Into the Unknown

As consultants at Coverdale, an international consulting firm that focuses on leadership andcollaboration, we have been supporting change projects both large and small in a wide variety oforganizations for many years. In the course of our consulting activities, we have developed a changetoolbox that has proven to be highly effective and works well in a variety of initial situations.Increasingly, we are encountering the need for alterations in enterprises where the desired futurevision and the path to be taken to achieve it are unclear and not easy to clarify at the outset. Theaffected leaders and employees are confronted with an impenetrable wall that obstructs a meaningfulrealignment. This triggers fear and feelings of powerlessness. In such situations, a new approach isrequired, which - when viewed through the lens of our everyday activities from the perspective of ourcurrent work processes - can be disturbing and irritating. This means that the leadership team of anenterprise must also take a different approach.It takes courage to confront one's own powerlessness, along with a willingness to allow oneself to be"set adrift" in order to see things from a completely different perspective and embark on radically newpaths.In this book, we describe our experiences with such situations and illustrate what we have learnedfrom them, while also adopting recommendations from numerous experts.We cordially invite you to join us on a journey of transformation and let yourself - and your conceptof leadership - be remade. Be inspired by the illustrations in this book. Three artists have provided uswith works to appeal to a further sensory level.

Andreas Schattschneider "In my experience, meaningful and effective development occurs when I break out of my accustomed framework. One prerequisite for this is that I recognize that framework. I support people and organizations in critically exploring their beliefs and behavior patterns in order to create the prerequisites for consciously expanding their own spectrum of action. I see the relationships and connections as the fundamental prerequisite." Jacqueline Wasseveld-Reinhold "In my work with people, I want to promote an atmosphere in which partnership and respectful interaction are a matter of course. This creates openness and trust. Both are crucial to enabling reflection and learning. I enjoy structuring topics, recognizing connections and reporting back my impressions. And if I can contribute to giving people impetus for their personal development, I'm very happy about that." Thomas Weegen "My task is to support and assist people with all their differences, strengths and potential on their way toward shared goals, to see how their potential unfolds and how their strengths come together to form a common movement towards their objective, and to feel a sense of satisfaction when teams and organizations achieve goals and visions that they scarcely considered achievable at the beginning of the journey."