What we have learned during 15 months of fully virtualized leadership development programs about leadership, virtual collaboration, about our participants and ourselves in the midst of an ever more accelerated digital transformation.

As a technology company that transforms the backbone of economies, we can safely say there is no more exciting place to work on the things that make a difference in the world, than Siemens. Following our mission “…to enable and connect our leaders to make real what matters!”, the Siemens Leadership (SLE) Team provides ongoing development and growth opportunities for our leaders at Siemens. With our transformational leadership programs – designed for Siemens’ current and tomorrow’s top leaders – we create a trusted and strong internal network across our Siemens units and regions. Our aspiration is to impactfully contribute to our overall company culture and business success by fostering a growth mindset and empowerment, building a common language, developing cohesive skills while fostering diverse leadership styles. This is what drives us as a team and we cannot think of a greater reward when seeing the real change happening and receiving the feedback from our leaders, how we made a difference in their lives.

Leadership Lesson #1
Growth allows leaders to give more to others. Nothing in life will give us greater sense of personal satisfaction than contribution in service to something greater than ourselves. Leaders work with their teams to develop this purpose and contribution of their actions to making it real.

When our programs’ content became our reality

March 2020 marks a caesura, if not turning point for many businesses, organizations, or individuals. For us, the “arrival” of the Corona virus led to the fact that “VUCA” in its most pure manifestation made its way out of our leadership programs’ content straight into our own reality. It turned our entire operating model upside down – overnight.
We were confronted with the questions of how to lead our transformational leadership programs, which depend strongly on personal encounters, into purely virtual formats. How to build the trust needed to open up for deep reflection and personal transformation of own leadership, especially in these challenging times? Well, to put it briefly, we have dared to grow together with our entire ecosystem of leaders, partners, contributors into uncharted grounds. Since June 2020 all our offerings are run completely virtual, with very positive reported impact. To this date, more than 650 Siemens leaders have been part of or are currently participating in our highly intensive virtual programs. Thousands more are taking advantage of the continuous digital learning and development offerings to stay ahead of the curve – resilient and relevant. So, how do you create an environment in which radical changes in the business world can be achieved rapidly and successfully?

Leadership Lesson #2
The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas and growth can happen.

How we started: Be true to your cause, be transparent, “focus, test and learn”!

First and foremost, we kept following our aspiration as reflected in our SLE purpose: to be close to our participants, to be real & relevant and to connect our key leaders in a trusted space, supporting their development and growth. Whatever we would design, the virtual formats needed to follow and serve this ambition! At the same time, we have always been straight with ourselves and our participating leaders: we did not want to “compete” with the face-to-face format as we knew that the many close interpersonal and often serendipitous interactions, they allow for, could not be compensated. Weighing and being transparent regarding all aspects, we decided to go for the new path and be as adaptable as possible.

Apart from our clear mission it was of benefit that we did not have to start from scratch regarding the use of virtual settings. While personal encounters and exchanges in a trusting environment have always been at the core of what we do, we also had built-in remote learning phases to prepare and follow up the on-site experiences in the best possible way. When Covid-19 hit the way we all used to live, work and learn, it was an asset to have these experiences to build on.

But a real first boost of confidence in dealing with new digital tools and the uncertainty of the given circumstances came with our first “all virtual” run. For that, we decided to test as early as possible and include our Alumni community in the co-creation. We re-designed and transformed an established program, offered and tested it with participants known to us and familiar with our high ambitions. That was where we experienced for the first time how we all, together with our leaders, could overcome “impossibilities”, doubts and biases. By exposing ourselves as learners as well, we found ourselves in the same boat as our participants and design & delivery partners. All of us were students, and with a mentality of “let’s test and learn” we all have grown beyond our doubts and got increasingly curious about what else was possible.

Leadership Lesson #3:
It is important for leaders to visibly defend space for experimentation – even when under high pressure. Using each opportunity of ”failures” to show commitment to a positive learning culture.

From experiments to a new normal

What surprised us and everyone involved the most: we were able to create trustful relationships with our participants and we could foster trust amongst them – the foundation of all deep and valuable learning, and an essential for productive collaboration.

Experiencing that this was possible was itself a learning for the participating leaders, a “leadership nugget” which they could take back to their virtual day-to-day businesses and teams. For us, it was hugely encouraging to witness that despite the virtualization, we had been able to help build strong and sustainable networks for our leaders.

And, talking about trust: We wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this all on our own. We had trusted partners on our side: The co-creative process with our coaches, facilitators, service providers and all other supporters, was a successful example of living the idea of and working in an ecosystem.

Each of us in this living ecosystem constantly put him- or herself out to apply, learn, adjust, grow. And so, our level of confidence, courage and adaptability increases with each delivered program. So far, each new program turned into a real-time experience of practicing a growth mindset!

Leadership Lesson #4
Dream big, start small, move fast – yet never stop listening well to your customers, teams and their diverse perspectives. Reflect and discuss learnings, align on strategic goals frequently.

But with all that is done, there are those special moments that we miss

Virtually, things work differently, that’s a fact. And some differences were easier to accept than others: e.g., we could not adopt 1:1 the analogously well-proven content, structures, and flows into the virtual sessions. We learned to let go of sessions that worked powerfully in a “analog” setting. We also needed to adjust the didactic format. E.g., to keep the momentum, attention, and learning high, we moved at a much higher frequency between whole-group plenary session, smaller breakouts (in various sizes) or exercises. Only very selectively we gather in the full plenary for more than 20-25 minutes.

And, as much as we were able to keep the integrity of our overall program, some things are not compensable: those spontaneous encounters at the coffeemaker, the follow-up reflections over lunch, the deepening of feedback or exchanges happening during dinner, or the simple signs of camaraderie experienced during a joint run, over a shared drink or during other “timeless” face-to-face interactions. All those kinds of networking or even business deals that happen by serendipity are difficult to replace or simulate in the virtual space. And, in the virtual space, the simple experience of a prolonged “time out” is less possible, but instead, the omnipresence of the demands from business is much more tangible and imminent.

Leadership Lesson #5
Leaders create a situation in which everyone is safe to take risks, voice their opinions, and ask judgment-free questions. A culture where leaders provide air cover and create safe zones, so employees can let down their guard for open and honest dialogue. This is how real transformation is happening.

Virtual achievements: where limes have become lemonade

However, we also discovered the positive impact of newly designed, innovative sessions, never thought of otherwise.

We were able to expand the reach of an already existing session. During our “Learning Expeditions”, we bring our leaders together with other leaders from other companies and expose them to perspectives from outside our corporation. In the “old days”, those leaders had to be physically accessible for us, since we were literally visiting them in their companies or organizations. Today, in our Virtual Learning Expeditions, it is a matter of course to overcome physical boundaries, our leaders can instantly connect and virtually dive into other businesses around the world, thus expanding their ecosystem in a very short time. Weighing the pros and cons of the different approaches, we decided to keep this virtual element of the LEX, and this value-add will remain part of our programs moving forward.

Another aspect touched earlier, but now with a different take on it: When participating in our virtual programs, our leaders remain much more connected to the day-to-day business during the session days because we conduct the programs only half a day instead of a full day. As mentioned, this has its downsides, but also offers the opportunity to apply or reflect leadership learnings directly in real life and share feedback and experiences in almost real-time the next day with their fellow peers.

Working from home has, additionally, contributed to a very special aspect of connection: Who has not experienced – and enjoyed – in the last few months these moments when children, cats or dogs enter the scene?

Examples such as these have led us to the conviction that virtual components will remain and will be expanded after the pandemic within our programs and beyond. However, also because of the strong feedback and request of our leaders, we will always strive to bring them together in a face-to-face as well as virtual settings, only that we will be even more thoughtful and intentional about what is best for specific context.

Leadership Lesson #6
Connecting the real and digital worlds for the better requires moving into uncharted territory. Empower and reward the people, who first jump into the cold water and embody this growth mindset to try something new

Dear Siemens leaders, thank you for your trust, for living the growth mindset and your willingness to join this learning journey together with us.