About CIM Consulting

Who are we?

We partner with our clients to develop and improve their companywide, international collaboration.  CIM stands for “collaboration in international management”.

Based in Berlin, Germany, CIM Consulting is primarily driven by its founder and Managing Director, Claudia Müller, in collaboration with a small number of partners who share the goals and approaches of CIM Consulting. We function as a close network with access to a bigger group of international, intercultural consultants and experts that we can call upon as required.

CIM Consulting’s focus on international collaboration originated from Claudia’s personal experience of 15 years as an international manager who was involved in many collaborative roles and situations across four continents. She experienced the whole range, from very mediocre to exceptional collaboration, witnessing the implications on business results and job satisfaction levels, and experimenting herself with ways to drive collaboration as a leader. Work Experience was later complemented by study and research, new experience from training, coaching and consulting and the exchange with colleagues. The result is our approach to international collaboration, of which you get a glimpse on these pages, but naturally we would be happy to share more when we meet you personally.

There is incredible energy and potential that gets unleashed when people work really well together. To do this companywide, across cultural and functional divides, with partners both internal and external, is not a trivial task but is essential for global success. Excellent collaboration mobilizes the perspectives and know-how of collaborators worldwide, improves the organization’s capability to learn and innovate, aligns and focuses people’s energy to drive results and makes people much more satisfied in their jobs.
We feel passionate about helping you to develop such collaborative environments, spirit and practices.

Our Approach

We offer you an integrated approach to the subject of collaboration.

At the level of the organization we help you to define and cultivate a culture and an organizational environment that supports collaboration.

We work directly with international teams, groups and partners to get them in flow and help them to interact effectively, or, if necessary, overcome obstacles.

We develop leadership competencies to shape and drive culture, mobilize people across boundaries and integrate contributions towards common goals.

What we bring along:

• Our experience in management and leadership positions
• A background in systemic and gestalt oriented organizational development
• Intercultural expertise and real life experience
• Research on the subjects of international leadership and collaboration
• At least 10 to 15 years of experience as consultants, coaches and/or trainers, mostly in international contexts
• Relevant tools and models
• Our curiosity and desire to engage

Our Contribution

Our own management background helps us to connect with corporate reality. Being a small consultancy, we are effective because we partner with your collaborators when it comes to change projects. Besides, we believe in step by step, concrete and behaviour-focussed change initiatives rather than massive change projects. A few well selected initiatives that are gradually extended can sometimes be very effective and encounter less resistance.  We contribute in the following ways:

• We combine intercultural expertise with consulting, training and coaching competence. This way we can support your change initiatives internationally and help to integrate global and local perspectives.
• Our external perspective, analyses and tools shed light on underlying interdependencies and causes that are hard to see from up close. One of the tools we use is our proprietary  CIM Organisational Navigator.
• When consulting with you, we are a mixture of process consultant, expert and sounding board. We moderate team processes and design and facilitate workshops in close cooperation with your leaders and managers. At the same time we provide input and ideas for our areas of expertise and adapt them to different cultures.
• We support leaders individually as counsellor, coach and sparring partner.
• We help translate your needs for global leadership competence into concrete training or workshop designs.
• Our Change Management focus is very much in the international arena.

Our Principles

We attach great importance to understanding both your context and your needs really well and are prepared to invest time to get to that understanding. Frequently this kind of clarification helps our customers as well to obtain greater clarity and focus.

It is our intention to truly collaborate and partner with you. This involves exchange, transparency, clear agreements, reliability and engagement. Those are the principles that guide us.