PrimeLine: 20 years of strategic investment in human potential

Imagine yourself…

I am Eli Dimova, I love to travel and immerse myself in other cultures and customs, I feel good almost anywhere, I absorb the experiences of others and share my own in the field of human development with my clients for over 20 years. I have dedicated my time to helping businesses identify and develop the potential and skills of their employees and teams in order to achieve their high goals faster, easier, and with satisfaction.

PrimeLine Consultants International is celebrating 20 years. If you go back to 2005, what was the initial idea and how has it changed or remained over the years?

Before founding the company, I held managerial positions in the corporate business mainly in the pharmaceutical and logistics industries. One day I received a call from abroad from a headhunting agency that was looking for a representative for one of the leading companies in the world for training know-how Wilson Learning Worldwide. Despite being a global leader, the brand was not known in Bulgaria as it is with many other global brands. The initial idea to introduce valid know-how for business competencies necessary for companies to develop successfully has not changed, as well as to show Bulgarian companies a sustainable strategic model for investing in the development of their employees, so that they can close the gap between strategic corporate goals and the necessary level of skills that their teams must possess to achieve them.

What was the biggest risk you took at the beginning, and would you take it again today?

When founding a company from scratch, all possible risks of a start-up are taken. In the human development industry, the start-up period can last 5-6 years, which is a very long initial period. Every single decision in its development taken incorrectly could trip up the young company. The company was entirely developed at the very beginning with the cold calling approach, probably the hardest for many people even now. In addition, the market and the macroeconomic environment in which the company starts and develops play a very significant role. From the moment of its creation until now, every year is different, some completely unique like the periods of instability in 2018, the pandemic, difficult predictability due to the unknown nature of some factors, etc. In a word, every possible risk has been taken and overcome since we are celebrating this moment today.

If I had known in advance the path back in 2005, I don't know if I would have taken it again, but that is the charisma of courage and bravery, as well as of life itself. From today’s perspective and from the results and satisfaction I get from our work with our clients, I would make the decision to take this path again.

Is there a moment in the company's history that you would define as a turning point?

I would say that our development is organic and there probably isn't a true turning point, but a few years ago I made the decision to rebrand and change the name of the company to PrimeLine Consultants. The main reason for this was that at the local level we developed our capabilities and solutions, complemented international partnerships, and the services we offer, at the core of which remains the training know-how, have expanded significantly. Thus today we are a one-stop-shop and meet the needs for assessment and development of an employee, regardless of their function and hierarchical level, from the beginning of their journey with a company to the potential end and development of the next career level.

You often talk about ethics, sustainable development, and trust. How do these values translate into real business results?

Good question, thank you!  If an individual or company wants to develop in the right direction for them and achieve the results they set, they must be authentic. This creates trust. Without trust, long-term relationships cannot be built. To achieve sustainable human development, respect for the individual through applying ethical norms and mutual trust is fundamental. Ethics provides predictability and psychological security for future interactions. The development of a human individual is not a one-time act, but a process, a journey, and a partnership between the person and the one they trust for their development (manager, consultant, coach, etc.). For successful development, a calm and open mind and a readiness to learn and absorb are needed. This readiness can only be achieved in an environment of trust and without the threat of consequences when making mistakes during the learning process. Sustainable long-term development is not possible without ethics and trust; without them, relationships remain transactional. A healthy environment, sustainable development, and good business results simply follow this philosophy.

How has PrimeLine managed to preserve its identity and philosophy in such a dynamic and changing industry?

Our philosophy of well-being and the inviolability of our clients is at the core of our successful practice. We represent a set of attitudes and skills, know-how, and valid instruments for human development that make us reliable and sustainable in different dynamics, which is needed by every business organization in the process of its own development. Our broad portfolio, which we integrate into the existing initiatives of our clients and the high level of adaptability to their dynamics is key to developing sustainablemutual solutions. We build solutions that achieve their goals while considering the environmental factors of our clients without compromising on goals, quality or content.

We have a holistic approach to human development. Our system for continuous training ensures that learners are ready to accept knowledge, practice skills, and use tools months after completing the training itself. This ensures sustainable transfer of knowledge and skills when integrating training solutions into the work environment and from there provides the opportunity to measure the results of our clients' efforts.

One of our strongest skills often shared by our clients is our ability to listen and understand their needs, to hear, sense, and understand not always their expressed expectations.

What distinguishes your approach to human development from that of other consulting companies?

Our approach is holistic. At its core are our sincere efforts for the well-being of each of our clients and teams. We do not have one-time clients. Our approach builds long-term relationships, maximum familiarity with their dynamics and specifics, and leads our clients where they would like to be supported to go. Companies with a long-term vision for their development seek and need reliable, scientifically grounded models for human development, and consultants who can provide them with support, solutions, and sustainability needed to achieve their goals and strategies regardless of the dynamics.

How has the understanding of clients about learning and the development of people changed over the last 20 years?

Significantly, at the very beginning 20 years ago for our company, but let’s not forget that the first consulting companies in Bulgaria have existed for about 15 years earlier, what was observed was mainly one-time interventions – training, workshops, other activities that had their situational need and reason, but did not represent an element of a comprehensive strategy for the development of employees. Many teams received basic training abroad in English language, there was no traceability, integration, and evaluation of progress and results from the company's investment. Often, when I directed the conversation towards the bigger picture, to understand the corporate goals and what a team needed to achieve in order to understand what would be an appropriate solution for them, I encountered misunderstanding from managers as to why I was asking such questions and what the connection was to a specific training. Another misunderstanding was our proposal for application and effort to practice the acquired skills and knowledge after the training. It was commonly expected that an employee who could not do something before the training, after attending one or two days of training, on the third day should be able to do it. The misunderstanding that investment in training and development is indeed an investment in the sustainability of the company, and not just an expense that can be saved, is still part of the thinking of some businesses. I could continue, but to this day after much effort, time, and real results I am happy that our clients are an example of understanding, correct foresight, and long-term thinking and sincere care for the development of every employee.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learned from your work with clients in Bulgaria and around the world?

Our clients are a true example of striving – for innovation, avant-garde, leadership in the field of activity in which they operate. At the same time, they embody humanity, groundedness, foresight, compassion, and respect. They are always an example for us in the process of development, which is in fact mutual and two-way.

How do you build long-term partnerships with your clients and what makes them trust you for years?

Part of the shared thoughts above already answers this question to a large extent. Additionally, I can say that every organization has a vision for its development. A truly trusted consultant is one who strives to understand this vision at every level and supports it in the right way for the company while always being one step ahead of them, to guide and direct them towards achieving the set goal with the expertise they possess in the field of human development even when this is not always initially comfortable for the client.  The trust with our clients is deep and mutual, and I believe it is due to our authenticity, care for the well-being and successes of each of our clients and their individual employees, the human yet pragmatic, results-oriented approach to mutual objectives, and last but not least, the working solutions proven in challenging times. Our clients know that they can always rely on our professional, impartial, and objective opinion and support, so they can make their most optimal decisions for them in every situation.

What achievement of PrimeLine Consultants International are you most proud of?

The greatest privilege a person can receive in this life is to influence and contribute to the development and success of other people. When our client of 20 years calls me and asks me to take on the coaching of their employee and to help them by doing for them what I did for my client 20 years ago – that is a privilege of the highest nature. Or when a potential client, who does not allow external consultants, trusts us for the first time to conduct training on negotiation skills and help them introduce their medication into every hospital, something they had not succeeded in until then, and the breakthrough happened just a few months later thanks to the partnership with the sales team – that is a privilege. Or one of our medical representatives, who after following every textbook from our program for sales effectiveness for medical representatives like a bible for a year grows to a regional manager – that is a privilege for us. Or when a business unit manager today, who was clearly a representative years ago, tells me that the training she attended back then is the best she has ever attended and it has played a significant role in her development to this day, and today she asks us to work with her new team in another company – and many other similar examples - that is the privilege for which I stand in this business.

I am most proud of the achievements of our clients, the long-term mutual relationships, and the feedback I have received over the years for real experiences and achievements, career developments, personal changes that unlocked potential for subsequent enhancement of business and personal results.

I am also proud of my fellow consultants over the years, who have an unwavering contribution to this, with our leadership and sustainability in the field in which we work. Although we measure time in days and years in the human calendar, I personally measure time by other criteria - by the accumulated wisdom, the journey of development, the lessons learned after changed attitudes, the sustainable relationships that give us joy and satisfaction from communication and achievements, the shared vision and values.

How do you measure the real effect of the training and consulting solutions you offer?

The assessment of the impact of a training or consulting solution includes the partnership in this process of the consultant and the client in one. The consultant in our case provides the necessary elements to ensure the presence of a highly effective solution with its elements - valid know-how, models, and tools for behavioral change, quality facilitation ensuring a low-risk environment for learning and provoking the personal motivation of learners to wish to embark on the path of change, subsequent follow-up, support, coaching, and know-how for integrating what has been learned into the work environment.

However, the client and their willingness to dedicate time, focus, and energy to implement the second inseparable part of the transfer of knowledge and skills into the real work environment to achieve the desired results is a necessary condition for this to happen. In this sense, an immediate assessment can be made after a training session through feedback from the experience and evaluation of the participants, but at this stage, it cannot be assessed from the results since participants need to integrate in the months following the training, and then both qualitative and quantitative assessments of the change can be made. Our training solutions are built on the basis of the psychology of adult learning and provide the valid foundation necessary for subsequent assessment of the effect of the know-how in case it has been introduced by the client in a manner agreed upon with us.

The assessment of the impact of the development process is defined by the client themselves, as we provide a valid model called Cider, which ensures that the goals, indicators for change, and the approach for assessment are those that will show the correct and objective change leading to the corresponding business results in the specific environment of the client. The assessment of the impact aims to measure the effect of newly acquired skills and knowledge on the ability of the learner to achieve the desired goals and business results. Changes in behavioral patterns usually lead to quantitative changes in results, and that is precisely the main objective of the training process. However, this is achieved to the maximum extent only when the client organization is ready to walk its part of the integration of newly acquired skills in the period immediately following the training. Our holistic approach to the development of human skills ensures that if the client chooses to embark on the path of practicing and integrating after each training, the results appear quickly and in a very foreseeable future and are usually observed with the naked eye or through breakthroughs achieved in specific situations that were non-functional before the training and application.

What changes in thinking and organizational culture do you most often observe after working with your teams?

Achieving a change in thinking must happen non-violently. We provide a process of exploration, communication, development, and integration that motivates our teams to realize the benefits for them to make one effort or another. Imposing change usually provokes resistance. True change, no matter how big or small, can only happen in a motivating and beneficial way for the employee when it is accepted with willingness, conviction, and trust that it is happening with the best intentions. We ensure a low-risk environment in communication, support our clients to be authentic and express themselves in the way they feel. We promote a culture of openness, sharing even when it is difficult, trust, and teamwork. This subsequently manifests in the emergence of corresponding changes in thinking and organizational culture – strengthening the environment, clearing out toxic attitudes and behaviors, promoting a psychologically safe environment, promoting the introduction of innovative solutions wherever possible, to achieve breakthroughs and optimize the time to achieve goals, increasing the level of individual and team awareness especially visible after our team workshops where we use the personality profile Facet5, achieving a much higher level of tolerance for differences, dealing with conflict situations, and healing relationships, achieving conscious and sustainable behavior regardless of dynamics, which ensures the teams transition to the next level of productivity.

How do you see the future of learning and development of people in the next 5–10 years?

The development of human skills usually lags behind the development of technologies, and therefore I believe that more and more ways and models will be sought to close this gap at a daily level more quickly. I believe that learning and development models will increasingly reflect the functional needs, risk assessment, and technical parameters in a profession and business environment. On one hand, it will be necessary to develop skills for working with AI. On the other hand, the weight of goals in the training process will increasingly focus on those social purely human skills that cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence, such as a high level of self-awareness and self-management, integrity, emotional resilience, proactivity, persistence, intercultural awareness, social adaptability, critical thinking and problem-solving, adaptive communication, skills for collaboration and teamwork. The format of training will include even more agile principles and approaches for achieving engaged even more focused micro learning according to the specific needs of the individual or team. AI will inevitably be used in stages such as design and content creation, career paths, simulation learning, and the entire range of augmented reality where appropriate.

What new challenges await leaders and organizations and how will PrimeLine help them meet them?

I would divide the challenges into several groups – every person in a defined leadership position must first turn to themselves and maintain a set of attitudes and skills that reflect the changes and requirements of the environment. The role model of leadership in a team is still what motivates employees to provide additional value in their work and loyalty to the organization. Leadership transformation at every level is key to moving forward in a reality with new characteristics. I am a strong advocate of the belief that leadership should be built at every level and function of the organization, and appointed leaders should develop much more focused shared leadership in teams and succession planning, which continues to be neglected in many companies. Another major challenge is now managing an environment in constant change. Skills for forecasting and flexible management, maintaining an environment of trust and authentic behavior, introducing and managing digital transformation, ensuring individualized development and human connection in a hybrid work model environment, and many other challenges, all of them to be achieved based on ethical and transparent leadership principles are the future of leadership nature. Our role, as it has always been, will continue to support the strategic decisions of leaders related to the selection and assessment of adequate potential, developing attitudes towards continuous growth, building and enhancing sustainable behavior and skills reflecting the needs and expectations of our clients’ transforming business environment, so that they remain at the forefront of their development and uphold their leadership positions as they have so far.

What would you like PrimeLine Consultants International to mean for its clients in another 20 years?

The preferred trusted advisor

What personally motivates you to keep moving forward after 20 years in this business?

Recently, one of my managers met me on the street, who had recently taken the position she desired after an assessment I made. She hugged me and with sparkling eyes thanked me, saying that I am an inevitable part of her career success, which of course is entirely due to her, but the right approach, assessment, and feedback can be very motivating and a moment of self-confidence and affirmation for a candidate key to the subsequent career leap.

Some time ago, another manager whom I trained 20 years ago, when he was a representative, but I have forgotten already, and today he turns out to be my client again, told me that the training he underwent back then was the best he has had since then and on its basis he has largely built those reference points, beliefs, and sales skills that have helped him build his career up to now.

On New Year's, I met another one of my clients, with whose team we did a Facet5 team workshop 10 years ago, and she thanked me immensely, as after receiving her personality profile she understood why she did not succeed in her first marriage. Not because she received marital advice 😊, but because she realized those attitudes and risks that are embedded in us and sabotage us, but if we do not realize them, we will remain in the same vicious circle of mistakes. So now she asked me again to conduct a Facet5 workshop for her team, so that she can give them this unique opportunity through self-awareness to empower their next successful decisions.

14 years ago, now a regular client of ours, but then not allowing external consultants, trusted me and gave me a trial opportunity to prove ourselves by helping them make a breakthrough with one of their medications in the main hospitals after decentralization. They had a very stable and successful sales team, but also a quite strong competitor. They allowed us to apply our comprehensive approach from preparation, through conducting a two-day training on negotiation skills to practicing and integration and an integration workshop to assess progress after 1.5 months, and checkpoints within the next 6 months. The result was a breakthrough in every hospital, availability not only of the main but also of the accompanying medication, clearly assessed and documented revenue from the team, their unexpected surprise that this is possible, and the incredible satisfaction from the teamwork between client and consultant.

I can continue with similar examples for a long time, but to answer briefly the question of why I am still in this business, it is because I leave a mark as I often provoke change and touch the thinking and development of many successful people and together we achieve real results and that pure feeling of a full and meaningful life, which can only be obtained from interaction based on trust, respect, and deep professionalism between client and trusted consultant, but before that between real people.

If you had to describe PrimeLine Consultants International in three words today, what would they be?

Development - Trust - Sustainability

What message would you send to the team, clients, and partners of the company on the occasion of the anniversary?

I do this every day in our interaction, above all to take care of themselves in every sense of the word and aspect of life. At the core of sustainable development of a person stands the integration between good mental health and social integrity. The way the world and business environment is transforming will require even more individual awareness and self-management, critical thinking and resilience, constant connection with nature, and identifying and managing new, previously unknown resources for the benefit of development.

Above all, however, I would like to wish everyone strong health, inner harmony, and a calm mind. Heartfelt gratitude to each of our clients and their teams for the continuous trust and the opportunity to walk the path of organizational and individual development together!