Jasmin Wölke facilitates workshops in Hannover in English and German: strategy retreats, planning sessions and off-sites that end with a decision. After more than ten years leading in a large corporation, she knows these rounds from both sides of the table.
Retreats between plant, headquarters and sales
Hannover's economy mixes industry, insurance, tourism and logistics, and the working sessions look accordingly: an annual planning round for a sales force, a retreat between plant and headquarters about capacity, a session at an insurer that has to turn new requirements into working processes. Such meetings rarely fail for lack of knowledge in the room. They fail because nobody moves the discussion from exchange to decision. After two hours every argument has been made; after four they still lie side by side. This is exactly where the group needs someone who is not a party to the conflict and still keeps up the pace.
From exchange to decision
Before the session Jasmin clarifies what the group is allowed to decide and how the day will be measured. In the room she makes sure quiet participants speak early and dominant voices do not take over the agenda. She keeps interim results visible, and open points of dispute get their own slot instead of swallowing the whole retreat. At the end there is an outcome with names and dates: who carries which point forward, and by when? That agreement is made in the room and confirmed there, while everyone has heard it.
The right room, the right date
Many sessions stay on the company's own site, in the meeting wing of plant or administration. If the retreat needs distance from daily business, the conference hotels in the city centre and venues on the Maschsee offer suitable rooms. The city's calendar has one peculiarity: in the weeks around Hannover Messe, Agritechnica or LIGNA, hotels and meeting rooms are scarce. If you can choose your date freely, place the retreat outside those weeks and save money and nerves. More important than the address is the cut of the room: daylight, space for small groups and walls where interim results can hang.
Language, travel, enquiry
If your team works in a mix of English and German, the briefing fixes the language plan, from plenary to documentation. From Ludwigsburg Jasmin takes the direct ICE, a good three and a half to four hours, arriving the day before for morning starts. For a quote, send goal, participant group and preferred date through the contact form. The format in detail is on workshop facilitation, the preparation on the briefing checklist, and other formats in the city on Moderatorin Hannover.