Helping organizations stay competitive with new leadership, team staffing and AI
The digital transformation requires businesses to reframe their understanding of management – in response to technological innovations, hybrid working models, age-diverse teams and the increasingly blurred lines between people’s professional and private lives. Traditional management models are no longer enough in a VUCA world distinguished by uncertainty and complexity. And the role of management is also undergoing major changes: you can digitalize processes, but not people. Modern HR development must begin earlier and aim to foster collaboration characterized by a genuine sense of togetherness. It must be able to answer the question “What does my team really need right now, both professionally and culturally?”. bwcon GmbH and its partner company tlou.ai show how this can be done.
In this context, digital leadership isn’t so much about the use of technology as about the ability to provide guidance, build trust and promote participatory structures in a dynamic environment. Leadership is thus a continuous learning process that involves being willing to challenge established power structures and more strongly embed new values such as transparency, trust, cultural alignment and a focus on shared goals.
This approach isn’t confined to day-to-day operations – it begins when we ask who we actually want in the team and why. Recruitment thus lays the foundation for the things that will be important going forward: trust, clarity and learning together. Job postings that don’t really analyze the requirements and recruitment decisions based solely on résumés are unlikely to deliver the desired outcomes. In a workplace where change is the only constant, it’s no longer just about filling vacancies, but about enhancing teams with people who have the right personality and cultural fit.
Situational leadership calls for trust
Effective leadership is increasingly situational in nature. It involves adapting your approach to the task at hand, the team’s development level and the prevailing conditions within the company, for example what the corporate culture is really like in practice. Trust, personal relationships and clear communication are crucial in hybrid and virtual work settings. Making a deliberate, targeted effort to build trust is particularly important during the initial stages of digital collaboration. Successful leadership behavior also begins with authentic self-management, clear value orientation and the ability to create a sense of purpose and encourage employee development. It also calls for an open feedback culture and appropriate communication methods within the team.
Learning as a strategic management tool
At the same time, New Learning methods like microlearning, regular reflection opportunities and team feedback processes within the daily work routine create individual learning opportunities that strengthen the team’s collective capabilities. This entails a fundamental shift away from the manager’s traditional decision-making function and towards a role as enabler, coach and moderator. In an environment characterized by personal responsibility, trust and participation, leaders don’t just define processes but also actively help to shape culture and attitudes. Learning thus becomes a strategic management tool and a key pillar of organizational resilience in times of change.
It is evident from the day-to-day experience of bwcon and its partner companies that enterprises are most likely to remain competitive if they deliberately create spaces for learning, dialogue and co-creation and structurally embed them in their leadership methods and daily work routines. As an innovation and digitalization platform, bwcon offers practical ways of enabling companies to actively shape change. The network’s workshops, coaching programs like INQA, and themed event series provide opportunities for businesses to share experiences, promoting cross-sectoral synergies between young, innovative enterprises and member companies with more established structures.
tlou.ai – candidate screening that considers culture
One concrete example from the bwcon network is tlou.ai. This AI-powered platform helps teams and leaders to accurately determine a team’s current requirements in terms of skills, team structure and cultural fit. tlou.ai also helps companies to get their values across so they can create job ads tailored to specific target groups that genuinely appeal to the right people. The screening process already uses individualized interview questions that are tailored to both the specific role and the team context. This ensures that, even before the first interview, managers have a clear idea of the candidate’s professional and personal suitability.
Under this approach, team staffing is no longer viewed as an administrative process, but as a transparent, collaborative management tool. Teams reflect collectively on the roles that they currently need and participate actively in filling them. As well as making them more receptive towards their new colleagues, this also strengthens the team culture – long before the actual onboarding process begins.
According to tlou.ai founder & CEO Jan Ludwig, “Modern leadership is no longer about having all the answers yourself – it’s about asking the right questions and empowering teams to collectively develop robust solutions”.
Managing change with a holistic mindset
So the key to leadership is to ask the critical questions: what do we as a team need right now, at this particular stage? And, as well as the right skills, who can bring an attitude that fits in with our team to the table? The foundations of future competitiveness are laid when these three factors – technology, leadership and culture – come together and companies have the courage to take a holistic approach to their leadership and learning culture during times of change.
Contact
Nico Stricz (author)
HR & professional development consultant
bwcon GmbH (Stuttgart)
www.bwcon.de
Dr. Lukas Bruns (author)
Senior Consultant HR Development & Innovation Processes
bwcon GmbH (Stuttgart)
www.bwcon.de
Janina Belke (author)
Jan Ludwig (author)
Founder & CEO
tlou.ai – ein Produkt der elephant recruiting UG (Esslingen)