How to become a Process Influencer with Andreas Bierwirth from ABmotion

How to become a Process Influencer with Andreas Bierwirth from ABmotion

#024: Andreas and I discuss what is a Process Influencer, what are some of the hard and soft skills required and the importance of video content to be successful in this role.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Andreas Bierwirth of ABmotion on the art of content creation and how this can be applied to processes – for example by establishing a Process Influencer role. A role which uses content creation methods and tools such as videos, podcasts, and posts on corporate or even social media to inspire the people of an organization for processes.

Andreas provides a very detailed and candid account of his own practical experiences about content creation. He talks about his favorite projects, who are some of the people who he is inspired by and what would he teach someone new to the role of a Process Influencer on day one.

Today’s Guest

Andreas Bierwirth

Andreas is Founder and Managing Director of ABmotion. ABmotion is a media production company and they call themselves “Your content manufacturer with algorithm in its blood”.

Andreas founded the company in 2010 in Cologne. Since then, they have completed more than 1,000 video, motion, and content creation projects.

Andreas is also host of the Medientier podcast. I’d translate this to “The media animal podcast”. It is a media podcast for professionals and beginners with unusual and honest insights into an exhaustingly dynamic industry.

I’m following him on LinkedIn for about two years now and I really love the content he is producing. So I just had to invite him to the New Process Podcast!

You’ll learn

  • What a Process Influence is and how to become one
  • Which mindset you need to adopt as a Process Influencer
  • How to create extraordinary and entertaining content
  • How BPM must be communicated to not be perceived as boring
  • What Andreas’ three top recommendations are to rethink processes

Resources

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Transcript

Please note that the transcript was generated automatically and only slightly adjusted. It does not claim to be a perfect transcription.

Mirko:

Welcome to episode 24 of New Process Podcast. Today we’re going to explore how to become a process influencer. Therefore, I’m speaking with Andreas Bierwirth from ABmotion. A process influencer, you might ask, what is a process influencer? In my world, a process influencer is a person using content creation approach, like social media posts, videos, podcasts, and so on to inspire people for processes. But you’ll learn more about that in the interview with Andreas. So Andreas is founder and managing director of ABmotion. ABmotion is a media production company, and they call themselves your content manufacturer with the algorithm in its blood. Andreas founded the company in 2010 in Cologne. Since then, they have completed more than 1000 video, motion, and content creation projects. Andreas is also host of the Medientier Podcast. I’d translate that into something like the Media Animal Podcast. It is described as the media podcast for professionals and beginners with unusual and honest insights into an exhaustingly dynamic industry.

So, super interesting what he is doing there. It’s a German podcast, but maybe you would like to have a look into that or listening to that. I personally love the content Andreas is producing, and I’m following him on LinkedIn for about two years now. I really love his humor and I think that it’s great that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, and I just have to share all these insights with you. So that’s why I invited Andreas to the New Process Podcast. You’ll learn what a process influencer is and how to become one. We’re going to explore which mindset you need to adapt to be a successful process influencer. And we are going to talk about how to create extraordinary and entertaining content. We are going to talk about how BPM must be communicated to not be perceived as boring, and Andreas will also share his top three recommendations to rethink processes and way more than that. So enjoy the episode with Andreas Bierwirth.

Yeah. Welcome to the New Process Podcast, Andreas. It’s great to have you here. And as I already said in the introduction, I’m a little bit a fanboy of what you are doing, and I’m looking forward to learn more about content creation today. Welcome, Andreas.

Andreas:

Thank you very much. This is my very first English podcast, and I’m very excited and a little bit afraid. If I can, this is the first point where I have to, where I have to think about my words. I hope I can meet the expectation. Can I say that?

Mirko:

Yeah, definitely. Expectations are very high today.

Andreas:

Oh, yeah, yeah. I love that. I love that.

Mirko:

No, just kidding. Let’s see how this will work out in the end. And let’s simply start with a check-in. And my first check-in question, as always is, what do you prefer in an aircraft, aisle or window seat?

Andreas:

Yeah, a window seat, definitely, because the view is much more nice and you can see much more, much more beautiful spaces and, and landscapes and yeah, that would be my place, definitely.

Mirko:

Yeah. And very good. And what is your favorite airport?

Andreas:

Actually, I really cannot say what’s my favorite airport, but I have, I think I have one, but I have never been there. I think my favorite airport would be the airport in the Himalaya region, the Lukla. You know Lukla? The airport in the mountains?

Mirko:

No.

Andreas:

I think it’s the highest airport in the world. And the most dangerous one, the airport is located directly on the mountains. So there is a height difference from the start to the end, pretty much. And you basically have to land on a mountain, not on a straight landing, what is it called? Landing street? I don’t know. The landing street on the airport. You know it. You have to land on a mountain with a, I don’t know, 10 or 12 degrees? I don’t know. And it’s very dangerous, but it’s a very nice region. I was been there 2011, I was in Pika. I was in the Himalaya region, and I had a trekking around the Annapurna. That was a quite fascinating time. And yeah, during that time, I thought I would, maybe I would visit the base camp, for the Everest base camp, and to get there you have to land on this airport. So I’ve never been there, but I think this would be my favorite airport. Yeah.

Mirko:

Yeah. So you’re planning to get your own pilot license?

Andreas:

I would love to. Yeah, I would love to. Yeah. Really, definitely. My name friend, can I say my name friend? On LinkedIn, Andreas Bierwirth, he was the CEO of John Wings. He is a pretty tough guy and is a very, yeah, he has, in Germany, we say, he’s such a nice guy. And he told several stories about his flight career. He’s an active pilot, and, uh, yeah, I would, I would love to be a pilot. Yeah. But it’s, this is still on my bucket list, but I, I think it will still be on my bucket list when I’m almost, not anymore on this world.

Mirko:

That’s cool. But now we have your relationship to Lufthansa already because normally looking back to all the interview guests I had in the past, somehow there was a connection to the Lufthansa group because they worked there and we got in touch via Lufthansa. And now with your doppelganger, he was working for Lufthansa Group and now, yeah that’s cool. Have you also been in touch with Lufthansa besides being a customer probably? But working for one of the group companies there?

Andreas:

Not yet, but I would love to. Maybe if there’s any, anyone out there, I’m here to help. If you want to have, if you want to produce some really cool shit and content, then you have to contact me.

Mirko:

Yeah, definitely, definitely. Very good. Nice. So let’s get closer to the topic of processes. What was the best process you have ever experienced?

Andreas:

A best process. Maybe one of the, it’s not that special, not that spectacular, but there was a project, it was some years ago, there was a software in a company that have to be used by its employees, but they, they was somehow not very convinced from this software, but the software managed to give huge savings for the company.

When you book flights or book anything else, you, with this software, the company saves a lot of cash. I don’t know the exact structure or the exact situation. I didn’t understand the software in its complete form, you know. But I don’t have to, I just have to make it nice and entertaining and yeah, make the employees curious about this software. And we produce several clips, several videos for them and to entertain them to say, hey guys, please make bookings or reservations with this software. And we are saving tons of money. So we produced this and it was very funny. It was very, yeah, it was mind blowing, what we have produced there. It was completely shit, somehow in some cases, but it was just funny. It was so entertaining.

And the people loved it, and the company saved a lot of cash because the employees started using their software and they loved it in the end. And yeah, there was quite big, big savings for the company that, yeah, that was quite a great process because they gave us complete trust. We had no limitations. We could do whatever we want. And we were really crazy. We went completely mental and crazy, and it worked. It worked. The people loved it, and yeah, the outcome for the company was insane.

Mirko:

Great. That’s why I wanted to have you here in the podcast, because we need guys like you for process management tools, because that’s always a big problem. And I, I once produced a video myself, or I asked a company to produce one for the tool which we were running, and that really helped to get acceptance for the tool. So that’s cool. Great. Let’s go deeper.

Andreas:

Acceptance. Acceptance. That’s, that’s what I wanted to say. Yeah. Acceptance was there. Yeah. Suddenly. Change is always different and, and very difficult for companies. Because change is, yeah, change is not, not accepted. When it works, it works. No one wants to change anything, but when you get the people or when you, when you can convince with content or with clips or with whatever you want, then it’s, you have, you have, yeah, well, what should I say? A big tool. You have a big tool in your hands.

Mirko:

Yeah, that’s true. Ah, yeah. Yeah. Let’s, let’s go deeper into that direction. But before we talk about what you’re doing normally, I would love to hear how you would describe your own relationship to processes. Processes, what are processes, right?

Andreas:

Yeah. That was the question I was asking you before we start recording this podcast, I said, Mirko, what is process? What is, what do you understand with the term process? And it’s very complicated for me. I’m a 120% creative guy, and in my life, there is absolutely no structure. Yeah. Almost, almost no structure. Everything is based on emotion. My doing, my tasks, my products are pure emotional. It’s quite unusual to have any processes in our daily business. We get a task, there is a problem we have to solve. And what we are doing is we are triggering emotions. We are creating emotions, and we, we try to convince people based on emotions to do what we want them to do. Wow, that’s complicated. But that’s the point. And my relations to processes is almost not there, you know, of course I have processes, I have task lists, and, and I don’t know resides, if you want to say it that way. But it’s, I would say 90% of my daily business is almost only emotional driven.

Mirko:

That’s super fascinating. But in the end, I guess the production of the content is still following a very structured approach.

Andreas:

Yeah, sure. Yeah. Obviously, if not, there would be no result, you know. If not, we would only be sitting here and telling jokes and drinking beer, which is all very nice.

Mirko:

That’s a good alternative. I would say.

Andreas:

And mostly, maybe 90% of our time here.

Mirko:

So we have to definitely work more and more together.

Andreas:

Yeah. I would love to.

Mirko:

That’s very good. But cool. But, uh, I already briefly introduced your company ABmotion. How, how do you say that? Is it A.B. or ah-bee?

Andreas:

I don’t know. You can say A.B. motion, ah-bee motion. I don’t know. Everyone tells it in a different way.

Mirko:

Okay. But what is the core philosophy behind your content creation approach?

Andreas:

Our core philosophy is mainly we don’t want to convince people or, or persuade, you know, people to do anything that they don’t want to do. We always want to use tools to make a difference, to make the life of people a little bit better. That is mainly big. We are making marketing, originally we are, we are a film production company, but the times of image films and things like that or films for trade fairs or anything like that. Those times are over. Everything is always,

Mirko:

It’s all about content. Yeah.

Andreas:

It’s all about, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Thank you. It’s all about content and how the content looks like is very different. For some clients, we are producing photo shootings. We are producing photo libraries for their content creation and for their feed, for some other, we are producing videos, interviews, testimonials, things like that. And yeah, we are, we are basically a content creation company. And yeah, this is, this is what we do, this is what drives us, and this is what yeah, we love to do. And I think we are not that bad in that, in this discipline.

Mirko:

Definitely not. And for the ones, maybe we take a video clip out of this, my video right now is really bad because the sun is shining in Hamburg, but your background just looked perfect here. So that’s obviously something you are working on more than I do. And I guess I can learn a lot from you here with regards to that at least. So is there a portfolio of different products you are creating? Like you already said, but just to give an overview of what different types of content you are creating.

Andreas:

It switches from time to time. Right now, we are producing almost only content for companies, for personal brands, for entrepreneurs. But we are producing content for social media platforms. For Instagram, for LinkedIn, Facebook sometimes. Yeah. That’s content we are producing for those platforms. But as I said, photo content, sometimes even the product shoots, we are doing product shoots for beer brands, we had that. And content strategies. We are developing content strategies for companies. That’s also a big part of our work. So we think, what can we do for their, for the target group of their companies and try to, yeah, work on those communication channels.

Mirko:

Okay. Cool. What’s your all time favorite project you’ve been working on?

Andreas:

My all time fave, this is a very tough question because it’s, to be honest, it’s always the current project because it combines all those feelings and those wishes we have to produce something, and yeah, we are, we are quite, I’m quite thankful that we are working with very big clients currently, but I cannot say anymore, but it’s simply great. Yeah. We have so much fun. And this, I would say, what I am doing right now is the job with the biggest [inaudible] right now.

Mirko:

And when, when and where can we see the results?

Andreas:

Actually, you can see them, but I don’t talk about it. You can actually see them right now. Yeah. I can tell you more afterwards. But one, one project I can talk about a little bit more detailed. Two years ago, we worked with the brewery together, and we created content on the go, mainly. We, there is a beer brand called Költ. Költ is a beer.

Mirko:

Yeah, I saw the, the video.

Andreas:

Yeah. It’s a mix between Kirsch and Altbier. Those are two different beers here in Germany. They don’t like each other very much, but they combined those two brew styles to create a very different beer. And they build a small house, a brewery. Yeah. A little brewery made out of wood. It’s a little hitter.

Mirko:

Yeah, like for dock.

Andreas:

Yeah, it’s like a dock house. A little tiny dock house, but designed like a really stylish and old school brewery. So we got on tour through North Rhine-Westphalia from town to town, and just built that thing up. A friend of mine was in this brewery. He stood inside of this house and yeah we all had cameras on and we just looked what could have happened and what kind of people would come there and drink a beer or whatever. So we documented all these situations and this tour through North Rhine-Westphalia. And it was, it was a blast. It was so funny. We were all mainly drunk the whole tour, at least a little bit. But it’s, it was so funny. There were so much situations almost in crowded regions. Like the dome platter here in Cologne or a big city mall street or store street in Düsseldorf. And there were so much funny situations and so much energy, and so much vibe and so much cool moments that we made a content series out of this and posted that on their channel on social media, and yeah, it was, it was a blast. It was, we were in almost every newspaper in this country. We were at almost every TV station, made a spot, about this incident. And it was just, it was crazy. It was really crazy. We didn’t expect this to happen, but yeah, this was a great summer and it was a great project, and I am really thankful that we, we had this opportunity.

Mirko:

Yeah, that sounds good. And I already saw one of the video clips, because they are published on your website as well, I think. We can put the link into the show notes so you just have to look it up.

Andreas:

Yeah, would love to. Thank you.

Mirko:

Yeah, sure. But is there somehow a structured procedure to create this extraordinary and entertaining content? So how do you proceed to create results like this?

Andreas:

Yeah. Would you like to hear that, the process?

Mirko:

Yeah, exactly. ABC, exactly.

Andreas:

Yeah. ABC, but I’m really sorry. It’s only, it’s driven by emotions. You know, the best thing is you sit together with cool people and creative people on a blank paper and say, well, there’s a task. I don’t know. We need to gain our reach on social media. We are a brewery, we have a cool beer, and we want to gain a reach on our social media platforms. Okay, this is our task. “What can we do?” “What would we like to see?” Is maybe one of the first questions, and what would want us engage? What would it be to engage us and what do we like? We are very humorous driven. We really like jokes and memes and the funny side of life.

And we love to combine this in our work, and you don’t have to be a joker or a clown, but it really helps that you can laugh about yourself. If you, if you can say that. This is mainly, we are trying to create an environment where ideas can grow and bloom, and the most crazy ones are getting,

Mirko:

Analyzed in more detail.

Andreas:

We, we laugh. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. We are analyzing in more detail those crazy ones. And most of the time these are the ones that are coming very far on our decision board, maybe. Then we, then we think about all those solutions and yeah. Add more craziness, more fun, more entertain into it. And then we, we think, yeah, what can we, what can we do with it? And how to construct the story around that. And in the end, we just want to try to engage the target group.

Mirko:

Okay. Yeah. It sounds like a creative process, but in the end, still several steps, which are some kind of a process.

Andreas:

Yeah. Somehow, but, but not really, or is it? It’s not ABC, it’s more A-Z-K-L-F-G-A.

Mirko:

Yeah. Okay. But that’s super interesting. So you always have a camera on site to document what you’re doing?

Andreas:

Yeah. That’s for sure. Yeah. I’m living with two hands on the camera.

Mirko:

So that’s, that’s really easy because you’re in this business, but now imagine just one of these process management guys out there, our listeners. So I think the biggest problem, we as process management guys will have, is that process management is still often perceived as boring. That’s something, just documentation, which you put into folder, and then in case of an audit, you get it out and you show that to the auditor, and that’s it. So nobody really wants to work according to process documentation. That’s boring, dusty, and yeah. So not really sexy. Well, my question there is can we improve this awareness or the acceptance of processes if we communicate in a different way? So using examples you just named content creation approaches to communicate what we are doing. So I thought about establishing something like a process influencer, so a person in an organization which is communicating on process management topics, like doing interviews. So for one customer, just as an example, we are currently starting a process podcast there, and we’re interviewing the experts for specific business processes and just broadcast that as a podcast to the organization. And I’m really looking forward to the first feedback. We just recorded the first two episodes, and that’s just one idea. But with your experience, what would you recommend to a guy, like a potential process influencer? What would you recommend to do to inspire people for processes?

Andreas:

I think first of all, you have to accept that not everyone out there is an expert. They don’t know what is a process, or maybe some of those already would be a great process designer or whatever. Maybe they don’t know that they are really good in this, but they are driven, or every human being is driven by emotions. So my first step would be, can we add a little bit more emotion in in this theme, in this process world? You know, so maybe a little bit more humor, maybe a little bit more to give them a better comparison with their daily lives. What is the process in my life? So you can build some stories around it. Maybe, what is a process?

You can walk in a, I don’t know, in a supermarket and describe your process of shopping. You know, I don’t know, some crazy ideas, just, I don’t know. The life is full of, life is full of processes. So you show it, show it, and don’t take yourself too seriously. I think this is one of the main reasons that people think, okay, this business is quite boring, or process is not, not within my interests. So I would say, you have to talk to me, like we would talk together on a bar with three or four beers in our heads. That’s the point. And second is keep in mind that they are not the expert. And third is, yeah, combine it with things you are excited about. If you have a hobby or, or something like that. Something that gives a sparkle in your eyes, or if it’s reading, if it’s films or anything like that, combine this and describe it with your words. Not with, don’t seem to be like an, an, a super expert, because super experts are boring, I think. Maybe not for everyone, but if I, if I see someone, an absolute expert is speaking about his profession, I don’t know, most of the time it’s super boring. But when they combine things from the daily lives or with situations, I am also knowing from my life, I don’t know, then it’s much more entertaining. Maybe this would be a way I would recommend.

Mirko:

Okay. And would you do that in a video format?

Andreas:

If I would choose, I would say yes. Yeah, definitely. Because video is, you cannot be more pure than in a video when you write texts and upload a shiny, fresh, beautiful picture from you. That’s nice. Yeah, sure. But you have to send out some emotions. You have to send out some, some other signals than just the pure expertise. You know, the people have to understand you. Not only that you’re an expert. And because not only that you’re an expert, the much more important thing is they have to understand you as a human being, as a person. What is your character? What type of guy are you? Are you a funny guy? Are you a straight guy or are you just the boring expert? But if so, they don’t want to follow you. They will never follow you. They will see it and saying, okay, you’re an expert, great, next. But when you succeed in a little bit entertaining, and a little bit more humor and a little bit more natural, in your, what should I,

Mirko:

Authenticity?

Andreas:

Authenticity. Yeah. I hate this word, but this is, it describes still the perfect characteristic. You need authenticity and this, this will work and this will engage the group. Definitely. And yeah, if you mix all this together, I think this is, this could be quite a way.

Mirko:

Yeah. Okay. I just remember I was guest in a webcast at one of my customers, an employee webcast, and there I was introduced as process expert. So there was this nerd standing, talking about process, but maybe it was somehow entertaining.

Andreas:

Yeah. But I think this is the most superpower, underestimated superpower. If you are a true expert, yeah, you don’t have to convince the people. But if you can mix your expertise with a communication that is not above the people more than straight in front, you know, straight in front of people.

Mirko:

Down to earth. Yeah.

Andreas:

Down to earth. Yeah, exactly. Then you can reach the people and, and just mix it with humor and just don’t pretend to be cool. Just be as you are. And yeah. The people will follow you and the people will accept you more than, than just accepting you as an expert.

Mirko:

Okay, cool. So let’s imagine, I’m this process influencer guy in an organization, and now I apply for an internship in your company. So you accept my application, and now I’m your intern for one day. What would you teach me on how to create this inspiring content? Which skills should I learn? What, what would you teach me?

Andreas:

I guess I would do a little workshop with you to show yourself that you are able to, to make or create great content. But first of all, you have to forget everything that you think you have to learn to make great content. Roots are good or resides for a good, I don’t know, LinkedIn game or personal branding strategy or things like that is good, yeah, to come into action. But the earlier you swipe away all these rules, all this expectations from others, that is the sweet spot. And there, this is the point where you start to create something different, something new. And you have to be convinced that to trust in yourself and do your thing.

And don’t listen to other people because there are thousands people out there, who are saying, because you are doing things different, you might put, do things different than, than usual, than the normal person out there. So you are quite exotic. And that’s always, in the first run, it’s very annoying for the people, but when they start to, to understand you, and then when they start to listen to you and roots are good just to come in action. Yeah, you have to make this, yeah, you have to start to learn a little bit out of storytelling. And I don’t know, writing is, is very important and kindness is very important. That’s the thing that some people still not really understand. Yeah. All this is important, but the most important thing is trust in yourself and do your way.

Don’t listen to others. And, and when you go for it, you will earn the, the results pretty soon. This, this may be the, the first few things I would try to implement in your brain, as an intern, trusting yourself, do your thing. You don’t need rules. Rules are nice, nice to have, but you, you are making the difference or you are making the big progress. When you wipe away all those rules and you say, it doesn’t matter, that’s my way. I just do whatever the fuck I want. Just be nice to people and do your thing. That’s very nice. Be nice to people. Not, not because you want something from them. It should come from the heart. You know, it sounds a little bit cheesy, but this is so true. It’s absolutely true. Be nice to people. Yeah. That’s also one thing. But I think this is a skill set you are already implementing.

Mirko:

Yeah. But maybe others can learn from this, uh, from these insights.

Andreas:

And don’t be a dick.

Mirko:

Yeah, exactly. Not a good summary. Yeah. But I would love to talk about another idea which I have in mind, I would say for years already. So I was thinking about inviting people, process experts to workshop, to come together, physically have a beer or two, and talk about processes, talk about ideas to rethink specific processes. Like if you have an expert for, I don’t know, specific production process on the one hand side and an expert for process innovations and one from product engineering or whatever. So these guys come together and now we, we have something like a two days creative workshop there in a structured way. So this will be moderated and hopefully a cool outcome in the end, like a new process which is created there.

And what I would love to do is document this event. Yeah. Right from the beginning. They, they come together, they sit together, they brainstorm, they develop prototypes, and also have some interesting discussions at night while having the beer. And then next morning they go out and test that new process with people who might be affected by the outcome or might work in that process. And just enjoy what we are doing there a little bit. And would you be up for something like this to accompany a project like this to record that as video and so on? Is that something you would do?

Andreas:

It’s a very usual product we are producing. Yeah. It’s a documentation of some events. Yeah. That would be one case we would like to, we are active. Can we say though? Yeah. We are documenting some company events. Yeah. If it’s a kickoff, if it’s a new product or New Year’s kickoff event or whatever concert, I don’t know. Yeah, of course. Yeah. That, that would be maybe a job. Yes. Yeah. Of course. And it’s very important for the company, right? Because this is everything that left from this, that is left from events like that. When you are on those events, yeah. You have experience, it’s great. You have a good time. You are coming back and two weeks later you don’t know anything about that. But if you have to comment this maybe with pictures or with a video, it’s a very, it’s a whole different type of conserve those feelings, you know? You can always come back in this, in this feeling and in this brainstormings and this workshops. And so yeah. You have to, yeah, you can put you back in those situations and refresh those insights or learnings. Very important.

Mirko:

Okay. And I thought, I thought about sharing this with the community as well. So make it publicly available, not only internal, could also be an, just an internal workshop, but I thought about producing something which is relevant for the whole community. So do that cross-company workshop approach. So where different companies bringing their process and we can talk about these and then share the results practically maybe on YouTube.

Andreas:

When we’re talking about company channels, company profiles, yeah maybe, maybe. But when it comes to, I don’t know, for your personal feed or for your, for your personal LinkedIn feed or something like that, I would say not really. Then I would recommend more or less that the employees by itself producing content. Taking pictures, making videos, and in that case, I would more recommend to work on their ability to create content by themselves cause yeah, sure. We as a professional production company, we could, we can do that. Yeah. No problem with interviews and things like that. But I think that’s what is much more relevant or much more effective, is that they are, that they are producing their content by their own during those events, but from the company. Yeah, of course. Yeah. On the company profile, I would post, I don’t know, a little after movie or things like that, or learnings or small parts from those workshops or things, I don’t know, 20, 30 seconds, things like that. Interesting insights. Yeah, why not? But yeah, it would be mix between an after movie for the company page or YouTube or whatever, and to give the people the ability to, to create content by their own. The most important thing is that they are, they are not afraid of creating content by their own. There’s also a very big, big part of our daily business to convince people, our employees, that their job is worth sharing with content, their expertise or their experience.

Mirko:

Yeah. Cool. Thank you very much. And just to wrap it up, what is your key message to our listeners to rethink processes or to inspire people for processes?

Andreas:

Speaking to the expert of processes, I think the most, the biggest impact would be that they are, they should more implement their pure emotions. Process is fine, but just from time to time, it’s good to just wipe away those processes, those rules, and just to lay back and think, okay, what, what drives me? What, what emotions do I have? What would I like to transform? What would I like to say to the people? And is there a thing or a possibility to combine those things with my process world? And I think this is the turning point for some to get on the next level, not only for their business, but even for their communication, or their content creation. Maybe more emotions. Be a little bit crazy. Crazy is okay if you want to, if you are collecting ideas, some of them are pretty crazy and awkward maybe, but just don’t put it in the trash. Just put it aside and think about it. Maybe it’s not so abstract or not so dumb or not so crazy as it sees in the first run. And if you, yeah, that’s another good point. If you are a little bit afraid of doing that or things different, it’s a good sign that this is exactly the right direction of doing. Yeah. That’s also a big learning. Yeah. You know, I think would be the main points.

Mirko:

Where can our listeners learn more about what you’re doing, your work, your ideas, where should they go to?

Andreas:

Mainly on my LinkedIn profile. My LinkedIn profile represents my crazy head in its purest form. Otherwise, the products we are producing, you can see some of them on our website. Yeah. I think the biggest touchpoint would be my LinkedIn profile.

Mirko:

Okay. Cool. Yeah, I definitely put the link into the show notes, so it’s easy to find them. And what would be your recommendation, like which tool, method, expert, which person we should have a closer look onto to get ideas to rethink processes?

Andreas:

Well, the most inspirational person in my life so far is Michael Otto. He’s copywriter. And I think he’s much more better in English than me but he’s an excellent copywriter and he, he’s writing texts for websites and I don’t know, he’s a big, maybe the biggest inspiration in my career so far. But there are several ones, I don’t know, mainly several creators. Dozens. Céline Flores Willers. I’m a fanboy. Yeah. I really like her. I met her personally and she’s great. She’s insane. Somehow, but I really like that. And yeah, dozens of different people on LinkedIn. I would say just follow me and just hit the bell and then you can see what kind of people I’m most interacting with. And so yeah, I think this, this would be the most effective point. But yeah, Michael Otto, Céline Flores Willers, those are, those are people that inspires me.

Mirko:

Yeah. That’s cool. I’m following them as well. And maybe you can organize an intro to them and we can have them on the podcast in the future so we can have ideas.

Andreas:

Why not? Yeah, why not?

Mirko:

That’s great. Cool. So is there anything else before we leave this aircraft today you would like to share with our listeners?

Andreas:

Oh, yeah. We are landing in Lukla right now, and I’m afraid, but I can’t wait to sit on the top of Mount Everest. You too?

Mirko:

Would be cool. Yeah, definitely.

Andreas:

The last word. Yeah. When I’m having a keynote or I’m having a speech somewhere on, I don’t know, companies or events or things like that. It always sounds cheesy, but this is really the main point where it all comes together. And what is maybe the most important message I have to say, or I have to, yeah, I have to say. But the biggest impact, not only for your career, not only for content creation, not only for marketing, don’t take yourself too seriously and have fun with that, what you’re doing, or at least combine your daily business with a lot of fun. And then it will be, yeah, it will be reached to the next levels. Yeah. I think this is my German english.

Mirko:

That’s great. Ah, cool. Yes. Thank you so much. So just before leaving the aircraft, how would you describe our flight with just three words?

Andreas:

It was very English, obviously tried hard. Yeah. It was a, a big step out of my comfort zone because it was my first podcast in English and it was very difficult for me. Yeah. And I think here and there you can hear that, but I don’t know, we are here just to have a cool time. Right? We are just here to have a cool conversation and maybe here or there we can learn from each other. And that’s, yeah, the main thing is when we are having fun together, at least for a few minutes, then it was a good session, right? I had a lot of fun. I don’t know if you or the listeners also can say this, but I don’t know. I hope so.

Mirko:

Yeah, definitely. I learned a lot. This was really inspiring. And there are some things you talked about, which I would love to pick up later on to see what we can make out of it. So Andreas, thank you so much for being my guest. on the New Process Podcast. Have a great day and bye-bye.

Andreas:

Thank you.

Mirko:

Yeah. What a flight with Andreas, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And yeah, to wrap it up, I’d like to recap, especially on the role of the process influencer. So just to define that term again, or that role again for me, a process influencer is a person in an organization who fights for processes and applies content creation techniques or methods, you know, from influencers, product influencers or corporate influencers out there. So using on the one hand side, videos or podcasts or texts and images, posts on corporate media or even on social media to fight for processes. So based on the role description, there are some hard skills you will have to learn as a process influencer. So the best way would be to know how to create videos. Today, these can be easily done with your smartphone, I would say, but if you would like to do it more professional way, feel free to contact Andreas and I’m sure he’ll assist you on that.

And another good way is to create a process podcast, as I am doing right now at one of my customers. So if you would like to learn more about that, feel free to contact me afterwards. And the third skill will be copywriting, to write good text, good articles for your internet, for news and so on. And for sure copywriting will be one of the next topics in one of the upcoming episodes. So, but beside the hard skills, there were some recommendations Andreas told us to take into account to become a successful process influencer. And the first most important thing I would say is to add emotions and humor to what you are doing. So if you’re producing podcasts or a video, don’t forget the emotions. Don’t forget the humor. Be yourself. And then keep in mind that the people out there aren’t the experts, they are not the process experts.

So try to use stories of processes in everybody’s life, like the example Andreas gave in the shopping center or so on. If you wanna buy something, this is also a process. And you could use these daily life examples to, yeah, bring processes to the people more and more to make it easier for them to understand what you’re talking about. And then another good idea there was to combine what you are telling your expertise with things you are excited about. Yeah, I know we all are excited about processes, but maybe there are some other hobbies that you have, which can also be used to inspire people for processes. So if you combine these hobbies, which may also be hobbies of the people out there with processes, this could help. So these super experts are boring. Um, that’s what he said, and I guess you know that as well.

But try to be real. Be more authentic. Show who you are, add humor to what you are doing, and then act as a process influencer there. Therefore, you recommend to adopt a mindset which you need. And the first important mindset there is to trust yourself. So trust in what you are doing, and then do it your way. Be a little bit crazy and don’t think about what the others might think about what you are doing. And if you are afraid of doing something, it’s always a good sign to just do it. Yeah, great recommendations from Andreas. And maybe these are also some inspirations for you to become a process influencer in your own organization. Cool. We’ll see. So to give you an outlook, what is coming up in the next episodes, I’m going to pick up Andreas’ recommendations for inspiring guests. That’s for sure to dive more into that direction. And there are also some other cool method and tool episodes in the pipeline. So just stay tuned. And for now, have a great day. Thank you for listening. Bye-bye. And auf Wiedersehen!

You’ve been listening to the New Process Podcast. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode for more tools, methods, and best practices to rethink your process and push it to the next level. Thank you for listening.

Okay. Before you leave, what about taking a first step to become a process influencer? So maybe thinking about producing your first video or even a corporate podcast on processes that’s super easy to create. And if you would like to learn more on that, just send me an email to mirko@newprocesslab.com and I’ll explain to you how to do that. Have a great day, and bye-bye.

 

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