Part 1 of the Trilogy Human Capital 2020-2022 took place on Saturday, 26.09.2020.
“Beyond Leadership” was the workshop title and promised to teach a method that helps to put agile working methods and flat hierarchies into practice. Like the Trilogy Digitalization, the prelude to the Triology Human Capital took place again in the 25h Hotel on Langstrasse.
The workshop was the first event of the EMBA UZH Alumni after the Corona-Lockdown and was held in accordance with the safety concept of the University of Zurich: Masks had to be worn in the workshop room as soon as the minimum distance was undercut, portions of food had to be spread as far as possible across the room and a lot of airing and disinfection were part of the general conditions.
The morning started with Matthias Mölleney trying out the Beyond Leadership concept. After the table groups had answered the questions “What’s on my mind right now? And what do I want to achieve today?”, groups of two started by discussing the big question “Who am I (as a person) and why am I here (in the world)? People, who had never met before, established a connection to each other within a very short time.
Why all this? As early as 2015, Patrick Cowden put forward the thesis that companies can be many times more efficient if silo thinking and internal power struggles could be reduced. But how can this be achieved? Cowden’s answer to this question is clear: You have to know your counterpart and trust him. Matthias Mölleney and Sybille Sachs underpinned the thesis theoretically and practically with a large series of experiments in 2019. The hypothesis is therefore: If the people who work together know and trust each other, psychological security is created and the company can work with maximum efficiency.
In addition to getting to know Beyond Leadership Space, Agile Leadership, Psychological Security and Motivation, the workshop provided the opportunity to examine the theory as well as some exciting examples such as Freitag or Holacracy One. The intensive discussion showed that the interest of the participants was immense and that their experience with agile working methods varied greatly. An exciting exchange for all present!
Text: Jeanine Bönsel
Pictures: Hervé Windisch