Companies Organisations Systems

Organisations are living entities. They are fundamentally capable of adapting to the conditions of the market, their environment, their cooperation partners, and their employees - continuously and often without any effort. They do this with their own values, control mechanisms and behavioural patterns that have evolved over the course of their history.

Sometimes, however, this ongoing process of adaptation is not enough. Fundamental changes may be on the horizon: the methods used so far no longer meet the requirements of the market; fractures or crises occur in the environment or in the organisation that require targeted reactions; companies or parts of companies with different cultures are merged; people leave, people with different ideas join. This can trigger hope, a spirit of optimism, but also disquiet and uncertainty.

In such situations, one cannot rely on everything working itself out automatically. Change must be shaped. It may be sufficient to review and adjust and to optimize the existing business and strategic management tools. Alternatively, a comprehensive renewal process may be necessary to deal with the new requirements: questioning products and offers, reflecting on one's own values and behaviour patterns, finding a new strategic positioning and, building on this, designing, planning, and implementing new structures, processes, and a new way of working together.

We have many years of experience in designing change processes in industry, commerce, service providers, in schools, in administration, in value-oriented and non-profit organizations.

We support our clients in the following ways:

• We analyse with them which changes - if any - are necessary.
• We design and structure optimization and renewal processes.
• We develop and facilitate events and workshops in change processes.
• We coach project leaders, managers, and teams in dealing with change.

Andreas Kurt

onion: process & innovation

I originally studied behavioural biology and spent several years observing the hierarchical behaviour of wild chimpanzees in the West African rain forest, which in one way or another proved to be an excellent basis for my later career, for daily management tasks and present-day consultancy activities. Apart from a broad range of insights, I have brought with me an inner peacefulness and the ability to continually see things afresh and to delight in my surroundings.

For about 20 years I have been accompanying companies, organisations, leaders, and teams on their way to a sustainable future. This includes developing and implementing strategies, reviewing and digitalising processes and adjusting structures. For the latter, I particularly focus on guidance on new organisational forms (holacracy, circle models).

I offer a wealth of experience in the development of solutions around process and innovation management. I help companies, organisations, executives, and teams to find solutions in the field of process and innovation management. For me it is important that the solutions that are chosen are in line with the client’s strategy and can be firmly embedded in corporate culture, so that the processes are adopted in full, and the innovations develop in a sustainable way.

Professional background

• Independent consultant since 2004, director of Tarana GmbH, Fislisbach
• Joined onion: Consultancy Network in 2008
• Member of the senior executive and Head of Patents and Design at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property, pioneer of new public management and successful advocate of good governance in the federal administration (1999–2004)
• Head of Marketing at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (1996–1999)
• Involvement in and manager of various development cooperation projects and in national park management in African countries

Educational background

• CAS for board members, Rochester-Bern
• Courses in industrial economics, political economics and intellectual property rights
• M.Sc. in biology, University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, specialisations: behavioural biology and ecology

Clientèle

• Public sector and closely linked organisations
• Innovative companies, in particular in the technical field
• Associations and societies, in particular in the fields of environment and healthcare
• Universities, academies and research institutions

Miscellaneous information

• Board memberships since 2004
• Publications: Agile Methoden in der Verwaltung. Ja, das geht! November 2020: www.agile-verwaltung.org
• Projects published in Public Management by Norbert Thom (2008) and Fallbeispiele zur Betriebswirtschaft (Case Studies in Industrial Economics) by Jean-Paul Thommen (2008)
• For further information, see also www.tarana.ch