Survey instead of blind flight
5 years ago
The understanding of leadership in Germany is traditionally hierarchical. At the top, people think and direct, at the bottom they track and execute. Clear structures and a strong project and process orientation have shaped and continue to shape collaboration in many organizations. And with success! However, strongly emphasized hierarchies are not so much a model for success as a discontinued model in today's world. Hierarchies have the advantage of providing clear orientation. Everyone knows what to do and where he or she belongs. But they have two disadvantages that weigh heavily in a time of rapid change and dramatically increasing complexity - they are ponderous and have a tendency to hinder individual commitment.
More inclusion, but how?
The realization is therefore gaining ground that new models of corporate management and cooperation are needed. Decision-making competencies must be decentralized and delegated to where product and customer proximity is day-to-day business.
It is a positive development that in more and more organizations the opinions and views of employees are playing an increasingly important role.
This has to do not only with changing needs of the workforce, but also with new technical possibilities. With modern SaaS tools ("Software as a Service"), feedback can be collected and evaluated easily and quickly. Gone are the days of extensive, complex questionnaires that no one likes to fill out. With regular pulse checks, including continuous evaluation, valuable insights can be gained.
The company learns more about the views and ideas of its employees - including existing problem areas, sources of conflict and dormant potential. The big advantage: The analysis of the collected data makes it clear where the leverage is to be applied in order to achieve concrete improvements. In addition, it can be quickly evaluated whether the measures introduced are achieving the desired success. Hypotheses can be tested for their suitability.
Measuring fever instead of Blind Flight
Insights into the perspectives of employees in all areas and at all levels are particularly important when major change projects are pending. Because many ambitious change projects fail because the hard effect of soft factors is ignored. People are knitted in such a way that changes reflexively lead to uncertainty, fears and resistance. If these emotions are not taken into account, they act like sand in the gears and the desired positive changes move into the distance.
The involvement of personnel as the most important resource and as a central stakeholder in change processes is an important success factor. Especially in times of change, communication must not be carried out in the sense of a one-way street. On the one hand, it is important to ensure that everyone in the organization understands where the journey is leading, why the trip is worthwhile and what it means to continue as before. On the other hand, it is of central importance that everyone in the organization can express their concerns and also contribute their ideas, make themselves heard. This is the only way to record how the change is progressing and progressing. And this is the only way to make it clear where the levers have to be set so that the desired change is successful.
In the next blog we will present the solutions and software of our partner LLS Internet GmbH for employee feedback.