Hey, I’m Ilka. I’m the founder and front-seat driver of Collective Intent. I was born and raised in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, and now get to call beautiful Bavaria my home since 2018. (Ja, ich kann auch Deutsch sprechen dank meine deutschsprachigen Eltern.)

After completing my masters degree in organizational psychology, my career started in the field of leadership development. I helped hypergrowth scale-ups in Vancouver to develop high-performing leaders. Our collaborative mission was to get these leaders and their respective teams feeling deeply engaged while delivering extraordinary results.

When I moved to Germany I transitioned first into change management consulting, and then into OKR and strategy consulting. In these roles I had (and continue to have) the honour of working with various companies in diverse industries across the country. I was shocked when I realized the German corporate world is experiencing a massive movement to rid organizations of as much formal leadership as possible. Every second company seems to want a flat org. chart. I was left scratching my head; why would you rid your company of it’s greatest lever to do good?

I’ve since realized companies are misdiagnosing serious problems. The problem isn’t “leadership” itself, the problem is bad leadership.

Next, I realized there’s a void in the market to fix this problem. Too many consultancies are offering overcomplicated alternatives to classic management, or management training companies are an utter bore. There doesn’t seem to be enough fun in this industry of developing great leadership - and that’s a terrible shame.

That’s why we’re here: let’s together make leadership great again! My company Collective Intent wants to help you make leadership your company’s secret weapon.

What’s Collective Intent out to accomplish?

Having leadership responsibility is simulataneously a privilege and a burden.While it often comes with status, higher salary, and decision-making power, it usually comes with a drastically increased pressure to deliver results. Leaders are under a magnifying glass of scrutiny: it can feel like there’s no room for weakness or error. This pressure all too often takes the joy out of leadership. Collective Intent understands these challenges and is here to help. We want to equip leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to maximize their positive impact on their teams and businesses in a way that is both fun and supportive.

Our “intent” is “collective” because we’re in this together: we’re co-creating the kind of leadership your business needs to succeed and for your people to thrive.