Hornikel asks: With Jörn Werner
In an interview with Alexander Hornikel, Senior Partner at Kloepfel Consulting, Jörn Werner, former CEO at A.T.U and Ceconomy, provides insights into the transformation of companies. Which challenges have to be overcome, how can employees be motivated and which leadership style is up-to-date?
In your opinion, what are the most important values to follow a successful career path within a company?
In order to have a successful career, first of all a lot of luck is needed. If you are in the right place at the right time, you can already gain great advantages. You can’t force luck, but with the right values you can at least create the best conditions for it. These include in particular straightforwardness and predictability. In business, the days when politicians and eccentrics came to the top are over. Nowadays a strong team spirit is required in management. This only develops if you can rely on each other and assess your team colleagues.
Especially when it comes to transformation, a healthy openness for new things is very important. Whoever shuts himself off from innovation and positive transformation in order to remain with the accustomed old will fall by the wayside in the long run. But being open for new things is not enough. As a leader, I also have to pick up the employees and guide them through the transformation process. This means that social competence and interaction with other people are gaining enormously in importance for prospective managers. Being able to inspire your employees, take them along and align them with a common goal is the greatest leadership quality of today.
What challenges does a transformation process bring with it?
The challenges differ depending on the situation and attitude of the company. As is well known, the greatest opponent of change is success. If a company is successful, it is difficult to convince employees that something has to change. But often successful business models are short-lived and are threatened by disruption. Communicating this clearly and thus getting employees excited about a transformation process is a major challenge. The situation is different in companies that are in economic difficulties. Here the employees are often in grateful expectation of a transformation. If everyone knows that the current course cannot be continued, there is also a willingness for transformation. But here, too, the employees must be led in order to master this great task together. I like to use the metaphor of the North Star, which the entire company must pursue together. This North Star, this clear goal, must be set by the management and also show the way to achieve it. Because only if every single person in the company works on the transformation can it ultimately be a success.
How can these challenges be overcome?
The time factor and timing play a particularly important role here. The later a company enters the transformation process, the more difficult it becomes to achieve a turnaround. In my presentations I like to use the example of the wave on which companies try to surf. If you get on your surfboard too early, the wave will roll over you. Those who get on their surfboards too late will miss it. This is also the case with changes in markets and innovations in the economy. More important is the aspect of planning. For a successful transformation, not only the right timing but also the right approach must be carefully thought through before the time comes. This approach is primarily concerned with the “why” of transformation. Why is the transformation necessary? Why do we need to change our processes? Why does the old business model no longer work? What should the customer experience look like in the future? All of these questions occupy both the employees and the management of a company. The North Star mentioned above helps to answer the questions and pave the way for the transformation. Which path this will take is then determined by a transformation plan with numerous projects and measures. The alignment with the company’s resources is also crucial. Can we afford to implement all these measures? This depends on IT resources, human resources and, of course, financial resources. It can happen that out of 100 planned measures, only 20 can be implemented, but this saves the company unnecessary costs and time.
What role do your own employees play in the transformation process?
In the past, transformation processes were approached in a very “American” way with regard to employees. The rule of thumb was that one third of the employees have to be replaced, one third can be brought there and one third can already be. I don’t believe in this principle at all and it is no longer applicable today. If I lay off a third of my employees, I will hardly have a chance of finding so many new, qualified specialists today. A transformation must be designed in such a way that as many employees as possible are taken on board. Of course, it will never be possible to take everyone with us. That is the nature of transformation. But one must be aware that it is difficult to recruit new and better employees from outside. So the priority should always be on current employees and their motivation.
How do you succeed in motivating employees for innovation and transformation?
There must be a simple and clear guideline that is understood by everyone. Everyone must understand how they can make their own contribution to the restructuring of the company. So it’s not just about telling employees what to do, but much more why they should do it. This has been well received in all my previous stations and is taken up by the employees and translated into positive results. And this is only because the employees have been informed, transparency has been created and a very clear goal, the mentioned North Star, has been set. This principle only works if the employees are then also shown the corresponding appreciation.
If you could give just one tip for aspiring managers, what would it be?
The old thinking that power is important on the way up no longer works. Instead, you have to prove yourself in project work and also successfully manage interdisciplinary projects. This makes you quickly become “visible” and you are recommended for management tasks. The classic hierarchies and silo thinking of the past hardly exist anymore. A good network within the company remains important. Fighting your way up with elbows and politics is no longer up to date and will fail in most companies.
What do you think a modern management style should look like today?
The secret of my career was that I was aware at all times that I could not achieve anything on my own. I’m not CEO because I’m the best and I can do everything better. I used to meet many managers who had the talent to hire the worst out of five applicants. And that was because they were afraid of being replaced. That no longer works today. You are only promoted if the successor is already determined and the department has a good output, and that only works with good employees. The job of a manager is to gather good people around him. I have to steer these people in one direction with a clear goal, but then also allow enough freedom. As a manager I must then always be the ambassador of my goal and my North Star. Only in this way can I lead my employees in a credible manner and motivate them in the long term.
Contact:
Alexander Hornikel
Senior Partner
KLOEPFEL Consulting GmbH
Pempelforter Str. 50
D-40211 Düsseldorf
T: +49 152 227 227 31
a.hornikel@kloepfel-consulting.com