Julian Knorr and Felix von Held on imperfect resumes, the legacy generation and how employers can score in the talent market.
Corona catapulted us into other worlds of work. Remote was the new normal and the big challenge. Now companies are grappling with the next challenge: reboarding. But what does that mean exactly? Everyone back to the office? Or everyone as they please? Which settings are optimal? How do you balance the needs of the individual, the team, but also the corporate culture? What will the hybrid workplace of the future look like? And what does all this do to managers?
Julian Knorr and Felix von Held are experts in the field of "Working 4.0" and "New Work". They accompany change processes and manage their impact on companies. In this interview, they explain what is important in the transformation to new forms of work and organization.
– To start off, could you briefly explain what is behind "New Work" and its relevance?
Felix: Why are we concerned with the topic of "New Work"? On the one hand, the topic of talent is becoming existential for employers. The labor market is changing radically; we are increasingly entering a market that is increasingly characterized by the search for talent or employees locally, regionally and globally. On the other hand, employers have to deal with the digitalization of the workplace. Collaboration needs to be completely redefined, boundaries are shifting, there needs to be renegotiation. Today, everything is decided by the question, how flexible am I? What does the best collaboration look like in my company. To summarize: The pain point talent market meets collaboration negotiation.
Julian: I would like to start with the result from a study by the World Economic Forum, the so-called Future of Jobs Report. By 2025, 40% of core skills will change in the labor market. That means almost half of the skills needed will change in the foreseeable future. This leaves employers with two options: Re-skilling and upskilling within their own ranks, or finding appropriate talent outside. But this is becoming increasingly complicated, as Felix has already mentioned. Because: Firstly, you can hardly score points with salary today and secondly, loyalty to the company is decreasing. The reason: culture and loyalty are difficult to maintain "fully remote". A third point concerns the generation of heirs. With GenY and GenZ, for the first time there are generations on the labor market whose parents no longer come from the war generation. This is accompanied by a completely new sense of security, with the consequence that money becomes secondary. This in turn means that money is becoming secondary: New Work has a lot to do with meaning. That hits all three points. As an employer, I can no longer score points with cheap jobs.
– What does that mean for the forms of work and organization in companies?
Felix: It means a big challenge to see and accept all this. Especially the big companies and brands were used to having enough applicants who agreed to their conditions within certain frameworks. But the rules of the game have changed. We need answers to the question How do we work together.
This means, for example, a rethinking in the direction of experience. When location is less important, the employer experience comes to the fore. Just like the question of where does it start, where does it end. Companies have to go through the change curve and the denial phase and have to admit to themselves, I have to change. They have to go through a real change process, and that also has a lot to do with leadership skills. To a large extent, this also involves questions for managers: What am I used to, what is my character, to what extent do I have to change my leadership style?
Julian: We need to get away from the buzzwords. New Work is more than the fruit basket. The midmarket must clearly understand what the motivation for the change is. They have to approach the matter "hands on". That means moving away from Purpose and the fruit basket to true "New Work!" Also, you have to get used to imperfect resumes. Career changers who are able to keep learning new skills will be inevitable and invaluable to companies. In other words, you have to get away from classic CV notions. A third point concerns the topic of leadership: The fact that competencies are shifting triggers fears - companies must face up to this.
– How do companies succeed in implementing these changes?
Felix: Companies need to take a hypothesis-based approach. They need to ask questions and examine the real circumstances "Is it really the case that we work more efficiently under a or b?" They make assumptions "When is the connectedness greater when I work remotely or onsite?" And that then needs to be looked at in context. Often decisions are based on anecdotal evidence rather than data. From my day-to-day consulting experience, I know examples where consultants preferred to work co-creatively in the office, while the analysts from IT preferred to work remotely. In the same company, one floor was completely empty and the other fully occupied, but both areas worked efficiently and well. Examining that and managing on that basis is what I recommend in implementation. Using new tools can already be part of the solution, but I have to question and verify it again and again.
Julian: The whole thing must not remain just a grassroots movement, but must be supported by the management. Self-reflection, which can also hurt in places, is the basis. It can happen that I have to slaughter sacred cows. Change only works if it is really wanted. If you just hang the New Work fig leaf around your neck, you will fail. It's not a matter of wanting, but of living New Work.
Companies also need to take a holistic view of the employee experience. That means they have to look at the spaces and ask the question, when do I have to be on site and where? They need to look at technology and they need to look at leadership. In all of this, they need to look at the basic structures above all else: What about ownership, do I need/need to become more agile, and if so, what does that mean for the salary structure? If the team leader no longer exists, who earns what? These are tricky questions, but they absolutely need to be clarified.
Felix: There are different levers for this. The ability to rethink things plays a crucial role. Our study on robust leadership, for example, had one core finding: strategic processes are becoming increasingly permeable and participatory. Transformation is also increasingly understood as a strategy issue. And it is important to respond in this way to such major change processes and transformations. This involves incentives or even working models.
If you think in isolation, you quickly reach your limits. You have to take a holistic approach, test, rehearse, in other words, work agilely forwards.
If I ensure transparency, then I can verify the process. If the overall process works, i.e., if I can demonstrably show that it works and can also substantiate this, then the whole thing can be easily played back. Then the change is not just a flash in the pan, but becomes part of the strategy. Measurement is an important tool here.
– What do you recommend for hybrid settings?
Julian: First of all, I would like to respond with an exciting finding from a study on remote teams: When do remote teams perform best? When they see themselves as analog. That has to do with trust, first and foremost. Remotely, there may be a technical trust, but in analog, there is the interpersonal trust. So it's not advisable to think black or white; it's the mix that matters.
There is no blueprint for hybrid settings. I recommend that companies look again and again at the factors of tasks, personnel, and their own level of maturity and, building on this, develop a concept with the question of how much remote we can afford and how much remote we have to afford.
From my point of view, however, one insight has definitely prevailed: onboarding should take place on site. After all, onboarding new employees has a lot to do with trust.
Felix: I can only emphasize that. And then there's performance. In other words, the business. In other words, it's a question of what kind of company am I? Which people do I want to have in the company to ensure my company's success?
Flexibility is a particularly high value. The question here is: What do people value, what do newcomers value? I have to enable reflection on this. What rituals do we create beyond content, what offerings do we create? Meaning, is there a reason to come together, does coming into the office make sense at all given the high density of appointments? You have to allow transfers, calendar changes, self-organization skills are necessary, all of these are essential key points. The company as a whole must set the framework for this.
One key point to bear in mind is that rituals that used to exist before the pandemic no longer exist virtually. Managers have to establish something and follow it up. This has to be followed through with vigor and patience. Managers are also increasingly becoming coaches. Employees may not be familiar with all of this, which creates uncertainty; they have to have conversations and ensure security. Leadership behavior is changing dramatically.
– In what way?
Felix: The already high demands on managers will continue to rise. There will be a shift away from providing content to providing a framework for experts. I'm talking about a framework that provides security, and within which you take a step back yourself. Complexity will continue to increase. And against this background, leadership will also become a negotiation process. It is then a question of how we as leaders shape this process.
The message Everyone back to the office will cause unrest and lead to the loss of employees. Instead, we need to consider: What do employees need? What do we need as an organization to operate together with high performance and joy. The answers to these questions will determine good leadership.
Julian: Once again, I would like to emphasize the difference between digital and hybrid leadership. Hybrid leadership creates completely different dynamics. For example, in hybrid meetings with people on site and people connected via video, the latency created by the Internet can lead to frustration. This creates different speeds of communication. Managers need to respond to this. Remotely, many workers also feel disconnected. The danger of alienation is great. However, there are also studies that find the same signs of isolation and difficulties among employees in the office in the hybrid setting.
That's why you have to get the hybrid setting right from the start. You have to develop a vision, allow trust, and let go of old patterns. What works, what doesn't work? And please don't see what doesn't work as a failure, but as a basis for new opportunities!
– How do you ensure team cohesion and team spirit in this environment?
Felix: Three points in this regard: (1) Strengthening trust in team competencies and playing the question of what works well into the team. There are good answers, there is good regulation. The impact is greater than one might suspect. Everyone wants performance to be good, after all. Caring and development are relevant points to consider. (2) I recommend to tackle, to start and to try. Much settles in the doing, you just have to set the framework. (3) Network externally. There are so many best practices outside your own company, so many impulses for hybrid role understandings, for technical setups, for learning, discovering, adopting and understanding.
Julian: The best remote teams meet analog - I repeat myself, also because it's so important in the statement.
You have to create deliberate rituals. You have to create moments again and again where everyone comes together. This often involves effort, but it is definitely worth it. You have to rethink (learn) how to work together. Online settings need connectedness and rituals.
– What will the workplace of the future look like?
Julian: Flexible. In any case, there won't be less space. On the contrary, there needs to be more space for socializing. I can see the gym from the past. The equipment you need is pulled out of the side rooms as needed.
Felix: The question about the workplace is primarily about work activities: How high-frequency are they? We have to separate functionally according to activities and bring the whole thing into harmony in the available space. Solutions usually already exist, you just have to be willing to see them. Fluidity in the daily routine is becoming the new normal. Where do I make a call, where is the white board, where is the high table, where do I concentrate - all of this will flow into one another, and is already happening, for example in our company.
– Your conclusion?
Julian: New Work is not a nice-to-have, but the basis for survival.
Felix: Talent and employees will be the differentiating factors in the coming years. Leadership, a good environment and the design of the experience for employees are crucial for success.
Julian Knorr
Julian Knorr is the founder and CEO of ONESTOPTRANSFORMATION AG. Together with his team, he supports companies in the analysis and development of digital mindset. For this purpose, ONESTOPTRANSFORMATION has developed a unique platform: With the AI-based Mindset Navigator Platform, employees develop the future competencies that are essential for survival, companies increase the retention of employees and become attractive for new talents. Customers range from SMEs (e.g. Sparkasse) to large corporations such as Lufthansa.
DR. FELIX VON HELD
Dr. Felix von Held, is the founder of the Institute for Innovation and Change Methodology (IICM) in Munich. In his work as an innovation consultant, he has advised companies in over 20 different industries in recent years. His main focus is on coaching and supporting holistic innovation and change programs as well as projects on product, communication, strategy and business model development. In addition to his consulting work, he is a lecturer at the Center of Digital Technology Development (CDTM) in Munich.