Why humanity pays off
Many companies are finding it increasingly difficult to find and retain good employees and to develop their full potential. To change this, it is crucial to create the necessary conditions. This includes, above all, the prevailing climate of leadership and collaboration in the company - especially, but by no means only - for Gen Z. Managers play a key role in forstering an appropriate climate of psychological safety in which healthy and autonomous performance is possible and employees thrive. The manager's own development into leader personalities is the basis for it.
Leading professionally
Sustainably successful companies are characterized in particular by a high level of professionalism in their leadership and the systematic development of the necessary human skills. In addition to clear leadership principles and frameworks, very simple and classic attitudes like mutual trust and appreciation build a foundation for sustainable success - today more than ever. However, it is often precisely this crucial human dimension that gets lost in our performance-driven daily work routine. Hectic and uncoordinated cooperation under pressure demotivates employees; it inhibits performance and can be harmful to health. Such conditions often escalate due to the reactive and unreflective behavior of overburdened managers, which strongly impairs a productive working atmosphere and ultimately has a negative impact on business results.
In order for managers to lead their teams successfully, they must reflect on their own thoughts and behaviors. The resulting awareness is a prerequisite for eliminating reactive thought patterns and behaviors, some of which have developed over many years. The goal is to think and act more consciously and intentionally in matters of leadership and collaboration, with increased awareness of one’s own impact on others.
The resulting humanity in dealing with oneself and others is a decisive success factor in today’s working world. It determines whether employees are just doing things by the book, or whether they are committed, engaged, and take responsibility for their own actions - not because they are told to, but because they want to do so, of their own accord.
Think human. Act human. Be human.
Greater humanity pays off: Managers who consciously allow the human dimension in the work and business environment and integrate it into their thoughts and actions become more self-confident and thus more authentic. They enable themselves and others to work in a more humane and therefore more successful way.
Or, as one client recently put it: "My most important insight from the program is that you positively change the financial figures of the company by focusing on the people, not the numbers!"
Rethinking the notion of soft skills
Far too often, the essence of what makes us human — empathy, values, emotions — is still being called «soft skills» and relegated to the sidelines. Yet these capacities essentially drive everything: culture, engagement, leadership, innovation, collaboration. They are not «soft skills» They are the cornerstone of resilient, thriving, and agile organizations.
We therefore simply call them «human skills» or «essential skills».
Actively shaping corporate culture
In order to achieve the company’s goals in the best way possible, a conducive corporate culture is central. A corporate culture of this kind cannot be implemented by proclamation. It depends on the daily actions and behaviors of employees at all levels: it depends on the people. A consistently demonstrated framework of values and behavioral standards is crucial, because it decisively determines the behavior of the entire company and its employees (corporate behavior) both internally and externally. Managers at all levels – above all top management – have a vital function as role models. Accordingly, their development in the areas of personality and human skills is an essential core task.
