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Leadership Under Change – Equality Not Subordination

Published by Marcus Raitner

In the transition from the industrial age to the age of knowledge work, the relationship between employees and their organization changes fundamentally. Dependent workers increasingly become independent knowledge workers who carry their means of production in their heads. The organization is therefore more dependent on knowledge workers than vice versa. In this transition, the network replaces the hierarchy as the leading organizational principle. Leadership is therefore no longer based on subordination and obedience, but now aims at the self-leadership of the people entrusted to it.

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Impact over Input

Published by Marcus Raitner

Successful agile organizations are strongly oriented towards a common mission despite the guiding principle of self-organization. Autonomy requires orientation, otherwise it leads to chaos. Of course, all other organizations also claim for themselves an appropriate vision and mission. Agile organizations, however, are more impact-driven. They focus more on outcomes and measure the impact that these outcomes make. Traditional organizations are more input-driven inasmuch they try to plan exactly which input in terms of resources is needed

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Agility and Subsidiarity: Autonomous Decisions – Shared Responsibility

Published by Marcus Raitner

Agile organizations rely on the principle of subsidiarity. Decisions are always made as decentralized as possible. The next higher or next larger unit only takes action if the smaller unit is not able to solve the task alone. But even then, the objective is still to help people to help themselves. However, this only works if autonomy is given a common orientation towards a higher purpose. Constant work on and with this purpose as a guideline is thus one of the most important leadership tasks in an agile organization. And actively assuming responsibility in the sense of a common mission is the most important task of the decentralized units, by which their autonomy is legitimized.

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Courage – The Underestimated Virtue

Published by Marcus Raitner

For Winston Churchill it was crystal clear that without courage all other virtues would become meaningless. It is not only in society and politics that we need courage more urgently today than we have in a long time; more would also benefit our companies and their employees. We need courage to make traditional organizations fit for the future. The current absolutist-hierarchical building principle has finally served its purpose. In the age of digitalization and knowledge work, our companies require a new enlightenment with a more consistent separation of powers. Immanuel Kant’s motto for the Enlightenment should therefore stand above every gate: “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence!”

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