Leading in times of permanent change

Competencies for the agile manager

Traget group: PhD candidates, postdocs and qualifying professors* and to (future) leaders in the technical and administrative field
Language: German
Duration of the program: 7 month

Program overview

As a leading person at university, you are aware of working in a complex, dynamic and often ambiguous environment. In recent years, however, global mega-trends have increaded the pace and extent of uncertainty, above all digitalization with the rapid development in the field of artificial intelligence as the most recent phenomenon. In this context, it is said that we live in a “VUCA world”: Volatile, uncertain, complex, ambivalent. (orig.: VUKA-Welt)
Against this backdrop, you are faces with demanding challenges when managing in the scientific community. The variety of tasks that you have to perform as a researcher and manager requires specific skills and a clear awareness of your role. Approaches from traditional management are no longer sufficient in this context. They are being replaced by basic attitudes, principles and methods that are summarized under terms such as “agility”, “new work” or “leadership 4.0”.

In this training program, we will first take a close look at the challenges you and your employees face and reflect on how you deal with constant change. You will then gain an insight into attitudes, principles and methods from the world of agile management.
On this basis, you will formulate questions and topics of burning interest to you in your current professional practice. In an agile, iterative process, you will have the opportunity to work on these problems, train your skills and thus sharpen your profile as a modern manager.

The program comprises 8 face-to-face modules with a duration of one day each, plus accompanying online offers.
The first modules provide participants with one common perspective on the specific conditions and requirements of leadership at the university as well as the basics of agile attitudes, principles and methods. The content and methodology of the following modules are flexibly designed according to the questions, topics and challenges formulated, complemented and concretized by the participants during the course of the program, which are relevant in their specific practice. These are collected, prioritized and successively processed throughout the program in the form of “user stories” using an online tool. The trainer prepares this in terms of content and methodology.
 

Program goals

• Getting to know the key societal “mega-trends” that determine the changes of working in research institutions
• Understanding why the VUCA world requires new skills from managers
• Be familiar with your own approach, strengths and weaknesses in dealing with constant change
• Creating awareness of the specific requirements as a manager in the scientific community
• Understanding and applying the agile framework (method set) “Scrum“
• Developing solutions to questions, problems and challenging situations in an iterative process and training the skills needed to do so
• Fulfilling the leadership role with confidence, clarity and composure, even in turbulent times
• Creating a personal concept for development to further sharpen your own leadership profile and to deepen and expand your leadership skills.