Developing a leadership system

With the top management team, we examine which tasks are decided at which level, how dissent becomes possible and how knowledge from customer contact and operations flows in. This explicitly includes non-hierarchical communication, without dissolving the formal hierarchy. A leadership system must therefore combine clear responsibility with factual, cross-functional problem-solving.

We translate the image into concrete leadership work: Where are divergent observations heard? Who decides in the event of conflicting goals? Which meetings serve to inform, and which serve a real decision? Together with those responsible, we design roles and formats in which cross-cutting questions are addressed. A published case study from an infrastructure group links the leadership system and strategy implementation; its project results remain within that case. The effect of the new system is assessed by decisions and collaboration, not by the number of new committees.

Paradoxien als dauerhafte Führungsaufgabe bearbeiten: Führung und Organisation müssen häufig gleichzeitig gegensätzliche Anforderungen bearbeiten: Stabilität und Veränderung, Exploitation und Exploration, Orientierung und Offenheit. Paradoxien lassen sich deshalb nicht durch eine einmalige Entscheidung auflösen; sie müssen beobachtet, benannt und in der jeweiligen Situation bearbeitet werden. Das schafft einen Rahmen, in dem unterschiedliche Anforderungen koordiniert werden können.

Sechs Aufgabenfelder gemeinsam im Blick halten: Das Führungsrad verbindet Strategieentwicklung, Marketing, Ressourcenmanagement, Organisationsentwicklung, Personalmanagement und Controlling. Führung richtet die Organisation damit auf künftige Entwicklungen, Kundenanforderungen, verfügbare Ressourcen und geeignete Strukturen aus. Dazu gehört eine nachvollziehbare Beobachtung der eigenen Leistung. Die Felder dienen als Reflexionsrahmen für das Führungssystem.

Arbeitsergebnisse: Gemeinsames Verständnis der Führungsaufgaben; Abgestimmte Gremien, Rollen und Entscheidungsroutinen; Verbindung von Führungssystem und individueller Entwicklung.

The brief includes leadership itself as part of the organisation. It needs a mandate to genuinely examine the relevant roles and collaboration.

Leadership is work at the boundary between the organisation and its relevant environments. The image of fence-riding makes it understandable why new information is often unsettling: someone who successfully organises a familiar process may initially experience a divergent signal as a disruption. A leadership system must nevertheless be able to take in and examine such signals. This requires clear roles, but also places for factual communication across hierarchies. Explicitly included is the design of communication structures, rules of interaction and non-hierarchical problem-solving processes.

Using concrete leadership cases, we examine where responsibility is unclear, which decision is going round in circles and which perspective has so far been missing. A new meeting structure is only helpful if it enables a better decision or better coordination. Managers must also distinguish between managing what exists and working on change. Both are part of the system.

The result can be a clarified sequence of preparation, decision, implementation and review. Its effect shows in the organisation's actions: Are conflicting goals voiced earlier, responsibilities understood and external expectations processed better?

Leadership is also work on orientation and on the performance of existing processes. Not every disruption calls for a reorganisation. Some need a clear decision, others a new opportunity for cross-departmental learning. We distinguish between these cases together with the managers. A leadership system should show where operational responsibility lies and when an issue must be decided jointly because of its strategic or organisation-wide impact. The experience from such decisions feeds into the next leadership round.

Observing the relevant environments is a leadership task. Information from customer contact, the market and operations must find its way into the strategic discussion. To this end, we examine concrete decisions to see where observations have so far got stuck: at hierarchical boundaries, in specialist departments or in meetings without a decision-making mandate. Leadership teams can enable factual communication across these boundaries while still keeping formal responsibility clear.

The image of fence-riding refers to people and formats that combine inside and outside perspectives. Based on this diagnosis, roles, committees and routines are designed so that dissent can be dealt with. The result is to be judged by the quality and implementation of real decisions, not by a new drawing of the leadership system.