Listening? – Easy as pie, most people will say. After all, don’t you just have to shut up and let others do the talking? But this is not the kind of listening that counts. Let’s be honest: Do you know how your colleagues are doing right now? I mean: How they are really doing? What they are dealing with? What moves them? What challenges they are facing? What’s going well and where they could use support?
How much potential do companies waste if they do not utilize and promote the hidden talents and skills of their employees? This question is driving more and more organizations, in addition to the need to work in a more connected and flexible way, made even more visible by the crisis. A digital talent marketplace enables both: improved talent management and a collaborative, agile way of working. The Lufthansa Group recognized this and launched its talent marketplace CanDo in the middle of the crisis. In the interview at the end of this article, Tamara Winter, Manager Performance & Potential Management at Lufthansa AG, talks about the motivations, the path to the launch of the marketplace, and her preliminary conclusion after the first few months. Read more
Purpose is considered one of the cornerstones of New Work. In “Reinventing Organisations” Frederic Laloux speaks of “Evolutionary Purpose”, that companies of a new type are trying out. At first glance, this may sound a bit esoteric, but it touches upon an essential survival strategy for organizations in a world in which requirements and needs are constantly changing. Because if companies keep returning to their core values, to what drives them, and to WHY they exist, they can always align their actions with these principles, regardless of the external influences they face. Read more
Is technology the answer? This is – in summary – the central question of a remarkable article recently published by business analyst Den Howlett. The text is based on Siemens’ decision to establish the home office as the standard for more than half of their employees worldwide, thereby transforming their corporate culture. Other large corporations, such as Allianz, have now followed suit with similar announcements.
The discussion about home office is never just about working remotely. The question of how organizations will work after the pandemic has far-reaching consequences – not only for the economy as a whole, but also in terms of a new work-life reality for hundreds of thousands of employees. Read more
As we all know, normality is a question of perspective. ‘That’s not normal!’ some people might say. Others might ask ‘What is normal?’. And the next group will claim ‘Normal is boring’. And: Who wants to be boring? Don’t we all want to be a little bit different? And don’t we have to be a little different in order to be innovative? But if everyone is different, then what is normal? Does the category “normal” still work in the VUCA world, where things are changing at a rapid pace?
If you’re looking for an easy answer to the question “What is the New Normal”, you will be disappointed. Instead we need to uncover the core values of the organization that we are working for and, from there, pave new paths for collaboration together. The result? – Unknown. And that’s a good thing. Read more
In our series “Employee Experience” we highlight all critical Touch Points of the “Employee Journey”. Today: Letting go of employees.
Layoffs and terminations are drastic experiences in professional life, in both positive and negative terms, and for everyone involved. How appreciative we really treat each other is revealed when we decide to go separate ways. In an interview, Tandemploy co-founder Jana talks about what she learned from past separations, why it can be a good thing to take the departure of employees personally, why a positive employee experience does not necessarily end with the termination and how knowledge transfer can be successful in this special situation. Read more
Heike Gäbler is the founder of the Female Co-Founders initiative, which strives to promote more diversity in founding teams, especially in the German start-up ecosystem. The focus is on networking opportunities for women and men who are looking for a female co-founder. In regard to our focus topic this week – “Emotional Agility” – we asked Heike about her perspective: What is her opinion on the widespread assumption that women are better able to show and use their emotions in a work context? Read more
Many people have experienced the past weeks and months since the beginning of the Corona crisis as an emotional rollercoaster ride. Uncertainty, anger, gratitude, feeling overwhelmed, a spirit of optimism – living and working under completely new circumstances have made the different facets of human emotions visible not only in the personal realm but also between colleagues and superiors. Therefore, leadership in times of Corona requires allowing much more space for feelings. But how much feeling is good in a work context? How much of yourself do you take with you to work? How vulnerable do you want to appear? Should it be ok to show unfiltered feelings at all times? Or only the good ones? And then what to do with the less pleasant ones? Are emotional people possibly even better leaders?
Since March of this year, Digital Leadership primarily means Remote Leadership. Companies are discovering that being able to work from any location comes with many advantages, but also with new challenges. Ultimately, they all lead to one big question: How much physical proximity does leadership need?
At Tandemploy we also ask ourselves this question again and again. Our 30-person team has been working in many different locations, not just since Corona. At the same time, we have a strong home base with our Berlin office. However, this is not used by all employees to the same extent. How does that affect the team dynamics? How do team leaders manage to make all employees feel involved? And how can digital communication tools promote good leadership instead of hindering it?
Here we summarize our top 5 learnings from seven years of Tandemploy (and ten weeks of lockdown) for you. Read more
Learning Out Loud: “If you want to learn something, start teaching it!” – Interview with Ellen Herschel of the Edutrainment Company
Ellen Herschel is a Key Account Manager and Learning Experience Designer at Edutrainment Company GmbH. Together with her colleagues, she designs learning solutions for companies. The aim: to enable employees to implement what they have learned from their everyday work and to keep their desire to learn high. In an interview, she explains how this is achieved, how employees learn in a networked way, and how managers create a good learning environment. Read more
New Work is definitely a buzzword of our time. It shows up in very different contexts. Sometimes it’s about technology, sometimes about the free choice of workplace and time, and almost always about digital transformation. But how does this change our world of work? And what can New Work do for companies? We clear up the myths and provide short and concrete answers to the question: What does New Work mean exactly?
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