Error culture You and Sneaker

Is my company agile if the employees wear sneakers?

“Fuck-up Nights,” the thing with the “Du,” and then the sneaker - but please not as an order from above A clear and absolutely unequivocal yes and no to the figurative "sneaker" question: Yes, of course, we need different ways of thinking and behaving (and styles of clothing) in order to act more agile. Because if we always do and think the same things (and wear the same clothes), we cannot expect different results, as a wise person named Albert Einstein said a long time ago. “Fuck-up Nights” (short: FUN) – or a new open culture of mistakes & communication Recently at the annual meeting of the Human Capital Club, a manager of an aviation company reported how not only a VIP guest was actually directed to the wrong plane (and unfortunately only noticed this in the air), but also how an employee, at the request of the manager, shared this story with colleagues in the weekly meeting so that everyone could learn from this fuck-up/mistake. A major jewelry manufacturer in Austria also held an internal workshop where several people from different hierarchical levels openly shared their personal mistakes and learnings in front of a large audience - with very positive feedback. Not only anonymous or start-up "fuck-up" stories are told in about 200 cities worldwide on interesting evenings, more and more companies are incorporating this open culture of mistakes into their meetings as a fixed agenda item. “Du” or “Sie” – that is the question here?! Daimler does it, Lidl does it, Otto does it, and many other companies do it as well: the transition from “Sie” to “Du” is progressing inexorably: The job board Stepstone and the management consultancy Kienbaum surveyed 17,000 professionals in Germany with the result: One in three now addresses both their colleagues and their boss informally (in companies with <50 employees, even half). Only three percent of the respondents stated that all employees at their workplace use the formal “Sie” form. The intimacy-enhancing and relationship-promoting “Du” is no longer so much about lacking respect (that is earned in other ways), it must fit individual persons, power dynamics, and corporate culture. Sneakers and the new dress code Virgin founder Richard Branson loves his trophies: not only awards and world records delight him, but also the (not just at Carnival) cut ties of sometimes high-ranking company executives and politicians. Aldi Nord ends the tie requirement and after Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche ditched his tie during a yearly press conference, employees also increasingly did away with the fashionable accessory. Likewise, more and more sneakers are being seen at official events, even though just two weeks ago at a major event, only my neighbor was also wearing sneakers. Just like with the “Du,” it is important that the style of clothing fits the individual and the work, not everyone should suddenly start wearing sneakers and ditching ties like lemmings in Silicon Valley. Commanding: no – offering and leading by example: yes! As Otto board member Hans-Otto Schrader (nickname Hos) emphasizes, the informal “Du” should not be forced on all 53,000 employees, but only offered: “Those who want to address the board members informally can do so”… Nothing should be mandatory, and workshop participants and coachees often tell me that the fish is known to “smell” from the head. The manager of the aviation company was only able to motivate her employee to act differently because she had set an example and admitted her own mistakes in front of the entire group. Take a look at your company and individual departments: how is the culture of mistakes, the “Du,” and the dress code among leaders and employees? To conclude, my no to the sneaker question: it is not enough for employees to wear sneakers, adapt to the “Du,” and openly discuss mistakes – in order to adopt new, agile ways of thinking and behaving; the (upper) management must lead by example! PS: “Agile” does not mean making ad hoc decisions or not making any decisions at all in order to remain flexible or swaying completely from right to left every day! For more information on the topic of error culture and Arndt Schmidtmayer, visit: https://www.trainers-excellence.de/redner/arndt-schmidtmayer.html