What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?

Cognitive behavioral therapy emerged in the 1960s and originated in the work of psychiatrist Aaron Beck. He noticed that certain thought patterns trigger emotional problems. Beck referred to this as the “negative thought spiral” and developed the process of cognitive therapy. The cognitive approach looks at how thoughts and feelings affect behavior. Since then, the form of therapy has become an effective first-line treatment for a variety of disorders and diseases. “Cognitive” is derived from the Latin term “cognoscere,” meaning “to recognize.” The therapy helps identify and discard negative patterns and form new positive thought patterns. It is one of the most researched forms of therapy and is used for a variety of conditions including anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders and phobias. 

Negative thinking patterns in professional life and inner resignations

Within psychotherapy treatment, participants learn to identify destructive thought patterns that have a negative impact on behavior and emotions. It focuses on changing the negative thoughts that contribute to and exacerbate emotional difficulties, depression, and anxiety. Through CT, these are identified, challenged, and replaced with objective thought patterns. It is primarily concerned with recognizing recurring patterns. It focuses on using a wide range of strategies to help sufferers overcome these thoughts. Such strategies include writing a diary, role-playing, relaxation techniques, and mental distractions. The goal of this type of therapeutic treatment is to change the automatic negative thought response that contributes to psychological distress. 

Employees who are caught in a constant vicious circle of bad thoughts and doubts in particular benefit from CBT. The consequence of the persistent negative thought spiral is often termination, but with the help of cognitive therapy, managers can free employees from harmful thought patterns. Often, these employees have already resigned internally. Difficulties concentrating at work or the inability to complete tasks on time are also focal points of CBT.

Release negative thought patterns and free employees

A study examined the impact of cognitive therapy on the job success of people struggling with depression. Results showed that CBT helped participants find a job and improve their job performance. Depression can affect all aspects of life and severely impact job performance or the ability to find employment in the first place. It’s not for nothing that depression is one of the leading causes of work disability around the world. KVT increases concentration and efficiency in the workplace by helping to break away from a negative mindset. Results suggest that patients can improve their job performance with the help of therapy, in part due to changing negative thought patterns. However, for people who suffer from depression and have difficulty finding a job, the solution is not to alleviate symptoms but to build a strong mental foundation. The therapy points to negative self-images as a key feature of depression, which can also exacerbate stress ratings in the workplace.

In the ordinary course of a job, employees often face rejection and must persevere in the face of it. When employees see each of these rejections as an indication of their potential as an employee or their value to society, it makes it harder to persevere. In the same way, releasing negative thought patterns can address the root cause of poor work performance. CT increases focus and efficiency in the workplace by helping to disengage from the negative mindset. Another example is employees who want to please their peers at all costs and have difficulty turning down tasks. These behaviors can lead to long-term burnout and subsequently poor performance at work. Once thought patterns are identified, participants can work to address fear of failure, perfectionism, and other unhelpful behaviors.

New stress factors in working life

Millions of jobs have been lost due to the pandemic, and countless others have had to either weather this period as essential workers or work from home. For many people, this immense stress has made their job situation worse. The more employees face this uncontrollable stressor and uncertainty, the more they are drawn into overly negative views. For this reason, it is essential for companies to find healthy ways of coping. Cognitive restructuring is a focus in CT, but there are other coping strategies that can have just as much impact. Mindfulness and self-care practices, developing time management skills, and exercises such as progressive muscle relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing can reduce anxiety and help people better protect themselves against external stressors. CT and related strategies have been shown to be effective in managing stress and depression. Cognitive therapy can be used effectively as a short-term treatment to help employees with a very specific problem and teach them to focus on current thoughts and beliefs. 

This is why cognitive behavioral therapies also work in everyday work life

Therapy includes a range of techniques and approaches that address thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. These can range from structured psychotherapies to self-help materials. Cognitive therapy focuses on identifying and changing inaccurate or distorted thought patterns, emotional responses, and behaviors. Behavioral therapy addresses thoughts and behaviors, incorporating strategies such as emotion regulation and mindfulness. Rational-emotive behavior therapy involves identifying irrational beliefs, actively challenging them, and ultimately learning to recognize and change these thought patterns. Although each type of cognitive therapy takes a different approach, all work to address the underlying thought patterns that contribute to psychological distress.

Cognitive therapy is goal-oriented and focused, with the therapist taking a very active role. Participants work together with their therapist toward mutually agreed-upon goals. The process is explained in detail and participants are given tasks to complete between sessions. The underlying concept of CBT is that thoughts and feelings play a fundamental role in behavior. For example, an employee who spends a lot of time thinking about his or her own failures and unhappiness will feel that way as a result. The goal of cognitive therapy is to teach participants that while they can’t control every aspect around them, they can take control of how they interpret and deal with things in their environment. There is a reason why this form of behavioral therapy has become increasingly popular in recent years. Other benefits include:

• By becoming aware of the negative and often unrealistic thoughts that dampen their feelings and moods, participants can begin to adopt healthier thought patterns.
• CT can be an effective short-term treatment.
• It can help people with certain types of emotional problems that do not require medication.
• It is empirically supported and has been shown to help patients overcome a variety of maladaptive behaviors.
• It is more affordable than other forms of therapy.

However, one of the greatest benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy is that it helps patients develop long-term coping strategies.

Recognize and resolve negative thoughts at work

Employees often experience thoughts and feelings that exacerbate faulty beliefs. Such beliefs can lead to problematic behaviors that spread to numerous areas of life. It is important to learn how thoughts, feelings, and situations contribute to maladaptive behaviors. This process can be difficult, but it can lead to self-knowledge and insight, which are an essential part of the treatment process.

It is important to start practicing new skills that will then be used in real-life situations. Goal setting is an important step in this process. Learning problem-solving skills helps identify and solve problems caused by stressors large and small, and reduce the negative effects of mental and physical illness. Problem solving in CT often involves five steps: Identifying a problem, creating a list of possible solutions, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each possible problem solution, and selecting an approach to implement and accomplish.

Self-observation is an important part of CT in which behaviors, symptoms, and experiences are tracked over time and shared with the therapist. Self-observation can help provide the therapist with the information to provide the best treatment. In most cases, CT is a step-by-step process that helps a person make behavior change in small increments. By having participants work incrementally toward a larger goal, the process seems less scary and the goals are easier to achieve. There are some challenges participants may encounter during the course of cognitive behavioral therapy. Initially, they may recognize that certain thoughts are not rational or healthy, but simply becoming aware of them does not change them. Cognitive-behavioral therapy does not focus as much on underlying unconscious resistance to change as other psychoanalytic approaches. It is best suited for participants who are more comfortable with a structured and focused approach in which the therapist takes a guiding role.

Conclusion

Cognitive therapy can be an effective treatment option for a range of psychological problems. It is one of the most researched forms of therapy, in part because the treatment focuses on very specific goals and the results can be measured relatively easily. For therapy to be effective in the job setting, the person must be ready and willing to invest time and effort in analyzing his or her thoughts and feelings. Such self-analysis can be difficult. Nevertheless, CT is a popular way to learn more about how internal states influence external behavior.

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Till frustration do us part

In the case of some employees, management will be happy if they leave the company at their own request. If the performance or the chemistry is not right, an end with horror is still better than the reverse. However, some employees are something of key figures in the company. These don’t necessarily have to be members of management. People who go above and beyond, are reliable and have acquired a level of expertise over the years that is second to none are invaluable to any company. Nevertheless, many decision-makers seem to have a blind spot in their management style. Instead of making an effort to keep these long-standing and capable colleagues in the best possible mood, they are often overlooked, ignored and not included in important decisions. Money often plays no role at all, although it would not occur to most companies to introduce some kind of monetary reward system for particularly value-added personnel. The good news for all the cost-cutters and cheapskates on the boardroom floor is that money is not the answer, but retention management is.

What motivates employees to stay with the company?

The answer to this question is delightfully simple and short: happiness. People who enjoy going to work every day, feel good there and can satisfy their personal needs will be happy to stay with their employer. People are basically creatures of habit. If the circumstances fit, no new professional challenge is envisaged out of a pure pioneering or adventurous spirit. Anyone who gives “professional development” as the reason for this decision during the termination interview means, loosely translated, “Because I’m not happy here (anymore).” Of course, as a human resources manager, one could now argue that the workplace does not have the main task of making its employees happy. After all, they would be adequately compensated for their performance. Retention management shows where employees and their needs can be well met and where there is still room for improvement. According to surveys, only four percent of all companies use this strategic tool. In practice, however, retention management would be quite simple: What sounds like a hypermodern buzzword from a business management manual actually means only one thing in daily implementation: communication.

Talk to me!

The core of successful employee management is the appraisal interview. Many companies do without it completely, others misuse it as a kind of disciplinary measure. Yet this instrument in particular would offer great potential for accommodating staff in small and often cost-neutral steps. The needs and wishes of long-serving employees can be very diverse: family-friendly working hours, the workplace, the immediate job itself, or training and development opportunities. Priceless: the expression of appreciation. On the other hand, treating staff with suspicion and mistrust does not create a pleasant atmosphere in which you want to stay for the long term.

Retention management in practice

Like any HR tool, this one can be professionally implemented and supported by external agencies, for example as part of a QM offensive. The most important stages are the definition of goals (e.g., reduction of employee fluctuation), the assessment of the current situation, and the implementation in practice. However, the “employee retention” project can also be carried out in a very low-threshold one-on-one meeting. As we all know, it doesn’t cost anything to ask.

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In addition, Darwin’s Law also applies in the professional world: the younger and stronger ones claim more and more space for themselves, while you yourself are getting older and are no longer able to withstand everyday stress as well. High time to dare new ways! For example, change from leadership to consulting. I too currently have a very stressful but cool job as an executive. But I’m also thinking about whether I’ll still be able to handle this job when I’m over 50.

THE SALARIES FALL FROM 50

Current salary studies confirm this: If you want to have a career and make big money, you have to hurry. Because the fastest climb up the career ladder takes place in the first 10 years. Likewise, the highest salary jumps are made between the ages of 30 and 40. Among other things, this is due to the fact that it is usually at this age that the decision is made whether to take on management positions and personnel responsibility.

However, the earnings curve does not continue upward for long. As the analysis of 250,000 data records shows, the maximum salary of 58,539 euros is reached on average at the age of 52. After that, salaries fall. And not only in Germany. A study by the U.S. provider of salary software Payscale from 2019 has shown that even in the U.S. managers in the 50th earn the most.

Of course, there are exceptions. Chief physicians, for example, are also quite high on the earnings scale at an older age. Or scientists who habilitate and realize their career plans much later. Even top managers with personnel responsibility for many employees can enjoy high salaries practically until the end of their career band. Nevertheless, after the age of 50, large career and salary leaps are hardly possible. Many then go from stressful full-time jobs to part-time or change employers. But why not become a consultant in your own company?

TRAIN MANAGERS!

Through their life experience and many years on the job, managers reaching the age of 50 have gained valuable experience, knowledge and skills that their younger colleagues do not have. They have authority and enjoy great respect in the company. A perfect basis for becoming consultants and training junior managers. As they rise to top management level, young managers need not only stamina, but also experienced mentors and trainers. And who better to impart leadership skills than someone who has made a career as a top manager himself?

This decision requires a lot of courage and foresight, but the math works out. Executives who have switched to consulting emphasize that their lives have become much less stressful and still filled with meaning. They recommend taking this step in good time. Instead of treading water and being overtaken more and more often by younger ones, rather make a clean handover in time and take on new responsible functions.

Training new generation of managers, imparting leadership skills is a great challenge and important task in professional and personal terms. It requires experience, personal skills, methodical knowledge and good communication skills. So when advancing one’s career becomes increasingly difficult, one simply has to change perspective and change the direction of personal development. Be ready for new challenges and switch from leadership to consulting.

CONCLUSION

While an older age does not automatically mean a career stop, the chances of further promotions decrease significantly over time. At the same time, after long and hard years of work, more emphasis is placed on a work-life balance. Adapting to changing circumstances in good time and redefining one’s professional role is enormously important. Specialists and managers over 50 bring with them a wealth of experience and expertise and can find new professional fulfillment in training and advising young managers. By understanding a company as a complex organism, generational change can be compared to healthy cycles. Becoming an interface between the generations and taking on the promotion and training of young managers is an honorable task for older employees. I will see what I will be doing in 20 years. I, too, will be 50 then – perhaps I will become a consultant or use my part-time commitment at the university and educate students. The time will bring new horizons!

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However, internal projects in particular often falter and are not ideal for the employee’s own career. While external projects are visible and supported by management due to customer requirements, the internal project is often delayed but nobody is interested in it.

This means that your own career comes to a standstill. But how can you still get ahead? For this I give you in this article four steps how you can push the internal projects like a customer project in the company.

FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS

A customer project has strong stakeholders, deadlines and customers. This is the reason why the project often progresses so well. But you can create these criteria for yourself. The customers are always the employees and managers of the company. Therefore, create powerful back-up for yourself through the managers and adapt the product or service to them in a meaningful way through feedback. To do this, simply follow four steps.

STEP 1: STAKEHOLDERS

Look for customers – these are usually managers who work in the company. You need strong stakeholders behind functions. You will also notice that as soon as 2-3 managers are in the meeting, other managers will also want to be in the meeting because it seems important.

But how do you find such managers? Approach the managers and introduce their service or product initially. Then you need a regular meeting once a month – ask managers to come to this meeting. Record the requirements of the managers in e.g. Jira tasks and mark the managers as stakeholders.

Also make sure that managers come regularly and write to them if necessary. Also prepare minutes and send them to managers if they could not attend.

STEP 2: RECORD ACTIVITIES IN A BACKLOG

A backlog is a list of tasks still to be completed within a project or requirements still to be met by a product. The goal is to create maximum transparency and to define, document and prioritize the tasks with the stakeholders. You will notice that as soon as the backlog is full, managers will fight over you as a resource, making your product seem even more important. You are now an integral part of their strategy. This makes your product or service more important! Also escalations are now easy because you have powerful stakeholders.

STEP 3: PRODUCT

Continue marketing your product or service. Create wiki pages, videos, and generate word of mouth within the company.

Step 4: Review

Now show the stakeholders and managers regular new features and progress of the product in the regular meeting. It must always be apparent that progress is being made. Also a list of new features should be promoted on the service/product wiki page.

CONCLUSION

Internal jobs are not easy but if you take these four steps to heart, you can very well build pressure internally and hit the ground running with the product/service. What is the consequence? On the one hand, you can build up your own team from your own position with the help of the backing of the managers (become a team leader) or switch to a stakeholder team and become a manager there thanks to the good contacts. It is now up to you!

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But there is a helpful model that helps every manager understand the behavior of his employees. This way, he can really take the lead in his team. This is transactional analysis. This involves the study of the relationship between a person’s personality and their communication. The ambitious goal is the development of the human being, i.e. autonomy.

The founder of this analysis is Eric Berne. He says that transactional analysis is a clinical method from psychotherapy and a theory about people’s personality. It involves observing and analyzing the interaction between people. The basis for this is precisely defined and specific ego states of people.

So how does this work exactly? Every manager who comes into contact with employees carries out transactions. This means that components of communication are exchanged, i.e. transferred, between the people involved. It is therefore important for a manager to be able to analyze these transactions precisely. This is the only way to gain precise and deep insights into the communication and to find out what exactly is happening between the interlocutors on a psychological level. This applies in particular to the personality of the counterpart, but also to one’s own leadership personality and the relationship dynamics between the two. A transaction is therefore always the encounter with another person and one’s own reaction to it. This transaction can and must be analyzed. Today, this is indispensable for the leadership of employees.

What can transactional analysis help with?

To find out why it can be helpful in leading people, one must take a closer look at what Berne said. His statements revolutionizing the world of psychoanalysis were:

• I am ok
• You are ok.

Simple statements, but they provide valuable input. Every person who comes into this world is fundamentally ok. His potential is healthy and good. People who are afflicted with mental problems are full members of society and intelligent. In order to shape one’s own life, only the person himself is needed. Everything he needs for this is already within him. His understanding of man is as thoroughly positive.

These statements have led to psychologists and psychiatrists dealing differently with the mentally ill today. Conversations take place respectfully at eye level. But the mentally ill have also experienced a new self-image, because their self-image has changed. All people are equally okay and all problems of a psychological nature can be solved.

The key to the solution is rooted in human communication. How a person communicates shows his true character. But not only that, also his feelings and memories become visible this way.

Based on his observations, Berne divided people’s behaviors into three states:

• The Parent Ego
• The Adult Ego
• The Child-I.

Every person constantly oscillates back and forth between the behaviors mentioned in these three states, depending on the prevailing feelings, desires and needs. For a supervisor, this becomes visible on a verbal level by what an employee says in terms of content. On the physical level, he perceives it through the tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures, i.e. how it is said.

In the parent ego are the statements and the behavior of our parents as one experienced and grasped it as a child. No parental order is questioned. Orders and rules are obeyed unconditionally, because parents are the first role models for a human being. They give each person the imprint in the first six years of life. At work, a manager then experiences employees in such a way that they often reprimand or patronize the other employees. Alternatively, it may be a strongly caring employee. In the case of verbal paternalism or disapproval, a frown is then often added, sweeping prejudices are expressed and disparaging assessments are made that are intended to humiliate the other person.

A strong contrast to this is the adult ego. It is the ultimate prerequisite for respectful, appreciative and factual communication between people who are adults. Interaction is constructive. Colleagues are seen as equals and treated as such. People who are in the state of the adult ego know their options for action. They actively influence situations and make full use of their potential, because they make decisions. Thus, in the experience of the situation, they are not trapped, but they change it. All decisions are made from information drawn from the three ego states simultaneously. If a manager communicates with such an employee, he will have an attentive listener and a reflective speaker in front of him.

The childhood ego contains the helplessness of the first five years of a child’s life. At this age, every child not only clearly perceives the rules and statements of the parents, but also collects feelings and impressions. At the beginning of his life, a child first feels that he is not full and therefore not okay. This is clearly visible in defiant and, for an adult, silly behavior. This usually happens spontaneously and the consequences are not considered. One simply rumbles away. But even employees who approach their work creatively, inquisitively and curiously are in the childhood ego. An imaginative approach to work is also a key factor in this.

All three states run unconsciously in communication and behavior. Mostly it is not perceived which state determines our communication at the moment. 

In everyday professional life, acoustics and facial expressions play a major role for every employee when dealing with colleagues and superiors. For example, if someone asks for an e-mail to be forwarded and this is done in an irritated tone of voice, reproachfully and with folded arms, a manager can assume that this person is currently in his parent ego. He assumes that it must be known that in order to do his job, he needs this e-mail. If the same request is made in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, it is merely a memory based on the adult ego. If a completely unsettled-looking employee with big child’s eyes stands in front of the supervisor and almost submissively asks for the e-mail to be forwarded, the basis is the child ego. This employee is not sure whether he is allowed to ask for the forwarding at all. His voice is therefore also rather brittle.

Already the knowledge of these three ego states can help to recognize, prevent or solve conflicts. It also contributes to the development of one’s own personality and that of the employees. Every person, whether employee or manager, can work on his or her communication behavior so that conflicts can be resolved and misunderstandings prevented. The prerequisite, however, is self-reflection and the ability to persevere with the work on one’s own communication. To do this, one should view oneself with the necessary distance from one’s own behavior and remain objective. In this way, the problems of one’s own communication quickly become clear.

In everyday working life, the caring parent ego shows itself, for example, in the fact that this employee constantly has to do the work of other colleagues. Someone who is in the child ego is often not taken seriously.

Resolve conflicts

But how can it help to solve or prevent conflicts? As a manager, you can take a closer look at the so-called drivers. Drivers are stereotypical behaviors that everyone learns in childhood. These behaviors reflect what parents and other caregivers have expected from the child. An example of this may be that if perfection was expected of a child, even as an adult he or she lives in the consciousness that everything must be done perfectly 150 percent of the time. Mistakes are not allowed. This puts a lot of pressure on the person and is perceived as stressful. If a child was often driven to hurry, he or she will also feel the urge to hurry as an adult. The tendency to want to please everyone and everything also comes from childhood.

As a manager, you can now help your employees to identify their respective drivers and thus gain clarity. This takes the pressure off. Subsequently, you can mitigate the driver by giving yourself permission. For example, those who no longer want to be so perfect can give themselves permission to be good enough.

End mind games

Psychological games are patterns in conversation processes that always run in the same way and are controlled by personal motives that run unconsciously. These conversation sequences always follow the same rules and in the end, unpleasant feelings remain associated with a pressure on the stomach. Employees who play such mind games have a hard time leading or developing relationships in a positive way. For decades, people suffer at work because of these psychological games, even though they run unconsciously. It is therefore important for a manager to discover these patterns in a conversation process, to uncover them and to get out of them. One can also offer affected employees help in this regard.

Positive manipulation

The term manipulation often has negative connotations, because it stands for a secret and covert influence on the behavior of other people. The intention is to get them to do or refrain from doing something they would never have done if they had not been manipulated. Nobody wants to have anything to do with manipulation. Manipulation is fundamentally bad. But in general, human coexistence without manipulation is hardly conceivable. So why not use the term positively?

If a manipulation does not cause any harm to the counterpart, but serves to achieve a certain goal, it can be assumed that this form of manipulation is positive. For example, a manager can motivate an employee to perform better through praise and recognition without harming him or her. For this, a leader must use the analysis of the particular ego and rhetoric. There is no need to have a guilty conscience when using positive manipulation, because the manager is convinced that this type of manipulation will have a positive effect on the employee and the company. The manipulation would become negative if the manager omits essential information for the employee or even lies.

Conclusion

An effective and successful method to be able to classify the behavior of the employees and the own and to change it if necessary. The causes of conflicts can be identified and solved. Own and the abilities of the employees can be used better. In this way, critical situations in everyday working life are better mastered, self-confidence is strengthened and one’s own potential and that of the employees is fully utilized.

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Find goals

It is important to get new eyes, a new angle, a new perspective on the things that are needed right now. Sure, it is commendable if you remain faithful to your tasks and perform them conscientiously. You should continue to do so. But sometimes your place of employment simply needs more. At some point, it’s no longer enough to simply do what you’re told to do, to always do what you always do. That’s how you quickly get lost in the crowd. No, you have to strive for more! Do what you can and even more! Does a colleague need help? Help them! Does a certain area of work in the company, in which you do not work, need support and you have the necessary capacities? Lend a hand!

Do something every day

It’s not about pulling out trees with your energy or imposing yourself on somewhere or someone. It’s about doing a little bit more every day. Giving each day meaning because you are there doing what you can and want to do. Write goals on your to-do list every day. You don’t have to go overboard. As the picture so beautifully shows, one additional task per day is enough. The important thing is that you consistently stay on the ball! Complete your tasks as you always do and then put an icing on the cake, a task, on top. Your employer will definitely not miss that! With one additional goal per day, your performance increases 37-fold over the entire year. That’s a lot, it’s noticeable. Performance always stands out! Many motivational guides tell us to always give 100 percent, but they are so wrong. It’s the 101 percent that matters. It’s the extra work that matters. Only it is seen, because everything else is unfortunately taken for granted. Write your 101 percent on your to-do list. Every day. It’s the only way to stay on the ball and make your performance visible. Then it won’t be long before you get promoted.

Conclusion

So, to sum up, it’s always worth doing extra tasks to succeed. In the end, you only stand out from the crowd because of that performance that is not taken for granted. Everything you do in addition stands out. You are not the moon that is shone upon, you are the sun that shines itself.

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Personal contact with colleagues is missing

More flexible working time models and home offices make it easier to combine work and everyday life. Visits to the doctor, bank and authorities can be easily integrated into the working day. The trip back and forth to the office and the associated time expenditure are saved. Nevertheless, the virtual working world still presents employees with major challenges. Many find it difficult to collaborate with other colleagues via video chat. Active participation in virtual meetings is also limited, as employees find it difficult to contribute virtually. Forty-five percent of Barco study participants said they found it easier to collaborate with colleagues in the office than to communicate via video chat. Virtual collaboration requires clear alignment on goals, approaches and roles. Careless planning can lead to miscommunication and frustration. Information sharing and knowledge management are also challenging over distance. Personal exchange in the coffee kitchen, in meetings or during the joint lunch break was missing for most respondents.

Improved technological infrastructure expected for a more productive workday

Employees who choose not to work in a home office even though they are allowed to do so cite inadequate technical equipment or infrastructure as the main reason. Slow, error-prone Internet connections are the main reasons. For younger employees under 30 in particular, the equipment in the home office cannot keep up with the equipment in the office (IBA survey). In addition, study participants in the Barco survey would like to see technological improvements in future meetings. Fifty-six percent of respondents were in favor of an app for participating in video and telephone conferences with the click of a button. Also desired are further development of speech recognition technologies, filters for video conferences and collaboration software to make everyday work at home easier. Meanwhile, there are numerous providers that enable services for editing and saving work documents by multiple participants. Various video conferencing providers have also already reacted and offer, for example, background formatting to give the conference participants a bit of privacy.

Hybrid meetings in formal meeting rooms preferred

An integral part of the working world is the exchange of ideas in meetings. Business travelers are often on the road for days at a time, and delays and traffic jams create time pressure and stress. Under the COVID-19 measures, things then came to a standstill. Many meetings were no longer possible in physical form. Online meetings via video chat, which had often been disdained before, became established. The majority of Barco study participants assume that the current virtual meetings will become hybrid meetings in the future, with one part of the workforce participating virtually and the other part from the office. In this regard, 75 percent of respondents prefer scheduled meetings to spontaneous meetings. The greatest advantage of this hybrid solution is that in some cases hours of travel are avoided and, if necessary, related parties can meet together directly on site. 50 percent of respondents would prefer formal meeting rooms for this purpose. The trend of the so-called huddle spaces (small meeting rooms for six to eight people equipped with seating and necessary media technology) of the past years seems to have been slowed down by the pandemic. Working together with several colleagues in small spaces seems unattractive to most for the foreseeable future.

Employee satisfaction with home offices currently remains high. However, the proportion of respondents who are very dissatisfied rose by four percentage points to eight percent compared with March 2020. A downward trend can thus be observed. According to current studies, the reason lies in particular in inadequate technical equipment and a lack of personal contact with colleagues. The hybrid working world is thus a new trend that can combine the advantages of the virtual world with those of the analog world.

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Identify weaknesses and leverage strengths

There are many ways to design a meeting. We will look at six different patterns. All ways of conducting meetings have strengths and weaknesses. Compare with your own experience and reflect on what worked well and where changes make sense. If you go through this process a few times for different meetings, you’ll be surprised how quickly positive change is possible.

Pattern 1: The reluctant meeting

You have prepared well and invited people to the meeting on time. From some of the attendees you have received neither acceptance nor rejection. Now the time has come and only two out of seven people have shown up, two others arrive ten minutes late. How do you feel? Do you have doubts about whether you are being taken seriously as a leader at all?

The hallmark of leadership is to lead yourself and to take others with you. That requires a minimum of dominance. Assert yourself, don’t let up until you have the commitment of the participants. Ask for help if someone doesn’t show up. Maintain your strengths. Continue to stay well prepared, keep your task board current, etc.

Pattern 2: Informal exchange

The meeting takes place in a pleasant atmosphere and you are in the middle of it. The exchange is lively and time flies. In the end, tangible results are missing and next steps remain unclear.
This is a sign of a lack of structure. There are good tools for a goal-oriented exchange. Status and the tasks can be visualized excellently with a task board. Movable elements, such as cards, enable quick adjustments and increase agility. This makes it possible to work in a results-oriented manner, even in a relaxed atmosphere.

Pattern 3: The center

You pull the strings and all team members keep you on top of things. This feels good, but pushes you to the edge of your endurance. You are technically good, but without you, things hardly move forward.
Realize, a team is much more than the sum of its individuals. Be courageous and trust your people to do something. Define tasks and goals, but stay out of the implementation. This takes some practice for both sides. The results will speak for themselves and lift the whole team to a new level of agility.

Pattern 4: The Lonesome Rider

Actually, you think most meetings are superfluous. Isn’t it enough to be well informed and to summarize everything in a status report? At first glance, this can save a lot of time.
Good management relies on teams. The interaction of different skills and characters quickly leads to good results. Think about a new culture of leadership and coordination. In this way, your strengths will also be put to optimal use.

Pattern 5: The reporter

It is enough for you to be broadly informed about the status. To do this, have one of the team members keep you up to date.
Ask yourself how much you identify yourself with the team and the tasks. Leading the team includes leading by example and taking a genuine interest in people. Get involved in content implementation with the concrete hurdles of everyday life. This enables practical solutions.

Pattern 6: The boring meeting

Something is not right in the meeting. Hardly any of the participants take an active part. On the side, e-mails are answered or something else is typed into the laptop. Time is being wasted rather than working on results.
The strengths of a team come into their own best when everyone is involved. Let team members design individual parts. Choose a process and content that adds value for everyone.

It all comes down to the right mix

A successful meeting is characterized by communication within the team. At the end, the status and upcoming tasks are clear. Ideally, this can be achieved when everyone stands in front of the task board on an equal footing, reports on progress as well as difficulties, and discusses the next steps. Monitor the process and develop the team with each meeting.

Five tips for effective meetings

1. communication makes the difference
   It’s not about self-promotion by the leader. It’s asking team members to share information. It’s not just about results, but also the associated learnings. He follows up on open points.
2. task board as a central instrument
   Visualization helps enormously to capture status, goals and steps towards them. A task board demonstrates this in the truest sense of the word. Due to the dynamic structure, developments and new aspects can be made directly visible.
3. prepare questions
   Targeted questions enable structured work. What have I already implemented? What am I currently working on? What are the obstacles? Where do I need support? It makes sense to set time limits for the answers. This gives a concentrated overview of the overall status. 4.
4. the team is the actor
   The team has worked on the tasks and should also perform the corresponding actions on the task board. This creates more identification and satisfaction when individual items are completed. It makes sense to provide the individual tasks with name abbreviations. In this way, responsibilities are clearly assigned.
5. Overview through clarity
   Especially when many tasks are processed in parallel, it is important to ensure clarity. Mark completed tasks accordingly and remove them from the board as soon as possible. Do not assign too many or too few tasks at the same time. This prevents the feeling of being overwhelmed as well as being underchallenged.

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How do companies view the home office in early 2021?

After a year of corona crisis, the Munich-based Ifo Institute surveyed nearly 800 HR managers on their opinion of the home office and hybrid working. 73% of them believe that a megatrend has begun in which they want to participate. According to Corona, they also want their employees to work partly in the company and partly at home. Contributing to this attitude is the fact that most employees have adapted relatively quickly and well to the home office. Technology allows this anyway, as companies manage most of their data in a collaborative cloud, where several employees can work on a database themselves at the same time. Therefore, productivity did not drop as a result of the home office. Teams and their managers were accessible at all times, but the latter had to establish new management mechanisms. How, when, how long and in which outfit a video conference is held, whether employees must be reachable at all times via desktop chat and how to deal with e-mail, messenger and telephone, all this had to be re-established first. But it works. The question now is whether this means that the home office has become the “new normal. Experts dare to doubt this. Apart from the fact that the majority of value creation cannot be shifted to the home office, office workers also complain about some of the disadvantages of working at home. We humans are highly social and are most creative in direct interaction. Digital communication can only replace this to a limited extent. In addition to the isolation at the kitchen table, the lack of separation between work and leisure time is also a major problem for many employees in the home office. Parents who have to homeschool their children in addition to working from home suffer the most. Last but not least, employees are burdened by the lack of direct feedback: an encouraging smile in the office is still better motivation than a smiley face on the screen. This will probably never change. People want to feel they belong to a team, they want to discuss things and occasionally have a coffee together. Ergo, no one seriously aspires to permanent, exclusive home offices. Instead, the future is likely to be hybrid. One part of office work takes place in the home office, the other among people in the company office.

Hybrid working world: new work culture

Corona, however, has heralded a cultural change that is now considered irreversible. In Germany, the presence culture was very prevalent until 2019, but this now seems to be history. “New Work” was, after all, already on the rise before Corona, it referred to the hybrid way of working partly in the company office and partly in the home office. In the meantime, there are quotas for the home office, such as for three days per week. Office space projects, on the other hand, are only being tackled hesitantly. As a result, we are currently experiencing a hybridization of our working world. Home office and office presence are being balanced within the company. Individual companies are likely to adjust the ratio even more frequently in order to find the right mix for their workforce. Hybrid work situations have two interesting implications:

The housing market is regionalizing again. Pressure is disappearing in overheated urban centers.
The office of the future is being redesigned. Work cubicles in open-plan offices are probably a thing of the past.

If employees only have to travel to the office twice a week, they will once again accept longer commutes. As a result, they again prefer to live in rural areas with all their charms. Higher costs per trip are amortized by the more favorable real estate prices or rents. Since the end of 2020, the demand radius around the conurbations of Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart has already successively increased.

Living, corporate office and hybrid working environment

Hybrid working is changing the demands on living. Commuting is becoming less frequent, but longer, and more affordable, but also different. Anyone who regularly uses their home office on up to three days a week needs a large study. Real estate experts have already calculated this: The additional space required amounts to an average of 10 m² per household. Size alone is not enough: it must also be possible to separate the study. Last but not least, it must be correctly declared in the tax return, which is uncharted territory for many employees. The classic office in the company, on the other hand, is taking on new functions. It is changing from being primarily an office workplace to a communications center. Workplaces are shared so that they can be left without personal belongings at the end of the working day. With this flexibility, companies are saving enormous capacities – in favorable cases, almost half of their office costs. Commercial architecture is moving away from small cells, creating more meeting rooms with larger spaces in offices. Increased hygiene needs must also be taken into account.

Will the corporate office disappear altogether at some point?

The answer in 2021 is: No, it will stay with us. We need physical meetings to cultivate innovativeness and team spirit. The future is hybrid, not purely digital.

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The strengths of the home office

Many have long dreamed of the possibility of working from home. That means not having to slog through rush-hour traffic and being able to sit at a desk in sweatpants for a change. Or maybe it means being in a completely different place, such as on the balcony of your vacation home with an ocean view? That’s not so realistic in COVID-19 times. But it is a possibility for the future.

For businesses, the home office offers some advantages. Less office space is needed and there is less need for social spaces. Compliance with Corona rules is much easier with reduced office use.

Whereas visiting customers in person used to be good form, everyone involved is now finding that in many cases it is more effective to meet online. There is more flexibility in terms of time and location. This not only saves travel and accommodation costs, but also a lot of time. By eliminating the need to travel, less CO2 is produced, thus additionally protecting the environment.

What’s missing when working from home

You dream about something until it becomes reality. Then you realize that there are not only advantages. This is how it can go with mobile working.

It starts with a suitable workplace. The majority of employees do not have a separate workroom at home. The playing children run through the living room and the best seats are already occupied by home schooling. If then the partner also works from home, it can become very tight. That’s when you might wish you had life as a single person back. But alone in your own four walls all day? The ceiling threatens to fall on the head even of stable personalities.

Health protection can often come up short outside of the employer’s sight. There is a lack of ergonomic office furniture, good lighting conditions and sufficient space. In addition, there are psychological stresses, such as the lack of separation between work and private life or the feeling of having to be constantly available.

Personal and informal contacts are an important part of everyday office life. A quick “Can you show me that?” solves many questions through official channels. None of this is possible in the home office.

The hybrid working world as a model for the future

The months-long trial phase triggered by Corona has delivered many useful results. One thing has become very clear and has also been confirmed by surveys: hardly anyone wants to work exclusively remotely. Most would like to work two to three days from home and the rest of the week on-site. This trend runs through all age groups. So it’s clear that there is broad support for hybrid working among employees.

Of course, these benefits can be implemented predominantly in the office environment. Sales and customer service can also be done well from home. Areas such as production, workshops, laboratories or transportation are less suitable.

For hybrid working to be a successful model, there are a few points to consider. A change in management style is required. Since there are fewer opportunities for informal exchange, these should be created online. On-site meetings are equally important. Working hours should be organized to allow face-to-face meetings from time to time.

If one really wants to save work space, the office organization must be changed. There will be fewer fixed places. Some employees will have to be gently introduced to this new situation.

Solving a problem at home is often a bigger hurdle than with the colleague next door. This applies in particular to questions of digitization. Setting up an internal service center helps, as does an expanded training offering.

Another important point is the onboarding process for new colleagues. Separated from the real working day, it is more difficult for new employees to get on board. The communication of the corporate culture and important onboarding facts must be planned particularly carefully.

The hybrid working world is a huge opportunity for the future, but it is not a foregone conclusion. Implementation should be well planned and not rushed. The valuable experiences of the pandemic period can be transformed together, step by step, into a successful model of tomorrow’s work.

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