Leadership Cultures: Adieu Chef - bonjour Leader
On 10 January 2020, the Kurszentrum Aarau invited to the 3rd Feierabendgespräch on the topic of "New organisational forms and leadership cultures" and posed the question: "Better working world fit for the future or just hype?". The talks once again provided insight into experiences with new forms of organization and leadership models.
The 3rd "Feierabendgespräch" on the topic of "New forms of organization and leadership cultures" met with a great response. The topic is burning under the nails - the large hall in the Kurszentrum Aarau was filled to capacity. How should companies react to a rapidly changing environment? How does a company organize itself optimally in order to keep pace with change and survive in competition with others?
New organizational forms also mean that bosses have to rethink their leadership role and employees their role, so that new forms of collaboration come to life. "Agile organization" - that's the most commonly heard answer at the moment. Meaning: Maximum self-organization and self-responsibility, instead of acting on instructions. Away from strict hierarchy and silo thinking, towards entrepreneurial decision-making and action at all levels.
Anne Bickel of the development organisation Swisscontact and has been going through this process in her institution for a good year. She knows how challenging such a change is, as it confronts managers in particular with a new situation that is quickly accompanied by the feeling that previous routine patterns no longer work in an agile organization. But subordinate employees also often feel insecure when they have to make decisions independently:
"Can I make this happen without asking a supervisor?" This requires courage and the willingness to take responsibility. Such change processes cannot be implemented overnight, as Anne Bickel impressively demonstrated in her report. Only with a great openness to this reorganization on the part of everyone involved can the change succeed. Expectations as to how these tasks are to be fulfilled occupy an important place in many discussions. At Swisscontact, the function of role coaches in each organizational unit was created specifically for this purpose.
Hartmut Kretschmer coaches companies during such transformations - and takes a self-critical view of his own profession. Many coaches can present the new organizational forms as highly enticing in theory. In practice, however, it is much more demanding to accompany the employees. In addition to role responsibilities, questions regarding team understanding and communication must be clarified. It is particularly important to meet the employees' need for identity and security.
Does every company now have to trim its organization to "agile"? - Bickel sees a great increase in value in role-based collaboration - both in terms of efficiency and personnel management. Kretschmer is also convinced that companies that do not integrate the principles of the new forms of leadership will be left behind. Nevertheless, both also see limitations: A role-based organizational structure with little to no hierarchy cannot be implemented equally well everywhere. And it cannot be applied to every size of company. It seems advisable to implement agile forms in smaller companies as a whole and in large companies in specific organizational areas.
And: An agile strategy is not a grassroots approach. Ultimately, management and the board of directors are still liable.
