[acb-hsp] FW: [acb-l] Learning to Manage in the Dark

[Baracco, Andrew W]

From: acb-l-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-l-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
peter altschul
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 2:08 PM
To: Acb-l
Subject: [acb-l] Learning to Manage in the Dark

Learning to Manage in the Dark -- WSJDDCOM
  JUNE 15, 2011
  Training in the Dark Seminars Help Business Executives Learn 
About Personal Deficits They May Never Have Recognized
  By DEBORAH STEINBORN
  Andreas Heinecke was sitting in the dark at Bertelsmann AG 
headquarters in GC less-than tersloh a few years ago, sipping 
cocktails and making small talk, when the idea struck.  
High-ranking businessmen, like those mingling with him that balmy 
June evening, try everything to become better leaders-from 
personal coaching in their comfortable Connecticut homes to 
team-building in the rough Sri Lankan wilderness.  Why not train 
them in the dark?
  The German media conglomerate had invited Mr.  Heinecke that 
evening to set up, literally, a dark bar.  It was a fun 
conversational challenge for Bertelmann's top managers after a 
long day of meetings.  Pitch-black management training didn't 
seem far-fetched afterwards.
  Especially so since Mr.  Heinecke, a documentary journalist 
turned social entrepreneur, already had founded Dialogue in the 
Dark.  The then-traveling exhibit aimed to increase public 
awareness of otherness.  It took sighted visitors through various 
settings in absolute darkness, with the help of blind guides and 
walking sticks.  They'd cross a busy city street, walk over a 
wobbly bridge, buy fresh produce at a market, pay with change at 
a cafe-all without seeing a thing.
  That evening in GC less-than tersloh, the 55-year-old started 
to think about tailoring that same experience to businesses' 
needs.  After all, "hierarchy disappears in the dark, among all 
types of people," he says.  "And that's really good for personal 
and professional development."
  Today, seminars in the dark, usually held right at Dialogue in 
the Dark's exhibits, comprise an ever-larger part of the group's 
business.  Incorporated as a for-profit "social franchise" in 
Hamburg since 2001, Dialogue in the Dark employs 6,000 blind 
people in more than 30 countries from China to Mexico.  In the 
past four years alone, about 10,000 managers from Standard 
Chartered PLC, Daimler AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., IBM Corp.  
and more have undergone training in the dark or in silence, an 
offshoot of the seminar concept.  Seminars held doubled to more 
than 500 last year.
  What's the draw? "People who attend begin to think differently 
about ability and disability," says Mr.  Heinecke, who became 
interested in blindness in the mid-1980's while working closely 
with a fellow journalist who had lost his eyesight.
  Participating in the seminars, business executives learn about 
personal deficits they may never have recognized.  It can be the 
simplest of things: perhaps they've been ignoring subtle tones of 
frustration in employees in the haste to complete a meeting.  Or 
they've unconsciously micromanaged.  The idea is to turn these 
newly discovered deficits into assets for better leadership.
  Top managers like taking to the dark to steer and motivate 
themselves and their employees.  Early this year, Michael 
Kaschke, newly appointed CEO at optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss 
AG, wanted his management team to strategize for the coming 
years.  After considering many alternatives, he chose to do so at 
least partially in the dark.
  "I thought it would be an enlightening approach, especially for 
an optical company," Mr.  Kaschke says.  In late March, Zeiss's 
CEO and 14 senior managers spent a day at Dialogue in the Dark's 
headquarters in Hamburg's old shipping district.  Meetings in 
broad daylight, in which Harvard Business School staff assisted 
with management theory and strategic planning, preceded an 
evening of team-building in the dark.
  Participants had to solve a series of timed exercises in the 
pitch-black Hamburg exhibit.  The clock ticking, they measured a 
long thick rope and tried to fold it into a perfect square.  They 
pieced together a wooden rainbow puzzle of various shapes and 
sizes and got it almost right.  They made their way through the 
exhibit, picked out fruits and vegetables at the market, and sat 
down together for a drink, all in utter darkness.
  Enlightening it was.  "I hadn't imagined such a fast change of 
mindset would be possible," says Mr.  Kaschke.  "Within a matter 
of moments after entering the dark, we all relied on each other, 
easily and effectively." Perhaps due to the intensity of 
"working" in the dark, participants agree that lessons learned 
stick with them long afterwards-for better or worse.
  "Weeks later, the day is still very present in my mind," says 
Thorsten Ruck, a regional head of corporate banking at German 
savings bank Hamburger Sparkasse, who joined a one-hour workshop 
at Dialogue in the Dark early this spring.  Like Zeiss's 
executives, Mr.  Ruck worked with other team members to fit 
together a puzzle, measure a rope, and set a table for coffee and 
cake.  His team, though, worked in a "black box" seminar room 
just next door to the exhibit.
  "That day, I learned to be more sensitive to individual members 
of a group, to think twice about whether I come across as sincere 
or half-hearted in meetings," recalls Mr.  Ruck.  "I still keep 
these things in mind every day of the week."
  Not everyone manages well in the dark.
  "People who appear strong may quickly experience their 
weaknesses and vulnerabilities," founder Mr.  Heinecke says.  One 
participant at a seminar in China rushed back out of the 
blackened room shortly after arriving.  "She just couldn't handle 
it," he recalls.  "And this was someone who manages billions of 
dollars in risk capital in California.  The experience gives 
leadership a whole new meaning."
  Mr.  Heinecke later convinced the fund manager to try again.  
It's not always so easy to turn a bad experience around.
  Dialogue in the Dark recently had "a very difficult workshop" 
in Dublin with staff of a major technology company: "Extremely 
chaotic, noisy, lack of concentration.  We couldn't capture their 
attention." A similar situation a while ago occurred with another 
company in Singapore, he adds.  "There was a lot of team, but no 
work."
  On the flip side, some companies are developing their own 
unique programs with Dialogue in the Dark's help.  A northern 
European software company late last year created a combat zone at 
the Hamburg exhibit to motivate developers amid competition for a 
new account.
  "Balloons were popping to simulate the sound of gunfire, team 
members huddled and threw themselves on the ground to protect 
each other, and everyone came out of the event motivated," 
recalls Miro Miletc, a blind guide who helped organize the event.
  And Allianz AG has created its own permanent leadership academy 
in the dark.  Two years ago, it blocked off 700 square meters at 
its Munich headquarters for the purpose.  Dialogue in the Dark 
staff set up the infrastructure, recruited and trained blind 
guides, and helped tailor programs to the insurer's needs.  A 
kick-off event drew 230 Allianz executives-board members 
included-to Bavaria for a day of parallel training sessions in 
the dark.
  "If you want to keep the best talent, it's very good to invest 
in their development and create an environment built on trust," 
says Angelika Antz-Hieber, head of Allianz's Dialogue Training 
Center.  "Our CEO and COO were convinced that such a training 
center, in-house, was a great way to do so."
  Since opening the center two years ago, Allianz has trained 
more than 1,300 employees and clients; 70% are top executives.  
It pays a franchising fee to Dialogue in the Dark for the 
arrangement.
  Dialogue in the Dark will launch an exhibit in New York's 
financial district this summer and intends to introduce its 
business offerings there as well.
  "We've had a boom in the seminar business, especially since the 
global financial crisis hit," says Mr.  Heinecke.  "I hope that 
will continue."
  Copyright 2011 Dow Jones and Company, Inc.  All Rights Reserved
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