What’s the German for “Next Action”?

We’re celebrating the expansion of the Next Action Group with the founding of Next Action Partners GmbH in Germany.

We’ve reached a major milestone in the growth of GTD® in Europe, with the founding of our new business in Germany, Next Action Partners GmbH. Among the people helping us celebrate at our launch party will be David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, more about which later. But first a little history…

When Ed Lamont and I first met to discuss setting up what became Next Action Associates in 2009, the one thing we knew was that we shared a belief in GTD® and its ability to positively influence people’s lives.  We found out quickly though that we shared something else – an ability not common amongst Midwestern North Americans.  We had done degrees in German, had lived in Germany, and spoke German pretty fluently.

Armed with our knowledge of the language and our (apparently reasonably charming) Midwestern accents, over the years we’ve done a lot of work in the German-speaking world. In particular over the last few years we’ve seen both our coaching and seminar businesses grow, so that in 2013 Germany, Austria and Switzerland accounted for about 50% of our total sales.

As this growth took off, we realised that the addition of a local team would enable us to better support our existing clients, and to support further growth. So we began to look for potential partner companies with the goal of creating a joint-venture company.

Along the way we talked a lot of people, had some promising conversations, and, frankly, kissed a few frogs. While we met some potential partners with passion and interest, we weren’t finding the right “DNA match.” We were looking for a partner with experience working with our kinds of clients –successful, innovative, forward thinking companies that have an interest in supporting their people to become more productive, yes, but in ways that enable more mental clarity and lower stress levels. And we wanted a partner with an existing stable of great trainers and coaches, so that we could scale up our delivery capability with more native German speakers. We had the sense that the right partner was out there, but we hadn’t met them yet.

Then I attended a seminar in Frankfurt that was focused on organisational productivity, and I met some of the folks from cidpartners, a consultancy based in Bonn that has a network of consultants across Germany. I liked them right away.  They took their work very seriously, but not themselves.  They were passionate and engaged about ideas and supporting client success, and they really enjoyed the work they did. The DNA seemed to match.

So we joined up with the cidpartners to create Next Action Partners GmbH. On the board of the new company are Ed and myself and the two directors from cidpartners, Sabri Eryigit and Detlev Trapp. Many of the consultants from the cidpartners network have become certified as GTD® trainers. Sabri is the CEO of the new entity, based at our new offices on the Kufürstendamm in the heart of Berlin.

By adding NAP GmbH to Next Action Associates Ltd. we have created the beginnings of the Next Action Group of companies. At the moment we’re working hard on helping NAP to grow, but we’re not ruling out further growth in other geographies – stay tuned.

Enough history – now back to the news about the launch party. David Allen will help us to celebrate the founding of Next Action Partners by giving a keynote address at the Apple Store on the Kufürstendamm in Berlin at 7pm on Tuesday, February 25^th. If you’re interested in attending, please get in touch via our email address, info@next-action.co.uk.