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Managerial Odyssey 2023: Germany company#5 CPC Consulting

In this article, we will introduce you to CPC, a consulting firm specialized in change management and agile management. In order to avoid crises born out of the implementation of changes, they propose an amazing method for their clients: a virtual company simulation…

We had the good fortune to meet Michael Teubenbacher. He is a member of management at CPC Unternehmensmanagement AG (hereafter abbreviated to CPC), which is a leading change management company in Germany.

Michael is an expert in business transformation and describes himself as a “change enthusiast”. We asked him about how the company practices change management, and how it supports its clients.

We were met with only surprises! We were struck by the originality of the services offered by CPC, and in this article we want to focus on one of their practices: Reality Training Culture Change.

👉 "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." Henry Ford

How can one disagree with Henry Ford… It’s true, everyone has failed at some point in their life. However, it seems difficult to proudly proclaim this sentence in front of your superior when you miss a multi-million dollar contract.

Although, what if this was possible? “Pretend” managing to better manage for real, that’s the method proposed by CPC. Indeed, they create virtual business simulations.

Preventing the onset of crises is possible through the use of “crash tests”, which is what the CPC does. We’ll explain.

👉 Reality Training Culture Change

Before we begin, here’s a quick question:

Which airline pilot would you choose?:

  • Pilot A with 700 hours of theoretical training, who has never sat in a flight simulator,
  • Pilot B with 400 hours of theoretical instruction, but who’s also trained for 100 hours in a flight simulator?

Did you answer B? Well done, you had the same response as 99% of people. And you were right!

As our good old Albert (Einstein) would say: “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

This quote in and of itself could summarize the method we will describe to you next.

Indeed, with its “Reality Training Culture Change”, CPC is the only consultant in Germany to offer fully immersive change management training for its clients.

Michael Teubenbacher reports that in Germany, over the last 2 decades, billions of Euros have been invested in theoretical training. These trainings are indispensable, and allow companies to obtain agility certificates (the SCRUM certificate…), which is very good. But, very often, practical experience is missing, even though it is ESSENTIAL.

Finally, wouldn’t it be relevant to create a flight simulator, in which new behaviors can be tested, in which known solutions can be perfected and in which limits can be crossed without danger?

This is how CPC developed a real virtual company simulation for its client.

Of course, the client has a company that actually exists in real life, it is tangible. There are real buildings, real offices, a website, company history, products, and of course, real employees doing their daily work. And all of these elements are captured as best as possible for the simulation, and CPC experts will play the roles of the pretend employees.

This allows clients to confront issues before launching a real-life corporate change project.

The training is offered for groups of 24 to 48 people. Who in turn are divided into 6 to 8 project teams of 4 to 6 employees each. The teams have no points of contact and operate in the same setting at different times. 

How does this work?

Teams are given a common challenge that is rather challenging, and have only 3 days to solve it in a coordinated manner. They must then present one or more solutions and make a decision.

  • In addition, each “real” employee within the simulation will have different daily commercial objectives, complicating their ability to focus on the common mission. But, the different employees will have to find the time to collaborate to come up with a final solution…

Please note:

  • The employees of the virtual company are embodied by “actors”.
  • The “actors” play the role of actors, but are experts in their field in real life.
  • The relationships between the actors can be chosen according to the challenges desired by the client
  • The experience is conducted in a transparent and uninterrupted manner.

Throughout the simulation, the teams are also accompanied by an experienced coach. The coaching will not be related to the “content”, but will take the form of feedback on situations and behaviors. E.g., this coach is “invisible” in interviews and meetings and does not intervene in what is happening.

Debriefing:

  • In the evening, participants can ask for feedback from the actors they interacted with.
  • The actors remain in their roles during the debriefing.
  • At the end of the training, participants receive final, personal feedback from all the actors.
  • Participants receive realistic feedback, whether it is positive or negative.

Conclusion:

This method allows a company to simulate various work situations within the firm. It grants the firm an understanding of how the potential change will impact the work of its employees on a daily basis, and it also helps the firm identify potential problems or challenges that could arise during the actual implementation of the change.

This method allows participants to anticipate crises and avoid them.

We hope you enjoyed this article! Thanks and see you soon!

lodysseemanageriale

Élodie & Dimitri