Services & Client Results:

Organization & Change

Services & Client Results:

Organizational Development & 
Change Management

Services

Definition and Formulation of Corporate Identity, Values and Culture

 

Design and Implementation of conventional and progressive Strategy Development Processes

 

Organizational Analysis

  • Employee Surveys
  • Organizational Diagnosis
  • Executive Assessment & Development
  • Employee Assessment & Development
  • Team Assessment & Development
  • 360 Degrees Feedback
  • Change Diagnosis
  • Customer Feedback & Interviews
  • Innovation Check and Development
  • Diversity and Inclusion Check and Development
  • Intercultural Check and Development
  • Ethics Check and Development

 

Organizational Design

  • Organizational Structure
  • Performance Management System
  • Process 0rganization
  • External Interfaces
  • Cooperation and Leadership Structures and Processes
  • Communication Structures & Processes

 

Analysis and Alignment of Corporate Culture

  • Alignment, Development and Reorientation of Corporate Culture, especially after Mergers, Takeovers and Reorganizations

 

Role of the Corporate Center

 

Optimimization of Value Chain

 

Global & Best Cost Sourcing

 

Global Outsourcing, Offshoring & Nearshoring

 

Innovation Management

 

Diversity Management and Inclusion

 

Ethics Management

 

Merger & Acquisitions Management

 

Intercultural Management

 

Operational Performance

 

Change Management

 

Transformation

 

Digital Transformation

 

Client Results

Examples of results that we can achieve together:
 

  • Organizational redesign to implement a strategic repositioning
  • Development and implementation of a master plan for organizational development and creation of buy-in for the successful implementation of the change process
  • Preparation of a business unit for an optimal spin-off
  • Adaptation of the performance management system to the strategic requirements
  • Improving the performance results of core processes to achieve optimized customer benefits
  • Development of the process organization for the successful cooperation with external network partners
  • Optimizing the collaboration of a global R&D team to accelerate and increase productivity
  • Optimization and acceleration of research and development processes to shorten time-to-market while increasing the quality of the results
  • Improve cross-functional collaboration to free the CEO for his strategic tasks
  • Sustainable improvement of the productivity of a management team
  • Optimization of the sales organization and the sales process to systematically expand existing customer relationships and/or systematically acquire new customers

Client Testimonials

Dir. Wolfgang Hanzl | Wolfgang Hanzl | Head of Division Operations | BAWAG P.S.K. Group
"I am very pleased about our highly productive cooperation over the last 8 years and would like to thank you very much for your pragmatic, fast, result-oriented and highly effective consulting during this period! In various roles and tasks - strategy development and implementation, team building, conflict management, executive training, coaching of managers - you have demonstrated great versatility and flexibility, have quickly familiarized yourself with new problems, have created great value for us through your high level of methodological and process competence, and have thus made an important contribution to the success of my areas of responsibility in the BAWAG P.S.K. Group. Throughout all projects and tasks, your work is characterized by high intellectual and ethical integrity, humor and a clear business results orientation, which makes you one of the best consultants I have worked with in my career. I look forward to continuing our collaboration!"

Ernst Tschannen | Chairman of the Executive Board | Erdgas Ostschweiz AG
"Thank you very much for the excellent preparation and execution of the workshop of the EGO management on the "Measures from the analysis of the corporate culture of EGO AG"! Thanks to your structured and consistent moderation, you succeeded very well in supporting EGO AG's management in elaborating and concretizing the key measures resulting from the employee survey on corporate culture. I would also like to thank you very much for the excellent moderation of the EGO management workshop on 7 May 2014, which you designed and moderated! Thanks to your high level of results orientation, pragmatism, experience and versatility, you have always been able to adapt quickly and flexibly to new requirements in the course of our collaboration and have thus proven to be a very valuable and helpful consultant. I am looking forward to the further cooperation in 2014!"
 
More client comments here.

Services & Client Results: 

Agile Methods &
Agile Management

Services

Agile methods have revolutionised the IT industry over the last 20 years. They have brought enormous advances in productivity, quality and time-to-market to software development.
 
Now more and more companies are considering whether they can achieve similar productivity gains by applying agile methods to other areas of their business, such as hardware development.
 
This is an interesting development in that it actually closes the circle again, because agile methods were first used in the USA in the 1940s in the development of fighter planes.
 
Through his publications, regular lectures and worldwide consulting activities for the implementation of innovative management models, Dr. Michael Hirt has become a leader in this field. His excellently reviewed management book "Anleitung zur Management-Revolution" (Guide to the Management Revolution) provides a very good overview of the approaches and concrete implementation points for achieving massive productivity gains and competitive advantages on the way to the working world of the future, through innovative management methods.

 

What are agile methods?
In agile software development (e.g. "Agile", "Scrum") the highest priority is to satisfy the customer by delivering valuable software early and continuously. This is done with minimal bureaucracy, flexibly, in short cycles and iteratively. Important agile values are the focus on individuals and interactions, functioning software, cooperation with the customer and reacting to change.
 
Other approaches often mentioned in the context of Agile are Lean Startup, Iterative and Incremental Development, Design Thinking, Rapid Prototyping, Lead User Method, Beyond Bureaucracy, Management Innovation and Management Revolution.

 

Overcoming the methods of the industrial revolution
In essence, these approaches are about making the best use of the potential, creativity and productivity of knowledge workers, rather than disenfranchising them and degrading them to moving machine parts by applying the completely obsolete and bureaucratic management methods of the industrial revolution.
 

Winners and losers
There are already a number of companies that have successfully applied agile methods beyond software development, with great success and enormous productivity gains, but there are also some companies that have failed miserably because of this.
 

Success factors and lessons learned
What we have learned from this are the following success factors for the introduction of agile methods:

 

  • Understand agile methods and what benefits you can derive from them

Successful users of agile methods begin by really understanding the methods and their application. Then define the goals, measures of success and progress along the way, and the benefits and advantages they want to achieve for your company by using agile methods.
 

  • Understand your hardware development processes and requirements

Agile methods have obvious advantages for hardware development processes, such as increased flexibility, significantly better communication and cooperation and a fast and continuous improvement of your hardware designs, but also your hardware development process.
 
However, there are also a number of hardware-specific challenges that need to be carefully thought through and considered in order for agile methods to really create value for you, such as longer development cycles, the difficulty of iteratively producing new workable products in the short term and often a lack of modularity in hardware development.
 
Some companies or teams have come to the conclusion after this analysis that agile methods are not suitable for them after all. Other teams have found ways to adapt agile methods optimally and with high benefit for themselves. Still other teams have realised that only a part of the agile principles can be applied in their environment, but that they can still derive great benefit from them.

 

  • Understand your own business and take agile methods seriously

 
Agile methods are not just a few new role definitions and new methods, but require a cultural change that should not be taken lightly.
 
Therefore it is also important that management is intensively engaged and directly involved. Otherwise the risk is very high that the whole thing will become a superficial fad and go down in the annals of the many other management trends and buzzwords that have stirred up a lot of dust but have had absolutely no effect.
 
You may have a few new buzzwords to throw around at the golf club, but you have done your company a disservice, because unsuitable and ill-conceived attempts to introduce new things are extremely demotivating for everyone involved and lead to cynicism and internal or even external dismissal.
 
Only if the first three steps have been well done will you have a serious basis for deciding whether and in what form agile methods can be introduced in your company.

Contact HIRT&FRIENDS now to find out what agile methods can bring you and how to implement them in your company. 

Client Testimonials

Robert Fischer, MBA | City Director Private Clients | Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien AG
"Working with you has been an excellent use of time for me and my team and has created great value for us! Particularly helpful was your pragmatic and practice-oriented approach, allowing managers to immediately work on their own strategic implementation issues and achieve results using the methods and approaches you suggested. Their inputs brought key knowledge and skills from the areas of strategy, processes and change management in a compact, clear and easily understandable form. A recurring feedback from the participants was: "I can implement this immediately! We have come a nice step closer to our ambitious goals for the Vienna market. Thank you very much for your important contribution to the implementation of the overall bank strategy of Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien AG!

 

Dr. Alfred Svobodnik | Senior Manager/Chief Engineer |  Harman Automotive / Harman International Industries

"I consulted Michael to help me in developing dissemination strategies for a new technology that was being developed over a couple of years and was then ready to be rolled-out globally atHarman Automotive Division. However, due to the new, revolutionary approach of that technology there were a couple of internal barriers and blocking factors to hop on the train. Michael very successfully helped to quickly identify and understand those barriers and to develop a highly efficient strategy to significantly improve acceptance of the new paradigm in product development. I can highly recommend Michael as an efficient consultant if you are faced with challenging situations in technology development processes."

 

Ernst Tschannen | Chairman of the Executive Board | Erdgas Ostschweiz AG
"Thank you very much for your excellent advice and process support, which has brought EGO AG decisive progress in terms of content, but also a new quality in the cooperation at the interface between trade and risk management. Through your careful preparation and consistent moderation, you quickly established a constructive basis for cooperation with all parties involved and positioned yourself as a fact-oriented, impartial advisor. Despite the acute conflicts of interest and the different characters of the project staff, you succeeded in achieving constructive results that are supported by all participants in the implementation. The results of the project are impressive and have created great value for EGO AG".

 

Director Andreas Sedlmaier | Head of Partner Banks & Customer Management | TeamBank Austria
"Many thanks for the inspiring lecture "From strategy to success" during our team workshop in Riegersburg! It was very valuable that you responded to our strategic situation and to the topics discussed in the briefing. In doing so, you have brought very specific solution and implementation approaches for our needs. In your entertaining and entertaining 1.5-hour presentation, you managed to interactively involve the participants and encourage them to think and collaborate. With your practical examples you made the topic of strategy accessible and showed that the role and task of each individual employee is important when implementing strategies. You not only inspired me, but also all participating colleagues and employees and motivated them to act!

Francisco De Sousa Webber | Founder & CEO | cortical.io
"I had the pleasure to work with Michael over a period of more than 2 years, on a number of strategic projects during my tenure as CEO of Matrixware. His advice was clear, practical and to the point. He has helped the board to make better decisions and to execute them effectively. His recommendations were based on state-of-the-art methods and validated by sound business judgement. I can highly recommend him, if you need fast, high-quality results with a strong positive impact on the performance of your organisation."

 
Dr. Christoph Haxel | Chief Executive Officer | Dr. Haxel Congress & Event Management

"I have worked with Michael Hirt as a consultant for more than a year while I was VP of Community Development - Industry at Matrixware Information Services, a high-tech startup in the Information Retrieval industry. Michael’s and his team’s consulting work concentrated on strategy, research & technology development and organizational development. Michael was a very effective and trusted advisor. His recommendations were analytically and ethically well founded, based on state-of-the-art methods and validated by sound business judgement. His facilitation skills supported and fostered organizational change and drove successful implementation. I can highly recommend him, especially for work in complex and fast-moving environments."

 

Dr. Stephanie Leimer | Head of BSH Academy Corporate | BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte Group

"Thank you very much for the excellent cooperation over the past years! You and your team have succeeded in developing and implementing reliable, high-quality, international and multilingual training measures perfectly tailored to the needs of a global company. We would particularly like to emphasise your well-founded and implementation-oriented approach, your global orientation and the ability to always adapt the individual training sessions or workshops to the corresponding cultural requirements. You have made an important contribution to the successful worldwide personnel development of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH!"

 

Markus Notter | Chief Executive Officer | Member of the Board of Directors | redIT Services AG
"Thank you very much for your excellent keynote speech at the redIT Strategy Workshop 2014, in which you communicated the innovative approaches of modern management pioneers in a practical and vivid way! With your refreshing and "cross-cutting" lecture you initiated a lively and productive discussion among the members of the redIT management group about which topics are central for redIT on its way to a high-performance organisation. Especially helpful was the tool for analysing our corporate culture, which you provided before the lecture and which enabled us a clearly structured, focused preparation and result-oriented discussion. Thank you for your important contribution to the success of the redIT group!
 
More client comments here.

Services & Client Results: 

Human Resource Function Performance Management

Services

  • HR-Strategy and HR-Processes
  • HR as a strategic partner of the Top-Management
  • HR Controlling and –Reporting
  • Recruiting and HR marketing
  • Talent Management and Succession Planning
  • Competence Management
  • Staff development
  • Corporate Academies & Universities
  • Performance management and performance culture
  • Feedback and employee interviews
  • Work-Life Balance Management
  • Employee retention
  • Diversity and demography as success factors
  • Organizational Development
  • Change Management
  • Transformation of the organizational culture
  • HR communications and committee work
  • HR-Outsourcing/Offshoring

Client Testimonials

Dr. Markus Tomaschitz | Vice President Corporate Human Resources  | AVL List
"Dr. Michael Hirt has, over the years, been an extremely helpful resource and expert for AVL. He understands the keys to success in complex, highly-dynamic, global organizations like no other. His outstanding depth of expertise, combined with pragmatism and his versatility as a management consultant, organizational development expert, high-stakes meeting facilitator and executive coach, allow him to establish strong and productive long-term working relationships with senior executives and their teams.Dr. Hirt’s client service and commitment to creating value for his clients are outstanding and it is a pleasure to work with him. I look forward to continue working with Dr. Hirt and can recommend him without reservation."


Director Wolfgang Hanzl | Head of Division Operations | BAWAG P.S.K. Group
"I am very pleased about our highly productive cooperation over the last 8 years and would like to thank you very much for your pragmatic, fast, result-oriented and highly effective advice during this period! In various roles and tasks - strategy development and implementation, team building, conflict management, management training, coaching of executives - you have demonstrated great versatility and flexibility, have quickly familiarised yourself with new problems, have created great value for us through your high level of methodological and process competence, and have thus made an important contribution to the success of my areas of responsibility in the BAWAG P.S.K. Group. Throughout all projects and tasks, your working style is characterised by high intellectual and ethical integrity, humour and a clear business results orientation, which makes you one of the best consultants I have worked with in my career to date. I look forward to continuing our collaboration!

More references here.

Services & Client Results: 

Meeting Design, Facilitation & Moderation

Dr. Michael Hirt is an expert in the design, facilitation and moderation of delicate meetings and important events where you cannot afford to fail ("High-Stakes Meeting Facilitator"), such as management retreats, partner meetings, strategy retreats/workshops, difficult management or board meetings, critical discussions, town hall/stakeholder meetings and client events. 

The advantages for our clients:

  • Optimal and well thought-out design of the process, sequence and dramaturgy of your high-stakes meeting to achieve your goals.
  • Risk minimization through a neutral and experienced moderator/facilitator who ensures that surprising developments are handled appropriately and that your meeting is a success.
  • Fast building and maintenance of trust between the participants by a senior moderator at CEO level.
  • Optimal handling of possible conflicts so that you can concentrate on the home stretch and the key results you want to achieve.
  • Maintaining the positive energy of the meeting and the forward focus on results.
  • If required, coaching of other meeting participants (e.g. keynote speakers from your company) to achieve optimal impact.
  • Comprehensive set of methods to prepare, moderate and follow-up to your meeting.

Services & Client Results: 

Presentations & Keynotes

LECTURES AND KEYNOTES
Michael Hirt's speeches and keynotes are an inspiring motivational boost and will inspire you and your team to act in an opportunity-oriented manner.

 

The knowledge of the innovation leaders
Michael Hirt stands for the management revolution like no other in the German-speaking world. He advises worldwide and supports change initiatives at some of the most prominent companies in the world.

 

Practical & implementation-oriented
He will show you how you and your team can successfully implement the methods of the management revolution in your company and find the right balance between progressive redesign and preserving what has been achieved.

 

With authenticity & humour
As a management mastermind, Hirt combines the intellectual leadership of a professor with the pragmatism of a top manager in his lectures and inspires with authenticity and humour.

 

More about Michael Hirt's lectures and keynotes here.