Making moods visible –
part 1 of our blog series

In the first part of our blog series (“Leading transformations successfully”), Volker Abt deals with the topic of mood – or more precisely, its measurement. As a Managing Partner, he has accompanied or initiated many change projects – both as a consultant at BBH and in previous roles as a managing director in the energy industry.

“My impression is that the main focus of change projects is on the hard facts, which are also measurable. The main reason for this is that such key figures give security to the project team and management – according to the motto ‘Everything under control!’”

Volker Abt, Managing Partner

In our experience, however, hard facts of the transformation, such as progress to date or reduction targets achieved, should not be the only things constantly monitored. The emotional and people-related aspects should simultaneously be recorded. What prevents you from measuring aspects such as mood, perception of the willingness to change in the team or the acceptance of the initiated changes? I can only encourage you to do so!

Apps and tools for mood and change monitoring, such as we use within CO/MM/A, are valuable aids. These tools allow for easy monitoring, incorporate all employees and allow for anticipatory identification of critical developments – this way, you don’t lose sight of the soft factors and can react almost in real-time to critical developments.

Making moods visible – with our CO/MM/A App

We have been using such instruments in our transformation projects for several years. This enables us to react quickly to mood swings, obvious changes in particular segments and on different levels of the organization and provides us with additional input to tailor next steps in the change process.

To sum it up – mood measurement is a very helpful tool supporting huge transformation projects with many people and entities involved. Nevertheless, what counts for the quality, time and budget of the transformation is not the measurement but the intervention of managers and change leaders. Read more about the role of key players and managers in transformations in our next articles in our blog series on “leading transformations successfully”.

About the person:

Volker Abt has been an integral part of the BBH team since 2017 and advises our customers in projects with a focus on organizational development, strategic management, coaching of executives and IT transformations. He has 18 years of management experience the international energy industry, among others, as sales manager and managing director.

CV ‚snippets‘

• Degree in Business Administration (Diplom Betriebswirt, BA)
• Sales Manager Yello Strom
• Managing Director Gazprom Energy, Germany
• Since 2017 Managing Partner at BBH

What makes BBH so special in my view

Success and fun go hand in hand! This is how our projects with customers, people we work with and BBH itself become successful.