• Declaration of NewWork
• What is work 4.0
• Roundtable on Work 4.0

NewWork using the example of an IT group

The creation of software is a process that involves a high degree of division of labor. Those involved have to think in a networked way and react quickly to changing requirements – be it due to customer requests or legal changes, according to the group manager. For this reason, better networking and cooperation should arise with a new building. There are various meeting rooms of all kinds as well as rooms for fitness, an orchard and a work surface in the outdoor area. There is also customer support in-house. “The entire building is made for communication and movement,” said the manager of the IT group in my roundtable.
Before building the concept, we tested various pilot concepts together with 120 employees. For this we rented a building and every employee who applied was allowed to work on one of the concepts for two weeks and give us feedback. Our new NewWork concept arose from this.
During the subsequent tour of the IT group’s building, the seating arrangements in the open space could be observed. Teams often sat close together and small “team islands” could be noticed, according to the managers of the IT group. A “Jump Day” concept was designed so that these islands could not establish themselves permanently. Every employee is required to change jobs and teams on this day. Jump Day takes place once a year to ensure a balance between security and change, says the manager of the IT group. The agile coach of the IT group also assesses an advantage in the room occupation and invalidates the prejudice that fewer employees have space: The agile coach of the IT group also assesses an advantage in the room occupation and invalidates the prejudice that fewer employees have space have: “I think it was around 70% where on average you have a cast at all. So 30% are free on average. And even if working from home is of course no problem for us, we often also approve. There are[auch] no core working hours, you can come whenever you want with us. “

NewWork using the example of a sporting goods manufacturer

In return, the sporting goods manufacturer also presented the design of the NewWork concept. There are no permanent jobs here either. “There is a fitness studio for employees as well as opportunities for other sporting activities. With the help of a building that is a few 100 meters away from the HQ, we are constantly testing new office concepts. There are permanently 3 different concepts on 3 floors, which we are successively trying out. Up to 300 employees are able to test the concepts. For example, the mixture of sports hall and office or a mixture of shared apartment and office will be tested there, ”said the representative of the sporting goods manufacturer.
This is supplemented by various areas for work, such as highly creative, quiet and team areas. It is important to create the right place for every activity. Working in a digital context in particular is highly creative and, according to the manager, can no longer be carried out from a traditional desk alone. “The vision is to create an atmosphere that promotes flexibility and cooperation and breaks down hierarchies,” said the manufacturer’s representative.
For the company, it’s about getting faster and promoting creativity and innovation, said the representative. At the beginning the Flexidesk principle met with a lot of resistance, but if you look now, not all desks are occupied and the meeting rooms are always full. “It is communicated and networked. This ensures agility and speed and ultimately I have the feeling that it is also space-saving because many are somehow also in the home office on Friday or sometimes in the home office for two days.

NewWork using the example of an IT data center service provider

The SME participants have also already designed their first concepts for open spaces in the company. These mostly result from a planned renovation of the building. The IT data center service provider is also presenting its concept.
In the course of a renovation, an office space was converted into an open space concept together with a service provider and the inclusion of feedback from employees. Zones were created for highly concentrated, calm and creative work and teamwork. The aim was to offer the right workplace for every activity. “Working in IT in particular requires a high degree of flexibility, quick reactions and the incorporation of changes,” says the in-house consultant. “The aim is to create a suitable zone for every job. For highly concentrated work you can either go to the desk or go to our area with various beanbags with headphones. We have set up special areas for quiet work and set up a think tank for creative work groups. Since every employee has a laptop, it is easy to find a new job every hour ”, the consultant continues.
The entrepreneur’s consultant sees the concept as a success and is now planning to gradually renovate more areas in order to create more office space especially for concentrated work. In data center operations in particular, it is important to act quickly and effectively in the event of unwanted failures or updates in order to maintain an availability of 99.9%. According to the consultant, we can become faster and more agile, especially through new concepts.

Conclusion on NEwWork

It cannot currently be assumed that the concepts presented are already in a final stage. Especially in office concepts and mobile work, there are numerous open questions that need to be dealt with
The representative of the trade union from the roundtable is currently carrying out a more in-depth evaluation. The focus of this evaluation was the influence on the efficiency and the health burden. The implementation of NewWork and agile methods is often and gladly mentioned in his breath. The first samples show that the number of burnout cases examined cannot be related to agile methods or new office concepts, according to the union’s executive committee. There is also a higher level of communication and agility through new concepts.
However, according to the union’s board of directors, it is becoming increasingly difficult to perceive incorrect and overloading of employees and to protect them. New topics such as technostress due to constant availability and information overload due to a large amount of data are also increasing. These phenomena in particular are new and go hand in hand with increasing digitization and increased communication, which is also promoted specifically by new office concepts.
However, these studies are only random samples and not very informative, limited by the union’s executive committee. It is still exciting how the development of the Newwork will continue and what long-term consequences can be derived. To further develop these concepts, the union is in constant dialogue with the member companies and takes regular trips to the Silicon Valley.
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Work 4.0 – act in today

According to the study, work 4.0 should be established in companies today. The study sees 6 important pillars as drivers for the implementation of this so-called megatrend.
A Culture of innovation should encourage employees to get involved – open spaces should encourage creativity. There is also talk of intrapreneurship. In the block Future work one speaks of time and place sovereignty as well as a culture of results instead of presence. The guide should strengthen networks and dialogue skills – Labor policy is characterized by digital breaks. The organization of the company is characterized by flat hierarchies and communities – the Skills are creativity, entrepreneurship and ICT skills.
Tip: For more information on this, read my articles that I have under the hashtags Digital work and Future work have gathered.

Work 4.0 – act in tomorrow

Even if you could guess it, Work 4.0 is not just about the technological component. The most important thing is how people integrate into the world of work 4.0 – which skills are required for this. However, the technology in the new world of work is of course the decisive driver of the entire change (source: Cebit). Because without digitization, “Work 4.0” would not even exist. So: What are the prerequisites for the new digital world of work? What should the new thinking look like in this context? What changes will digitization result for the individual employee? And what new rules are we talking about?
The study also provided some answers to these questions. I would like to address some of the points here. The first thing that caught my eye was “child prodigies and nerds as top decision-makers” and “superiors as feel-good managers”. An approach that supports the distribution of responsibility and “serving leadership”. The creation of digital breaks is also becoming very important, as many studies in particular predict high burnout rates. “Commissioning” instead of hiring will also become more relevant, as external experts will gain in importance again – the “ Consulting 4.0 “Is thus confirmed.
It will also be exciting to see how companies want to train employees to become “hobby recruiters and entrepreneurs”. I am also curious about the importance of the framework Holocracy, Sociocracy and Democracy will take. Overall, there is a change in our working world that seems irreversible if companies want to survive (FAZ). One thing is certain: it will complex in management and companies will be challenged to carefully plan this new work. The increasing number of management frameworks alone shows that researchers see a lot of need in this area and that organizational development has become a top topic again at conferences. It remains exciting to see how this trend will work and how German companies will interpret it for themselves.
Reading tip: For more information, please read my article Leading digital in connection with the work of the future .

Machines will be colleagues – 25 theses on work 4.0

Networked work – people in harmony with robots and machines. What does this mean for the work of tomorrow? The real revolution ultimately takes place in the offices: Artificial intelligence and machine learning determine the new work, as many office jobs still manually copy data from left to right. The problem of “Boredom at work “will then probably be cleared from the world. In the further course of the study, 25 theses were compiled, which I would like to list here individually. In summary, it is clear:” Digitization does not come as a mild breeze, but as a storm. “I got the theses from of the St. Gallen Shareground Study .

THE DISCLOSURE OF THE ORGANIZATION

1. LIQUID INSTEAD OF RIGID
The new world of work is shaped by networks. Standardized back-end processes are in between
Company shared without this being visible to customers or employees. This creates
Workplaces without a clear organizational affiliation and products, without a clear sender.
2. PEER-TO-PEER INSTEAD OF HIERARCHY
Highly specialized professionals communicate in special interest communities around the world. Loyalty is no longer guided by organizational affiliation, but only by professional expertise. The loosened bonds also lead to the end of the ability to organize. Trade unions are already feeling this today: Commitment to general issues only takes place selectively.
3. ORDER INSTEAD OF HIRING
Companies rely less and less on the dem for the provision of specific services
Firmly connected workforce back. Global transparency of skills and availability
highly qualified specialists lead to “hiring on demand”. The employment relationship is changing
for work.
4. SAP INSTEAD OF MCKINSEY
Organizations are no longer structured along organizational charts; instead, complex IT systems provide standardized processes and forms of organization. It is cheaper to adapt the organization to the software than to individualize the software. Software standardization makes organizational forms more homogeneous.
5. OPEN INSTEAD OF CLOSED
Accelerated demands for transparency and the need for co-creation with customers (open innovation) lead to the opening and delimitation of previously closed company structures. Transitions between inside and outside become fluid, mastery knowledge such as patents lose their value. The ability to scale quickly and openly becomes the silver bullet. The “crowd” becomes part of the added value.
6. PROSUMENTS INSTEAD OF PROFESSIONAL PRODUCERS
Instead of employees, companies always rely on customers who, in addition to consumption, also provide many (digitizable) services for the company – often voluntarily and free of charge out of sheer enthusiasm for the product. With prosumerism they are blurred
Boundaries between producers and consumers. Voluntary digital work replaces professional employment.

WORK IN DIGITAL NETWORK ECONOMY

7. FROM EXECUTION TO MONITORING
The role of people in the production process is transformed from the provider of the work into
the supervisor of the machines. Routine processes and also physically demanding activities become
handled by them independently. Humans only control and intervene in an emergency.
8. MACHINERY AS COLLEAGUES, COOPERATION PARTNERS, CONTROLLERS
New forms of interaction between man and machine are emerging. Various types of game will coexist in the future. From people who control machines to machines as colleagues of people, to the merging of machine and person or even the complete takeover of the machines.
9. CLOUD AND CROWDWORKING AS TRANSITIONAL PHENOMENA
Digital services are broken down into smaller and smaller parts and delegated to “virtual laborers”. Big data analyzes can be used to precisely assign value contributions to individual employees. Cloud / Clickworkers provide their services in piecework. It is foreseeable that many of these activities will soon be fully digitized.
10. THE DATA READERS
With Big data Sufficient data is available for all areas of life. The ability to combine and interpret these in a meaningful way is a key qualification in digital work and cannot be substituted. Working with big data differs from traditional data analysis, however, because hypotheses are no longer required (“end of theory”).
11. WORK WITHOUT LIMITS
Highly qualified specialists perform work around the world as part of project work. Qualifications are global, transparent and comparable. The physical location of the service provider no longer plays a role. For the first time, work has the same mobility as capital.
12. PROFESSIONAL AND PRIVATE INDUSTRY
The traditional places and times of work are disappearing. For employees, this results in individual design potential, for example to better combine family and work, but also to new burdens (“always on”).
13. NON-LINEAR THINKING AS A HUMAN DOMAIN
The automation of work is finite, since creative activities remain that cannot be foreseen to be replaced by machines. These can mainly be found in very specific niches. Entrepreneurial skills, creativity and mastery of machines are considered difficult to substitute.
14. STRENGTHENING PERSONAL SERVICES
In high-wage countries, jobs with direct human interaction are upgraded. These jobs grow on a percentage basis. Standardizable and anonymous processes, on the other hand, especially in the field of ICT, are becoming the subject of offshoring and further efficiency pressure.
15. SELF-MANAGEMENT AS A CORE QUALIFICATION
Due to the flexible and needs-based awarding of orders to labor entrepreneurs, traditional work relationships and processes dissolve. The working time is made up of micro-working hours of various tasks, which the employee can adjust according to need and ability
put together.
16. CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION WORK GROWING TOGETHER
More and more often the providers of creative or intellectual performance are required, also materially
to implement. 3D printers and other tools are favoring this trend.
17. WE WONDERFUL CHILDREN
The increasing importance of IT opens the way for the “nerds” to the top floors of the company. What the musical child prodigies were in the past are now the precocious app tinkerers and data experts. This generation will make a significant contribution to the disruptive change in corporate cultures. From now on it is not formal qualifications, but exclusively technical skills that determine employability.
18. DIGITAL INCLUSION
Distance work, the anonymity of crowd and clickworking working relationships and the flexibilization of working hours also integrate social groups into the labor market that are not available for the classic normal employment relationship. This applies – as can be observed in Berlin, for example – for startups, but also for clickworkers in emerging countries.

CHALLENGES FOR LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

19. CHALLENGE LATTE MACCHIATO WORKPLACE
The place of work of people in flexible employment relationships is spreading to the public space
out. Physical offices are temporary anchor points for human interaction, especially the
Serving networks. People work everywhere – just not at their own desk.
20. BREAD AND GAMES
Employees long for distraction and rewards, especially with standardized activities. Gamification and intuitive usability of IT interfaces are becoming more and more important and the work environment is approaching a virtual playing field. Employers are required to integrate playful design principles into standardized IT applications.
21. JOB-HOPPING AND CHERRY-PICKING AS A CHALLENGE FOR HR
The bond between employee and employer is loosening. Instead, flexible forms of work and cooperation mean that employees always have one foot in the labor market. This makes systematic personnel development more difficult. At the same time, expectations and increase
Employees’ demands for directly usable qualifications.
22. LEADING AT DISTANCE
The farewell to the spatially located work goes with a change from presence to
Result culture goes hand in hand. Managers have to learn that they are motivating more than controlling
become. The trick is to create personal ties through impersonal technical channels
build and maintain.
23. EXPLORE NEXT TO EXPLOIT
An increasing pace of innovation forces the constant replacement of promising new positions
Business areas and the transformation of existing business models (explore). Simultaneously
the core business, which is still profitable today, must be pursued as efficiently as possible
(exploit). Management becomes “two-handed” and acts equally in the present and in the future.
24. MATCHING WITH A CLICK OF THE MOUSE
Digital workers are quantified in the form of individual data packages – skills, experience, capacities. This makes it easier to assign orders precisely. However, disruptive factors in the data profile can also prevent matching. Personnel selection will be less intuitive, but also less oriented towards cultural adaptation.
25. GOOD DATA, BAD DATA
Sensors shape the “office of digital work”. Properties of the environment, the processes, the work results and the workers are continuously recorded in order to provide both the employer and the employee with information about the quality and improvement potential of the work. Practical benefits must be weighed against ethical considerations.
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Digital strategy

To counteract the rapid pace of digital transformation, many sources suggest “transforming the company in an agile manner”. One Article on agility and digital transformation I have already published. A fundamental change from analog business models to digital is also in the foreground for the digital strategy. The basic idea in this blog is the structural change from companies to “agile” and “evolutionary” companies. Because in this way they can react flexibly and quickly to the coming complexity of the digital transformation. In the following, we will initially start with the fundamental structural change of companies as the basis for a digital strategy. This ultimately results in a basic model for formulating this strategy.

So goals should be defined first. These could include the integration of new organizational models such as mobile working. Based on these goals, appropriate measures can be derived which serve to achieve these goals. For monitoring, key figures should be defined that allow this strategy to be monitored. According to this model, a strategy map and a content strategy are also important. I also feel that this is important. Marketing is becoming increasingly digital. I also have one for this Articles on agile marketing published on the blog.

Digital change

Digital leadership in companies

The digital transformation recommends a new form of leadership: that digital leadership . I have already published an article on this. Basically, this means rethinking the leadership culture towards serving leadership. Due to the high level of complexity, many managers are no longer able to make decisions based on well-founded data and therefore transfer responsibility to their employees. This fundamental change promotes self-organization and motivation in the company. How exactly these principles can be implemented is what I have in the Article on agile leadership explained.

Digital structure in companies

The next step for companies is a change in structure. According to many magazines, classic process and line organizations have become obsolete in the course of the digital transformation. The new models are called Democracy, Sociocracy or Holacracy . This change to “agile” and “evolutionary” companies enables the dynamics and speed of the trends around big data, Industry 4.0 and to master digitization. The picture shows an “agile evolution”. Companies are therefore required to introduce any kind of change slowly and carefully. Such a change will not become established overnight but must be tested on the basis of a pilot project. This project can serve as a model for other departments in the company. For that I have articles too agile departments published to define such pilot projects.
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Change in society

Our society is changing from an industrial to a knowledge society. Correspondingly, corporate structures and work spaces are also changing: service, information and creative workers are moving into the center of global economic activity, and while the work-life balance is being evoked, the boundaries between professional and private life are blurring. As creative workers, we are becoming increasingly self-employed, even if we are permanently employed (source Zukunftsinstitut). Take a look at mine Article on work 4.0 .

Idea from Newwork

“Work in a fixed place, at a fixed time, in fixed structures,” is how Petry describes the classic world. According to Petry, the newwork is: “Work where you want, when you want and with whom you want.” Practices such as temporary work, flextime, trust, mobile work, co-working, cloud work and much more are used here. So there is a shift between fixed time, place and structure to flexible place, time and structure.

Benefits of the NewWork

New Work , The working world of the future – everyone is talking about this topic: How will the digitalization change the office and industrial landscape? So the blog gives: Career bible a first look at the new world of work. The new work defines itself as

• Independence,
• Freedom and
• Participation in the community.

So change seems to be in full swing. You can read the news from home office and mobile work everywhere. After the introduction of the personal computer, highly flexible technologies such as the cloud enable such mobile and flexible working. “Mobile, flexible and decentralized” is the headline of the blog. However, offices should not be completely abolished but differently: freely movable tables, open spaces and virtual reality instead of Skype. Overall, this new work is characterized as:

• No more commuting
• Work phases and leisure phases could take turns and
• what would speak against it to work in the morning, to spend the afternoon with the child and if in doubt, log in again in the evening? Or at the weekend?

Criticism of the NewWork

There is criticism, among other things, from the WiWo : “Feelgood managers, work-life balance and invitations to the boss to grill tofu. The new world of work is being sold to us more beautifully than it is. Because not much has changed in the past 30 years. “. She criticizes the fact that flat hierarchies lead to far more power struggles. The business magazine writes: “ When processes go wrong and mistakes are made, the responsibility is often not that far off “.
According to the magazine, the topic of mobile work also has its downsides. “It’s difficult to train new colleagues when everyone is everywhere, just not in the office. And it’s also difficult to create a working atmosphere when everyone is everywhere, just not in the office.“Employees need contact points and carers to whom they can turn, even if the boss cannot be reached.

Conclusion: NewWork Yes, but without change

Many employees love their fixed structures, they know exactly what to escalate to where (in order to hand over responsibility) and know the relevant work instructions by heart ( Bernd Slaghuis ). Many companies and people are critical of change. New work costs habit. For many of today’s employees – and also for many managers who have been firmly in the saddle over the past few years. Slaghois continues to judge: New work primarily costs security: knowing what will be on your desk tomorrow. The challenge will be to get the different generations with their very different values and demands on their own life and work under one roof.
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Leading digital

Leading digital means market leadership through digital transformation of the company and / or the business model. The article deals with why companies are striving for this and how this change manifests itself exactly and which steps are necessary to implement it.

The trigger of the digital transformation

The digital transformation is called  the rapid growth of technology launches in German companies. Through global markets and a high level of competition, companies strive for differentiation (leading digital). Since 1970 the dynamics of the markets have increased sharply due to globalization and even large corporations like Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW are now threatened by IT giants like Apple and Google. It seems to be a race to digitize the automobile. In other industries, the conditions don’t seem to be any different. For this purpose, Niels Pfläging published the following illustration in his book, which shows the increase in complexity after 1970. For more information on the complexity of digital transformations, read my article on Complexity in management .

From settlers back to pioneers – leading digital

According to Brandes et al. “back to the risk”! The example of automobile manufacturers shows that it is no longer enough to just improve the established, but that new markets such as electric mobility must be opened up with the digital transformation. So from settlers to pioneers or to the “departure” to innovation.
So settlers rely on predictability, i.e. infrastructure such as rails and strict guidelines. So you have already founded a city and are trying to improve it permanently. Here lies the difference to the pioneer, who, on the other hand, creates new markets or cities and “makes something work”. According to Brandes et al. not overnight, but you have to approach it step by step. According to the authors, this is chaotic and aims to develop something new in order to survive. An example can be cited here when a city is threatened by a long ice age and the residents will all freeze to death sooner or later. For the pioneers, the idea of “get out of here and survive” counts while the settlers try to withstand the Ice Age as long as possible and to optimize the city accordingly.
But how can this be implemented in the digital transformation and how can companies create such a departure and fulfill the vision: “leading digital”? The digital work should provide information on this. Take a look at Brandes’ book  or read mine Article on Management Y .

Digital work

It felt like the great lightness of being. The workplace, no longer in an anonymous office tower. The working hours, no longer controlled by a clock, but designed by yourself. The notebook as an office, the network as a bridge to the world. The work as great freedom ( Friedrich Ebert Stiftung ). This is how the aforementioned foundation defines the project of digital work. This type of work could be an answer to digital transformation and leading digital.

People and digital work

As early as 2010, Appelo examined modern knowledge workers with its Framework Management 3.0 and found that these are a bizarre combination of management frameworks and are actually specified from front to back as a kind of “Frankenstein” monster about theories. Take a look at the book Appelo!
Back in 2016, authors called for “companies to be revitalized” (Pfläging) and provided various approaches such as Management Y, sociocracy or holacracy . All approaches are agile and evolutionary in their own way. However, one thing is certain for the authors: “Frankenstein’s Monster” does not seem to be able to cope with the digital transformation. Instead, they call for a new form of work and employees. Sattelberger et al. define them as “designers” in “agile networks” and realize that many organizations have many employees in the implementation role and are therefore increasingly overloaded. So this does not seem to be a sufficient answer to digital work and the vision of “leading digital” will hardly be fulfilled with it. Take a look at Sattelberger’s book!

Employees as “designers” and digital work

At current HR conferences, the topic of agile or digital HR is increasingly being dealt with as the main focus of German companies. Together we consider how to find and retain such employees. The former  however, should not be addressed in this article and can be found in an extra Article on agile HR can be read.
The figure below clearly shows that such employees demand and need a lot. According to many companies, you are asking too much. Certainly this statement can be correct in many cases. However, the figure by Brandes et al. Shows that some requirements also seem to make sense. in the Course of the roundtables It has been shown that companies make every effort to take on such demands and thereby become one “Agile” and “evolutionary” companies to walk. According to the first statements of the managers who work with me in the course of the research project, they even appear to be more successful and sustainable. More on this can be found in mine Article on digital leadership.

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The sociocratic enterprise and sociocracy

Sociocracy (Latin: socius: companion and kratein: to govern) assumes that all parties involved are the same when it comes to managing decisions in a company. A decision is made as soon as there is no longer any serious counter-argument. The method therefore requires self-motivation, a cooperative togetherness and personal responsibility. In accordance with the Management Y principle, it also aims to ensure that employees “feel good” and therefore strive for self-realization in the company. Management X means that a person basically strives for an aversion to work and a manager has to force him to work. Management Y, on the other hand, says that work is a high priority for employees and is an important source of complacency.
Take a look at the book Management Y from Brandes . There I also used all the information for this paragraph and it is currently the most widespread approach, which is based on the human striving for self-realization and is based on sociocracy. Also read mine for more information Article on Management Y and sociocracy.

The holocracy company and holacracy

I have Holocracy already explained in another article. For this reason, I would just like to briefly summarize what holocracy could be according to current literature: Holocracy is a decision-making practice that allows in complex interconnected functional units (holons or circles) to govern oneself by serving the purpose of the company.
The differences to sociocracy are not so easy to see. But to put it simply: Holacracy appears to be more structured. Roles are precisely assigned through the individual circles and thus the individuals (egos) are separated from each other. With sociocracy, all of these points are optional. So the big difference really lies in the somewhat stronger structure of Holacracy versus Sociocracy. For comparison: Holacracy is a new framework that offers certification through an umbrella organization. Sociocracy has been around for over 40 years and does not include official certification. Take a look at that Book by Robertson or read You my article too Holocracy .

The democratic company and democracy

The approach of democracy in companies first of all represents the questions: Who leads me, who represents me and how am I involved in the company? Here, too, experiments are carried out with the “time” factor in leadership. The second topic is self-determination: where do I work, when and with whom? So it’s about more say for employees and fairness of opportunities. According to the author of the book “Democratic Companies”, it is a matter of fulfilling the wishes of employees in developing the strategy of their company and letting them decide on their own work situation. So it puts the group decisions in the foreground. The goal is not to get a majority decision, according to the author, but to change the positions of the group members so that their voices unite to form the critical mass of an option. For more information and the sources for this paragraph, take a look at the book democratic companies by Sattelberger et al. , which deals intensively with democracy in companies. A separate one Article on corporate democracy can also be found on the blog.

Is that agile and evolutionary?

We quickly notice that all models are still very abstract and have not yet been tested in implementation. All 3 models are different from the basic idea. In the course of the research I will do case studies in all 3 forms and examine exactly whether these forms are really agile and evolutionary and whether these models have advanced companies and how they are changing companies. All 3 models have the involvement of employees as a high goal.
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Agile leadership is behavior

I found a great approach in the book by Gloger and Rößner. According to the authors, so-called “stars” are to be formed in the organization. These stars should “lead themselves” while managers should establish a “culture of success”. The author also includes a “culture of failure” and “allowing mistakes” to be part of this. The company is also characterized by a voluntary structure. That means everyone is voluntarily in the company and also gets involved voluntarily. According to the author, the manager does not write anyone to bring in or take on a special project. It has to be entirely voluntary. Take a look at Gloger and Rößner’s book. In addition, there is also some information in the article “ Frameworks for agility “.

Agile leadership – principles

I then watched some videos and articles by authors on agile leadership. The speakers speak of a “servant leader”. The task of the management is to enable the employee to work undisturbed and to implement his “dreams” in the company. Furthermore, sentences like: “Agile leadership has to be easy!” and “Agile leadership is behavior”. This means that managers should no longer “set an example” but rather “show”. You should be able to get work done again. The bonuses often paid beforehand should become appreciation, and structures and processes should be used as orientation for what managers need to create for employees.

Company as a host

In a conversation a participant of my roundtables told me that he sees his company as a host. In his company, his guests, i.e. the employees, should feel comfortable and enjoy coming back. I found this example very appropriate for “serving leadership”.

Digital transformation and digital leadership

Since the “digital transformation”, the term “digital leadership” has been established. The consulting firm “Deloitte” even promotes a fight for survival and publishes a study “Survival Strategy Digital Leadership”. However, based on current surveys, I find that actually many managers are still quite relaxed about digital transformation, a bit exaggerated. We must first wait for further studies to assess exactly whether we are “hyping” a trend here or whether it is really a struggle for survival.

Agility starts in the head

“Agility begins in the head” is the title of a presentation by Judith Anderesen 2016. The motivation of your lecture is also the topic of “survival”. She says: “Whoever serves the customer’s needs best will survive.” However, I think we should all start with ourselves and look carefully at how we correctly define agile leadership in our context and which of the so much propagated “best practices” we should really apply. After all, too much freedom also creates uncertainty. We should therefore carefully question the hype and decide for ourselves how we can establish agile leadership in our company. In any case, there is no question that we should definitely think about it. The book “Digital Leadership” defines the term with the following principles:

• Open communication
• Open access to information – sharing knowledge
• Intensive, cross-departmental collaboration
• Free space for self-directed work
• Definition of goals and sub-goals
• Instead of controlling the work – controlling the achievement of goals
• Promotion of personal responsibility

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More humanity in management

According to the authors, successful organizations display a mature and humane culture. A paradigm shift from management X to management Y is taking place. Management Y serves the employee. People are not lazy, they are ready to make good contributions to something big. Living Management Y fundamentally changes our image of man from authority to serving management. Brandes et al. see the management of an organization as critical success factors and demand: “ Human maturity in key positions in the organization as a success factor for future viability “.

Organizations as social systems

Let’s take a look at the overall concept. “Bringing organizations to life together” is what the authors say and calling for a different understanding of organizations in order to shape, control and “revive” them. The authors put forward the thesis: “Leadership as a host” in an organization. We also see the Scrum approaches and the honest enthusiasm of employees. I like to compare this approach to sociocracy. Generation Y, to which I also belonged, needs incentives, i.e. meaning in everything they do. Companies must therefore honestly inspire employees through creating meaning and the defined purpose of the company. What I particularly like at the end of the book is that the authors are open and say: “Every organization can be attractive and sustainable”. I agree with the authors here and no matter which one Framework for agility You use: All seem to lead to success in their own way. Also read the articles about Holocracy and Democracy in Business . So there is still plenty of room for further research into how each of these frameworks can actually be implemented and what type of company it is suitable for.
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Reinventing Organizations

In his book, Laloux gives an insight into his research on organizational development. In addition, the author even moves back up to 100,000 years. He assigned a color to each of the epochs and characterized them precisely. This is how we start our journey through time of over 100,000 years of organizational development. I will only go into the individual phases of development very briefly in the text, as I do not want to reveal too much of the actual content of the book.

Development stages of organizations

It all started 100,000 years ago. We put ourselves in people’s shoes at this time. The world was ruled by powerful tribes and chiefs. Laloux calls such tribes impulsive organizations and gives them the color red. This scenario can be compared with the structures of the Mafia or street gangs. Command authority and constant exercise of power were the order of the day. A tribal chief or alpha wolf in a wolf pack had to assert himself daily and fight his opponents as well as give clear instructions.
Let’s travel a few more years and go back only 1000 years. The world is dominated by the church and the military. Laloux defines these as conformist organizations and assigns them the color amber. Formalized roles in the shape of a pyramid and stability were the highest scores. This epoch was shaped by group norms and rules of the community.
A few centuries later we reach the industrial revolution and the time of the first real companies. We are seeing the first profitable organizations as we know them today. Innovation and reliability were the order of the day. You had to be better than the competition. The employees were now given initial freedom in how they could complete tasks.
But what’s next? Where are modern companies headed? What characteristics will modern organizations have to have? According to Laloux, this will affect the color “green or teal”: so-called pluralistic organizations, comparable to a family. Values, inclusion of all stakeholders and orientation towards a culture describe this new form.

Conclusion and colors

If you look closely at Laloux’s “Reinventing Organizations” diagram, you can see how quickly organizations change. It used to be several centuries, but now there are only a few years left to the next stage of evolution. Let’s summarize the development again based on the colors.

• Red: give me what I want
• Amber: rules and norms of the group
• Orange: Success and Innovation (Knowledge)
• Green: togetherness and harmony (values)
• Teal: purpose of organization, service to the world, identification

And what’s next?

Laloux even goes a step further and suggests the next color petrol. He calls such organizations “evolutionary”. According to color theory, the color petrol has a calming and powerful effect at the same time. However, Laloux has not yet disclosed any further information.

Is green or petrol the same as Holacracy, sociocracy or democracy?

So does one of these last two colors stand for the concept of Robertson and Co.? I already detailed about Holacracy, democracy or sociocracy Written in another article and in summary I have to say that basically any of the models can be the color petrol in Laloux’s model. This can be seen in the strong focus on the purpose of organizations. But the similarities with biology based on the case studies of molecules and atoms also sound like exactly this evolutionary form of company to me. So have we already reached the next level? This should become a topic of the roundtable on agility, because we cannot currently be sure whether these model companies can really shape evolutionary or whether the change actually depends on other factors.
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Why are companies suddenly agile?

In his book Nowotny shows which reasons actually speak for becoming an agile company and how managers lead more agile. In addition to the reasons already mentioned in the blog for the necessity of agility (customer satisfaction, etc.) Nowotny provides another approach that is very exciting: namely, the demands of generations on companies are growing.

You can clearly see in the picture that every generation makes more demands on companies. While the Baby Boomers were apparently still satisfied with being in the company at all, Generation Y is only screaming for participation and managers don’t want to imagine what requirements Generation Z will have. This approach clearly makes sense, since employees are the greatest asset of a company and many companies are desperately looking for employees. I always notice this myself when I get new offers to change companies every day through my consulting job. I also notice that many companies cannot cope with the fact that an applicant has more options or a permanent employee could change at any time. So how can you, as a company without agility, find an employee at all when they have 30 more offers? There is even already Agile HR approaches which will be explained in another article. The aim of every company should therefore be: lead more agile in the face of demographic change.

What actually is an agile company and can we lead in a more agile way?

The reasons are really very well listed and there is a lot to suggest that agile companies are also future-proof companies. But it is still not entirely clear what exactly the interpretation of an agile company is. Scrum alone is not enough to be really agile. Maybe it is one of the concepts around Sociocracy, Holocracy, or Democracy the answer. But it is not yet certain and we still have to do some case studies whether this is really agile and evolutionary. I have already described what about this in another article agile and evolutionary companies . As the research continues, I will now observe agile companies and conduct case studies. The aim is to find out whether this really brings an improvement and whether the models are really agile.
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