PROFILE

 

I AM HANS TEN DAM. I provide management consultancy for people in companies and institutions who want to change things - and are wary of reorganizations.

My coaching and consultancy activities are concentrated in three areas:

  • Core Issue Analysis: Identifying what is for a group or organization the strategic core issue that is decisive for its evolution.

  • Systemic Issues: Understanding persistent or recurrent problems that resist traditional approaches; finding new leverage points, using organizational constellations.

  • Personal Mastery: Developing the core competences of mindful leaders in learning organizations.

    Hans tenDam in Tokyo about his work in Organizational Constellations



Norman Schwarzkopf, the US commander in the First Gulf war, said that everyting boils down to character and strategy. And if you would have to do without one, you drop strategy. So, character comes first, strategy second. Jim Collins, the management writer, reached a similar conclusion in From Good to Great. Companies transforming themselves from good to great, didn’t start with a brilliant strategy, but with a brilliant team. First good people, then good ideas. I agree with them.

I think that the core of that character that Schwarzkopf talked about, is mindfulness. In my work I help to restore that, to ignite that, to focus that. 

I work for executives who lead organizations that:

  • are suffering the consequences of growing too fast
  • have extraordinary and durable ambitions
  • want to strengthen or restore good governance
  • are in danger of stagnation
  • have insecure prospects
  • have serious problems
  • are in shock because of recent comprehensive and painful changes: mergers, take-overs, massive layoffs, break ups.

Some companies need to be restored to financial health. Others need to be restored to mental health and mental energy. Or that simply want to increase their mental energy. Or stay mentally healthy under great pressure or in great turbulence.

How do you rate the mental health and the mental power of your own organization?


Consultants who establish themselves as independents, should take tips, admonitions and recommendations of fellow-consultants who work in big consultancy firms not too seriously. Be guided by your clients, not by colleagues who play safe.

- Hans TenDam