Why coaching skills don’t survive the inbox — and what actually helps. 

Many leaders proudly add “Certified Coach” to their LinkedIn headline. On Monday morning, they still mostly tell people what to do.

I don’t say this with judgment. In hectic times, directing feels faster than coaching. When deadlines are tight and inboxes are full, giving a quick answer looks like the responsible thing to do. Coaching, especially at the beginning, feels slower and sometimes even inefficient.

It is important, but rarely urgent — and that is exactly why it loses against day-to-day business.

The Pattern I See Over and Over

I meet more and more leaders who have completed serious coaching programs. They know open questions, active listening, powerful silence. Many of them genuinely care about their people. 

And then I observe them in their regular meetings: 

• They start with a question — and then jump in with the solution.
• They ask “What do you think?” — and steer the conversation back to their
...

On stage, they talk about AI, new work, and agility.

In their calendar, they still run leadership like it’s 2005.

I’ve sat in so many leadership meetings where the official story is bold transformation, but what actually happens in the room keeps the organization firmly in the past. Weekly leadership meetings and big transformation programs are usually the places where this contradiction becomes painfully visible. And very often, the bottleneck is not “the organization” or “the employees”. It’s the way senior leaders still work.

In this article, I want to talk about that gap. Why do senior leaders block the change they ask for? What does this look like in daily business? And what can HR and L&D leaders actually do when the leadership “operating system” is still stuck in the early 2000s?

I’m writing this based on my work with leadership teams and transformation programs across Europe.

The uncomfortable truth: senior leaders as bottleneck

Most companies today say they are “in tra...

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Für mehr Umsatz, Produktivität und Motivation in Eurer Organisation.

Michael Geerdts (Storytelling Profi mit mehr als 15 Jahren Erfahrung aus so gut wie jeder Branche und Unternehmensgröße) gibt Lösungen für bessere hybride Präsentationen.

Schau rein und optimiere Deine hybriden Meetings

Around the end of the year we typically adjust our products to our transforming customer needs. We restructure and refocus. This has an impact on the words I am writing here since this will be our last newsletter article for some time.

In 2020-2022 Covid and its consequences for remote leadership were one of the biggest challenges for teams out there. Since 2023 the teams gradually changed to hybrid setups (what can mean many things…) These new challenges demand new solutions.

We are going to refocus our resources - away from online marketing and blogging more towards speaker activities at exhibitions (check out L&D pro online conference on March 19th). In 2025 we will head out from our beloved home market Europe and especially Germany and direct our attention a bit more towards the US.

We will combine our AI Chatbot, Knowledgebase, Leadership Framework, Workshop Series online Whiteboards and Membership into one concept that companies can buy all at once.
Supporting internal and ext...

The 2024 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report highlights the crucial need for agility and resilience in today's rapidly changing work environment. It emphasizes the importance of empowering employees through continuous skill-building to drive innovation and adaptability.

By doing this, organizations foster a flexible and adaptive workforce, which in turn drives innovation and growth. This proactive approach helps companies remain competitive and thrive even in the face of uncertainty.

The report draws insights from a global study involving over 1,500 L&D professionals and 700 learners, alongside data from LinkedIn’s platform.

Here are 3 steps:

💡 Review the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report:You want to dig deeper into the LinkedIn report? Here you go: https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report

💡 Assess and Strengthen Team Resilience: Evaluate how actively your team is building resilience. Identify opportunities for skill-building and create initiatives that e...

The topic came up again recently in one of our workshops: We need to think entrepreneurially! Colleagues should be more entrepreneurial. And then everyone nodded their heads and said: “Yes, that makes sense”. But what does that actually mean in everyday life? And how do I become an “entrepreneur”? After all, this is where three very highly chunked, undefined nouns come together: Skills, Mindset, Entrepreneur. In our organizations we first should clarify what we actually expect from each other...

Let's ask our own Digital Leader Program MyGPT version: An entrepreneurial mindset describes the ability to think and act entrepreneurially. Individuals with this mindset tend to be proactive, creative and risk-taking. They see opportunities in challenges and strive for continuous improvement and innovation. Core elements of the entrepreneurial mindset:

•  Proactivity: Employees are encouraged to take initiative and work independently. This means that they do not wait for tasks to be assigned...

There is a lot going on in this world right now and sometimes I ask myself where should we begin to change? The answer might lie in the way we lead – with purpose, empathy, and flexibility.

Are you ready to challenge your leadership skills in today’s dynamic work environment?

The upcoming live session covers everything from fostering innovation to creating resilient, engaged teams in hybrid setups. Gain actionable insights and connect with like-minded leaders. Whether you're new to digital leadership or looking to refine your approach, this is for you!

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We share our insights and experiences of the last 20 years of hybrid work in 60-minute webinars - for all HR enthusiasts and leads.

For anyone who wants to cut unnecessary costs, improve hiring and feedback, and boost team energy and productivity.

Find ways to prevent health problems, avoid ineffective meetings and achieve fewer changing priorities and more focus among employees.

Join us on Wednesday 13th and 27th of November at 13:00 CET and register here: https://www.digital-leader-program.de/register-4-live-session

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!