Volkmar Völzke's BLOG

With my customers (and with companies in general) there are two groups: one group achieves success quite quickly, the other group moves rather slowly, and accepting change seems to be very hard for these groups. 

What is the root cause?

Well, one group is open to new ideas, they question old concepts makes decisions and implement what they have decided. They try out new things and above all are prepared to question themselves. They believe in their own power to shape the future and in the value of external support for this. 

With the other, group, it couldn't be more different: they defend themselves, have little confidence in new things, believe in external factors that make life difficult for them, can't decide on new approaches and needs a long time to start something innovative. As a result, they are skeptical about external help, because it could push them right out of their self-built mental cage. 

The point is: You and your Leadership Team need to decide which...

I came across a funny story on the web the other day: In Berlin, a cycle path has been built to such an extent that it is almost impossible to follow the lane and avoid pedestrians (as you can see in the picture).

We find something like this funny because it doesn't fit into the perfectionism we see elsewhere, especially in Germany and Switzerland. Moreover, because it also excuses us for our own fallibilities.

However, beware: you probably have various such metaphorical cycle paths in your company (and also in yourself). Below you can find three positive ideas from this topic:

1. Risk culture. It is positive that one has even acted at all. Otherwise, such plans can often get mouldy for years in the offices of the decision makers because some guidelines stand in the way. This can reflect a risk culture in companies: When you do something, you make mistakes. We learn from it. That is a good thing!
2. First-hand experience. I have witnessed time and time again from those who come up with...

Studies are one of those things: you always have to understand the context before drawing conclusions.

I recently stumbled across a study by Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban - two academics from Harvard Business School - who concluded that people in open-plan offices communicate less openly (and more by email instead).

The reason seems clear: people don't want to expose themselves to others with their statements.

Here comes my diagnosis: If you have this problem (that people are afraid to open up to their colleagues), we have a real problem with culture. And open-plan offices simply disclose this (similar to how the reduction of inventories reveals problems in production).

Here are the three root causes if your people are hiding and not communicating openly:

1. No trust in others. As a leader, you know: if people talk behind the backs of other people, or rather write emails instead of openly addressing problems, we do not have a communication problem, but a problem of trust. No team...

What applies to individuals is just as true for teams: The most important foundation for outstanding success is success habits, which are fed by the beliefs.

Sounds simple, but hardly anyone pays attention. Look around you, do you know even one outstanding team that has destructive habits and is unproductive? Or that doesn't believe in its own success?

The good news: you can (and must) train your beliefs and habits.

You have the choice: either you develop your own success habits, or you live the habits of others.

The same applies to teams. Here are three ideas on how you can improve the performance of each team:

1. Self-image: Improve the image the team has of itself and its own performance. Many teams I see have an inconsistent picture of themselves, the performance of the members, etc.
2. Self-ideal: How do we want to be perceived? What distinguishes us? What makes us outstanding? In particular, the last question causes many people and teams considerable difficulties.
3. Self-esteem: Many...

Does this sound familiar? You try to explain to your team (or your colleagues) again and again what matters, what needs to be done and which skills are particularly important right now.

You may even invest a lot in training and education - only to realize the results are limited.

Here comes the exciting thing: the best of the best have different focuses and are therefore at the top. Leadership and sales legend Brian Tracy has coined this formula: (IA + AA) x A = IHP

This means: the inborn attributes (IA) plus the acquired attributes (AA), multiplied by the attitude (A), result in individual human performance (IHP). The important thing: the attitude (A) is the multiplier.

And this is exactly the attitude you have to work hardest on to achieve outstanding success.

Here are three brief ideas on how you can tackle this:

1. Define the demands on yourself and your team. I'm sure this is not the first time you've heard this from me, precisely because it's so important: What are the standards...

In an interview a long time ago, German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer replied to a reporter's question "What do you most wish for in your team?

"I'd be happy if every player could at least correctly control the ball after receiving a pass."

For all non-soccer friends: Controlling the ball after a colleague's pass is a basic requirement for a good game. Nevertheless, any amateur player can tell you that this is not so easy.

The same applies to business - if you want to get your team to perform better and into the metaphorical Champions League, make sure that everyone can "control the ball" first.

What does this mean for your team? Here are three ideas:

1. Reliability. Unreliability is like a disease I've observed spreading more and more: Requests are ignored, deadlines are exceeded without warning, clear promises are not kept for flimsy reasons, etc. Reliability is not only a virtue but a necessity for high-performing teams!
2. Responsibility. Accepting the ball means taking full...

Even if you're not watching the Soccer World Cup, you've probably heard that the German team - the previous World Champions - were eliminated in the early group stage.

From the perspective of success, it is not only the fact itself that is interesting, but also the “how” and “why”. The question behind it is quite simple: how can a team of world-class players play so poorly?

Before you look gloatingly or disappointedly at the German soccer team, ask yourself how you and your own team are doing.

Here are three thought-provoking ideas:

1. Mental work. True winning teams are distinguished above all by outstanding brainwork. It's less the skills of the team members than the winning spirit: Do I really believe in winning and am I willing to pay the price? Or do I want to play it safe? Where does your team stand in relation to these questions?
2. Development work. Once things go well, we are tempted to neglect our own development work. The same applies to teams. The...

We are all leaders, whether we like it or not. The question is how well we lead. Here is what I'm talking about:

You have certainly heard that what you say is far less decisive than how you behave: In every direct interaction with other people, we automatically see which of their behaviour seems threatening to us, which we can trust and which we should copy. This runs fully automatically. 

The consequence: The more you consciously choose your behaviour, the more you can be exemplary for others and thus a good leader.  

How do you become a better role model? Three ideas:

1. Define three characteristics for which you want to be regarded as exemplary. How would you ideally like to affect your environment? Examples: Inspiring, positive, energetic, wise, balancing, calming, etc. There are hundreds of possible traits.
2. Set up an alarm three times a day on your smartphone with one of your three characteristics displayed, e.g. "Inspire!" or "Be positive!". You may think it's...

At the moment, many companies are running like clockwork: Sales are growing, production and delivery capacities are running at full speed, and the outlook for this year at least is very good.

And this is precisely the trap for sustainable success maximization: This good situation is largely caused by external influences, at least in most companies. This means that these companies are going down just as quickly as demand is dropping.

Here is the recipe for success of sustainably outstanding companies and teams: they invest in their strategies and tactics to maximize success exactly when no one really needs it and no one has time for it. That's why they keep on rising even when the others are shrinking.

Here are three topics you should invest in, especially when things are going well: 

1. Sales. "I sell more than we can deliver," I often hear from salespeople in booming times. However, as soon as things get worse, they usually sell less "than we can deliver". Therefore: invest in...

I must admit, sometimes, I doubt whether what I contribute to companies as principles of success really works. But the clear answer is: YES! 

Why do I know that? Because I see the evidence at events, namely when business leaders - from any industry - report on why they are outstandingly successful. This was recently the case at the KMU SWISS Forum in Switzerland. 

Here are the three most important success levers from my perspective, which were unanimously reported by CEOs:

1. A clear and strong vision. It is an ancient wisdom, yet it continues to be disregarded by most managing directors: Only with a strong, concrete, and convincing vision can you create something outstanding. By when do you want to be there with your company? Many businesses exist only because of this vision; others have disappeared because of lack of vision. It is your choice!
2. Winning culture. This also runs like a repeated pattern through all success stories. Clearly, you can't be successful without...