*This is a guest post authored by Annette Czernik, senior consultant at RELEVANT Managementberatung.

This year’s Coaching Day 2019, an international two-day congress for the coaching industry, was held November 15 and 16 in Munich, Germany. Once again, the event focused on future-oriented topics relating to agility, digitalization, and leadership. The diverse program was designed by the International Coach Federation (ICF) Germany with various speakers, experts, and insiders. RELEVANT Managementberatung was involved in different ways.

Panel Discussion

The panelists on the panel “Coaching & Digitalization – Opportunities, Threats & Ethical Aspects” discussed the introduction of digitalization into the coaching process in a very controversial way. There was a lot of curiosity but also restraint and resistance.

ICF Germany Prism Award

One of the highlights of Coaching Day 2019 was the presentation of the second Prism Award of ICF Germany, sponsored by RELEVANT. You can read about the importance of the ICF Prism Award here.

The Prism Award 2019 went to Adidas and Vodafone for their outstanding coaching programs. The jury’s special prize, awarded for the first time this year, went to Volkswagen for its differentiated system of interlocking coaching offerings, which was recognized as the “lighthouse of the industry.”

In his laudation to Adidas, René Kusch, PhD, said, “Other coaching programs can learn a lot from Adidas. In the competition for the German Prism Award, the jury particularly emphasized your commitment to the evaluation of the seemingly soft topic ‘coaching process.’ You have calculated the return on investment of your measure at 130%. Even if numerics cannot always take everything into consideration, numbers are the language that secures our community a place at the table of line managers. Your program is a great example of how coaching can make a real difference.”

Dr. Kusch praised Vodafone’s coaching program: “Vodafone is part of the spearhead of digitization in Germany. Your presentation will give us a glimpse of how Vodafone is helping to shape technological progress — perhaps we should say technological revolution. You are the first to put [5G] into operation. What is possible with it all fascinates me. Among other things, it is one of the prerequisites for autonomous vehicles. You have just teamed up with UnityMedia. The mobile phone industry is undergoing considerable upheaval. Your concept Coaching @ Vodafone is geared to the changes and challenges [the industry is facing]. You describe [strategic self-awareness] as a core competence at Vodafone. Your coaching uses content and methods to promote [Vodafone’s core competences]. Consistently. And it’s so fresh and modern that you don’t immediately notice this theoretical foundation.”

Workshop: “How to Develop Humility in Alpha People”

On the second day, as part of HR BarCamp, RELEVANT held a workshop, “How to Develop Humility in Alpha People,” for interested attendees. The main focus was on charismatic managers, who typically show self-confidence, determination, and visionary thinking.

Charisma ensures that managers in companies are recognized. However, too much charisma can become a weakness. Many charismatic leaders with power become narcissists, which can have devastating effects on others.

Today, there are fewer ways for narcissistic leaders to hide misconduct. To meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution, companies need leaders who can be effective through others. Humility allows leadership teams to deliver business results, be productive, and be effective.

In an interactive workshop session, we explored our views on

1. The difference between individual emergence and team effectiveness at work,
2. How emerging and effective leaders can be identified in organizations, and
3. How the coaching abilities of overly charismatic leaders can be improved with an empirically proven approach and discussed with candidates.

We enjoyed the intensive exchange with the participants and continued some of the discussions afterward. Strategic self-awareness is important to everyone, and we are delighted that we can make a significant contribution to this with the Hogan assessment suite.

If you are interested in delving into our workshop topic, we would like to give you access to our article, “Our View on New Leadership: How to Develop and Assess Humility in Charismatic Leaders,”  which we wrote with Robert Hogan, PhD, and Ryne Sherman, PhD. We are proud of the article with all modesty, and we are looking forward to your feedback!

We took a lot of food for thought, ideas, and insights from Coaching Day 2019. It was touching to see the joy of the winners of the ICF Germany Prism Award. And we were pleased about the possibilities of looking at the quality of coaching from different angles (e.g., with regard to ethics, the use of diagnostics, standardized processes, etc.). Next year we will be there again, and we are looking forward to it.

Time is running out to register for ICF Deutschland’s Coaching Day 2019 and also to register for the second German Prism Award, an annual award jointly sponsored by Hogan Assessments and RELEVANT Managementberatung. ICF Coaching Day will take place on November 15-16, with the German Prism Award Gala occurring from 7:00-9:00pm on Friday, November 15 in Munich.

The award, modeled after the ICF’s International Prism Award, is given to organizations with programs that make a difference in the coaching community through professionalism, quality and innovation. The nominees – all DAX 30 companies – represent a variety of industries, and each are tasked with providing insight into how their coaching programs contribute to the achievement of important corporate goals and advance the coaching profession.

“We are honored to be able to sponsor this prestigious award again this year,” says RELEVANT owner, Dr. René Kusch. “Last year’s event was a huge success, and we look forward to replicating that again this year with a stellar group of nominees.”

Last year’s inaugural German Prism Award was given to CMS Law Tax, an international law firm with 74 offices worldwide, for its Partner Peak Performance Program (PPP) that was designed for the organization’s leaders and “rainmakers.” Its cutting-edge coaching program and robust coaching culture is what set the company apart from the competition.

“CMS Law Tax really set the standard for future recipients of the German Prism Award,” says Kusch. “Their coaching program embodies the true spirt of the award, which is to advance the coaching profession and move German companies forward.”

Click here to purchase tickets and to learn more about the event.

Hogan distributor, RELEVANT Managementberatung, is partnering again with the International Coach Federation Germany chapter to present the 2^nd Annual German Prism Award, awarded to companies making a difference in the coaching community through professionalism, quality, and data.

The selection process and criteria were modeled after ICF’s International Prism Award, which has been granted annually since 2005 to companies that stand out through the establishment of a coaching culture with extraordinary results in difficult change processes. Past winners of this prestigious award include Coca Cola, SAP, Airbus, and several other prominent companies. The Inaugural German Prism Award was awarded last year to CMS Law Tax, an international law firm with more than 70 offices worldwide.

“We are proud of the partnership we’ve formed with the ICF, and we’re excited to continue the momentum we built from last year’s event,” says RELEVANT owner, Dr. René Kusch. “Our goal from the very beginning was to advance the coaching profession, and this award honors the very best in the field.”

Those nominated are coaching programs that have innovative concepts and/or have made a significant contribution to achieving important corporate goals. The award will be presented on Friday, November 15 during ICF Germany’s Coaching Day in Munich. You can purchase tickets here to attend the event.

“There are so many strong candidates among this year’s nominations, but that’s exactly what we were hoping for,” says Kusch. “Although there can only be one winner, it’s wonderful to see so many organizations across Germany implementing such robust coaching programs. It’s obviously become a point of emphasis for German organizations, and we believe it will have a tremendous positive impact on the German workforce and the country as a whole.”

Hogan distributor, RELEVANT Managementberatung, has partnered with the International Coach Federation Germany chapter to present this year´s German Prism Award, awarded to companies making a difference in the coaching community through professionalism, quality, and data.

The selection process and criteria were modeled after ICF’s International Prism Award, which has been granted annually since 2005 to companies that stand out through the establishment of a coaching culture with extraordinary results in difficult change processes. Past winners of this prestigious award include Coca Cola, SAP, Airbus, and several other prominent companies.

“Continuing our partnership with the ICF to present the German Prism Award after a great start in 2018 is a perfect opportunity for us,” says RELEVANT owner, Dr. René Kusch. “At RELEVANT, we are fully committed to advancing the coaching profession, and this award is symbolic of that commitment.”

Those nominated are coaching programs that have innovative concepts and/or have made a significant contribution to achieving important corporate goals. The award will be presented on November 15 during ICF Germany’s Coaching Day in Munich, and applications will be accepted through July 16.

“We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with ICF Germany for many years to come,” says Kusch. “The ICF is the world’s premier coaching organization, and it is an honor to be involved of something we believe will be a high-profile distinction for German coaching programs in the future.”

RELEVANT Management Consulting, an official Hogan distributor in Germany, and the German chapter of the International Coach Federation presented the inaugural German Prism Award to CMS Law Tax, an international law firm with 74 offices worldwide.

The award, modeled after the ICF’s International Prism Award, is given to organizations with programs that make a difference in the coaching community through professionalism, quality, and sustainability.

“We are very proud to be supported by an extraordinary jury of several well-known experts in the coaching industry in Germany,” said Dr. Geertje Tutschka, ACC, president of ICF Germany.

Dr. René Kusch, owner of RELEVANT, explained why CMS was chosen as the winner of this prestigious award.

“We are honored to recognize CMS Law Tax as the first winner of the German Prism Award,” said Kusch. “The purpose of this award is to feature organizations that take a cutting-edge approach to their coaching programs, which made CMS the clear choice among a strong group of nominees. They have shown their success by developing a robust coaching culture.”

The nominees represented a variety of industries, and each were tasked with providing insight into how their coaching programs contributed to the achievement of important corporate goals and advanced the coaching profession.

“More and more organizations are implementing coaching programs as part of their training and development processes,” said Tutschka. “Our goal was to identify the organization that truly set itself apart from the competition, and CMS Law Tax did just that with the Partner Peak Performance Program (PPP) for their leaders and designated ‘rainmakers.’”

Although this is the first year in which the German Prism Award was presented, Kusch said RELEVANT is already looking forward to 2019.

“Working together with ICF Germany in order to present this award is a mutually beneficial relationship for all parties involved,” said Kusch. “The ICF is the world’s premier coaching organization, and we are privileged to be involved in the early stages of such a prestigious distinction for German coaching programs.”

Applications for the 2019 Prism Award 2019 will be accepted in Spring of 2019 at www.coachingtag.com.

Hogan distributor, RELEVANT Management Consulting, has partnered with the International Coach Federation Germany chapter to present the inaugural German Prism Award, awarded to companies making a difference in the coaching community through professionalism, quality, and data.

The selection process and criteria were modeled after ICF’s International Prism Award, which has been granted annually since 2005 to companies that stand out through the establishment of a coaching culture with extraordinary results in difficult change processes. Past winners of this prestigious award include Coca Cola, SAP, Airbus, and several other prominent companies.

“Partnering with the ICF to present the first German Prism Award was a perfect opportunity for us,” says RELEVANT owner, Dr. René Kusch. “At RELEVANT, we are fully committed to advancing the coaching profession, and this award is symbolic of that commitment.”

Those nominated are coaching programs that have innovative concepts and/or have made a significant contribution to achieving important corporate goals. The award will be presented on November 16 during ICF Germany’s Coaching Day in Munich, and applications will be accepted through October 14.

“We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with ICF Germany for many years to come,” says Kusch. “The ICF is the world’s premier coaching organization, and it is an honor to be involved in the early stages of something we believe will be a high-profile distinction for German coaching programs in the future.”

*This interview was originally published in Business Class Magazin – this is the translation of the Hungarian text. The original version can be found here.

We met Dr. Robert Hogan at the Four Seasons Budapest. He is an American psychologist and the founder of Hogan Assessments who has institutionalized the use of personality assessments for the enhancement of work performance, and whose organization serves more than half of the Fortune 500 companies. He visited Budapest for the “Future of Coaching in Organisations” international conference organized in April, and he took some time to meet us for a glass of Chardonnay.

Please summarize briefly the principles and main elements of the personality test which you have developed, and which is used so widely in the business world.

People who have power make decisions every day that affect those who have less power. They hire, promote or fire them. These decisions are usually based on work interviews with them, but this is the worst possible way to make a decision that has such an effect on a person’s life. My aim was to make employee evaluations – firings, promotions, hiring interviews – that is, the whole decision-making process – rational and empirical. So, I based it on defensible, scientific foundations. Over the years, we have built up a serious database – based on this we can demonstrate that if business leaders listen to us, they will make better decisions regarding their employees. And why is this important? The keys to success in business are money and people. Managers generally make rational decisions when comes to money, so why wouldn’t they want to make rational decisions when it comes to people?

Do you think it’s important for a good leader to have psychological or coaching experience?

It’s a good question. My views are based on scientific research and data. These data show that good leaders need to possess four attributes. They have to be honest – it’s important that they have a moral compass, so you don’t end up with liars, thieves or frauds. They shouldn’t make duplicitous decisions behind the backs of others. If they are not honest, then they will fail. For example, Bill Clinton was a liar, that’s why nobody was loyal to him in his government. The second requirement is to be competent – they have to know what to do and how they should do it. If you are always the boss, people turn to you for advice. If you don’t know what you are talking about, then you can’t give good advice, which has immediate consequences. For example, Barack Obama never led anything, he wasn’t ever the boss of anything, and so he failed.

Do you think he failed?

Yes, I think so, namely because he didn’t know what he was doing.

He was elected twice.

The reason behind this is the quality of his rivals. Many people don’t like Donald Trump, but what was the alternative?

Honesty and competence. Which other attributes are necessary?

The third is whether you are capable of making good decisions, or if you made a mistake, to admit it and fix it. Evidence shows that 50 percent of business decisions are bad. So you can’t always arrive at good decisions. The key to good judgement is to realize if you’ve made a bad decision, and to be able to fix it. Let me mention one more politician as an example, George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq – which was a bad idea. Then, Bush raised the stakes and he didn’t leave the area. Bad decisions ruin the organisation, whether it’s a corporation or a political body. In the end, it’s important whether you have vision, whether you can explain why you are doing what you are doing, or what your objective is from which others can set their own. These are the four indispensable tools of a leader. Things like having to be kind to others are not among these. Meanwhile, I think a good leader has to be humble as well; he or she has to listen to the opinions of others. It’s important for him or her to be open, and it’s just as important that when he or she delegates a task to someone, he or she has confidence in that person. At the same time, a good leader is also a good manipulator – it doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she has to understand people, he or she just has to persuade them to follow him or her. To bring up another presidential example: although Ronald Reagan was an excellent manipulator, he couldn’t be truly appreciated because all his other attributes were imperfect.

They were politicians?

Exactly.

Aren’t business and political attitudes different? Don’t they require different skills and capabilities?

There are solid arguments which prove that really successful executives are humble and listen to their employees. They listen to feedback. They trust their people and they build teams. This is why Barack Obama failed – he never built a team, never talked to anyone, just sat in his office alone. You have to be able to build a team.

I suppose that you are aware of the highly successful series, “House of Cards” – what is your opinion of Frank Underwood; what kind of leader is the president in that series?

I liked the British version more. The BBC version was top-notch. Frank Underwood is a real leader. Politics are about this, people like him can collect votes, but then what will they add to the whole when they get to the top? I think this is a problem in the business world too: that in the end politicians rise above executives, but they are not experts in anything apart from getting themselves elected. Even campaign slogans are about this: for being able to make a change, they have to be elected first, but what do they actually do after having been elected? They try to remain in power, and for this they just say to the people whatever they want to hear. And this is just a kind of entertainment, nothing more. At the same time, as a corporate leader you have to do something to bring about change, you have to achieve something. An army general or the coach of an athletic team has to achieve victory; it’s not enough for him or her to be popular.

What caused you turn your attention towards the business sphere after leaving university, as a practicing psychologist?

I have always been interested in leadership and the business world. During my university years during the ‘60s and ‘70s, the general view among academics was that the personality of the leader is unimportant. If business was successful, they owed it to luck, not the personality of the leader. But I have never believed this. I had been practicing as an academic for a long time, and when I finally received my pay check, I started asking myself about the way ahead. Academic salaries are poor, and I didn’t want to live this way; I had to make money somehow. I knew that I was good at psychological evaluations, and that maybe I could profit from this, so I tried to make money from my interest, that is, from studying leaders.

It wasn’t easy to shape the way of thinking, you have been attacked by many.

I have proven with my team that managerial attitude is indeed important. In the 1990s, we proved, scientifically and supported by data, that the role of personality is fundamental in how people perform in the workplace. Then in the beginning of the 2000s we proved that leadership characteristics are also determinants in leading a company to success. And in the middle of the 2000s I published that personality characteristics determine corporate results. It turned out that the successful operation of an organization depends on the formation of personal relationships within the organization. We have proven that if companies listen to us with these questions, they will earn more money, because they will hire more effective people for the corresponding positions.

Which skills do you think helped you to become so successful in your field?

First of all, our team has worked very hard. We do very high-quality work, and we pay attention to what our customers want. We have found the way to promote what we know. One has to work very hard; 90 percent of ventures go bust.  At first,we have had both good and difficult moments, but when you get that first big client, everything comes together immediately. In our case, this big client was the government. We received an order from the American government.

*This is a guest post written by Joel A. DiGirolamo, Director of Coaching Science for the International Coach Federation.

I enjoyed reading the thought-provoking paper “New(ish) Directions for Vocational Interests Research”by Hogan and Sherman. It is jam-packed with concepts, models, and logic that offer fodder for many thought exercises.

I certainly agree with the assertion that “values are the real underlying subject matter of vocational psychology.” When looking more broadly, however, it seems to me that the following hierarchy exists:

Traits & Needs

↓

Values, Beliefs

↓

Attitudes & Interests

For example, imagine two individuals, Carrie and Linda, both with a trait or need to nurture. Now imagine that Carrie has a value or belief that strong security is necessary to nurture individuals. Linda, on the other hand, values inclusion in order nurture those on the periphery of a society. Taken to the next level, we can imagine that Carrie’s security value or belief could promote her taking on a conservative attitude and an interest in the military. Meanwhile, Linda’s inclusion value might cultivate a liberal attitude and an interest in protecting immigrants. Thus, we see that a common trait or need can manifest itself in significantly different behaviors. This example also illustrates Allport’s assertion that traits tend to be nondirectional and attitudes tend to be directional.

The statement, “In our view, people don’t have traits, they have goals, intentions, and agendas, and it is these motivational terms that explain their behavior—which traits describe,” greatly depicts the role of traits and the idea that motivation is really a moderator. We all have traits, needs, etc., but it is motivation that gets us off the sofa and is therefore a moderator toward action or behaviors.

Many theories and research studies related to interests and job satisfaction have been written over many decades. I believe there is a confounding factor in the motivation to work a specific job, however. As many describe, higher satisfaction is somewhat correlated with interests. Yet this doesn’t seem to account for those individuals who take specific jobs solely for the money they make. These individuals may be financially satisfied with their jobs but are not satisfying their intrinsic desires. I’ve always felt that individuals work either for meaning or money and that some are fortunate to derive both from their job.

In a related view, the table below is how I look at an individual’s job satisfaction in relationship to employer job satisfaction, which I am using as a proxy for job performance. In the top two quadrants, the employee may find meaning in their work and thus happy with their job even if they are not doing it well. The lower right quadrant may be a person who is working solely for money and thus unhappy with their job, but their employer is happy with what they are doing. The people in the lower left quadrant may be those individuals some refer to as unemployable. They’re both incompetent and unhappy.

As we look back at the material covered in the Hogan and Sherman piece, we can get a sense of deep understanding as to where interests that lead to job satisfaction come from. Backtracking from interests to values to needs and traits can bring greater understanding as to what may be driving an individual’s job satisfaction and possible conflicts therein. Returning to my example of the individual who takes a specific job simply for the money, we could easily imagine that this individual has a need for financial security. Perhaps they also have a trait of wanting to help people and have a good set of mathematical and financial skills. Maybe they have an interest in both financial work and helping others to become more financially stable. However, the only job they currently can find that they view as financially secure is one that does not help others, creating a possible internal conflict between the need for financial security and helping people. When queried as to their job satisfaction, it is easy to see how this internal conflict could leak out into conflicting measures of job satisfaction.

And so, we see the value this piece brings to bear; it highlights and takes a fresh, clear look at vocational interests in the context of the traits, needs, values, beliefs, attitudes, and interests. It is my hope that this piece enlivens and brings greater depth to the discussion on vocational interests.

Hogan European Summit

April is a hectic time of the year for the crew at Hogan Assessments, and this year was no different. In fact, our staff was widely represented in both the US and Europe during a week full of events.

The week began with a group of Hogan representatives traveling to Budapest, Hungary to attend the Hogan European Summit, which was organized by Hogan’s Managing Director of Europe, Zsolt Feher.

Held at the famous Gerbeaud Café in historic downtown Budapest, the event aimed to foster collaboration among our European distributors to facilitate growth across the continent and enhance Hogan’s brand visibility.

Dr. Hogan delivered the opening keynote address to set the tone for the Summit, which was followed by discussions regarding EU PR and marketing strategy by MITTE Communications, 360 and Global Talent Survey updates by Peter Berry Consultancy, an interactive strategy session, and product updates.

Hogan CEO Scott Gregory discussed absentee leadership on day two. This is a relatively new topic in the industry, and was thoroughly covered by Scott in an article he wrote for Harvard Business Review. The keynote was followed by sessions covering strategy for selection research and presentation, a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) update, distributor case study presentations, a Q&A session with Hogan Leadership, and an afternoon of sightseeing in Budapest.

We’re truly honored to have such a strong network of European distributors, and we look forward to future opportunities to bring everyone together in an effort to boost Hogan’s global presence.

ICF “Future of Coaching in Organisations” Conference

Several members of the Hogan team remained in Budapest for the International Coach Federation’s “Future of Coaching in Organisations” Conference held at the Akvárium Klub. The event, featuring Hogan as the primary sponsor, aimed to bring the future of coaching into focus, and identified which new trends, technologies, and tools will determine organizational development and coaching.

The event featured several world-renowned coaches, and included presentations from Hogan’s Dustin Hunter and Zsolt Feher, as well as a keynote address by Dr. Hogan on “Coaching the Uncoachable.” Overall, the event was a huge success, and offered Hogan Assessments the unique opportunity to develop an even stronger rapport with the international coaching community and the European market. On behalf of the team at Hogan Assessments, we would like to thank our friends at ICF for such an incredible experience.

Hogan Completes 10^th Consecutive Year as SIOP Platinum Sponsor 

Every year, Hogan Assessments is one of the most visible organizations at the annual Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) Conference, and this year’s event in Chicago was no different.

Celebrating the 10^th consecutive year as the Platinum Sponsor, the team at Hogan was strongly represented with 20 accepted submissions, again making Hogan one of the top non-academic organizations with the number of speakers featured on symposia, panel discussions, and posters.

Hogan staff members across all departments put in hundreds of hours of work in the weeks and months leading up to the conference to ensure Hogan is positioned as the premier organization in attendance. We would like to thank all of them for their hard work and dedication to making this year a huge success.

We would also like to thank everyone who was able to attend the annual University of Tulsa Wine Reception. When Bob and Joyce Hogan founded the TU I-O Psychology program decades ago, they had no idea it would develop such a strong pipeline of prestigious psychologists from future generations, including Hogan’s new CEO, Dr. Scott Gregory. Being able to connect with TU alumni at SIOP on an annual basis during this reception is a tremendous honor.

In closing, we would like to congratulate Sara Weston, who was the lucky recipient of the Apple Watch we gave away at the conference for posting a photo of the Hogan booth. The campaign was a lot of fun for everyone involved and, although only one person got a watch, Hogan donated $5 the ASPCA for every entry. So, your entry helped support a fantastic cause!