Coaching for leaders in digital transformation
When you are driving the change and the organisation is not yet moving at the same pace.
I work with leaders who carry responsibility for digital change, in established companies as well as in building new digital businesses. This experience comes from my own responsibility. At Philips I helped shape the technology shift to LED in the Office & Industry segment. At Waldmann I led the digitalisation of an established company as Chief Digital Officer. My guest article in the Handelsblatt Journal "Future Workplace" offers a glimpse of that time. From there I was responsible for building the SaaS company LIZ Smart Office as a corporate startup. A short briefing is therefore usually enough for me to understand the organisational and personal dynamic behind a digital mandate. In coaching I do not develop a digital strategy and I do not prescribe technology or business model solutions. I work with you on your role, your position and the decisions you carry as a leader.
What these three perspectives mean for my coaching
I know digital transformation from roles in which a change mandate first had to take effect inside an existing organisation. I know unclear mandates, differing speeds of change and the tension between the core business and a new digital business. You therefore do not need to explain the typical logic of these situations at length. I move into the context quickly, ask precise questions and work out with you the leadership question behind the specific project or subject matter. The professional solution stays with you and the responsible functions.
- Philips, technology shift to LED in the Office & Industry segment
- Waldmann, Chief Digital Officer responsible for the digitalisation of an established company
- LIZ Smart Office, building a SaaS company as a corporate startup, led from the group side and run operationally together with the company builder Bridgemaker until the first managing director was appointed
- LIZ Smart Office has existed since 2019
Transformation in practice and in teaching
I also bring my experience of transformation into teaching: in the master's programme Management – Digitalization & Transformation at the International Graduate Center of Bremen University of Applied Sciences I teach in the subject area Transformation in Human Resource Management.
What leaders in digital transformation bring to me
Filling a digital mandate credibly while responsibilities and expectations are still unclear. Dealing with differing speeds of change inside the organisation. Developing a position of their own between the mandate from above and the reality of day-to-day business. Understanding resistance without handing over their own responsibility. Making workable decisions between the core business and new digital business. And staying able to act when professional, political and organisational questions interlock.
Leadership has a level, digital transformation a context
In digital transformation I work with different leadership roles, from a first leadership assignment in a digital unit to a managing board with digital responsibility.
Digital initiatives often meet product and portfolio decisions. The related page: coaching for leaders in innovation and product ownership.
A piece from my Insights that fits this field of experience: Three Seconds That Separate Leadership from Execution
Questions about the field of digital transformation
- What first-hand experience in digital transformation does Thomas Knoop bring?
- Thomas Knoop has carried responsibility for digital change in three roles himself: in the technology shift to LED in the Office & Industry segment at Philips, as Chief Digital Officer at Waldmann and in building the SaaS company LIZ Smart Office. He led its formation from the group side and ran the company operationally together with the company builder Bridgemaker until the first managing director was appointed. LIZ Smart Office has existed since 2019.
- Which leaders is the coaching on digital transformation intended for?
- For leaders with digital responsibility, for example chief digital officers, transformation leads, managing directors with a digital mandate and heads of digital units in established companies. Coaching takes place in Berlin and online.
- Does Thomas Knoop also advise on digital strategy, technology selection or business models?
- No. Thomas Knoop gives no professional recommendations on IT architecture, software, technology selection, processes or business models. His own experience as a digital leader helps him grasp the context quickly and reflect with the client on the leadership, role and decision questions behind the transformation.
Does my background fit your situation?
In a free thirty-minute orientation call we clarify what your topic is, what support you are looking for, whether coaching makes sense in your situation and whether the collaboration fits both sides. In Berlin in person or online, confidential.
Book an orientation call