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14.08.23 | Press

4 Pillars for New Work Part 1: Fearless Organisation

"New work" in connection with a corresponding corporate culture contributes to the fact that organizations are more successful, teams are more innovative, and employees are more motivated at work. You can read in this series how this can be done. Part 1 is about the fearless organization.

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14.08.23 | News

Interview with Walter Sedlacek

Project management & Co are an important topic for companies and organizations all over the world - including the Asia-Pacific region. Walter Sedlacek, our man on the ground, reports on his post-Corona experiences from the APAC region, which is strongly characterized by economic growth and technological development.

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01.07.22 | News

How does the PMI Talent Triangle® change?

In a rapidly changing world, project professionals need to be more flexible and resourceful than ever to keep up and make an impact. PMI has always advocated for project professionals to develop a solid set of skills. Well, from now on they need a skillset that encompasses different disciplines and practices as well as other in-demand skills.

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03.01.21 | News

PMP Exam Changes 2021

On January 2nd, 2021, the Project Management Institute (PMI) launched a new Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. In the following article, we will answer the questions we are most frequently asked.

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Get your PMP certificate

16.12.20 | News

Why choose a PMI Authorized Training Partner (ATP) for your training

Education provided by non-ATPs is not guaranteed to be accepted as qualifying contact hours for a PMP® exam application. Use the advantage of exclusive access to turn-key licensed content including videos, quizzes, and knowledge checks enables an ATP to increase your chances of success. 

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30.10.20 | News

Digital learning on the rise

How companies can combine the advantages of e-learning with face-to-face training
Lifelong learning is indispensable for most professions ... and has always been. All that is new is the speed; and even more - especially as a result of the corona situation - is the acceptance of digital learning. Alexander Peschke and Markus Felder from next level consulting explain the possibilities and advantages of e-learning and the obstacles and dangers that should be considered.

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21.08.20 | News

Hand in hand & step by step: How process and change management support the digitalisation process

Structural changes or expansions, both real and virtual, are imminent for many companies, and two questions quickly move to the centre of attention: What do we have to change - e.g. which processes - and how do we deal with the changes...

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05.06.20 | Presse

New culture of failure & temporary teamwork

The much-vaunted Agile Work requires courage to be transparent and open to a certain culture of error. It can and should be visible when mistakes happen, because everyone can learn from them - especially within a team...

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15.05.20 | News

Acting agile = Taking responsibility

How much and, above all, what kind of change does a company need to move from old, rigid structures to new ways of working? We will answer this question with two counter-questions: What would it be like if, on the one hand, we had more trust and, on the other, if we would take on more responsibility in our jobs?

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08.05.20 | News

New ways of working at home

The skills we build up during the period of isolation can be taken into the world after the crisis, and we will continue to do this: Home office will become an integral part of our work...

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14.02.20 | News

Interview with our Expert Katharina Heger on group dynamics, the exciting interaction within teams and teambuilding games

Interview with our Expert Katharina Heger on group dynamics, the exciting interaction within teams and teambuilding games

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18.11.19 | Press

Agile Cultural Change: Seven Strategies for a New Attitude

Agile working is often associated solely with methods like Design Thinking or Scrum. But the implementation of only such methods is insufficient to equip a company for the agile world. Business consultant Robert Birkwald explains how companies can achieve this agile cultural change by implementing seven practical strategies.

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13.09.19 | News

Changing cultures

“There is nothing permanent except change.” This statement was supposedly made by Greek philosopher Heraclitus about 500 years ago. It is indeed valid now more than ever. In this interview, Jenny Keller, managing director of next level consulting Germany, elaborates on how change projects and corporate culture depend on each other.

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03.09.19 | News

The most important project: We untie knots together

Loosening and untying old knots to establish new structures is a mammoth task. It is an even more massive undertaking when the task calls for enabling the Catholic church with its 2000-year-old traditions and structures to welcome a new culture of thinking and acting. In this interview, Wolfgang Rabl, CEO of next level consulting, shares his experience of accompanying the archdiocese of Paderborn in their organisational development process of the general vicariate.

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26.07.19 | News

Five Steps for Winning Employee Support for Change

Specialists know that change deeply unsettles staff. Change tends to trigger feelings of helplessness, overwhelm and anxiety. Christoph Rabl, a specialist for change management processes,  recommends implementing the following five steps which will effectively deal with resistance and open the way for Innovation...

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19.07.19 | News

Press booklet "Agility"

Read all our press articles about agility in our compact press booklet.

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10.07.19 | News

Project management for executives

Why are project management skills so important for executives these days? An interview with Sabine Reithofer...

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13.06.19 | News

Design Thinking – 8 tips from practical experience

Several design thinking principles have proven themselves as especially useful in the ideation phase. They are therefore an inseparable part of the innovation process.

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28.05.19 | News

6 steps to winning hearts and minds when making big changes

Consultant Hansjörg Zahradnik explains how to get people on board when implementing new processes and procedures.

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16.05.19 | News

Design Thinking - From problem to prototype

Do you like question marks? Then you will do well with Design Thinking. With Design Thinking you will find particularly creative solutions, for example, for pioneering innovations. You will come across insights that would never have come to your mind during classic brainstorming.

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optimize processes

09.05.19 | Press

Efficient Processes Instead of Costly Software

Productive work processes in companies are time-saving and satisfy customers, which many are aware of. Yet, companies have difficulty improving their workflow. More precisely, they struggle with taking the very first steps towards improvement and evaluating their current internal work processes. We propose 6 practically relevant strategies to deal with process optimisation.

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11.04.19 | Press

Report from the next level of agility conference in Singapore

On March 27 we brought together more than 80 of our customers, partners and consultants in Singapore to explore how to scale agility from projects to the organization.

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04.04.19 | Press

A Quick Guide to Head Off Into the Agile World

In short: Using agile approaches in projects is currently a trend topic. Instead of planning and executing projects “en bloc”, highly self-organised and intensely customer-focused teams move on in small steps. These characteristics of agile management keeps projects flexible, accelerates them and makes them customer-oriented. However, experts have noticed that many companies kick off too hastily into the agile world. They would be well advised to warm up with a pilot project to gain initial experience.

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28.02.19 | News

New Managing Director – New Path of Knowledge

Markus Felder will assume the office as the new managing director of the next level academy GmbH on 1 March 2019 and will give a fresh impetus to the public training programmes. Under his new leadership, next level aims at launching new products and services in the areas project, process, change, and agile management in the education sector.

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27.02.19 | News

Interim Experts for Your Projects

Interim manager? Sure! Interim managers are well-known in many companies – for routine operations only. Now, this image is changing. They are also needed in projects.

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04.02.19 | Events

The next level of agility conference

This conference explores the challenges and best practices for scaling agility across the organization in pursuit of an optimal balance between agile and traditional ways of working for the benefit of higher organizational flexibility and responsiveness in dynamic environments.

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15.01.19 | Press

Interim managers in projects? We propose 4 strategies for a successful collaboration!

An increasing number of companies working on demanding projects faces the question: Can we actually do this? Interim managers are hired in difficult cases, which has so far been uncommon. However, times are changing. Kerstin Wünnecke, expert in interim management at next level consulting, explains how companies can choose the ideal interim manager for their projects and how these project experts can encourage the work flow...

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04.01.19 | News

A new managing director brings a fresh impetus

next level consulting Switzerland is getting started with a new management: In January 2019, Gabriel N. Gassmann will run the Swiss subsidiary of the consulting company focusing on project management, process management and change management.

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27.11.18 | Press

Clear away whatever impedes innovation

Many companies are newly equipped with modern management methods, for instance agile project management. But their practical implementation does not always succeed, as it requires fundamental changes to the corporate culture. Organisations need a new way of dealing with responsibility, leadership, partners, and collaborations. Katharina Heger, our agility expert, draws an analogy between a health treatment and a rejuvenation process of a company.

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14.11.18 | Press

Your "learning track" ─ like no other in the world!

How our learning directly supports your Goals

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22.10.18 | Events

Final Cebu Tech Session for 2018

Don’t miss our final Cebu Tech Session for the year!  Register now! Project Portfolio Management and Agile Leadership will be the focus topics. We have two dynamic speakers who’ll be working together to address these challenges that we face today …

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22.10.18 | News

Agile Leadership – how to instil an agile mindset to manage in times of uncertainty?

This event looks at the challenges, nature and solutions for agile leadership and how to built high-performing agile teams and organizations.

More info and registration

16.10.18 | News

Navigating in Disruptive Times - Next Practices

Innovation technology strategy framework, 4C & 4E crafted to guide projects leaders’ approach to design and delivery of their organization’s technology strategy through projects.

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Stratmann truck

16.10.18 | News

Successful transformation through organizational development and digitization

A case study about future-proofing a medium-sized Company.

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06.08.18 | News

In 6 steps companies bring order to their projects

You miss the forest for the trees – this is how many companies feel in face of their projects. You have more projects in the pipeline than you can handle. Project management experts offer help.

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14.06.18 | News

Rethinking project management from best practices to next practices

Embrace value delivery landscape and elevate the project professionalism

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08.06.18 | News

Managing Change and uncertainty with strategic Project Portfolio Management

Increasing organizational agility with proven project management best practices...

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08.05.18 | Events

Event report - next level of supply chain management

The event series “next level of…” brings together experienced practitioners to discuss change drivers, trends and directions that shape the future of an industry, share experiences, exchange viewpoints, and explore ways to respond effectively. Our latest event focussed on supply chain management.

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11.04.18 | Press

6 Strategies for Digital Education using Laptop & Co

More and more companies are experimenting with the digitization of their training programmes for employees. Compared to traditional seminars, online courses save time and money. But the shift from the seminar room to the "digital classroom" does not always progress smoothly. Above all, many employees are progressively getting used to the new form of learning. Our expert Yveline Luterbacher describes 6 success strategies companies use to effectively convert their continuing education to digital learning.

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06.03.18 | Events

First Female Project Manager Breakfast in Singapore

We hosted our first "Breakfast for Female Project Managers" on 26 February under the leadership of Ida Suod and supported by Cristina Martin at the Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel.

We welcomed 21 participants to our first networking event only for women.

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05.02.18 | Press

Introduce enterprise-ready processes in six steps

Companies are constantly changing processes and many of these large process change projects end up being nice on paper but ineffectual. The audience, which is often the employees for which these changes and new processes are intended to benefit, do not participate. Expert Thomas Becker observes that employees often do not feel responsible for the changes. On the one hand, they were not included in defining the change, on the other hand they are not aware of their tasks and responsibilities. Thomas Becker explains what needs to be done - and has a six-step work plan.

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difficult situation with customer

25.01.18 | News

Serious Gaming Interview - Fire Drill Training at T-Systems International

Reality trainings are in high demand at next level consulting. One of our training highlights is the Fire Drill Training. Read more about this new training format in our interview.

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untie knots in your team

12.01.18 | Press

A checklist approach to finding pain points

Many companies want to improve their workflows. But instead of rethinking the processes completely in a greenfield approach it is worthwhile considering a step-by-step, pragmatic approach. Namely, to untie knots in the organisation to gradually address the problems and pain points. The advantage: This gentle approach has often a higher acceptance rate with employees, because it preserves a lot of the familiar ground. It maintains employee performance during process optimisation.

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06.10.17 | Press

With the "five-finger strategy" project managers bring peace to the team again

Loud, annoying, discouraging - "troublemakers" in the team can be a real nuisance for project managers. But they also offer the project opportunities. Disrupters often feel uncomfortable, dissatisfied with the approach, or even point to undetected project risks. Expert Gaston Saborowski explains the easy-to-use five-finger method, which can be used to turn disrupters into dedicated team members.

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15.07.17 | Press

Six professional strategies: How to generate acceptance from project stakeholders!

Many projects fail because of opposition from the project environment. Various stakeholders have resistance towards to a project because they fear that the project induces undesirable changes. The task of the project manager: to obtain acceptance and support for his project. Project professional Thomas Waldorf explains six success strategies for communicating strategically and finding compromises.

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Personal diversity in project team

07.06.17 | Press

Avoid silo mentality: Six tips for project team diversity

Successful project professionals bring diversity to their teams - not only content diversity, but also personal diversity. They consciously combine conscientious detail workers, forward-looking creators or creative visionaries. The mix of different personalities makes the project team more dynamic - it also leads to better results. Expert Gunter Gruhser explains six success factors for employee selection in project management.

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16.03.17 | Press

Online Chat, Social Media & More - discover the digital project world with "Reverse Mentoring"

Digital technologies such as online chat and social media inspire project work. They accelerate collaboration and support team building. However, many project managers struggle with these media. Manfred Muehlfelder of SRH Mobile University, an economics psychologist, recommends five strategies for project managers to benefit from the digital opportunities.

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15.03.17 | Press

Finding the right team motivators

Project managers are like kings without a country. They lead a project team but have no authority. They are not the line managers of their team members. Nevertheless, project managers can achieve buy-in, motivate and lead their teams without the need for any disciplinary action. Leadership expert Anna-Maria Muck explains seven strategies for project managers to address this “power gap".

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new board members

19.12.16 | News

next level consulting expands its management board

next level consulting’s (Vienna) management has repositioned itself. At the end of November 2016, the CEO Wolfgang Rabl incorperated its newest members.

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15.12.16 | Press

Five Creative Strategies for project managers to reach their audience

Project managers face the difficult task of obtaining buy-in from team members, customers and other stakeholders for their plans. Providing only factual information is not enough. Brain research reveals: With skilfully placed emotional impulses, project managers can effectively embed messages. Five Creative Strategies show how professionals can increase the impact of their presentations and successfully convey messages.

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16.11.16 | Press

Six tips to pack in your travel bag as an international project manager

International project work has developed into a mega trend – more and more project managers are send abroad. Once they arrive in their host country difficulties tend to pile up. It is not that they misstep because of cultural differences, the problems often come up in other unexpected areas. Here are six helpful tips for project managers abroad.

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07.11.16 | Press

7 typical mistakes when improving work processes

Many businesses would like to re-design their work processes to be more economical. However, often improved efficiency comes at the cost of customer satisfaction or quality. The process management expert Michael Popp explains which common mistakes businesses should avoid and how work processes can be improved gainfully.

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Deal with change

14.10.16 | Press

Fight, Flight or Freeze – Why Our Brain Blocks Change Projects

Restructuring allows companies to adapt to changing markets. Progress through change. The other side of the medal is this: During the efforts to reorganise productivity often plummets. Staff calls in sick; top employees hand in their notice and leave. Experts have a surprising explanation for these “side effects” of change: The human brain cannot cope with such comprehensive change. It just switches automatically into “alarm mode”. Employees respond on instinct: flight (call in sick or leave), fight (aggressively impede the project) or freeze (inner migration, work-to-rule). With the following steps organisations can deal with these inevitable as well as dangerous instinctive responses.

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10.08.16 | Press

“Everyday projects“ lack support within their organisations

Small- and medium-size projects often fail. They are expected to succeed without any attention or positive regard from management. There are no clear goals, realistic time lines, committed specialist and none of the necessary manoeuvring space needed by project managers. Kerstin Wünnecke explains, how project managers can deal with such adverse conditions.

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2 project managers for 1 project

06.06.16 | Press

Five hands-on strategies on how to lead successful projects as a project management team of two

More and more businesses turn towards dual leadership for projects. Instead of one ‘soloist’ two project managers run the project together. Through this strategy the project profits from the combined expertise, experience and personal abilities of two project managers. Dual leadership is especially useful in complex projects requiring a wide range of specialist skills. Five practical strategies work towards successful cooperation in what can otherwise be a tricky leadership situation.

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19.05.16 | Press

5 criteria to establish if an organisation stands to profit from implementing Agile

The nightmare of any project manager is a vague and hazy description of a project’s desired deliverables. As early as possible a project manager needs a precise list of all project requirements to ensure feasible planning. Because of this difficulty more and more businesses turn to Agile. Its essential advantage is that project managers can dispense with a “100% detailed plan”. Teams delve right into the work and cooperate very closely with the client, discussing progress and next steps at short intervals.

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determine requirements

04.03.16 | Press

What does the customer really want? – The four steps to success

A crystal clear project assignment with well-defined requirements: This is what is at the heart of a truly successful project. However, in practice it is tough for project managers to establish these requirements and it is also tough to work with them.

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03.02.16 | Press

Project Portfolio Management – “Flight Control” for Projects

Many companies lose track of their projects. They don’t focus on the essential projects and squander resources on projects that are hardly worthwhile. Through project portfolio management businesses can align their projects with their strategy: Do the projects fit the strategic objectives and development chances? Which projects are needed – and which ones should be dropped? Here are five steps to establish portfolio management in your company.

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