Leadership . What really matters

KAUF Leaders & Ventures invites at least 1,000 managers to participate in surveys several times a year.

The participants as well as the topics vary and focus on leadership in digital transformation.

You will find key statements on the following pages.

62% of the managers are cautiously optimistic for the year 2021. Almost 50% expect moderate growth of <5%.

But the mood seems volatile. After all, 25% see the risk of stagnation. Recession and high growth are in balance.

The management is convinced of its abilities. A remarkable 75% see in-house operations as the key to success.

External influences are therefore of secondary importance or are internalized.

At most, corona and its consequences appear among the top external factors. This is a significant, but only a temporary challenge to overcome (say 74%).

The drivers of success are remarkably clear.

Digitization and technological change (say 94%), innovative ability (say 58%) paired with focus, speed and implementation skills are the most important variables.

In other words - success is expected if management reacts quickly and adequately to digitization, uses technical change as an opportunity and remains capable of innovation.

Success needs the right skills in the right place at the right time. There is a need for action here.

Many managers see the human factor as the key to success, at the same time they state a lack of available skills (say 30%).

It is therefore important for every company to answer whether it has the necessary skills available or can acquire them at short notice - in all facets, i.e. via availability, attraction, retention, training, upskilling, increased motivation and performance.

Trade disputes are a threat to success (say 24%). 

In comparision, all other external influences fade to background noise. They follow at a considerable distance and their relevance can hardly be differentiated from one another.

95% of the managers surveyed say that transformation means the complete, often disruptive change of established business models.

75% of the managers surveyed are already engaged in transformative tasks.

Managers without transformation experience underestimate the challenges. They want change, but still rely on the tools they learned in the past. For them, transformation is rational, objective and plannable.

Managers with experience describe transformation as a very challenging, highly innovative process: rarely plannable, with a lot of human interaction and limited usability of learned specialist knowledge.

Transformative intelligence is gender-neutral, according to 80 % of the managers surveyed. Empathy and situational intuition in particular are crucial for success.

85% of the managers surveyed believe in the measurability of transformative intelligence. However, conventional testing methods are unsuitable and adequate methods have not yet been established.

Distance Leadership does not work automatically, say all surveyed executives.

Virtual teams increase innovation output only when certain conditions are met, say 70% of managers.

Laissez-faire is not enough. The goals should be clear always and the processes optimized for virtual work.

Managers must avoid the honey trap of distance leadership. Less is more, does not work. Leadership must be properly dosed. Managers must actively and consistently demonstrate values and leadership.

The art of adequate leadership lies in the balance of trust and control - the so-called polarity paradox. Distance Leadership works only through trust of the leader and with high independence of the employees.

Leadership at a distance requires a competence shift. Soft skills become much more important for everyone. If soft skills are missing, then someone does not belong in a virtual team, not even as a manager.