Where the journey goes

What is the situation of companies today and what is the reality on the horizon? By now a platitude, yet the toughest test of management's skills: the rapid changes in the markets and in the framework conditions of entrepreneurial activity. "In the past", subsequent adaptation to technology, market developments and the law was sufficient. Today, a preventive, empathetic adaptation into the ever denser fog of the future is becoming the conditio sine qua non of management action. And it puts managers' skills in this regard to the test every minute - and their resilient inner attitude to it at the same time.

Act globally

There is hardly a company left for which a global frame of reference does not apply in some way. Somehow, almost all of them now have to face, assert and prevail against competitors on supranational, if not entirely global markets. Increasingly, with production facilities and distributors or national sales partners abroad. This is not without consequences for managers: management work at home is becoming a part-time job. The task of managing employees at several locations simultaneously is increasing at the same rate as it is decreasing. And to deal with mixed nationalities, mentalities as well as foreign customs and manners. And - obviously - in different time zones. Which finally pushes the commonly used term "closing time" for management into the realm of a wistful memory of days gone by.

Always on the go

Adaptation and adaptation to adaptation are becoming the relentless regents of future management. For more than a few, it is hardly conceivable that this race to adapt can be intensified even further. They will have to rethink. And to do so, they will have to overcome their - understandable - inner rebellion against it. Those who, as managers of the future, are not constantly on the move internally, can hardly expect to have any career opportunities. The personal professional life insurance will consist to a good part in making sure not to become breathless. Those who fail to consistently couple the commitment to the contractually agreed benefits with the commitment to their own performance of mind and body will hardly see better-paid contracts.

Whereas change and adaptation used to be a narrowly defined intermediate step between longer-lasting phases of continuity, change and adaptation are becoming more and more important.

Change becomes permanent

tomorrow and the day after tomorrow into a permanently self-overhauling process. It will then hardly be possible to distinguish between arriving and setting off. Let alone take a breather in between. The sword of Damocles hanging over everything, the constantly expanding amount of information to be processed, in unholy alliance with the skyrocketing speed of all possible communication channels, will alone prevent us from taking a breather.

New forms of organization

No clairvoyant powers are needed to deny that the classic line organization, which is fanning out downwards, is useful for the business world of tomorrow. It has long since become obsolete and is on the verge of extinction. This form of organization is too inflexible, its decision-making processes too long and too cumbersome to cope with what is coming. Even today, projects are implemented in the matrix at cross purposes to the line organization. The permanent task of "adaptation and change" requires new (self-)adaptive forms of organization that ensure that emerging constellations can be quickly grasped and reacted to. This requires small, powerful units that act and react semi-autonomously - always with the overall goals of the company in mind.

Fingertip feeling

With the traditional leadership instruments of command, obedience and control alone, a manager will hardly come anywhere near his goals. It is already apparent today what performance restraint and reduction such a "master at home" attitude leads to among the workforce. And to what a confusing operational hectic and overtaxing of managers. In order to be able to "stand their ground" in a more opaque, more complex environment than is the case today, they need not only knowledge and ability, but also an increased sense of intuition. No one in a superior position will be able to avoid becoming more familiar with the complex concepts of empathy and intuition and their use. The willingness to use all the other senses, in addition to the intellect, in order to prepare and make decisions in difficult situations in a joint effort of all, will be one of the most important skills of managers.

Farewell to the boss attitude

Future decisions will have to be made more and more in the light of what we have guessed and suspected. This alone prohibits making them single-handedly and in intolerance of contradictions from a bossy attitude of solitary omniscience. Intuition in combination with an analytical ability based on knowledge, skills and facts on the one hand, with empathetic inclusion of the different ability spectrums and the know-how of the employees on the other hand, that becomes the proof of future-oriented management ability in the leading positions. And thus the yardstick that will separate the wheat from the chaff. Instead of self-important managers who are open-minded, who approach their people and are committed to them, they will be able to master the future.

Together instead of alone

forces. Likewise, people for whom the thought of contradiction upwards is not automatically coupled with the sterilizing thought of professional suicide. And a corporate culture of consciousness that rewards this courage - and not conformity and after-the-mouth talk.

The old idea of primus inter pares, the first among equals, will (have to) play a far more important role in future management activities as an integrating and inspiring guiding principle than it does today if companies do not want to get lost in the fog of the future. Together instead of alone, other than under this motto it will be difficult to stand up to the external pressure. The classic, rather authoritarian and controlling manager will not enable his organization to learn a little faster and to sense what is coming and what is going in time. Their attempt to grasp the situation with the ever more hectic use of management tools that have long since become unsuitable is reminiscent of the carouser who notices the loss of his keys on the way home at night and searches for them in the light of the next street lamp.

Leading with a grip on the ground

The will of leaders and their corresponding actions to actively learn without prejudice, to lead employees to this end and to support them in it, will determine the rise or fall and suffering or triumph of companies far beyond their current significance. Anticipating and managing the coming changes requires looking at tomorrow from different perspectives and eliminating derogatory judgments à la "Bullshit" or "You again! " from the internal discourse. Where nothing is impossible anymore, there must not be the verdict "Impossible! ". The art of future management will be to endure the resulting contradictions and ambiguities and to synthesize decisions and initiate measures in a deliberative discussion with the employees. And to monitor their validity meticulously. Down-to-earth, solid leadership skills based on self-reflection will make a significant contribution to withstanding the enormous pressure to perform and compete.