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Dubai, Madrid and soon Bangkok – around the world with MDI

Dubai, Madrid and soon Bangkok – around the world with MDI

by Alina Helmlinger, Marina Begic, Nicole Altenberger | Jul 7, 2022 | Best Practice, International leadership development, Training Insights | 0 comments

Turbulent camel rides in Dubai, a heated scavenger hunt at the Madrid Palace and an exciting business rally

our L&D Consultants Marina Begic, Nicole Altenberger and Alina Helmlinger have experienced quite a bit over the past few months. Here they describe how it all came about, what exactly they did there, and what’s awaiting next for them…

Dubai, Madrid and soon Bangkok – around the world with MDI

Pitch 

In late November 2021, we were invited by a client to participate in an RFP for 4 regional meetings – an event of sales executives. Since this was a newly acquired company that we hadn’t worked with before, we didn’t think our chances were particularly high. In most tenders there is time pressure, we know that. Despite the end of the year, the high implementation risk (first major f2f events after Corona) and the usual pre-Christmas stress, we accepted the challenge. After all, this is exactly our playground 😉

At the pitch, we were able to convince them with an innovative presentation using an e-learning tool and a concept based on the 70-20-10 model, where the focus is on maximum practical benefit and integrated transfer assurance.

Here our agile mdi mindset was really beneficial. After receiving the confirmation that we won the project,  we were asked to start the planning right before Christmas – which was also new for us 😉 

Scope clarification

The detailed program was developed in close coordination with an internal project team and adapted to the current needs of the Western Europe+Canada and Africa+Middle East regions. The conference program was developed around the following guiding themes:

Leadership

High Performing Teams

Coaching

Here we were able to apply our experience from years of international rollouts and demonstrate our leadership development expertise. It was important for us and the international project team to always keep the key themes in mind, while at the same time considering the needs of the regions. To this end, regular project meetings were held with international and regional working groups during the cocreation phase, which lasted approximately 4-5 months. A quick response, high passion and motivation of all participants characterized the cooperation.

In the end, we had an exciting 2-day program filled with keynotes, panel discussions and goal-oriented activities- in addition to content inputs, there was also an experience factor.

Empowerment 

In the course of working with up to a total of 100 people, we were not only able to get to know the needs of the clients very well, but also the corporate culture. Thus, content and activities were created with and by all project members. The goal was to involve the target group as much as possible, both in the cocreation phase and then on stage itself.

The overall concept was developed with three levels of impact in mind:

Head

Hands

Heart

The interaction of these three levels of impact can be seen in this graphic.

The guiding themes of all events were identical, but based on cultural, corporate and situational backgrounds, the agenda was customized and tailored to the group of people on site.

Learning Objectives

The project was designed to address the following leadership learning objectives:

  • Leaders who think strategically and lead their companies with strong business acumen
  • Leaders who manage their company through their people and develop high-performing teams
  • Leaders who are flexible in their approach to inspire, coach and bring out the best in each member of their team

Agenda

A varied agenda with a mix of diverse methods provided the framework for exciting exchanges and experiential values:

  • Key Notes: Plenary on stage in front of all participants. A mixture of theoretical content and company-specific context. The goal is to inspire and creatively engage the audience.
  • Involvement of the audience in the plenary: to get audience input, participants were invited to share their assessment & opinion via “Slido” – in this case it was supported via the project’s own created app and QR code.
  • Activities: participants were actively involved in the implementation and experienced the impact/ content first hand.
  • Panel discussions: with key players within the company to facilitate translation into the company’s internal context. An interactive discussion to facilitate reflection and learning after the content and activities targeting key insights for the audience.

Individualization: Where were the differences ?

Although, it was the same client and there was a common theme and goal, it was exciting for us to observe the importance of individualization for the two regions Western Europe+Canada and Middle East+Africa. To achieve maximum impact, the “Heart” impact level was addressed more in Dubai and “Head” in Madrid. Both had a lot of “Hand” in common.

 

Dubai: (Midde East+Africa)

  • Target group: first Head of Sales, then changed to Crossfunctional teams (Finance, Marketing, Sales, Legal, HR, etc) and General Managers
  • Needs: new leadership, new composition of regions, networking between countries and functions in focus
  • Way of working: more agile, fast paced, short preparation time, no prework, longer transfer period
  • Social program: desert safari, saxophonist, gala dinner in the desert, camel riding, falcons, drumming workshop

Madrid: (Western Europe+ Canada)

  • Target group: Head of Sales, General Managers
  • Needs: to stay on the road to success, to strengthen the sales leadership force
  • Way of working: meticulous, longer preparation, extensive prework with thematic newsletters and tasks.
  • social program: scavenger hunt at the palace, evening event with exquisite dinner in an exclusive vineyard. Here we had our crowd favorite Gia Helena with us as Master of Ceremonies, who kept the audience of around 100 people in good spirits.

High competition factor

What was even more striking with the target group of sales executives was the competition factor. Not only did the content of the event have to be perfectly aligned with the current needs of the respective region under the global guiding themes, but it also had to be entertaining and produce clear winners. For this target group, we not only added competition components to the activities, but also designed a business rally

Here is a brief summary of our main activities:

Trust Walk

An interactive and entertaining activity that makes aspects of “high performance teams” tangible (in the sense of: own experience beats theory). It bridges the gap between “knowing” (logic) and “feeling” (emotional understanding), so that the inspiration to act (practical relevance) makes sense in the upcoming event elements (panel discussion, leadership camp). The focus is on generating experience, as a course has to be completed in different roles (leader, follower, observer) – with varying degrees of difficulty.

Coaching Game

This activity focused on learning the purpose of coaching and the benefits of coaching conversations. To raise awareness of coaching as a leadership tool and peer-to-peer empowerment and to get a “hands-on mindset” by having the opportunity to coach yourself in a small setting of 4 people, with the support of self-created card sets, with appropriate, challenging and pointed coaching questions. Participants are given the opportunity and the right framework for self-reflection as a leader.

Business Rally

Based on a scavenger hunt, company-relevant content was transformed into an entertaining and fast-paced business rally. The leader supports their groups to apply skills to address leadership challenges (behaviors from the CDF supported by experiential learning). The fun factor is supported with the help of a fictional frame story and with a competitive situation, ambition came out in all participants.

Leadership Camp

This activity is about deriving the content into actionable and concrete action steps (action steps in the areas of leadership, coaching and high performing teams). The goal is to achieve a definition of actions and key results for the next few months within a region. This 2-hour workation is used intensively and the results are presented in plenary – which are quite impressive. With this last activity all participants are motivated to start the implementation in their respective countries.

Our learnings 

  • Match the right people with the right skills to the project parts
  • Stick to the time and the project plan
  • Be flexible with the content and react to the audience´s needs
  • Always celebrate the milestones and the successes

81% NPS

We are highly motivated after these energetic events and thankful that face-to-face events are possible again. Looking back, “Teamwork makes the dream work” – and the intensive preparation time more than paid off. It was great to see how the thread of content ran through both regions – we took individual wishes into account and can therefore look back on two successful events. The cooperation of all participants as well as the co-creation with the content experts made a state-of-the-art event possible.

From the Team MDI we were actively supported by: Helena Gia Gutierrez, (Moderation Madrid), Peter Grabuschnig (Activity Manager Dubai & Madrid), Alina Olar (Project Management), Marilena Maris (Key-Notes), Ursula Weixlbaumer-Norz (Business Rally)

This is also reflected in a Net Promoter Score, a recommendation rate of 81%.

We thank you for your trust and are already looking forward to the roll-out in the regions – Bangkok, here we come 🙂

Marina Begic

Marina Begic

Digital Business Development Expertin und Senior L&D Consultant

Marina has been working on new, effective learning methods and the future of corporate learning for over 15 years. In her current role, she is responsible for Digital Business Development at MDI, where her focus is not driven by the current buzzwords, but primarily on the feasibility of digital transformation for clients such as Erste Group, Lenzing, Semperit, Deutsche Bahn, Andritz AG, Uniqa, Mayr-Melnhof, Frequentis, RHIM. Her greatest strength is bringing loose ends together, which she impressively demonstrates time and time again with her big picture view and multi-dimensional approach. Her greatest passion is to provide learners not only with an experience, but also with real, lasting value for their real challenges.

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Nicole Altenberger, BA

Nicole Altenberger, BA

Senior L&D Consultant

Since 2020 Nicole has been accompanying leaders and companies from all over the world on their journey and supports them in the creation and tailoring of suitable training and development measures. This highly diversified work has resulted in numerous different settings, in which she has had the opportunity to learn the most effective and target-oriented methods. In doing so, the personal learning experience has not been neglected either. Her clients include companies such as Agrana, Albelli, Coca-Cola, Erste Group, Frequentis, Migros, OMV, Rewe, RHI Magnesita, Swarovski, Voestalpine, Wienerberger. Her interest in the area of Learning & Development was deepened during her studies in “Business Consultancy International” and substantiated by relevant work experience within an internationally active group. Already at a young age Nicole Altenberger is one of the top Learning & Development Consultants at MDI and runs her own team.

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Alina Helmlinger, MA

Alina Helmlinger, MA

L&D Consultant

Since 2021, Alina has been working as an L&D Consultant at MDI and supports clients from various industries in the customized design of various management development programs and trainings. In addition to her practical knowledge and the experience she has already gained in the field of development, she can draw on sound theoretical knowledge from her Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management and her Master’s degree in Organizational and Personnel Development, which she successfully completed in June 2022. Alina maintains her balance, especially in challenging situations, and manages to reconcile the interests of different stakeholders in complex projects, enabling her to design tailor-made HR solutions that are aligned with the needs of her customers.

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Digital training formats for leadership development

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  • Blended Learning Journeys
  • Virtual Leadership
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  • digital learning transfer

– we have just the right thing for your needs!

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Learning in the agile age: waterfall or cycle?

Learning in the agile age: waterfall or cycle?

by Dominik Etzl | Jun 28, 2022 | Agile Leadership, Best Practice, MDI Inside | 0 comments

What is the reality of learning in large companies today?

We often see in a wide variety of companies that there is a department that is single-handedly responsible for designing training programs, then planning them through from A to Z in advance, with a strong focus on teaching abstract models.

What’s the problem with that? Firstly, the work context is too complex for any department to know what the employees’ real-world challenges are. Secondly, the pace of change is now too fast for training to be valid over time. And thirdly: Us humans are not purely rational beings who learn on the basis of theoretical models, but also need “heart” and “hand” to change.

About the author

​Dominik Etzl is Solution Development Manager and Trainer at MDI Management Development GmbH and Managing Director of Metaforum International. His focus is on topics of digital transformation, as well as OKR (Objectives & Key Results), agile leadership and lateral leadership. His goal is to support managers in leading a valuable contribution to their environment: on an individual, corporate and societal level.

Waterfall vs. cycle

It seems obvious: If employees are inefficient somewhere, we choose an expert on learning who is qualified by his long-time expertise to create the perfect learning program with the appropriate content.

Although this seems very obvious at first glance, this approach belongs to the outdated mindset of taylorism. This sees people as machines working on an assembly line, for which all that is needed is an engineer who knows which update will increase efficiency. Learning here resembles a waterfall, where from start to finish one thing leads causally to the next.

In theory, it looks like this:

  1. Pre-reading X leads to
  2. Aha-experience, leads to
  3. Interest in more, leads to
  4. Active involvement in the seminar, leads to
  5. Trying out in everyday life, leads to
  6. Better business results, …

Is learning even plannable?

This approach cannot be dismissed completely. After all, looking back on a learning experience, correlations can be seen! Entire models and companies have specialized in optimizing this approach. For example, Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick has made the valuable contributions with the “New World Model” that a training program must be designed “back to front”. One must derive the necessary behaviors etc. from the desired goal and not vice versa.

This has its merits. Nevertheless, these approaches are built on an assumption: Learning could be planned.

Thought exercise

But is it? Please think of one thing in which you have achieved mastery. Would your personal path to mastery, as it happened, have been predictable? Could an expert have given you a coherent chain of experiences that you just had to follow blindly to get really good at? Of course not. Nevertheless, in practice we see far too often that people compulsively try to understand learning as a complicated, i.e. mechanically transparent problem.

Learning is a profoundly complex problem

However, it is true that learning is a deeply complex problem and thus cannot be planned. Whenever we deal with people, especially knowledge workers, we find ourselves in the complex cynefin quadrant. Thus, the expert loses its validity. There are no more “good practices” to follow, only “emergent practices.” This means it takes an iterative, collaborative, and holistic approach to learning. So the metaphor for learning – especially in the digitized 21st century – is not the waterfall, but the circle.

The 3×3 Rule

In what follows, we don’t invent anything new, but let the effective laws of learning work for themselves. What we are doing is bringing 3 elements of agile learning, which have mostly been seen separately, into a coherent picture.

Element 1: 3 process steps

Agile has defined – in complex situations – iteration as the most efficient way to reach the goal. The mantra is: long planning is a waste of time because the context is in flux. It is more efficient to take small steps and to refocus on the goal at regular intervals. This applies to project management (e.g., SCRUM) or product development (e.g., design thinking) just as it does to learning: “What small learning iteration do I need right now to master tomorrow’s deadline better than yesterdays?”

Big Picture

At the same time, it’s important not to lose sight of the big picture in learning either. Similar to business strategies, there needs to be some sort of vision or north star to follow. This can also be questioned at regular intervals. In this way, short-term and long-term goals form a symbiosis that optimally supports the learner in the learning journey.

Thought Exercise

Join in: What’s a skill you’re proud of? How did you learn it? – Think through the process: Whatever you learned, at some early point you had at least a rough idea of what you wanted to learn next (planning). Then you jumped into the more or less deep end (acting). Finally, you were either happy because you managed one more pace in the water, or you pulled yourself out of the water exhausted and analyzed what could be better (evaluating). Then the cycle starts all over again.

Let’s take a figurative look at this – indeed, deeply human – movement: These 3 process steps form the outer framework of the MDI learning circle: plan, act & evaluate. They are the skeleton that gives the learning process its shape:

Element 2: 3 levels of action

Running in circles does not automatically make you better. Us humans are living beings and need stimulation on 3 levels, which only as a coherent whole results in change.

Mostly unconscious, but nevertheless present in every learning process, are these 3 effect levels of learning:

  1. Brain: understanding why and how something works
  2. Heart: feeling that the current situation is not good, or that another one would be better
  3. Hand: trying – only by doing the world changes

Learning can start at any point

Tip: The 3 levels of impact are not chronological, but learning can start at any point. What is important is not when, but that all 3 are stimulated. Think of a 3-legged stool: If one leg is missing – no matter which one – the stool tilts. Three of them create stability.

What happens if one of the three “legs” is missing?

  • A learner without “brain” (cognitive insight) is at best a “blind benefactor” – and at worst wasted potential because he does not see when, how and why action should be taken.
  • A learner without “heart” (emotional responsiveness) is at best a “rational optimizer” and at worst a narcissistic manipulator.
  • A learner without “hand” (practical experience) is at best a “benevolent theorist” and at worst an “aloof know-it-all”.

These three types are extreme expressions to illustrate the co-dependency of the 3 levels of effectiveness. In practice you will find these types in a weakened and mixed form. Do you recognize someone?

Example

But let’s also look at a positive example. For example, on the topic of giving feedback:
Giving critical feedback in such a way that the other person receives it as a gift is an art. It has to be learned. Are you good at it? If so, please recall a specific feedback situation. (If not: Choose another skill you have mastered.) – If you are a master of feedback, you have certainly given and received critical feedback frequently (hand). – You’ve felt at several moments how it works, how good authentic feedback feels, and how painful hidden or unfair criticism is (heart). And you cognitively understood that critical feedback is a value-add that moves you and your colleagues forward, even if it’s not always pleasant (brain).

Note: Often it’s not stand-alone learning moments, but many small “AHAs” that lead to the big “eureka.”

Element 3: 3 Stakeholders

The third part of the 3×3 rule is about stakeholders. Why? Learning success in business is proven to be a collaborative success. It takes several to pull together and make their respective contributions. Who is that specifically? Learning research clearly shows that 3 stakeholders in organizations are crucial for learning to actually work (cf. Weinbauer-Heidel, Ibeschitz-Manderbach):

  1. Learner
  2. Organization (especially HR & leadership)
  3. Trainer

The learner
he learner naturally bears a main responsibility for the interplay of learning and applying. What matters most is the learner’s own will and confidence to apply the content in the short and long term.

The organization
The organization’s learning lever lies primarily in providing a system for defining and evaluating short- and long-term learning objectives that learners can use as a guide.

The Trainer
The biggest levers to learning success on the trainer side are clearly communicating expectations, teaching relevant content, allowing active practice in the seminar and conducting implementation planning for applying what is learned in the work context.

Similar to the 3 levels of impact, all 3 stakeholders play essential roles in the success of learning in continuing education. If one of the 3 stakeholders does not fulfill his task, potentials remain unused and in the worst case the learning construct collapses like a house of cards.

The MDI Learning Circle

Finally, let’s take a step back and widen our view again from the individual element to the big picture. What does the 3×3 rule tell us? It sums up how learning works in an agile environment. Here you can find everything summarized in one picture:

  • The 3 process steps: plan, act, evaluate.
  • The 3 levels of action: Brain, Heart, Hand
  • The 3 stakeholders: Learner, Organization, Trainer

Take all 3 elements into account and you can be sure that the learning success in your organization will increase!  Note: This article addresses almost exclusively your brain – not your heart or your hand! ? So consider: what concrete next steps can you take to establish a more agile learning culture in your organization?

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Hybrid Leadership – Making the best of both worlds

Hybrid Leadership – Making the best of both worlds

by Gunther Fürstberger | Jun 27, 2022 | Leadership in the digital transformation, MDI Inside | 0 comments

Hybrid Leadership – Making the the best of both worlds

Even though the call to return to the office is noticeable in many places, home office has come to stay. For leaders, the task is to manage and motivate teams in a mix of presence, absence and making the best of both worlds with efficient hybrid leadership

Better work-life balance

According to a recent study by telecoms company Cisco, 79 per cent of workers think their work-life balance has improved as a result of hybrid working. A total of 28,000 employees from 27 countries were surveyed. In Austria, almost half see hybrid working as the model of the future, 64 percent want to be able to choose whether they attend meetings online or offline in the future.

While at the beginning of the pandemic there was no alternative to working at home, the attitude of employees has clearly changed. And now, at the latest, the understanding of leadership must also change.

Still unfamiliar

“Surprisingly, a natural approach to leading hybrid teams is still rather the exception,”

says Gunther Fürstberger, Managing Director of MDI Training.

Mostly, for example, meetings are planned either online or in presence. “Hybrid meetings are often seen as difficult and inefficient, although it has been possible for a few years now to communicate very pleasantly and efficiently with online and present participants at the same time with little financial effort.”

The hybrid world is here to stay

There is a broad consensus that the hybrid world is here to stay. What is still lacking is the corresponding mindset. Fürstberger understands this to mean the awareness that technical possibilities should be gladly and increasingly utilised for efficiency as well as positive effects on the environment.

Hybrid Leadership Workshop 

In a one-day MDI workshop, participants learn how to put the success factors of hybrid leadership “Purpose”, “People” and “Performance” into practice, but also how to strengthen togetherness and motivation despite distance.

Continue reading

Just click here to continue reading the entire (german) interview with “Die Presse”.

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Mag. Gunther Fürstberger

Mag. Gunther Fürstberger

CEO | MDI Management Development International

Gunther Fürstberger is a management trainer, author and CEO of Metaforum and MDI – a global consulting company providing solutions for leadership development. His main interest is to make the world a better place through excellent leadership. He has worked for clients including ABB, Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, DHL, Hornbach, PWC and Swarovski. His core competence is leadership in digital transformation. He gained his own leadership experience as HR Manager of McDonald’s Central Europe/Central Asia.  At the age of 20 he already started working as a trainer.

 

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3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

by Dominik Etzl, Gunther Fürstberger, Peter Grabuschnig | Jun 23, 2022 | Digital Transformation, Leadership Tips, MDI Inside | 0 comments

The 3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

Basically, the concept of leadership in a hybrid set-up can be broken down to 3 main factors:

Purpose, People and Performance.

Each of these factors is an important piece of the puzzle that allows us to work efficiently and at full speed in hybrid. Here you will get a brief introduction to the basic principles of hybrid working and leading and why our 3 P’s are the 3 main success factors of hybrid leadership.

PURPOSE

Who would want to return to a workplace where you can’t identify with the values and thus don’t feel comfortable at all?

Everybody needs a reason to want to open the laptop every day – whether at home or in the office. In the hybrid world, you have to take care even more about keeping all of your employees on the ball. To do that, you need a collective mission – a Purpose.

At MDI, for example, we’ve made it our mission to develop leaders who “strive for a better world.” If your employees have a mantra that reminds them of why they have an important position in the company, they will be much more motivated to work and achieve more.

PEOPLE

Of course, employment itself should not be the only reason to enjoy showing up at the office. Often, it’s the people who motivate you to work every day. Much more emphasis should be put on the relationship among each other – the trust, the cohesion in the teams and the bond to the company. Especially when many employees are not physically in the office, you have to make sure that everyone is seen and heard. Transparent communication and respectful mutual behavior can quickly resolve conflicts and create a pleasant working atmosphere.

PERFORMANCE

The last P – Performance – is made up of three components:

  • Motivation
  • Competence and
  • Doing the Right Thing.

We ask ourselves the following questions: How much can and want our employees to achieve good results? Every starting situation of our colleagues is different. It is important to be understanding of each situation, to inquire regularly and to offer support where necessary.

We should also always keep up to date with the latest technology developments that can potentially facilitate processes and ways of working in the hybrid set-up. New apps and features are constantly being developed that make our routine workflows much easier and more flexible.

Clearly, hybrid work and especially leadership is still new territory for all of us. But before we despair and give up, let’s try around and keep the 3 P’s in mind.

Want to learn more aboute 3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership?

There are so many resources we can tap into to make work uncomplicated.

For more practical tips and tools, check out our guide

Successful hybrid leadership –

The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

… and/or join our LinkedIn Leadership Community:

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The 3 biggest challenges of hybrid work

The 3 biggest challenges of hybrid work

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The 3 biggest challenges of hybrid work – voices from the personalist.at community

In the course of an Leadership Horizon Conference competition, some members of the personalist.at community asked themselves the following question – What are my 3 biggest challenges when it comes to leading an organization in the new age of hybrid work?

Employee retention

A common concern among participants seems to be employee retention – spending so much time in the home office significantly increases the distance between the company and its employees.

One participant commented:

More home office cannot work at the expense of team spirit and identification. How do we still manage to maintain the bond with the company & the players or allow it to develop?

Re-establish the corporate culture

In addition, it is now necessary to fully re-establish the corporate culture that was previously destructed. There are several factors (e.g. generational diversity) and different needs (e.g. different working days) that now have to find a harmony.

Complicated organization

What additionally puts obstacles in the way of hybrid company development is the complicated organization. The onboarding process clearly needs a change here, because new employees now hardly find a connection without the personal exchange. We all need to learn from and with the situation.

An involved in the competition wrote:

Reintegrate learning into the hybrid workday: Shaping the learning organization: moving away from pandemic crisis management and into forward-looking planning and action.

Constructive approaches to your hybrid challenges

Take a look at our guide HYBRID LEADERSHIP or read these posts on our blog: 6 things you can do to support your hybrid team & 5 tips to increase trust when working hybrid.

Get the "Hybrid Leadership" Guide

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