Steinbeis experts combine self-management and team management
In our dynamic economy, good ideas aren’t enough on their own – strategic transformation is vital to ensuring sustainable growth and resilience. Organizations want visionary leaders who inspire their team, have excellent leadership skills and are able to drive change. And this doesn’t just mean changes due to external market and technology factors – it also includes the systematic development of internal resources, processes and structures. Developing leadership skills is key – managers must act as enablers of success. Two experts from the Steinbeis Consulting Center Securing Future, Thomas Hösle and Günther Luber, explain how they can achieve this using a holistic approach that blends personal development with strategic focus.
The Steinbeis Consulting Center Securing Future’s coaching method for next generation leaders in SMES
According to the behavioral and social psychology literature, change begins with people themselves. And this is precisely the approach taken by the two Steinbeis experts, who focus on putting academically substantiated methods into practice. The aim is to help managers develop sustainable business models, optimize processes and build resilient structures by providing support with personal development and with developing the organization and employee skills.
A holistic transformation that combines the strategic, organizational and human factors
Modern management is not just about delegating and decision-making – the key is to inspire, transform and shape the future. The Steinbeis Consulting Center’s “FIT FOR CHEF:IN” program is based on self-management and team management. Personal coaching strengthens resilience, emotional intelligence and situational leadership skills using tried-and-tested methods such as core leadership development and insights from neuropsychology.
Case studies: a solution-based, individual approach
Thomas Hösle and Günther Luber put together a few brief examples of typical cases and their solutions for this TRANSFER article. The first involves a narcissistic manager whose inflated sense of his own importance and hot temper were causing conflict within his team. He exaggerated his own achievements and wouldn’t listen to criticism or admit to his weaknesses. Disputes were settled through intimidation and threats. The two Steinbeis experts proposed a personal coaching solution where the manager reflected on his behavior patterns, learned how to self-regulate appropriately in different situations, and developed his emotional intelligence. As a result, he became able to resolve conflicts in a constructive manner. Ongoing supervision helped to ensure that these changes in his behavior became permanent, and trust and togetherness in the team were strengthened as a result.
The second case study involves an established entrepreneur who found himself under tremendous pressure. An experienced managing director was facing a number of personal and business challenges – marital problems, declining sales, short-time working and financial difficulties. These pressures were having a negative impact on his motivation, assertiveness, ability to think clearly and decision-making. Thomas Hösle and Günther Luber helped him work on his stress resilience and provided marriage mediation for him and his spouse. He learned to set boundaries and improve his leadership communication. “We also provided training to his management team in order to strengthen their entrepreneurial mindset, decision-making and behavior. This helped to relieve the pressure on the entrepreneur himself. We supported his sales team by introducing AI-powered sales software that provides targeted inquiry analysis, which led to an increase in orders”, reports Thomas Hösle.
The third case study involves an inexperienced, young entrepreneur who had recently taken over the business from the previous generation. This innovative, dynamic individual wanted to radically overhaul the existing structures and processes. However, his naive HR and business management methods had disastrous consequences, culminating in people he had fired taking their cases to the employment tribunal. The Steinbeis experts provided him with mentoring support. Advice on strategic thinking, goal and result orientation, introducing objective key performance indicators (KPIs), and complexity management techniques helped to strengthen his managerial skills. “Attentional control techniques helped him strengthen his emotional stability, while training in persuasive change communication facilitated his efforts to restructure the business. Ultimately, this made him a more appealing employer”, says Günther Luber.
These examples clearly demonstrate that successful leadership is based on continuous personal development coupled with active efforts to overcome individual challenges.
Self-management: the foundation of change
Change begins with people themselves. Core skills such as recognizing one’s own behavior patterns, daily reflection, self-motivation and self-control are of paramount importance. The ability to regulate one’s emotions enables clarity
of vision, resilience in the face of change and psychological security within the team. Nonetheless, change processes often meet with resistance, for instance because people are afraid of losing something or because they don’t want to go out of their comfort zone. The key is to actively address psychological barriers, employ participatory methods and ensure transparent communication.
Team leadership: building trust & fostering innovation
Effective teams are built on emotional intelligence that creates togetherness. Trust saves on resources, a result-oriented approach allows progress to be clearly monitored, while an open, no-blame culture promotes learning and innovation. Team dynamics are complex, so training is seldom enough on its own – ongoing cultural development and systematic change management are also essential.
Adopting a meta position and an entrepreneurial mindset
Leaders must be able to adopt a “meta position”. This means breaking free of habitual strategies and acquiring new perspectives through reflective thinking, for example with the aid of neuropsychological concepts like neuroplasticity or imagination techniques. Doing this helps leaders to remain agile, ensure optimal use of resources, incorporate technological innovations and have the courage to do things differently.
Looking ahead
The key to sustainable transformation is a holistic approach encompassing everything from individual self-management to building strong teams and strategic business management. It is also vital not to overlook the importance of KPIs and of cognitive, communicative and psychological leadership factors.
To steer companies resiliently into the future, leaders must continuously improve their self-management, embed values, nurture a sense of responsibility, adapt the relevant structures and actively drive innovation, while at the same time supporting all this through motivational communication.
Contact
Thomas Hösle (author)
Steinbeis Entrepreneur
Steinbeis Consulting Center Securing Future (Pfullingen)
Günther Luber (Autor)
Steinbeis Entrepreneur
Steinbeis Consulting Center Securing Future (Pfullingen)