{"id":73282,"date":"2022-10-10T10:01:09","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T08:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.KGM Strategy.com\/experteninterview-markus-vaeth-ueber-new-work\/"},"modified":"2024-09-12T15:26:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T13:26:27","slug":"experteninterview-markus-vaeth-ueber-new-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.KGM Strategy.com\/en\/insights\/expert-interview-markus-vaeth-about-new-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Interview: Markus V\u00e4th about NEW WORK"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Work was never intended for business<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The psychologist Markus V\u00e4th is one of the world\u2019s most renowned New Work experts. In this interview, he explains why the idea behind the concept is often misunderstood, why established companies often struggle with its implementation, and how change can be successful.<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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Markus V\u00e4th<\/strong> is the Managing Director of Humanfy GmbH, an agency specializing in New Work and organization coaching. Before that he spent 14 years covering similar issues as a freelance coach and consultant. He is the author of several books on the subject. V\u00e4th studied Psychology at Erlangen-N\u00fcrnberg University. Since 2019 he has been a New Work and organization development lecturer at N\u00fcrnberg Technische Hochschule.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Mr V\u00e4th, New Work is more prevalent in business than ever before. Has it flourished because of the Covid pandemic?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To be totally blunt, it isn\u2019t New Work that\u2019s gained momentum from Covid, but what people think it means. We\u2019re talking about issues like digitization, but that is, at best, the foundation on which true New Work can be built. This debate has been severely cut short.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with this debate?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Many people forget that New Work was not developed for business at all. Frithjof Bergmann (the founder of the New Work concept<\/em>) thought of it more as a blueprint for society as a whole. All the measures that we are now discussing have just evolved from this basic idea. They include terms such as \u201chome office\u201d, \u201cnew office\u201d or \u201cactivity-based working\u201d.<\/p><\/div>\n

So, are you saying that New Work can\u2019t really be done on its own in a company?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No, I wouldn\u2019t say that either. A company can certainly successfully implement New Work methods, if it\u2019s culturally prepared for it. But that\u2019s the bare minimum: you would have to change something in the fundamental notion of human beings. In business, however, this is often still dominated by thinkers like Michael E. Porter, who work with metaphors of battlefields, victory and defeat. New Work does not work in an environment like that. For New Work, the aspects of society, emotion and humanity have to be considered.<\/p>\n

What does this human dimension include?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s about how managers are trained and how strong the collective processes are. It\u2019s all about how autonomous employees\u2019 actions can be. It\u2019s crucial that employees know why they are working, and what for. And they must be given the opportunity to develop.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

This clearly sounds more difficult than simply writing a home office policy. How can something like this be implemented in a company?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You need three things to implement any New Work idea. First: you have to include everyone in the company in its transformation. Otherwise, no fundamental cultural change will succeed. But you have to accept that you can\u2019t take everyone along with you on the journey: there will never be 100 percent agreement. Second: the people in charge, whoever they are, have to go along with it too. If managers prescribe New Work, but don\u2019t take it up themselves, it won\u2019t work. And third: you have to create processes to support and steer the reorganization.<\/p>\n

What processes are we talking about here?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, processes are required for exchanging information. So you need to discuss the following: What do we want to achieve? How do we get there? What problems might there be? Subsequently, decision-making models should be set up that help to implement the results of this discussion. For example, you can look at the participation ladder, a model that shows how far individuals\u2019 participation in a system has come. It begins at the bottom with external control and finishes with self-government on the highest rung. In New Work transformation, we want to move up this ladder.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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You say that a transformation of this kind is possible. In large companies, however, it seems mostly limited to a few cosmetic measures.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Young companies are often further along with New Work, that\u2019s right. There are people at the top who are frustrated with the existing system and are aligning their company with New Work principles from the outset. Of course, this is more difficult for classic, mature companies as they are faced with more inertia. They have to deal with employee organizations and other bodies, as well as with restrictions relating to labor law. There are also well-established processes in the company that you can\u2019t change overnight. Honestly, it\u2019s almost easier to leave it and start over from scratch.<\/p>\n

But there are also examples of large companies that have successfully taken the step towards New Work. The building supplier Sch\u00fcco and the retail group Otto are large companies that do this very well.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

What\u2019s the common factor with these examples?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The drivers. From my experience I know that individuals or a small group are almost always the triggers. Of course, they need goodwill from above, an executive management board that says, \u201cjust do it\u201d. Ultimately, you need some highly motivated people to drive change.<\/p>\n

Is a small group of companies enough to act as a New Work driver for the whole economy?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A system always does what makes sense. That sounds banal, but it means that if companies are successful with New Work, others will follow. At the end of the day, it\u2019s about value creation. So far, however, there\u2019s no evidence that New Work contributes to this, because the concept itself was never intended as a management model.<\/p>\n

Won\u2019t New Work become established in its current form?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good question. Especially in our current times, with our economy constantly reacting to exogenous shocks, it\u2019s difficult to say how it will turn out.<\/p>\n

I think we should work to ensure that everyone gets work that plays to their strengths and needs. That would help everyone \u2013 people, businesses, and society. At the end of the day, whether this is New Work, or is given the name New Work, doesn\u2019t really matter.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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