New Leadership Festival
On June 22, 2023, we, as Amaze Growth, held our first New Leadership Festival. In the heart of Stuttgart, our 60 guests from various industries within the DACH area gathered to experience refreshing keynotes and exciting panel talks on the topic of New Leadership.
In addition, interactive breakout sessions enabled a deeper exchange among the participants. The day ended with cozy networking with American BBQ and cool drinks on the roof terrace with a great view over the skyline of Stuttgart.
Our program
The core aim of our New Leadership Festival was to inspire our guests. Our mission was to present New Leadership in its fullness and to offer concrete tips for building important leadership skills in our participants’ companies. With the vision of enabling long-term competitive advantage through Positive Leadership, we shared our knowledge through keynotes, panel talks, and breakout sessions.
Keynotes & Panel Talk
Our Amaze Growth Founder and CEO, Simone Lafargue, and Managing Director, Jakob Kalbfell, delivered a gripping keynote on the need for new leadership, the importance of positive psychology in new leadership, new and positive leadership skills, and how to build new & positive leadership in your own organization. Simone then moderated a lively panel discussion on New Leadership with our inspiring speakers, Boy Hengstmann (StepStone), Monika Rath (Wacker Group), Robin Kardinal (hurra), and Isabel Fink (KlickPiloten).
Four interactive breakout sessions
Our breakout sessions offered our guests an in-depth exploration of Purpose & Vision, Motivation & Commitment, Team Coaching & Development and Goal Setting Systems (OKRs). We have summarized the key learnings from these interactive sessions for you:
1. Purpose & Vision
How do we want to apply Purpose & Vision as leaders?
- Purpose and Vision are important for New Leadership to have a clear direction, create focus, and motivate others.
- Purpose is the answer to the question of why you exist and do the things you do. It has always been there, and we reveal it and make it explicit.
- A vision is the image of a goal state that inspires and drives us. A vision creates an anchor point that allows us to remain flexible in finding our way.
2. Motivation & Commitment
How do we want to apply Motivation & Commitment as leaders?
- For employees to feel good, they should be self-determined at work. This means that they are autonomous, can use and develop their competencies, and feel a sense of belonging.
- Inner motivators are individual and vary over time. Only when self-determination is given can employees recognize inner motivators.
- As a manager, it is important to talk to employees regularly about inner motivators. So that they can contribute to their current drivers.
3. Team Coaching & Development
How do we want to apply Team Coaching & Development as leaders?
- Team building is a continuous process that every leader has to go through anew with the coming and going of a team member.
- There are five distinct phases of team development / team building. As a leader, it is important to give the team the freedom to develop at each stage
- Team coaching is essential for improving the performance of the team. A very simple but effective team coaching model is the GROW model, with which you can quickly get into the solution space.
4. Goal Achievement Systems (OKRS)
How do we want to use goal setting systems as leaders?
- Goal setting systems help us to set the strategic focus with our team and to work together through sub-steps to achieve the goals.
- Goals (long-term goals) provide a clear focus for the team to set short- to medium-term goals based on this orientation.
- Objectives (short- to medium-term goals) are described with clear target states (key results) so that they are measurable, controllable, and achievable.
Networking and BBQ on the roof terrace
The crowning finale was an American BBQ and refreshing drinks on the roof terrace. In this relaxed atmosphere, participants were able to expand their network and engage in inspiring conversations.
Our key learnings
We gained some key learnings from the event:
- Three megatrends are forcing companies to establish a new leadership DNA:
- Positive psychology is the foundation of the new leadership, as it teaches us that we only achieve goals if we, as leaders, are also sufficiently regenerative.
- The new leadership DNA includes specific skills, a mindset, behaviors and results. This leadership DNA can be measured in organizations.
- New leadership must be implemented both transformatively and transactionally. Transformative requires a mindset shift. The C-level is opened above all by a value and benefit case.
- Transactionally, 6 new approaches should be introduced in human resource development in order to transform leaders into positive leaders.
Our Conclusion
The New Leadership Festival was a great experience for us, and we hope that we were able to open up new insights into the topic of New Leadership for the participants. We are particularly excited about the open and honest exchange that took place during the event.
We would like to thank you for the overwhelming feedback and are already looking forward to the next New Leadership Festival. We will see you again above the rooftops of Stuttgart!
If you want to learn more about our workshops and events just like New Leadership Festival, check our webpage or follow us on social media:
Your Amaze Growth Team
