Dr. Dominic Lindner, Autor bei agile Companies

Digital leadership 21. March 2021

Help! I feel superfluous as a manager! #Self-organisation

A Study by the Bertelsmann Foundation , which surveyed over 1000 executives, shows that 30% of those questioned actively doubt their role as a manager and a further 25% even perceive it as a burden. There is a worryingly high proportion of According to the study, self-doubts in their leadership role are plagued by fewer positive effects. But where can that come from? There are certainly numerous aspects and I have already given many tips for managers, which I list below as reading tips. In this article I would like to address the aspect of self-organization, which can lead to doubts in executives. A special sub-aspect is the feeling that you are no longer needed. Leadership of virtual teamsLeadership in times of CoronaLeadership 4.0Lead like a gardener My experience with self-organization I have been a department head since 2019 and previously had a deputy for this role for almost 2…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

Use virtual teamwork through Corona as an opportunity for your career

The corona virus keeps the world in shock and companies in the home office. Currently, 25% of German employees work from home and work 100% in virtual teams. According to a survey of 1,000 employees by the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (2020), over 45% of companies are not ready to offer home office and “only” 58% of employees expressly want their employer to work from home. You notice that the majority of companies either do not have sufficient IT or useful digital processes for collaboration. Both may also apply. This is exactly what you should see as an opportunity. Managers pick up topics and design processes In my opinion, a good team leader or manager must be able to ensure that work is completed in addition to his day-to-day business. He takes himself as subject areas and defines processes. Now comes the operational team management: to monitor compliance with the processes.…

Digital leadership 21. March 2021

Leading executives – tips for bosses

Tips for managing employees in any form can be found in numerous specialist books and whitepapers and blog articles. From mindset to methods, there is actually a lot of knowledge in the world by now. But what if managers lead other managers? While reliability, self-organization and the completion of the agreed work are often in the foreground for employees, for managers it is commitment, willingness to take responsibility and entrepreneurial thinking. Leadership by department heads or directors is very different from leadership at the team level. The following recommendations will help you lead other leaders efficiently and set a good example. Since 2019 I have also had such a department head and let some of my personal experience flow into it. What makes a boss boss? The management of executives needs one thing in particular: communication and politics. They have to act as good communicators to top management and as…

Work 4.0 21. March 2021

Changing context and multitasking as a challenge in the digital world of work

N / A? How many browser tabs are you currently open? Sure there are at least 10 and a few chats are also still open. some may be of a professional nature, in between fun and other things. Let’s be honest with ourselves: It is almost impossible to work through individual tasks one after the other without being distracted. Even while I am writing this article, I am watching Netflix and answering chats on Whatsapp. No chance to write down the blog article in one piece. The myth of multitasking Let’s look at the job advertisements: The ideal employee should be resilient and flexible. It should therefore be capable of multitasking and, like a computer, be able to do several tasks at the same time. But it is hard to focus on several things and yet it is so difficult for us to concentrate on one thing. We watch TV…

Virtual teams & home office 21. March 2021

Open source and free technological equipment for virtual teams

In the meantime, there is also a suitable open source counterpart for every commercial software. Open source and free technological equipment for virtual teams is no longer necessarily inferior to the paid applications, but often even represents a comparable solution. In this article, I would like to explain in more detail what is important here and which factors play an essential role. All information reflects a Summary out Chapter 3.3 of my book Virtual teams and home office from Springer Verlag contrary. In addition, there is of course also commercial and technological equipment for virtual teams. But I would like to go into this in more detail in another article. Communication and collaboration software An example of an open source solution is the owncloud application (see Fig. 1). Similar to the functions of Microsoft 365, further open source solutions can be obtained that can be integrated into owncloud. Examples are:…

Virtual teams & home office 21. March 2021

Driver for virtual teams and home offices

In the last 5 years in particular, the importance of virtual teams and home offices in companies has increased. Real growth can be seen here, especially when compared to the early 2000s. Almost every employee now works virtually in some form with their colleagues. This often happens via email or fixed home office days. The clear advantage of this way of working is clearly the independence of location. It enables companies to put together teams of experts who can work together in an intact system across national, time and company boundaries. In this article, I would like to explain in more detail which factors have developed into decisive drivers of these working methods. All information reflects a Summary out Chapter 1 of my book Virtual teams and home office from Springer Verlag contrary. Four decisive drivers for virtual teams and home offices The restructuring of old ways of working or…

Work 4.0 21. March 2021

What if we all only work 30 hours after Corona

COVID-19 is forcing numerous companies into short-time work. According to information, there are currently more than 10 million employees. Often employees work for about 30 hours or less. Since 1930 numerous experts have thought about whether a 40-hour week really makes sense. Even then it was established that prosperity is strongly related to the use of machines (industrial revolution). Due to advances in technology, greatly reduced working hours are sufficient to ensure a comfortable livelihood for everyone. According to the teaching of Bergmann (NewWork), the free time could be used to do good, volunteer work or take care of yourself through a garden, etc. The credo is: Happiness and joie de vivre instead of nervous irritability and fatigue. Study on working hours The majority in Germany is currently working too much. Here we assume a normal 40h week. I got the numbers from the Federal Statistical Office. Over 2,000 employees…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Change in the company – tips for change managers

“Where the wind of change blows, some walls and others build windmills” is a Chinese proverb. This article is aimed at everyone who is currently looking for a change in a company and / or who are also commissioned for this. In this article, I would like to deal primarily with the question of motivation for change and explain appropriate procedures to you depending on your motivation. In the past few years I have often been to clients as a consultant and have advised on change projects. As a change agent, you can be quickly relieved of your position or burned in the company. It is therefore important to categorize the change correctly and to choose the appropriate procedure. I often experience change agents who approach a change full of emotion and passion. That is good, but a change should also be carried out according to a certain system and…

Virtual teams & home office 21. March 2021

Commercial & technological equipment for virtual teams

Digital communication and collaboration via software is essential for successful virtual work. It is therefore essential that the appropriate commercial and technological equipment is provided for virtual teams. In this article, I would like to explain in more detail what is important here and which factors play an essential role. All information reflects a Summary out Chapters 3.1 and 3.2 of my book Virtual teams and home office from Springer Verlag contrary. In addition, there is of course also commercial and open source equipment for virtual teams. But I would like to go into this in more detail in another article. Technological equipment for virtual teams From my experience, selected software tools for meaningful cooperation are in particular the following: Communication and collaboration software likeDocument storage (ownCloud or OneDrive),Software for task and process tracking (Jira or OTRS) as well as knowledge documentation (Confluence or Media Wiki)Virtual meeting options (Zoom or…

Virtual teams & home office 21. March 2021

Working methods and meeting formats for virtual teams

While I was able to provide you with the necessary and suitable (software) tools beforehand, the task now is to use them correctly. Because for a successful leadership you also need the right working methods for virtual teams. In this article, I would like to explain in more detail what is important here and which factors play an essential role. All information reflects a Summary out Chapter 4 of my book Virtual teams and home office from Springer Verlag contrary. Working methods for virtual teams Virtual teams are particularly important in complex projects, as input from various expert groups is often required. Due to these circumstances, agile approaches are recommended here. Agility here means the characteristics of a company to react quickly, flexibly and, if possible, in real time to market changes. In this context, this primarily relates to specific processes and meeting formats. For perfect success, working methods for…