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Hybrid Leadership – Making the best of both worlds

Hybrid Leadership – Making the best of both worlds

by Gunther Fürstberger | Jun 27, 2022 | Leadership in the digital transformation, MDI Inside | 0 comments

Hybrid Leadership – Making the the best of both worlds

Even though the call to return to the office is noticeable in many places, home office has come to stay. For leaders, the task is to manage and motivate teams in a mix of presence, absence and making the best of both worlds with efficient hybrid leadership

Better work-life balance

According to a recent study by telecoms company Cisco, 79 per cent of workers think their work-life balance has improved as a result of hybrid working. A total of 28,000 employees from 27 countries were surveyed. In Austria, almost half see hybrid working as the model of the future, 64 percent want to be able to choose whether they attend meetings online or offline in the future.

While at the beginning of the pandemic there was no alternative to working at home, the attitude of employees has clearly changed. And now, at the latest, the understanding of leadership must also change.

Still unfamiliar

“Surprisingly, a natural approach to leading hybrid teams is still rather the exception,”

says Gunther Fürstberger, Managing Director of MDI Training.

Mostly, for example, meetings are planned either online or in presence. “Hybrid meetings are often seen as difficult and inefficient, although it has been possible for a few years now to communicate very pleasantly and efficiently with online and present participants at the same time with little financial effort.”

The hybrid world is here to stay

There is a broad consensus that the hybrid world is here to stay. What is still lacking is the corresponding mindset. Fürstberger understands this to mean the awareness that technical possibilities should be gladly and increasingly utilised for efficiency as well as positive effects on the environment.

Hybrid Leadership Workshop 

In a one-day MDI workshop, participants learn how to put the success factors of hybrid leadership “Purpose”, “People” and “Performance” into practice, but also how to strengthen togetherness and motivation despite distance.

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Just click here to continue reading the entire (german) interview with “Die Presse”.

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Mag. Gunther Fürstberger

Mag. Gunther Fürstberger

CEO | MDI Management Development International

Gunther Fürstberger is a management trainer, author and CEO of Metaforum and MDI – a global consulting company providing solutions for leadership development. His main interest is to make the world a better place through excellent leadership. He has worked for clients including ABB, Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, DHL, Hornbach, PWC and Swarovski. His core competence is leadership in digital transformation. He gained his own leadership experience as HR Manager of McDonald’s Central Europe/Central Asia.  At the age of 20 he already started working as a trainer.

 

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3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

by Dominik Etzl, Gunther Fürstberger, Peter Grabuschnig | Jun 23, 2022 | Digital Transformation, Leadership Tips, MDI Inside | 0 comments

The 3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

Basically, the concept of leadership in a hybrid set-up can be broken down to 3 main factors:

Purpose, People and Performance.

Each of these factors is an important piece of the puzzle that allows us to work efficiently and at full speed in hybrid. Here you will get a brief introduction to the basic principles of hybrid working and leading and why our 3 P’s are the 3 main success factors of hybrid leadership.

PURPOSE

Who would want to return to a workplace where you can’t identify with the values and thus don’t feel comfortable at all?

Everybody needs a reason to want to open the laptop every day – whether at home or in the office. In the hybrid world, you have to take care even more about keeping all of your employees on the ball. To do that, you need a collective mission – a Purpose.

At MDI, for example, we’ve made it our mission to develop leaders who “strive for a better world.” If your employees have a mantra that reminds them of why they have an important position in the company, they will be much more motivated to work and achieve more.

PEOPLE

Of course, employment itself should not be the only reason to enjoy showing up at the office. Often, it’s the people who motivate you to work every day. Much more emphasis should be put on the relationship among each other – the trust, the cohesion in the teams and the bond to the company. Especially when many employees are not physically in the office, you have to make sure that everyone is seen and heard. Transparent communication and respectful mutual behavior can quickly resolve conflicts and create a pleasant working atmosphere.

PERFORMANCE

The last P – Performance – is made up of three components:

  • Motivation
  • Competence and
  • Doing the Right Thing.

We ask ourselves the following questions: How much can and want our employees to achieve good results? Every starting situation of our colleagues is different. It is important to be understanding of each situation, to inquire regularly and to offer support where necessary.

We should also always keep up to date with the latest technology developments that can potentially facilitate processes and ways of working in the hybrid set-up. New apps and features are constantly being developed that make our routine workflows much easier and more flexible.

Clearly, hybrid work and especially leadership is still new territory for all of us. But before we despair and give up, let’s try around and keep the 3 P’s in mind.

Want to learn more aboute 3 P’s – The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership?

There are so many resources we can tap into to make work uncomplicated.

For more practical tips and tools, check out our guide

Successful hybrid leadership –

The 3 success factors of hybrid leadership

… and/or join our LinkedIn Leadership Community:

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Success Through Change: How to Stay Oriented During Transitions

by Anita Berger | 14. April 2025 | Impuls series, Leadership Impact, Leadership Tips | 0 Comments

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4 Tips on How to Shape Change Processes as a Leader

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Successful Team Building for Boehringer Ingelheim RCV

by Anita Berger | 29. March 2024 | Customer Story, International leadership development, MDI Inside | 0 Comments

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Organize Your Team in a Hybrid Workplace

by Peter Grabuschnig | 14. March 2024 | Impuls series, International leadership development, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 Comments

Organize Your Team in a Hybrid Workplace Prefer to listen to the article? Click below to access our AI speech-generated audio. However, if you want to read it as usual, keep scrolling.Organize Your Team in a Hybrid Workplace In his new Rise Course, our MDI trainer and...
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Exploring the Influence of AI on Leadership Roles – an experiment by a CEO

by Gunther Fürstberger | 14. November 2023 | International leadership development, Leadership and AI, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 Comments

Exploring the Influence of AI on Leadership Roles: Learn more about the ongoing ChatGPT experiment by MDI CEO Gunther Fürstberger Do you prefer to listen to this article? Click below to access our AI-generated version. Exploring the Influence of AI on Leadership...
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AI as a Co-Trainer in Leadership Development

by Gunther Fürstberger | 14. November 2023 | Impuls series, International leadership development, Leadership and AI | 0 Comments

Artificial Intelligence as a Co-Trainer in Leadership Development Do you prefer to listen to this blog article? Click below to access our AI-generated version. Artificial Intelligence as a Co-Trainer in Leadership Development In a world that is constantly evolving, we...
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Recap: This was the L&D Summer at MDI

by Iris Burner | 3. October 2023 | Leadership Impact, MDI Inside, Short Knowledge Bits | 0 Comments

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Promoting Cohesion and Retaining Talent: Leadership in Focus

by Peter Grabuschnig | 17. August 2023 | International leadership development, Leadership in the digital transformation, training new leader | 0 Comments

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What is Sustainable Individualization in Leadership?

by Iris Burner | 28. June 2023 | Digital Transformation, Leadership Impact, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 Comments

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Why Should We Lead More Sustainably?

by Aline Depoorter, Jana Wölfl | 26. June 2023 | Leadership Impact, Leadership Tips, MDI Inside | 0 Comments

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The 3 biggest challenges of hybrid work

The 3 biggest challenges of hybrid work

by Statements from the personaList community | May 27, 2022 | Customer Story, Digital Transformation, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 comments

The 3 biggest challenges of hybrid work – voices from the personalist.at community

In the course of an Leadership Horizon Conference competition, some members of the personalist.at community asked themselves the following question – What are my 3 biggest challenges when it comes to leading an organization in the new age of hybrid work?

Employee retention

A common concern among participants seems to be employee retention – spending so much time in the home office significantly increases the distance between the company and its employees.

One participant commented:

More home office cannot work at the expense of team spirit and identification. How do we still manage to maintain the bond with the company & the players or allow it to develop?

Re-establish the corporate culture

In addition, it is now necessary to fully re-establish the corporate culture that was previously destructed. There are several factors (e.g. generational diversity) and different needs (e.g. different working days) that now have to find a harmony.

Complicated organization

What additionally puts obstacles in the way of hybrid company development is the complicated organization. The onboarding process clearly needs a change here, because new employees now hardly find a connection without the personal exchange. We all need to learn from and with the situation.

An involved in the competition wrote:

Reintegrate learning into the hybrid workday: Shaping the learning organization: moving away from pandemic crisis management and into forward-looking planning and action.

Constructive approaches to your hybrid challenges

Take a look at our guide HYBRID LEADERSHIP or read these posts on our blog: 6 things you can do to support your hybrid team & 5 tips to increase trust when working hybrid.

Get the "Hybrid Leadership" Guide

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Next Work Monopoly – Playfully design your new workplace culture

Next Work Monopoly – Playfully design your new workplace culture

by Michael Weiss | Apr 25, 2022 | Digital Transformation, MDI Inside, Training Insights | 0 comments

Next Work Monopoly – Playfully design your new workplace culture

In recent years, the world of work has steadily evolved from static office workplaces to more flexible work options, and the effects of the last year have made this transformation even more rapid. Due to technological progress and, in particular, digitalization and widespread accessibility, employees are no longer tied to a fixed workplace, but can carry out their work from various locations.

For the sustainable development of hybrid working, this journey needs to be actively shaped – in other words, we need a workplace culture strategy.

We have been able to gather a lot of experience with mobile working in recent months – now at the very latest it is time to share this experience in the team and to determine how you want to implement “Next Work” together in your team.

Michael Weiss has developed “Playful Collaboration” for this purpose, in which the participants quickly work out possibilities for implementing these changed requirements together in the team using a playful approach!

Possible Topics:

  • What impact does mobile working have on organization, leadership and teams?
  • How do we master the transformation together?
  • How can we increase engagement and thus also the company’s success?
  • Which form of work is right for whom?
  • What values and attitudes are needed for mobile working?
  • What influence do different generations have on the change in collaboration?
  • How do we succeed in feeling and developing as a team, even at a distance?
  • How can we ensure the productive implementation of the changed ways of working by jointly designing our working environment?

Benefits:

  • You know what advantages Next Work offers and can use them for your company.
  • You know the most important requirements that have to be met in order to implement these new working environments.
  • You know about the different needs of the generations and can use them for your company.
  • You know the most important requirements for communication and collaboration that you can implement together in the digital working world.
  • You can support and use hybrid working for individual employees as well as for the entire team.

Interview with Michael Weiss –

Next Work Monopoly – a Playfully design your new workplace culture

Dear Michael, you created the Monopoly board game “Next Work – Playful Collaboration”. What’s behind it and why is it a game changer for the new world of work?

It enables teams to exchange their attitudes and perspectives on mobile working in a playful way. In this way, employees get to know each other better, and the respective manager can agree on rules and framework conditions for the implementation of mobile working that suit his or her team.

Why do organizations, managers and their teams need this game right now?

Many teams are working mobile very successfully, mostly forced by the pandemic. Organizations and leaders now often want to bring their employee:s back into the office, which many employees don’t really want to do. Therefore, it is now important to find viable implementations for ALL, that are easily enabled by this game.

Are there any special game or feedback rules that need to be observed?

The rules of the game are very simple, based on those of Monopoly. When answering the questions, it is important that there are no justifications or counter-arguments, but that there is a high interest in getting to know the different attitudes and points of view of the other players.

“Next Work” has already been used in various companies. What have been your most important lessons learned so far?

The game is a lot of fun for all participants, the answers are honest and informal, and there have been some “aha effects” and surprises when attitudes and perspectives are expressed that the others have not heard before. The keyword-like documentation of the answers is very important, so that the team can derive concrete implementation plans afterwards, and the leader recognizes which framework and rules of the game the team needs.

What criteria must be met in order to use this game successfully?

There must be an unconditional willingness on the part of the organization and the respective leader to actually implement the findings from the game. Therefore, time and financial resources should also be available to enable this implementation.

For whom is the game rather unsuitable?

For players who do not plan to implement the findings together afterwards. The exception here are executives who play together in order to get to know different approaches to mobile working, and who also form opinions in the process.

Is there a hybrid or online version of the game?

Yes, the game can be carried out both hybrid and online with a webcam transmission.

Michael Weiss

Michael Weiss

Management consultant, trainer and coach

Over 25 years as a manager in the field of human resources, 5 years as managing director of one of the largest in-house training academies, 20 years as an independent management consultant, trainer and coach for various companies, lecturer on human resources topics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, WIFI Vienna, bfi Vienna and ARS, long-standing human resources and organizational developer in the financial services sector. 

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By the way, Michael Weiss + “Next Work Monopoly” will also be attending our upcoming Leadership Horizon Conference 😉 

The effects of home office

The effects of home office

by Dr. Kilian Wawoe | Apr 14, 2022 | Digital Transformation, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 comments

An Interview on the effects of home office with Dr. Kilian Wawoe

Dr. Kilian Wawoe investigated the consequences of the increasing numbers of home office days for people and companies and the effects of home office.  During lockdown, he found more than 600 articles about working from home, talked with hundreds of people about their experiences with home office, took questionnaires from thousands of workers and worked with dozens of companies on a new form of collaboration that he calls “corporate brain.“

What are the implications of the increasing number of home office days for companies?

We are in a unique situation – the entire world is participating in the largest “experiment” in the history of labour. The lessons we can learn from the lockdowns are that we can quite easily work from home, which means

  • less commuting
  • producing less pollution
  • experiencing less stress
  • seeing increased productivity

What are the consequences of home office days for employees and the team?

The problem is that the impact of Home Office varies greatly from person to person. As a result, many companies are leaving the choice up to their employees. This is risky because employees come to the office to meet their colleagues and learn.

The future of work is therefore not about the individual, but actually about the group.

Should there be a home office obligation in order to work efficiently and sustainably?

We have to be careful with efficiency in the workplace. Many workers report that they are more productive in the home office, but work is also about imparting and teaching knowledge. That may not be efficient, but very important. We need to think about commitments, but in a different direction: The obligation for employees to come back to the office. Some of the employees state that they don’t want to work in the office at all, or only a little. But companies need these individuals to be part of the group, nonetheless.

What is the best solution for the increasing employees’ desire for home office days?

I advise companies to have an open discussion with their employees about the future of work. But please be careful: There is one group whose time during the pandemic was particularly difficult. We should make sure that these employees are heard. Many people want to protect their “rights they acquired during the pandemic”. Managers need to protect those interests of the group.

How many days of home office a week/month has been shown to be the “gold standard”?

“With the knowledge you gained from the Corona crisis, how many times would you want to go to the office?” This question is so obvious that it is asked in almost every organization. However, there are three mistakes.

Work is not about “you.” but about “we.” Work is a team sport that is about working together. It’s not about “how often,” it’s about “what” you come to the office for.

When we come to work and isolate ourselves all day, what do we then bring to the group? It’s not about ‘wanting’, it’s about what we want to ‘do’ in the office.

The question is: “What are we going to do with the knowledge that we have gained during the pandemic to make the team work (remotely)?” Because the office is a place to connect, coach and collide.

What do you think will happen after the Corona pandemic? 

First, we need to develop a vision for human resources.  

  • How are we going to make sure the right things are happening in the workplace? 
  • For example, how do we make sure that new employees can actually learn the job? 
  • How do we make sure that there is a culture of integration, even for those who don’t like to work from home? 
  • Also, how do we avoid unnecessary travel? 

Clearly, it is difficult to find a common denominator for these very different projects or to make a statement about the results if the evaluations have not yet taken place. Nevertheless the results are based on the theory, the interviews, the questionnaire interviews, the questionnaire surveys, the focus groups, discussions with experts and the initial projects.

I think that my approaches can contribute to the following:  

  • Improved employee performance 
  • Better functioning teams 
  • More involvement of young and vulnerable employees 
  • Improved job satisfaction 
  • Better health 
  • Less stress and burnout 
  • Less pressure on the environment 
  • Never again sitting in an overcrowded train or bus 
  • And never, ever being stuck in a traffic jam again 

Ultimately, however, we need leaders who make decisions. And if certain people don’t like the new way of working, companies should not be afraid to part with them as well. Because the pandemic has taught us unique lessons and we should all take the time to learn them. 

Dr. Kilian Wawoe

Dr. Kilian Wawoe

Assistant Professor Human Resources Management

Dr. Killial Wawoe worked in various positions in HR in the Netherlands, Belgium, Monaco and India.

Currently he is active as a lecturer for Human Resources Management at the VU University of Amsterdam.

www.humanresearch.nl 

 

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Success Through Change: How to Stay Oriented During Transitions

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Organize Your Team in a Hybrid Workplace

by Peter Grabuschnig | 14. March 2024 | Impuls series, International leadership development, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 Comments

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Exploring the Influence of AI on Leadership Roles – an experiment by a CEO

by Gunther Fürstberger | 14. November 2023 | International leadership development, Leadership and AI, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 Comments

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AI as a Co-Trainer in Leadership Development

by Gunther Fürstberger | 14. November 2023 | Impuls series, International leadership development, Leadership and AI | 0 Comments

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Recap: This was the L&D Summer at MDI

by Iris Burner | 3. October 2023 | Leadership Impact, MDI Inside, Short Knowledge Bits | 0 Comments

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Promoting Cohesion and Retaining Talent: Leadership in Focus

by Peter Grabuschnig | 17. August 2023 | International leadership development, Leadership in the digital transformation, training new leader | 0 Comments

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What is Sustainable Individualization in Leadership?

by Iris Burner | 28. June 2023 | Digital Transformation, Leadership Impact, Leadership in the digital transformation | 0 Comments

Sustainable individualization in leadership - pious hope or real alternative? In line with the last blog post on our MDI website "Inner Development Goals For a Better Leadership World", this time we dedicate ourselves to the megatrend topic of individualization and...
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Why Should We Lead More Sustainably?

by Aline Depoorter, Jana Wölfl | 26. June 2023 | Leadership Impact, Leadership Tips, MDI Inside | 0 Comments

Why Should We Lead More Sustainably? It is hard to imagine most companies today without the concept of "sustainable leadership." Leaders are not only becoming more privately aware of the impact of climate change but also want to fight it on a corporate level. In this...
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or maybe this?

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