Perform the check with us to see how well you meet the new leadership requirements and what you need for further development.
The pressure on the first two management levels is high, and leadership is becoming increasingly exhausting: the challenges range from the new positioning of one’s own company within the globally observed geostrategic restructuring (uncertainty in supply chains, scarcity of raw materials, war in Ukraine, increasing competition from China and India), through dealing with issues in the skilled labor market and the generational shift (gradual departure of the “baby boomers” and replacement by Gen Z and Gen Alpha), to the transformation toward an “agile organization” or the introduction of new work design concepts (“New Work”)—coupled with a completely new level of technology use (digitalization, particularly the use of so-called “AI”).
It is therefore not surprising that public discourse often responds to the question of what is needed to meet these demands by listing a set of competencies. This immediately increases the pressure further. At the same time, it is often already pointed out that it is actually about “leading differently,” which requires a “new mindset” (whatever that may be) . The focus is increasingly shifting from the individual leader to the group (leadership as teamwork) and to the redesign of the (future) interplay between people—and in the case of AI use—between people and technology, with an orientation toward self-organization, decentralized decision-making authority. This shifts the focus to better fostering the competencies and potential of employees, to frictionless processes, to simple structures that facilitate efficient collaboration, and to a culture that enables or promotes experimentation, making mistakes, generating new ideas, and learning through exchange. The framework that encourages inspiring, responsible work and projects requires a jointly developed purpose and values that support collaboration.
We are indeed convinced that leadership in our times must change and improve drastically—not only because this is a consequence of the results of the regularly conducted Gallup surveys (e.g., 2024), but because it is central to the future viability of our companies. However, this is unlikely to be achieved by attending professional conferences, reading books/magazine articles, or participating in traditional seminars; rather, we believe
- that it requires the willingness to relativize one’s own “infallibility” and engage in critical dialogue about one’s own leadership practice and its effects (including incorporating feedback from those being led).
-and that it equally requires the willingness to consciously recognize and, if necessary, change the underlying concepts, models, thought patterns, attitudes, etc., that drive the respective actions.
-and that a format is needed in which "collegial learning" can take place through reflection on behavioral and thought patterns, which are examined in selected leadership situations for their future viability and, if necessary, replaced by newer or better-fitting concepts.
From this, we derive two recommendations:
1.Clarify the requirements placed on you and your company’s leadership, and discuss them constructively in a suitable format—e.g., within the leadership team or in a workshop with selected employee groups—with the goal of aligning self-perception and external perception and exchanging conclusions for the further development of the company in terms of leadership actions, leadership philosophy, vision, mission, and strategy.
We would be happy to offer you our creative ChangeLab format in-house and/or our questionnaire (for self-reflection and joint reflection).
2.Take this opportunity to critically reflect on your leadership experiences and those of your colleagues—either in-house or in an exchange with leaders from other companies.
In developing this format, we were inspired, among others, by Scharmer (2007, 2014, 2020): you will examine your leadership experience through various questions, “lenses,” etc., and not only explicitly incorporate your feelings but also the concepts, models, principles, attitudes, etc., underlying your leadership actions. This “consciousness-raising process” creates the opportunity to assess these concepts, etc., in terms of their ability to meet future requirements. Where no or the wrong effect is achieved, new concepts are needed—and their application should be mentally tested to take away ideas on “leading differently.”
So we offer this type of reflective work with the idea of realigning your leadership actions and better addressing the diverse requirements
with our “leadershipReload” workshop.
Interested? Then get in touch at info@metisleadership.com