Organizations & Culture - salomons.coach

11 Sep

Responsible for Everything, in Charge of Almost Nothing

Karin ran three plants and carried every number, yet controlled almost none of them. It is the most common trap in senior management: full accountability, borrowed authority. Here is why the gap opens as you rise, the mistake that deepens it, and how to close it without working yourself into the ground.

05 Sep

What Am I No Longer Hearing Because of the Power I Hold?

Executive power changes more than decisions. It changes what people are willing to say, what leaders are able to hear, and how easily confidence can turn into certainty. Strong executives do not just welcome dissent; they organise it, protect it and build boundaries around their own authority.

28 Aug

High performance can hide overload

High performers can continue delivering while their capacity quietly declines. Learn how leaders can recognise the early signals, ask better questions and act before overload affects performance, the team and business continuity.

17 Aug

The Leadership Iceberg

By salomons.coach
In Blog, Organizations & Culture, Self & Personal Growth, Tools & Methods

What leaders say and do is only the visible tip of the iceberg. This post explores the assumptions, emotions, values and beliefs beneath leadership behavior, and how coaching helps leaders turn deeper awareness into deliberate communication and lasting change.

08 Aug

Power Deafens: Here is How to Avoid it

Dark blue stage scene showing a gold executive chair on a circular pedestal, facing gold-framed panels and glowing circuit lines, with the headline “Power Deafens: Why Leaders Stop Hearing the Truth.”

Authority buys you access to everything except the truth. The more senior you become, the more information reaches you and the more it is edited on the way. Here is why leaders stop hearing candor, and a practical playbook for building it back.

01 Aug

What Makes Some Teams Stronger Under Pressure Than Others?

Why do some teams remain effective under sustained pressure while others gradually become overwhelmed? This article introduces six collective capabilities that help teams recognise pressure early, redistribute responsibility, adapt priorities and learn from demanding periods, without replacing individual accountability.

20 Jun

The Reliability Paradox: 5 Habits of Reliable Operations

Promotional banner for 'The Reliability Paradox' featuring a dark blue gradient, bold left-aligned title and an illuminated orbital diagram on the right.

Efficiency makes an operation look strong. Reliability under the unexpected asks for almost the opposite. Karl Weick's five principles of high-reliability organizations — and what they looked like on a real hub floor.

11 Jun

You Don’t Have a People Problem. You Have a System.

Systems-thinking infographic: scattered people icons, curved arrows around a glowing central circle on a dark blue gradient with the phrase 'You don't have a people problem. You have a system.'

Your team won't take ownership. The same crisis keeps returning. You replaced the problem person and nothing changed. These aren't character flaws — they're the shape of the system you're standing inside. Drawing on three decades in the leadership chair, Jan Salomons on why so much competence produces so little change, and where the shift actually begins.

07 Jun

Your Personal Stress Coping Profile: Turning Pressure Into Insight

The Personal Stress Coping Profile™ provides a structured mirror of current pressure, coping responses, resilience resources, boundaries and recovery. It creates insight without diagnosing or labelling—and connects personal awareness with the wider team conditions that influence how people cope.

15 May

The full logic (and context) of yes and no

Hero banner: dark blue gradient with concentric rings and a gold 'yes' at center, title 'The full logic of yes and no' on the right.

A yes from Beijing and a yes from Amsterdam can come out of the same mouth in the same meeting and mean radically different things. A reference-grade walk through the four cross-cultural frameworks — Hofstede, GLOBE, WVS, Schwartz — and the two psychological theories underneath that explain why.