Get in touch now
GET IN TOUCH NOW
Paul Weinhausen
CO-FOUNDER
Let’s talk

… then why not have a coffee with Paul? You decide whether it’s virtual or in person. You’ll get an insight into how we work, and Paul will help you find the right solution for your needs—either from our proven formats or tailored specifically to your requirements.

Be the first to know what's new with our newsletter
LEADERSHIP PROGRAMMES

When Transformation
‍depends on Leadership.

Organisations invest heavily in transformation, but too little in ensuring that leaders can actually make it happen. Yet this is often the smallest additional investment with the greatest leverage.

Häkchen Icon
PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT
Häkchen Icon
CREATE ALIGNMENT
Häkchen Icon
TURN INTENT INTO ACTION
Häkchen Icon
MEASURE IMPACT
Häkchen Icon
650+ LEADERS SUPPORTED
THE PROBLEM

Leadership Development Alongside the Transformation? Your Transformation ROI Gets Left Behind.

Transformation is hard work. And it is frustrating when, after all that effort, leadership behaviour still does not really change.

Transformation Is Expensive — Failure Even More So

The ROI of any transformation depends on whether leaders can turn it into day-to-day reality. That takes both: the capability to carry the change and the ability to engage with what it actually means in practice. If either is missing, the investment gets stuck at the implementation level.
Chili & Change Icon

No Shared Leadership Model After the Change

Reorganisations, strategic shifts and major transformations disrupt established leadership norms. What is often missing is a shared understanding of what leaders should now focus on. Everyone interprets the new direction differently, creating friction and a lack of orientation. If leadership does not pull in the same direction, the transformation loses impact.
Chili & Change Icon

Organisational Development and People Development Need Each Other

When organisational development and people development operate separately, programmes emerge that build skills without addressing resistance — or change structures without equipping the people expected to work within them. Only when the two are closely connected do you get both: capability building and real change.    
Chili & Change Icon
OUR APPROACH

Building Knowledge and Understanding Is Not Enough for Transformation

01

Knowledge

Information is available. Necessary, but not sufficient on its own.

02

Understanding

The connections are clear, but there is no personal relevance yet.

03

Relevance

“This affects me.” This is where real momentum for change begins — through dialogue, not presentation.

04 — OUR GOAL

Action

Behaviour changes visibly and collectively. That is the only measure that counts.

Pure knowledge transfer and building understanding are not enough for transformation. What matters is changed behaviour in practice.

Lower likelihood of successful change

Knowledge Understanding Relevance Action
Lower likelihood of successful change Higher likelihood of successful change
Behaviour without impact Behaviour with impact

We don’t just build training series. We design dialogue spaces and programme architectures in which leaders understand what their organisation’s transformation means in practice, make sense of it together and turn it into effective action.

COMMON USE CASES

When a Transformation Program Makes Sense

Our programmes are not designed in a vacuum. They are built around the real situations and challenges your organisation is facing.
KI & Führung Transformationsprogramm – Chili & Change

01

A Transformation Is Underway, but Leadership Is Not Moving in the Same Direction

The strategy or target vision is clear, but leaders translate it into day-to-day practice in different ways — or not at all. Silos, contradictions and a lack of ownership begin to emerge.

02

A New Leadership Model Needs to Be Developed and Embedded

The organisation wants to move away from traditional top-down management towards greater autonomy and trust, but there is not yet a shared understanding of what that means in practice or how it should show up in everyday leadership.    

03

Culture Change Needs to Move Beyond Posters

The cultural values have been defined, but old patterns still shape day-to-day work: silo thinking, conflict avoidance and playing it safe. The programme creates spaces where these patterns can be recognised, discussed and changed.

04

A Reorganisation Changes Roles, Power and Responsibility

New structures are in place and clear on paper, but day-to-day leadership is still marked by uncertainty and old decision-making paths. The programme helps leaders bring the new structure to life in practice.

05

Leaders Need to Carry the Transformation Across the Organisation

Transformation needs to be translated into day-to-day reality across the organisation. Leaders should not simply be informed — they need to provide direction and enable change, even when things become uncomfortable.

06

An Existing OD Architecture Needs a Dedicated Leadership Track

The organisational development architecture is already in place, with workshops, strategy processes and culture initiatives. What is missing is leadership development that reinforces this work in both content and timing, rather than running alongside it as a separate initiative.

CORE ARCHITECTURE

Not Standalone Measures, but a Coherent Architecture

A leadership programme that focuses only on skills does not change an organisation. We design programmes that work across several levels at the same time: leadership mindset, collaboration, culture and concrete decision-making processes.

‍
Every programme is tailored, but they all follow the same proven logic:

CATEGORY
IMPACT
EXAMPLE FORMATS
Key Events
Create shared direction and energy through events at the beginning and end of the programme.
Kickoff-WorkshopLarge-Group EventClosing-EventScoping WorkshopExecutive Workshop
Training & Labs
Experience and practise new behaviours through real leadership challenges from within the organisation.
Leadership Labs In-PersonSimulationOnline-ModuleOnline-Circle
Reflection & Embedding
Identify patterns, work through resistance and ensure transfer into day-to-day leadership.
Workshop (In-Person und Online)CoachingPeer Case ConsultationPeer CircleRetrospective
Inspiration & New Perspectives
Create curiosity and openness in day-to-day work through accessible, optional formats.
Lunch & LearnExternal SpeakeLearning NuggetBarcampLearning Journey
Governance & Measurement
Ensure impact and course-correct where needed. We measure change, not satisfaction.
Steering GroupVitality CheckEvaluationImpact SurveyEvidence Compass

Before we start, we define what success will look like. The programme has failed if neither behaviour nor ownership changes. We agree on this benchmark with you from the outset and keep it visible to everyone involved throughout the programme.

Contact

Curious?

...then have a coffee with Paul. Whether online or in person, we’d love to talk through your project with you.

Paul Weinhausen – Chili & Change
Paul Weinhausen
CO-FOUNDER
OUR APPROACH

From the Transformation Challenge to an Effective Program

Our approach is iterative. We respond dynamically to changes and emerging needs. This mindset shapes all five steps.

Working through a joint steering group made up of your key stakeholders and our consultants, we move through the following steps as needed:

01

Analysis

We explore the transformation, leadership levels, key tensions and existing OD activities, for example through leadership interviews, a scoping workshop, surveys or focus groups.

Output:Diagnostic Picture & Needs Profile
02

Design & Scoping

Target vision, formats, timeline and stakeholder management. We develop an approach tailored to your context, closely connected to existing OD initiatives and clearly defined indicators of success.

Output:Programme Architecture & Impact Logic
03

Delivery

Using a targeted, impact-focused mix of formats, we guide your leaders through the key questions and demands of the transformation — always working towards tangible outcomes, clear relevance and concrete behavioural change.

Output:Visible Relevance & Behavioural Change
04

Evaluation & Adaptation

Vitality checks, qualitative surveys and the steering group help us evaluate impact rather than satisfaction — and continuously adapt the programme architecture where needed.

Output:Evidence of Impact & Next Steps
05

Handover & Internal Capability

Our goal is not to create permanent dependency, but an organisation that can carry the change itself. Together, we build the internal capability needed to continue the work independently.

Output:Internal Capability to Act
CLIENT CASE

HDI FührungsKRAFT

Change and leadership development combined in one programme that embedded a new shared understanding of leadership following a reorganisation.

Duration: 1,5 YearsParticipants: All 110 LeadersLeadership Level: All Levels, From Executive Board to Team Leads
The CHALLENGES
  • Reorganisation: Leadership was becomming more centralised
  • The new organisational structure needed to be supported by the right leadership culture
  • „The hardware is in place, the Software needs to follow“
  • The restucturing led to significant changes across the leadership team
  • A new, values-based leadership culture needed to be established

Goal: Embed a New Shared Understanding of Leadership

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION
  • A needs-based, tailored leadership development programme built around the HDI values
  • Targeted development of leadership capabilities
  • Topics included: feedback & development conversations, goal setting, delegation, conflict-culture, values-based leadership and cross-functional meetings
  • Structural observations were fed back to the Executive Board to inform further change initiatives
  • Ongoing programme communication and evaluation

PARTICIPANT VOICES

“The three modules were genuinely interesting, and at the same time gave us the chance to get to know each other better — a really great mix!”

“The programme was perfectly tailored to us.”

“Thank you — I always enjoy coming to your training sessions!”

PROGRAMME LEAD

When asked what made the difference compared with other providers:

“You could really feel that you wanted to make a difference. You were fully engaged, stayed close throughout and genuinely cared. That made a real difference to the impact.”

KEY INSIGHT

Leadership development and behaviour change are key levers for building a values-based organisational culture and achieving better results — not the other way round.

Winning Factor

Cross-functional participation across leadership levels creates valuable new networks. Interviews conducted in advance made it possible to design a programme that met participants where they were at every leadership level.

FAQ

What Clients Ask Us Most Often

What Sets You Apart From a Traditional Training Provider?

We don’t build standard training series. We design programme architectures that are closely connected to your actual transformation — in terms of content, timing and methodology, and aligned with your existing OD processes.
Before we start, we define what success will look like. And we measure impact, not satisfaction. If neither behaviour nor ownership changes, the programme has not achieved its purpose. We agree on that benchmark with you from the outset.

Which Change Models Do You Use Most Often at Chili?

At Chili, we use a flexible framework to help embed change sustainably within organisations. Our preferred change models include Trigon (OD model), ADKAR (Prosci) and Chili’s own Change Model.
We know that every organisation works differently. If your organisation already uses an established change model or framework, we can build on it seamlessly rather than introducing another one.

How Large Does the Programme Need to Be to Be Worthwhile?

Our programmes range from compact formats for a small group of leaders to organisation-wide programme architectures. What matters is not the size, but whether there is a clear transformation need and a willingness to measure impact.

Can the Programme Be Integrated Into an Existing OD Initiative?

Yes. In fact, this is one of our most common and strongest use cases. We design a dedicated leadership track that is closely aligned with your existing OD architecture in both content and timing, so the initiatives reinforce each other rather than running in parallel.
This integration starts in the diagnostic phase, where we explicitly take existing OD activities into account.

How Long Does a Typical Programme Run?

Most of our programmes run for 9 to 18 months. Shorter programmes are possible, but we always recommend allowing enough time for behavioural change to actually take hold rather than simply be initiated.
We typically work in six-month planning cycles, allowing the programme to evolve continuously as needs change.

Do We Need a Standalone Programme, or Are Individual Workshops Enough?

If collective habits are meant to change, the initiative needs to be visible and recognisable as a coherent programme. We therefore recommend a programme architecture — where useful with its own identity or branding — that reinforces the ambition and relevance of the transformation work.    

Which Engagements Do You Turn Down?

We turn down engagements where there is no genuine commitment to change at decision-maker level. The same applies if we cannot build a trusting, effective partnership with the internal stakeholders responsible for the programme — or if we cannot support the intended change from a professional or values-based perspective.

How Many Leadership Levels Can Be Involved?

In principle, all leadership levels can be included, from executive management to operational leaders. Which levels make sense depends on the transformation goals.
Some programmes focus on one level, while others deliberately connect several through shared key events, large-group formats and dialogue spaces across hierarchical boundaries. After all, transformations often fail not within individual levels, but at the interfaces between them.

Contact

Curious? 

...then have a coffee with Paul. Whether online or in person, we’d love to talk through your project with you.

Paul Weinhausen – Chili & Change
Paul Weinhausen
CO FOUNDER

Stay in the loop​

Be the first to hear what’s new.
‍

Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll send you our Shared Leadership Compass as a PDF welcome gift.

Chili & Change Icon

By subscribing to the newsletter, I consent to the processing of my email address for the purpose of receiving the newsletter. I can withdraw my consent at any time. Further information can be found in our Privacy Policy.