To surpass oneself is the goal

35 years after its founding, Günter Carpus (65) is moving from the Management Board of Carpus+Partner AG, headquartered in Aachen, to the Supervisory Board. His role will be taken over on 1 January 2018 by Tobias Ell (36), previously a partner and authorised signatory. The change of personnel at the top of the internationally operating consulting and planning firm was accompanied by a comprehensive transformation from a board-led to a partner-led company.

Change process started early
"The increasingly dynamic markets require short decision-making paths and fast action," explains Günter Carpus. "That's why it was clear to me and my colleagues on the Management Board, Peter Winkler and Maik Rothe, five years ago that the upcoming generation change could not consist solely of finding suitable successors for our positions." So in 2012, he initiated a change process that involved both the executives and the now 300 employees at the Aachen, Frankfurt and Munich sites: "We also live the participatory approach that we pursue in our construction projects in our own company: We are convinced that identification can only come from participation. Together we have developed a new structure, culture and vision for our company with which the coming generation will exist in the market."

Tobias Ell adds: "Connected with the departure was our common will to surpass ourselves and continue to prosper. "Since 1982, Carpus+Partner has combined method-guided consulting, general planning and technical specialisation: with the mission "We develop buildings that increase knowledge - for a hopeful future", architects, civil engineers, laboratory planners, project managers and consultants plan and realise individual and highly complex laboratory, production and office buildings worldwide, in which people enthusiastically work together. "In order to achieve this, the corporate culture of Carpus+Partner has always been characterised by the cooperation of autonomous people - it left room for professional as well as personal development," Tobias Ell was fascinated right after graduating ten years ago, "but the organisational structure that had grown over time, with its clear hierarchies and large 'departments' of generalists and experts, was increasingly proving to be out of date."

Methodical new development of the personnel and structural organisation
A new look at the decision-making processes beyond conventional hierarchical thinking was therefore necessary. In intensive, methodically guided workshops, 17 managers dedicated themselves to the reorganization of the company structure over a period of two years. In the moderated sessions, principles of systemic consulting and methods of design thinking were used as well as, for example, company constellations based on the psychoanalyst Bert Hellinger. In particular, the completely new view of working in organizations presented by the former McKinsey partner and current management consultant and facilitator Frédéric Laloux in his book "Reinventing Organizations" served as a source of inspiration and was a common thread running through the collaborative process.

All employees at the three sites were also informed about the progress in regular town hall meetings and involved in shaping the change. In addition to the structural issues, the meetings also focused on cultural issues: together, the staff identified, developed and formulated the fundamental values of future collaboration. "The involvement of everyone was a very essential factor! Because if innovations are not supported and lived by the entire team, the goals that have been set will be missed," Tobias Ell knows from his experience with many consulting mandates.

Reorganization with Design Thinking
As there, the overall process was not linear in the internal change process: In keeping with the spirit of design thinking, scenarios were drafted, discussed and discarded, modified and reviewed again in iterative loops at Carpus+Partner. Gradually it became clear that the last three-member board could be reduced in terms of personnel if its essential powers were transferred to a group of partners. In the end, a radical solution was found: The board of directors was to consist of only one person, who in this role would only perform the sovereign tasks required by the articles of association and stock corporation law - all strategic decisions would henceforth be made cooperatively by the managing partner group of authorized signatories.

Maik Rothe and Peter Winkler subsequently resigned from their positions on the Management Board; co-founder Peter Winkler remained associated with his company as "Head of Pharma" and customer advisor. To succeed Günter Carpus, who will move to the Supervisory Board on January 1, 2018, the future five-member Partner Circle elected Tobias Ell as the new sole member of the Management Board. The members of the Partner Circle and their respective roles were also cooperatively identified and defined during the process. Since 1 January 2016, they have been leading a total of 26 specialist groups in three core and two support areas: Tobias Ell is "Head of Business(R)Evolution", Sönke Morgenstern heads the core area "Technology+Process", Dirk Beyer is responsible for "Cooperative Design", Johannes Weitzel is responsible for Corporate Success and Thomas Habscheid-Führer looks after Corporate Development. Günter Carpus has completed the circle for the transitional period of two years and will assist in an advisory capacity in his new role as coach.

Leadership model adapts to new conditions like a living organism
an "In essence, it is a matter of shifting more of the decision-making in the day-to-day course of the project to the people involved, hierarchies, and the people in charge of the project.

"Identification can only come from participation."

in the decisions and to mirror the actions of those involved at all times," explains Günter Carpus. This applies not only to the partners, but also to all employees. Since the beginning of 2016, they have also been organised in a new, agile structure. In the spirit of Frédéric Laloux, the change process has produced an integral management model in parallel with the reorganisation of the Board of Directors and the partner group: a fundamentally new form of organisation that seeks innovative ways of human cooperation and is based on flat hierarchies and self-management - everyone takes responsibility. "Beyond the classic pyramid hierarchy, there has since been a movable hierarchy of ranks in which there are no rigid positions of power," explains Tobias Ell. "Depending on skills, motivation and need, roles are assumed and unnecessary roles are dissolved - the centralist system gives way to a living organism that independently adapts to the conditions of its environment." Where once responsibility for up to 80 employees rested on the shoulders of a single division manager, colleagues now operate in small specialist groups with six to eight members. The flat hierarchies allow each individual to make decisions on his or her own responsibility by means of "consultative individual decision-making". "This speeds up our decision-making processes enormously and at the same time promotes people's personal growth," says Tobias Ell, summing up the experience of the first two years in the new structure. In his role as the new CEO, he believes the company is more than equal to the challenges of the 21st century: "Partner-led, participative and cooperatively organised, we can react extremely flexibly to the increasing complexity and dynamism of the markets - and this in turn strengthens our company. The best prerequisites, therefore, to keep outperforming ourselves."