to the overall success of the business they are working in. Sometimes the organisation gets into their way – with too little or too much structure, no clear direction, conflicting goals and the lack of common understanding on what to measure and how. I have seen this many times during my career – working in big and small organisations alike.

I love to facilitate and bring about the knowledge within the teams and align goals and directions. My aim is to help scale-ups accelerate their growth – turn them into Formula 1 cars, not mini vans. High performance and speed comes with an aligned team and measurable goals. Let’s work on this together.

…and I’m Rhys.

I used to startup and scaleup companies for corporations in emerging markets. It was usually a one-way ticket, finding the core team, appropriate offices, initially driving sales to key accounts and then scaling the business. After a few years you learn a lot about your shortcomings and start to identify patterns related to continuous growth.

The two biggest learnings were how crucial every hire is in the beginning, how painful and costly it is if you get it wrong. Secondly, at size of 15+ employees you have to start managing an organisation as well as well. The number of formal, legal topics and relationships just seems to burn through the time-planner at some point. To lead effectively beyond the startup phase means completely rethinking your approach.

In addition, I was always in new countries which meant I had to learn the cross-cultural management differences the hard way.

I want you to run your scale-up, not the other way around. I want you as an individual to grow as much as your company and the people around you. The earlier you figure this out, the more prosperous the remaining years of your life.

I enjoy being a challenging sounding board and setting measurable goals. We, Pathfinders, also enjoy being measured and held accountable. This needs to be done in a healthy manner and, if things change, people need to regroup and review the situation before adjusting the goals. However, smart targets help progress.

I am not the easiest person as I truly believe in continuous learning, development and improvement. But near enough all of my business partners and clients will tell you that I have my heart in the right place and speak my mind (when asked :))

Life isn’t always easy but I feel I am making progress. That’s important to me.

 

…and I’m Hartmut.

I am more of an analytic, organised person who likes to help people and organisations to become better. I have vast experience in Change Management, Organisational Development and Executive Coaching. I am genuinely able to provide direction and have the capacity to act especially when people and organisations need to be won over and mobilised.

I am able to assess complex situations, design and implement solutions. I am the proud co-author of the book “Understanding, Shaping, Changing Organisations: The Graves-Value-System in Practice” [ISBN 383494601X] which is still only available in German. My professional roots go back to being intrigued by and studying Information Technologies, economic sciences and I have held middle to senior management positions in the IT industry.

Like my fellow pathfinders I want to develop organisations into places where people can grow be happier and by doing so improve the company’s productivity. One does not exclude the other!