The presentation on ‘Leading Change’ by Frank Oppenländer, Head of Human Resources at Wanzl GmbH & Co. KG, and myself at the Zukunft Personal trade fair attracted many visitors. You can read my personal report here.

A trade fair presentation harbours many unknowns: How many people will be there? What is their interest in the content? And: How do we manage to inspire this colourful audience? In short: I was excited in the best sense of the word. You can imagine my relief when the event space was filled to capacity and some curious people even stood so as not to miss anything. So our intensive preparation had paid off. And the nomination for the HR Innovation Award probably also attracted a few people to us. Our goal was ambitious: In just 30 minutes, we wanted to convey the core content of the development series for managers in a lively and impressive way.

This short film gives you a brief insight into our trade fair presentation.

On the stage

Frank Oppenländer and I threw the balls at each other in the best sense of the word. The audience stayed with us. Probably also because we kept changing perspectives: Sometimes Frank spoke as the HR manager, sometimes in the role of the participant. Sometimes I gave theoretical insights as a concept developer, sometimes atmospheric insights as a trainer. To repeat the whole presentation would be a bit tedious at this point. Dear reader, please get in touch with me. I would be happy to report individually on ‘Leading Change’.
The response to the lecture
After the lecture, Frank Oppenländer and I were approached by a number of interested people. That was a good feeling. Apparently our plan had worked. The most frequent question was: Do you offer something similar for … ? (insert the sector of your choice here) – Answer: Gladly!

Lessons learnt from ‘Leading Change’ at Wanzl

We would do two things differently next time:

  • In order to ensure that the transfer tasks, tools, coaching sessions, etc. are really effective in everyday life, the time between modules for future groups will be planned more flexibly. The new starters will then not attend a module every three months, but every 4 to 5 months.
  • We would introduce mentoring earlier – perhaps even at the start of the programme to reinforce the content within the company.

What we would do again:

  • Taking an iterative approach to the specific content and taking the needs of managers into account is a real success factor.
  • The peer groups have also proved their worth. Frank Oppenländer’s group, for example, came together in the first module in autumn 2022 and has been working regularly on topics relating to change and leadership ever since.
  • We would also invest time again in a meaningful group composition and thus ensure that networking is supported internally.

Taster seminar on ‘Leading Change’

If you are also interested in a customised leadership development programme that specifically tailors change skills to your needs, please do not hesitate to contact us. We offer you a taster day (in German language).

For the podcast fans among you: Click here to listen to the EducationNewsCast with Thomas Jenewein, where I had the honour of being a guest.
So – that’s the last blog about ‘Leading Change’ for now. We are now changing the subject ;-). Among other things, you can look forward to the topic ‘Secrecy at work’ soon.

Yours, Silke Engel