No organization can afford to stand still or become complacent. Embracing change is essential to growth, so every change you make requires meticulous planning and careful implementation. Which is where change management comes in. Multi-award-winning German consultancy firm processline uses the task management tool MeisterTask to drive effective change – both internally and in the consultancy services it provides to its clients. The time-savings MeisterTask delivers have allowed processline’s consultants to spend less time in meetings or dealing with email and given them more time to focus instead on what really matters – a commitment to successful, sustainable organizational change.
There are a lot of self-proclaimed “change experts” – but very few really are, and even fewer can claim to have any real change management credentials. processline is an owner-managed consulting firm based in Speyer in the Rhine-Neckar region in south-west Germany. Since 2016 it has been consistently ranked as one of the “Best Consultants in Germany” by market and consumer data specialist Statista and business magazine brand eins in the category “Change & Transformation”.
processline was founded in 2002 and has gone on to successfully complete change management projects with over 170 clients. In 2020 the firm was even involved in the creation of the DINSPEC 91405 standard on “Organizational change management in consulting contexts”.
Boosting Efficiency Through Sustainable Change
Our focus is on changing companies through organizational change management.
Holger Lehmann, Head of Consulting, explains: “Identifying the changes an organization can make to become more efficient is at the heart of what we do. The best way to do that will depend very much on the individual organization. It’s also vital that we make these changes sustainable.”
As a change expert, Holger Lehmann’s interest in task management is twofold: firstly, he uses a task management tool to manage his own tasks and collaborate effectively with his ten-person team. Secondly, as a consultant he helps organizations to choose and implement the right task management tools.
Stopping Message Overload With MeisterTask
Up until 2019, processline used MS Planner as their main task management tool. The team realized that in certain areas, there was considerable room for improvement in terms of internal process optimization. For instance, team members felt they were hampered by a lack of transparency, an inability to effectively track the status of ongoing projects, the sluggish flow of information, and the poor communication of task-specific details and requirements. The latter could be easily addressed with checklists, for example, facilitated by the right tool.
processline first discovered MeisterTask at the Deutscher Beratertag (Consultants’ Convention) in 2019, where Partner Management Lead Raphaela Brandner was presenting the tool. It didn’t take long for processline to decide that MeisterTask was exactly what they were looking for – and at the same time they expressed an interest in becoming an Expert Partner.
The processline team loved working with the intuitive task management tool from the get-go:
Our consultants now find MeisterTask indispensable. I’d go so far as to say there isn’t an hour that goes by where I’m not using the tool.
MeisterTask has enabled processline not only to set and reach its work goals, but to exceed them. Lehmann explains:
“MeisterTask has saved us from back and forth emails and messages because we can track our progress centrally. And our team meetings have become a lot shorter and less frequent. Now we only need about 45-60 minutes every two weeks.”
As Head of Consulting and an active consultant, Lehmann spends a lot of time managing individual tasks. He describes himself as “efficiency-driven”, so one of the biggest benefits of the “MeisterTask effect” is the amount of time he’s saved:
MeisterTask gives me back an hour of my time every day.
Eliminate Time Sinks: Switch to MeisterTask From Excel
Many organizations still cling to static tools like Microsoft Excel, for instance to manage meetings or to search for information in tables using complicated filters. Part of the problem is that if two colleagues need the same information, they have to open the same Excel sheet in different versions and go through the entire process independently.
It’s an inefficient way of working, and one that change consultant Holger Lehmann is keen to eliminate through the use of purpose-built tools. His advice to clients who work mostly with Excel is to switch to a digital task management tool like MeisterTask:
“MeisterTask is so much simpler and cleaner than Excel. You can find what you’re looking for quickly and streamline communication, addressing two major time sinks in one fell swoop. MeisterTask also allows you to structure and prioritize tasks more efficiently, for instance by introducing checklists and tags.”
Holger goes on: “I was surprised by how quickly the tool gained traction. Introduce it in one department, and the next one is already beating down your door to use it. It just goes to show how intuitive MeisterTask is.”
processline used MeisterTask to help with the launch of its “Change Academy” in 2020. Annika Wagner, Content and Online Marketing, masterminded the project:
The Change Academy is our center of learning for change management and MeisterTask was integral to the planning and implementation of our processline affiliate from the very beginning.
“MeisterTask Has Become Indispensable”
Consultancy firms are now using digital task management tools as one way of driving sustainable change in organizations. Holger Lehmann:
Of course, how quickly a client can get on board with a digital tool depends on their level of technical expertise.
processline generally works with SMEs or with individual departments or teams within an organization. “MeisterTask can be used in more or less any of our projects. It’s more about making sure the tool is used correctly, for example by defining tiered editing rights that take account of the user’s experience,” says the change expert.
“Bottom line: MeisterTask has become indispensable both internally and in the consultancy services we offer our clients,” says Holger Lehmann. He fondly recalls something a radiologist once said to him that sums up the entire purpose of digital tools:
You know, Mr Lehmann, every click costs you money.
