Burn The Box Magazine

JUNE 2010 #001www.Es-sENsE.biz | ThE Es sENsE magaziNE

s E N s E l E a d s s U s T a i N a b l E E v o l U T i o N

       Office pOlitics the pOlitical arena         finance harnessing grOwth during the crisis       peOple develOpment adrenalin versus capacity building         persOnalities Jack the knife       gOlf the new dimensiOn         entrepreneurs: free yOur pOtential

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your company

+Forget

the company trip

mental golf

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Welcome to Burn the Box magazine

stress, worry, layoffs; the crisis took many companies through a rough time. “do more with less” was the mission that many leaders sent their managers off with. they studied assets and found smarter supply chain solutions, negotiated longer with suppliers.

some executives however understood that the crisis was a telltale that businesses needed to change. at the end of the tunnel, nothing would be the same again. they changed their organisations’ view of operating, and looked at their most important asset: their people. they streamlined their ways of working and lifted their teams to a new level of productivity. change requires courage, and so the crisis brought the more daring to ready their organisations for sustainable growth. resilience and long term profits are their rewards today.

Only the crew can sail the ship through the storm. and that that crew can only do that through proper development. they choose to align their people, toward more senseful operations, organisation, skills and strategy. they brought sense to their operations, fulfillment to employees, and productivity levels went through the roof.

a company to today enjoying the rewards of the sense approch is state street global advisors limited. in this issue, benoît failly, senior managing director takes us for an adventurous look-back to the year when he audaciously “burned” classic management box and took sense to state street.

sense management takes your company for an internal voyage which is all about adventure, generosity and questioning. it makes organisations crisis-independent. therefore i warmly invite you to burn your box, and welcome you to our circle of sense pioneers.

pierre Sornin, General manager, es sense

EdiTo

“Coming  to our senses”

harnessing grOwth during the crisishow state street global advisorsmade their entrepreneurial company culture grow into a larger finance organisation

Office pOlitics Out Of cOntrOlQuestioning something no company ever mentions in their job ads: office politics.

revOlutiOnizing prO gOlfwhat executives can learn from top golf players.

tedx speaker Jack klaff On generOsity and

adventurOus living

lOOk fOrward, lOOk pOsitivehow a sme made it through growing pains

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+p9/10/11a different kind of company triphow collective learning cements teams together.

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in 2009 when TEdx chose brussels as its host city, the event organizers selected ‘burn the box’ as the session’s overarching theme.

‘burning the box’ means courageously abandoning tried but ineffective solutions, and chosing for a radically new approach to business processes and structures by rasing the productivity of your people in a sensible, sustainable way. This is exactly what es sense does; we bring sense to organisations. The result is a boost in quality, performance and reputation.

sense management means freeing your people to align their work with their values, and recognizing every professional’s fundamental need: knowing the sense of his activity, and ultimately of one’s life. sense management creates impulse and coherence within projects and teams, contributing to a greater fulfillment, generating higher profits and increasing economic resilience.

sense management leads your company onto an adventurous voyage which is about questioning, adventure and generosity.

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“cure”? That sounds medical.

‘it does’, lionel agrees. ‘and with good reason. it makes sense not to compare an organization to a machine, but rather to the human body. following this analogy, political arenas compare much to a tumor, with which they share their main characteristics. a tumor grows within a body, and uses body resources (energy, cells, blood) to attack the body. the tumor diverts cells from their primary function, which is to protect and maintain the body, and uses them to develop inside its host body.’

‘in modern medecine,’ lionel continues, ‘the common approach is to look for the origin of the disease, instead of only curing the symptoms. this approach prevents the disease from returning. a second view in modern medecine is that every disease has a mental component. to heal quickly and successfully, a patient should receive medicine, but he should also think optimistically about his healing chances’, says lionel.

‘Just like in medecine’ explains lionel, ‘a political arena is no more than a symptom. when office politics get out of hand, it usually means that something is wrong at a deeper level. it could be that knowledge and development are not accessible to everyone. Or that a newcomer on the team does not feel recognized and respected, maybe because he doesn’t like his role.’

How can political arenas be managed ?

‘es sense follows those two principles when dismantling a political arena inside an organization. we simultaneously upgrade the competencies of the people who are directly affected by the political arena, and we work with the arena’s principal actors to understand the hidden origins of the issue.’

can companies handle political arenas autonomously, or is external help needed ?

‘they can, but it is a tough and risky enterprise’, says lionel. ‘One must know that political arenas, just like internal diseases, tend to develop powerful self protection mechanisms’.

‘the principal actors of the political arena often enjoy particular protection, which makes it hard or impossible to openly confront them. they may have

a strong tie with board members, or enjoy legal protection, of the kind union representatives do’, warns lionel. ‘therefore, the first rule is to never wrestle with the political arena’s principal actors.’

Then, what would be the magic formula?

‘develop, equalize and federate, is what es sense recommends’, explains lionel. ‘most often a political arena can continue to exist because one of its principal actors possesses knowledge that the other team members do not have access to. he or she for instance may be the only one to master the details of a specific technical or administrative process. this makes team members dependent on them. the actors then draw power from this dependency to demand support or loyalty to help them advance their interests.’

‘it may also occur that the actors are skilled politicians, and that their colleagues do not notice that they are being manipulated. in that case, the group must be taught about manipulation, so that they understand and can adequately answer coercion tentatives.’

lionel continues: ‘the first thing to do therefore, is to cancel dependency by opening the team’s eyes, lifting every team member to the same level of competency, or make information accessible to everyone. the political arena actor will thus see his unfair advantage disappear. team members on the other hand will enjoy a motivational boost.’

‘increasing the capacity of the team members will allow the team to re-experience the pleasure of accomplishing something fresh and purposeful as a group. this has the effect of federating team members

What exactly are political arenas and how do you recognize them?

‘the political arena is a term coined by es sense. it is the name we use for a specific type of unhealthy work environment. a political arena is characterized by chaos, both at company level and at the personal, employee level’, explains lionel.

‘when a political arena has found its place in an organization, department structures are overruled by coalition building, job roles suddenly become flexible and company processes are bypassed for personal interests. Organizations hindered by political arenas lose their internal serenity, and their focus and grip on their business processes. at es sense we have studied the problem for years, and we have built up valuable experience to manage and “cure” political arenas.

sense interview

Lionel Barets arrives early at our appointment - by motorbike. After Lionel has let us, car cro magnons, in on the joys of motorcycling and the particularities of motor helmet design, we order coffee and set off for a discussion about something no company ever mentions in their job ads – office politics.

‘Managing a political arena is one of the most sensitive operations that a company can be confronted with, if it ever wants to develop in a sustainable way,’ says Lionel.

‘During our missions we really submerge in a company. We get to know the people, the projects, the big and the small stories. And the small stories are often what it’s all about. The thousand and one little details of social dynamics can make or break a good work climate. In a healthy work environment people talk openly. No information is held back. People use the company processes for what they are intended for. The corridors are used for walking, not lobbying. Agreed, the everyday quarrels are there, but there is no backstabbing, no manoeuvering below the surface,’ Lionel pauses.

‘In unhealthy work climates on the other hand, working time is absorbed by intensive lobbying, coalition formation, and infighting. To us, those are indicators that one or more political arenas may be at work inside the organization.’

lionel barets executive coach at es sense

Political arenas tend to develop powerful self protection mechanisms.Lionel Barets Executive Coach at es sense

Office politics out of control

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around a common goal. in most cases this is the first step to dismanteling the political arena.’

What becomes of the actors of the political arena ?

‘they either adopt a new view of their professional life and change their ways, or they leave. One must keep in mind that a company can never be a personal therapy provider. it is up to the executive management to decide what the value of the principal actor of a political arena for the company is. they then should decide what the better solution is: to try and make him or her review their ways and evolve, or to say goodbye.’

sense interview

Starting points to cure a political arena

- in order to cure a political arena it is imperative to obtain the commitment and the support of a c-level manager. this “godfather” must possess the

strength of will and the administrative power to cure the political arena in his organization.

- do not try to overtly outwrestle actors of the political arena. the arena is only a symptom. it is a flag that something more profound is wrong. focus

on understanding the true problem at the basis of the political arena, and then resolve it. this is usually done most effectively by upgrading the overall

competency of the team involved.

- federate! launch a project around which people affected by the political arena can federate. it will build ties and make the group stick together again.

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sense interview

Harnessing growth during the crisis

‘state street global advisors is one of the leading asset managers for institutional investors’ says benoît Fally, senior managing director of sTaTE street continental Europe.

‘our brussels office opened in 1989. we mainly provide investment solutions to institutional investors in the benelux, the Nordic region, spain, portugal and greece. our clients look for tailored investment solutions that meet their investment guidelines. because of this tailor-made approach our people need to be extremely well aligned, and to treat our clients as a coherent and value consistent business partner.’

How did SSga experience the financial crisis?

‘when the storm came up, we were faced with the need to implement change management fast. a health check showed that we had to go about change management more proactively. we needed to boost change.’

‘we also concluded that we had to align the belgian office’s way of working, which was entrepreneurial, with the group’s vision. the changed financial and societal climate required us to evolve from an entrepreneurial collaboration model to a new way of operating which would allow us to remain effective across

a bigger organization. we needed to adopt a new management style to be able to grow in a sustainable way.’

‘it quickly became clear that we would need to bring change to the individual’s behavioural level; we needed to master ‘soft’ techniques to install sense at a deep level in our company,’ says benoît fally.

We had to explain ‘change’

‘throughout the past years we had been changing our company processes towards an entrepreneurship model. people were given big responsibilities and were used to operate autonomously’, explains benoît fally.

‘Our company grew explosively, and the entrepreneurial model became hard to manage. we became too numerous. we went from 200 to almost 2500 in less than ten years. a new management team came and installed a bureaucratic model. it involved big internal changes and we had not sufficiently explained the change to our staff. as a result people found themselves confused. a response was required. firstly we would have to “explain change” to our employees’, says benoît fally.

What did State Street Global advisors do next?

‘we developed a strategic vision, in line with international group strategy. successfully implementing change management required that people integrate the new vision into their daily operations, at a personal level. to obtain long term, sustainable results we needed to work with them at their level. i wanted a quality job done, i wanted long term results. therefore we needed to work on the behaviour of employees and teams.’

Is change something which can actually be outsourced?

‘in my view, the proper way to successfully run a change operation which implies deep, long term changes across a large organization, and wich works on the long term, is by contracting an external change partner which interacts seamlessly with hr and management’, says benoît fally. ‘we have contracted es. sense late 2008, and took off immediately with a pilot project in brussels’.

‘we decided that our first mission would be to open our

In a sense-driven management climate, people run their everyday operations in line with their personal objectives and values.

Benoît Fally, Senior Managing Director, State Street Continental Europe

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sense interview

management team to the concept of ‘sense management’. in a sense-driven management climate, people run their everyday operations in relation to their personal objectives and values. people are brought to understand, adopt and share a common view of what the company is, does and sells.’

Which results does this deliver at an everyday level?

‘One of the beneficial effects of having your people aligned on the sense of their business is - for instance - that meetings are dramatically shortened. when the sense of the business is clear, people engage less in repetitive discussions about how the business should be run, and focus more on the task.’

‘another advantage is a strengthened reputation’, says benoît fally. ‘when facing clients for instance, when the sense of the company is understood and shared, people will maintain a common discourse, and will act according to the same values. the client thus experiences a coherent and consistent business partner. it strengthens the company’s reputation.’

How did the employees react to this?

benoît failly smiles. ‘the result was phenomenal, both in terms of job satisfaction and productivity. if we had not undertaken this operation, we might not have made it through the storm. the teams found themselves welded. employees felt good by what they did. today, our company model combines the advantages of both the bureaucratic and the entrepreneurial collaboration model. we have thus not only redefined our business model, but more importantly so, we have explained it to the employees, and they have bought into it. es. sense has worked initially with the management, and then descended into the different levels of the company. the cherry on the cake is that the group is now extending our model to other european offices.’

Benoît Fally

Biography

benoît fally is a senior managing director o f s t a t e s t r ee t global advisors and a member of ssga europe’s executive committee. he is currently in charge of institutional business in continental europe and has 15 years of experience in the industry. he supervises a multicultural team of 75 people located in amsterdam, brussels, germany, switzerland, france and italy which serve a client base of 600 clients representing $ 160 billion of assets as at Q3 2009.

currently based in brussels, benoît is a member of ssga’s senior management group. prior to joining ssga in 1994, benoît was a senior auditor at deloitte, touche, tomathsu, one of the leading accounting firms, where he was responsible for auditing brokers, banks and various industrial companies.

benoît holds a ba in finance and economics from the hec in brussels, a master in taxes from the université libre de bruxelles, and he passed the degree of the european association of financial analysts.

www.statestreet.com

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A different kind of company tripAdrenalin is now, capacity building is forever

enter the 10’s. under a more severe economic climate, and the renewed attention for more sustainable business processes, companies today look into different, maybe more authentic ways of organizing seminars.

remarkably, company organizers do so not to reduce costs, but rather to make sure their people walk away from the event with improved skills, all while having enjoyed a good time.

event organizers have found this is easier said than done. how do you develop people without power point sessions? ‘the answer lies in collaborative capacity building.’ says catherine bodson, executive coach with es sense. “it is perfectly possible to organize skill and capacity building that is fun to take part in, yet provides people with knowledge that they can directly use in their jobs. it usually shows people about the way they work, but in a playful way. at es sense we call it sustainable evolution, because it generates long term results”.

‘es sense’s coaching takes people on a journey to a place where they can drop their masks, and show their true selves’ says catherine bodson. ‘confidence frees people to adopt a position which comes natural to them. from there we take the group towards a more productive and satisfying professional life.’

catherine bodson continues adds : ‘in es sense group sessions, participants

know that they are united then and there for a common task; usually solving a problem of some kind, which can be totoally abstract, or taken straight from the company’s project portfolio. positions and hierarchy are set aside, and judgement and criticism stay in the cupboard’

with us are company executives ariane, nathalie, and alex, working at different levels in a medium-sized communications consultancy.

nathalie: something different

‘we thought we’d try something different for our annual off site meeting’, says nathalie bello, the hr manager of a boutique communications consultancy. ‘it is great to take your people outside for a day, and do something together. however, while most companies would go for something sporty, i felt that paintball or a karting afternoon did not fit with our company culture. management had participated in a development session earlier this year, and since it had been a very positive experience, we thought we would offer one to our team. it had to be fun and light, however, not something schooly.’

nathalie continues; ‘the weather forecast said sunny, and after looking at alternatives, we came up with the idea of combining our annual offsite meeting with a development session in the open air.’

‘we booked a repurposed monastry for the day. the weather was splendid, and we sat in an english garden, shielded from the sun by large white umbrellas. we got a tan while enjoying the seminar and had freshly made gaspacho’ recalls nathalie.

ariane: creative

says ariane, 27, an account executive with the company: ‘we did a group game which put our creative skills to work. with toy construction kits we simulated a construction project. vOne of the course leaders disguised as a medieval princess, and we had to sell our solution to her. along the way we learned techniques for interviewing a client about their needs, and to negotiate a solution.’

alex: negotiating

alex, 37 graphic designer picks up : ‘what i took from our open air session is that in my position i am well placed to support my colleagues in their negotiations with clients. the exercise we did showed me how i can actually offer cues which help colleagues to sell the strong points of a creative proposal.’

Strengthen your reputation

catherine bodson: ‘you have to keep in mind that a capacity building session is not your usual company trip. it’s offering your people a true and authentic experience. if well done, it will open the way to introspection, which is powerful and profitable, because it pays off in the long term. people will tell their friends and families, and this will strengthen your company’s reputation.’

‘capacity building sessions can be great fun’ concludes catherine. ‘they have to be well cut to your team’s needs, and offer people something they can directly use.

Company events. Somewhere early in the 90’s the lid came off. Was it the dotcom boom? Karting, paintball or bungee jumping, one thing was clear: nothing was spectacular enough to take your people out for teambuilding.

Usually there would be powerpoints in the morning, and ‘activities’ in the afternoon. A balanced combination of work and fun, or so it was thought.

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since it engages the mind, collective learning improves team relationships just as well as does physical activity. Offering skills improvement in a light way is a delightful present. it is something people can take away. it improves their everyday lives in the long term. they will never be without a job.’

What a capacity building session looks like

‘a capacity building session has to be customized to your company culture and objectives.’ says catherine bodson. ‘while each capacity building session is unique, some possibilities are useful for most companies’. have a look at the following:

— Understanding company collaboration models

Over time each company develops its own, unique way of functioning. advertising agencies work differently as do engineering consultancies. people either go through lengthy business processes or get things done quickly over a cup of coffee. understanding what your company works like compared to the competition or to the client company helps to speed up processes.

— apply the power of group thinking

several minds know more than one. some problems are more quickly solved in a group than alone. it can be about finding a way to handle a tough client, or deciding how to improve it support. if led correctly, a group think session will yield better and faster solutions. learn to ad-hoc manage group energy and channel group intelligence into ready solutions. walk out of the group think session with a concrete plan that has a real chance to work.

— project management 101

understanding project management is useful in any work environment and at any level. while some businesses are long and complex, simple project management basics already help a lot to improve the quality level of everyday projects.

— playful learning

introducing an element of play frees people from their ususal routines. session leaders will take people through an exercice in which they learn to listen, take a briefing, work together towards a creative solution, and test their selling skills.

— Understanding Nlp

neuro linguistic programming is a method of unlocking the power of the unconscious mind in everyday situations. nlp helps to understand how other people think, and then use that knowledge to make yourself better understood. while actually practicing nlp is a lifetime job, understanding the basic processes of the mind is a useful and practical way to free unused mental resources and work together more effectively.

Since it engages the mind, collective learning improves team relationships just as well as does physical activity.

Practical – how to select a capacity development partner

– carefully select a development partner. price is important, but don’t cut corners. the quality of the development partner determines whether people will feel satisfied and take something away from the session. Otherwise, you may as well stick to a paintball afternoon.

– know, understand an pay attention to your people. ask your development partner to come and meet them. then let your development partner plan a session that not only brings your company goal closer, but also, and most importantly fits with your team’s culture, their likes and interests. there is always a way to plan a development session, but it must never go against people’s likings.

– understand that development is a long term thing. therefore: keep sessions fun and light. don’t overload the programme. set one clear goal and schedule a second and maybe a third session over time. this builds a relationship between the development partner and your team, which will in turn facilitate information uptake.

– check if your partner knows how to make it fun and adventurous. you don’t want to stare at a flip chart all day. development partners ought to be pedadogues, experts of human nature. they should be able to design a true, compelling and adventurous experience. analyze their offer to see if it is dynamic, if they plan to make people move around, provide a multi sensorial experience, make things by hand, draw, whatever.

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a sense of justice

Jack klaff is perhaps best known for his numerous radio, television, and theatre performances, but he also has a distinguished academic career. Jack has held four visiting professorships at princeton university, and was professor of public understanding of science at brussels’ think thank starlab during the dot com boom.

klaff has starred in television series such as midsomer murders, and agatha christie’s poirot. he has also played parts such as Quasimodo and Oscar wilde in radio productions, and starred in films such as star wars (1977) and the bond movie for your eyes Only (1985). klaff is the author of the bluffer’s guide to the Quantum universe (2006) and has contributed to the guardian and vogue magazine.

Jack klaff grew up in apartheid ridden south africa and saw his society evolve towards an modern community, carrying over many of its old ghosts. growing up in what was essentially an unjust society made Jack develop a strong sense of justice. Jack was the son of a watchmaker and lived in a family where everything had its place and time. as a student, Jack developed an interest in theatre, as a way to give voice to his views about a better society, and as a means of sharing his ideas with large audiences. it was Jack’s way to change society, and he was successful at it; Jack’s plays would be awarded drama prizes later on.

“i discovered early and intuitively that my stories could have a strong transformational power. that is when i started to use my skills to entertain and capture the attention of the public at large. i would try and awaken people to new views about living together and economy, views which made more sense.”

Generosity

“stories are for sharing, not for owning,” says Jack. “the best artists and scientists are generous people. i believe, and es sense believes, that we should all be more generous. generous with our time, and with our ideas. that is why es sense has adopted a no-cure-no-pay policy. es sense is devoted to the outcome. we do not think short-term. es sense believes this generosity should be an integral part of our economy. it is much like in a play, where strong comedians share themselves with the public, evening after evening. they play by responding to what happens on the scene, they do not try to steer it.”

adventure

“i believe in answering the door when opportunity knocks”, says Jack klaff. being open to adventure has taken Jack around the world to star in blockbusters. this very same sense of adventure was what later would drew Jack to company life.

early in the nineties, Jack experienced from up close what harm a lack of sense can do to a great enterprise. a master storyteller and a brilliant academic, Jack holds a unique combination of communicative abilities, which landed him an appointment as “professor of public understanding” (dot com-speak for ‘pr manager’) at starlab, a think tank

in brussels, belgium. “there was too much management, and not enough substance” says klaff. “we were a think tank, a long term vehicle trying to make short term wins. i understood that it didn’t make much sense. my attention was awakened to in-company dynamics and how they can be improved, by simply adding sense.”

at es sense, Jack works as a catalyst for the ‘burn the box’ executive sessions. through discussing views and problems, ideas come forward. Jack keeps the discussions going, continuously providing new angles, drawing from his secret chamber of modern and old stories, from asian or african traditional culture, or from the streets of london. Jack draws powerful parallels which get minds going, about the spider that wanted to own all the world’s stories, and about saint peter’s admission test to heaven. Jack klaff is always suprising, and his stories foster reflection both on oneself and on doing business.

as scotsman journalist John clifford wrote, ‘ [Jack] … makes you think almost as hard as he makes you laugh. klaff’s forensic scalpel cuts through to the heart of things. he is ‘Jack the knife’.

Burn the box: about

‘burn the box’ are es sense’s invitation-only debating sessions which see top business leaders gather around the finer tables in town for an evening of taboo-less discussion about what makes sense and what does not, in economy as in their respective industries.

es sense’s executive consultants, José zurstrassen, Jack klaff and pierre sornin are experienced business leaders and coaches; they welcome participants and steer the debate.

‘burn the box’ registrations are limited to 10 participants per evening. they are taken at es sense’s desk ( 02/ 535.78.19) or via [email protected].

“i believe in answering the door when opportunity knocks”, says Jack Klaff. south african born Jack Klaff believes that this particular attitude to life has brought him where he is now. a respected actor, director and academic, Jack Klaff has had a rich career, with generosity and adventure leading the path. Today, Jack Klaff is an executive coach at es sense. Jack puts his experience as an actor to work, using storytelling techniques to add measures of reflection, controversy and debate to es sense’s ‘burn the box’ sessions.

ackthe knife J

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sense interview

Revolutionizing pro golf: the adventure of Topcat Golf and management - reach your objectives and create sustainable evolution.

as the clock strikes six, business professionals on brussels’ prestigious avenue louise slip homework into their briefcases and prepare to go home. pierre sornin, founder and manager of es sense signs off the last documents of the day, leaning on a file cabinet. Then he slides his ipod in its dock by the window sill and sits with golf professional anthony otterström for a moment of quiet and a talk about business leadership, and about golf.

‘One of the assets of golf is that it offers the possibility of getting to know the true personality of a business partner,’ says anthony Otterström. ‘golf uncovers one’s soul. it gives a picture of one’s attitude, of the kind of man or woman you are.’ anthony Otterström is one of belgium’s foremost golf authorities. Otterström taught golf for ten years at the ravenstein - belgium’s royal golf club - and was then asked to lead the club’s professional team, which he did for four years.

‘while i was teaching the future golf pros at the pga’s training program, the need for professionalization of the golfing trade became clear’, says Otterström. ‘in belgium, golfers cannot apply for government support when they go professional. access to the pro golf circuit is difficult and expensive. a player needs to invest considerably before he can even think of making a life out of his passion. that is how topcat was born. topcat is a so-called ‘cooperative’ which allows the belgian top 12 golf players to operate as

a company and hold shares. through topcat, if it is well run, pro players can raise the funds necessary to play in the professional circuit.’

by april 2007, Otterstrom was up and running with a team of pro golf players, selected among the best in belgium. ‘at that time i was starting out in management. Our players were gifted, but they were also individualists. pierre and i had met at the club house. we discussed topcat’s business venture, and pierre agreed to guide us in coaching topcat’s players, both at an individual level and as a team.’

pierre sornin nods. ‘golf is ninety percent mental. if you want to play better golf, you have to prepare mentally. you have to be ‘aligned’, committed to your activity at a general level, and you have to understand and control your game at a deeper, psychological level. at es sense’s weekly workshops, our coaches train pro players to use their minds to improve their swing, their putting and short game skills. good golf players can play

every shot with the same accuracy under any circumstance. the real challenge is to stay in control, to keep a clear mind and manage your emotions, be it in good or bad circumstances. the weather or your partners can distract you. you cannot control everything. however, you can learn to control the way you react to the ever changing environment.’

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anthony Otterström explains : ‘es sense has taught us how to reduce stress and tension, and how to make emotions work for you, by thinking positively and refusing the mind to wander off to the past or the future. young pro golfers should be competing, but they should also be supporting each other. es sense has also improved the team’s abilities to open up and share experiences as a group. that way individual knowledge is freed and benefits the team. team members improve their skills, and topcat makes earnings to finance international tournaments. topcat is developing excellence.’

‘business leaders very much need the same qualities as pro golf players’, says pierre sornin. ‘the qualities of a good golf player include the capacity to stay cool, whether your last strike was a hit or a plain miss. business leaders need the same qualities, for themselves and for their teams. es sense employs sense management to develop people into great professionals.

sense management taps into the personal, emotional dimension, to build excellence. pro golf players are one with the sport of golf, they put massive amounts of love and energy into their activity. they live according to their inner values. sense management does just that at the level of the business professional. sense management reconnects people’s inner values and personal objectives with project or company requirements in a sustainable way. in doing so, impulse and coherence are sparked, within projects and teams. professionals feel joyful and energetic because their inner need for coherence and meaning in their work is satisfied.’

anthony Otterström joins in enthusiastically. ‘what we are doing is revolutionizing the golf scene’, he says. ‘topcat is successfully using sense management to put a team structure in place, and is providing pro players with the knowledge and tools to grow as a group. pro golf players come together weekly to share experiences

and techniques. they learn to listen to each other and to work as a group to solve individual golf game problems.’

pierre sornin concludes: ‘it is only after the last consultant has left the company, that one can actually tell if the changes they have made are sustainable. this is where the power of sense management becomes visible. since it unlocks the power which is already present within people, sense management continues to deliver results after the consultants have left.’

Play with the best

tOpcat promotes top players and helps them find opportunities to finance their seasons. we would like you, our readers, to experience a golf round in their company. tOpcat offers the possibility of playing against a top ranked player, alone or in a company team. it is a great way of testing our players while enjoying a day of golf. contact us via www.topcatgolf.be.

anthony Otterström, founder topcat golf

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sense interview

« Look forward, look positive »How a SME made it through growing pains

BTB #001 - 18

Keeping up with professionalization

“the fiscal environment changed dramatically over the past decades,” explains thierry fastre. a thirty year career span has allowed thierry to witness from up close the mutation of the accounting profession from an almost manual craft into a highly computerized consulting business. “nearly everything has changed over a decade and a half” says thierry fastre. “regulation has increased. everything is networked. small business owners are drowning in procedures and tend to call in experts more often.”

three years ago, thierry decided his fiduciary needed air. business had been expanding rapidly. as a manager thierry felt his company wince under the pressure. energy and freshness were making place for stress; the sense of adventure was seeping away and thierry’s team was losing its motivation. the manager wished that his team would look at the future the way he himself did; positively, and in terms of opportunities. in the end, thierry found, it was as much their career as it was his.

cut away time to think

“pierre sornin literally forced me to cut out time and space to look at my enterprise from a distance,” remembers thierry. “i severed, mentally and

physically, from daily business, and for four days focused only and exclusively on what really mattered; my company’s strategic direction for the future, and my own path as an entrepreneur. in those four days, and with the assistance of pierre sornin of es sense, who has an extensive background in business, we put together a ten-year program. we didn’t spend more time than necessary looking at the past, but turned to the future and put my personal as well as my professional expectations up front.”

“knowing why you are here and and were you want to go in life, is what provides us with a natural kind of energy, and brings a flow experience to our daily business activities,”says pierre sornin. “growing this attitude at a company cannot be done one shot-style. it is a long term operation which delivers many times its investment.” in the year following their encounter, pierre sornin set up a calendar of trimestrial coaching sessions with thierry fastre’s team, and with the business owner himself.

a new wind blows

“the operation has moved both me and my team towards a more sustainable view on business,” says thierry. “we are today enjoying a fresh group dynamic, characterized by sense of ownership and self-steering. i consult with es sense separately from my team. this provides the team with

the opportunity to voice their ideas and feelings candidly. it provides an unbiased view of how things stand.”

thierry emphasizes: “es sense doesn’t tell me what to do. by alerting me to my own goals and expectations, and connecting those to my business, es sense guides me in making the decisions that are best for me, based on my experience.”

“i was hesitant to take a traditional management consultant on board,” adds thierry. “i felt that traditional consultants often have a hard time actually generating the change required, because they do not possess what it takes to develop new skills within an organization. es sense has understood this, and has developed a methodology which “builds” capacity and empowers employees to solve their problems independently.”

“you can feel the change,” says thierry fastre. “you feel more confident as a business owner. you listen again to your gut, but in a balanced, reasonable way. the sense of adventure proper to entrepeurship returns. you reflect more clearly on decisions. you learn what is important to you, what you like and don’t like. and what you don’t like, you should not do.” as an afterthought, thierry adds: “a more senseful business also has beneficial effects for private life. you feel more yourself and at rest when spending time with your family.”

« always look forward, always look positive, » says Thierry Fastre, when asked what has made his business grow. Thierry is the owner/manager of a busy accountancy company in the south of belgium. Thierry’s team of five services a wide range of clients, mostly from the medical and health care domain. Thierry is fifty-six and the proud father of three. Three years ago things looked difficult though. Thierry’s company was going through growing pains, due to a sudden expansion of business. a curse with a blessing, it turned out.

cannes the cannes’ festival is not only one of the most glamourous events of the year, it is also the number one place where the power of dreams can be witnessed.es sense, as a dream concretizer, attended the festival to meet the dream makers. browse our photo album on facebook.

gOlf leaders need the same qualities as pro golf players. they have to stay cool, whether they hit or miss. es sense employs sense management to develop people into great professionals and good golfers into great golfers. get in touch to learn about es sense’s “feel your golf” workshops, which we can organize privately or for a company team.

green yOur businesses sense takes sustainability seriously. in line with its generosity preposition, es sense has proposed in 2009 a “green workshop” to the first 50 companies willing to reduce their eco footprint.

pitch tvvirgin entrepreneures sense are preparing their video pitch for virgin’s entrepreneurs. virgin invites young businesses with a great idea to compete for an opportunity to air on pitch tv, onboard virgin flights, thus gaining exposure to business professionals who fly virgin atlantic.

cOnnect On facebOOk connect with es-sense on facebook and be kept informed about our initiatives on a regular basis.

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LIFE

19 - BTB #001

sense leads sustainable evolution

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