The focus should always be on the person
Demographic change, individualization, new work – in the future, executives will increasingly have to deal with
be confronted with these megatrends. The linchpin here will be the individual employee – the person at the center. In this context, the change in values that has already begun in the world of work is the driving force, which has found its manifesto in the new buzzword “Work 4.0”. Company cars and bonus payments give way to meaning, appreciation, flexibility, co-determination and further development – no longer just among Generation Y or Z. Faithful to the motto: “Boss see and promote me – otherwise I’m gone.”
We claim that nextleader recognizes the special in each of its employees and continuously helps them to be successful.
The nextleader sees itself as an active and personal talent manager whose ambition is for employees to get even more out of what they are and have. In doing so, he values individual strengths and needs and aligns them with the company’s interests. This is indeed an area of tension, but one that must be managed and continuously monitored.
From our perspective, three core tasks will be important:
- The nextleader recruits talented employees
He is on the lookout for the best and right candidates. Talent is the keyword here instead of expertise, work experience and concrete job descriptions. For example, Sydney Finkelstein describes in his article “The secret of the superbosses”(HBM 2015) that qualities such as intelligence, flexibility, creativity, willingness to learn and perform, and the ability to look at problems from a new angle should be the focus in the selection process. Once the right people are on board, only then is consideration given to what specific jobs might look like. Or new jobs are created. At the same time, the nextleader has the necessary self-confidence to hire people who could even become better than him one day.
- The nextleader adapts the job to his employees, not vice versa
He understood that each person has unique strengths, their own way of thinking and their own style of dealing. He also knows that these personality patterns can only be changed to a limited extent, no matter how much further training is done. It is much better to keep adjusting job positions so that talent and task fit together perfectly and weaknesses play less and less of a role. With this focus, the foundation for excellence is laid.
- The nextleader lets talented employees become great
He enjoys the development of his employees and actively promotes talent. He tries to find out more and more about the individual personality profile of his employees and, based on this, considers which so-called “stretching jobs” create high learning and development opportunities. Regular feedback is the central element here – and this is far more than the usually obligatory annual employee appraisal. The nextleader is in close contact with his employees by holding intensive and continuous discussions about strengths, weaknesses, wishes and expectations, giving feedback on past performance and looking ahead together with the employee. In this process, goals and expectations are not communicated “top-down”, but are exchanged and defined jointly.
