The topic is burning under the nails - this alone was shown by the large number of interested people who showed up: the large hall in the Course Center Aarau was filled to capacity. How should companies react to a rapidly changing environment? How does a company organize itself optimally to keep pace with change and survive in competition with others? New organizational forms also mean that bosses must rethink their leadership role and employees must rethink their role so that new forms of collaboration come to life. "Agile organization" - this is the most heard answer at the moment. Meaning: Maximum self-organization and self-responsibility, instead of acting on instructions. Away from strict hierarchy and silo thinking, toward entrepreneurial decision-making and action at all levels.

"Goodbye boss" in practice

Anne Bickel from the development organization Swisscontact has been supervising and going through this process in her institution for a good year. She knows how challenging such a change is, since it confronts managers in particular with a new situation that is quickly accompanied by the feeling that previous routine patterns no longer work in an agile organization. But subordinate employees also often feel insecure when they are now expected to make decisions independently: "Can I initiate this without asking a superior?" This requires courage and the willingness to take on responsibility. Such change processes cannot be implemented overnight, as Anne Bickel impressively demonstrated in her report. Only with great openness to this reorganization on the part of everyone involved can the change succeed. The expectations of how these tasks are to be fulfilled occupy an important place in many discussions. At Swisscontact, the function of role coaches in each organizational unit was created specifically for this purpose.

Employees have a need for security

As a coach, Hartmut Kretschmer supports companies in such transformations - and takes a self-critical view of his own profession. Many coaches can present the new organizational forms as highly enticing in theory. In practice, however, it is much more demanding to accompany the employees. In addition to role responsibilities, questions about team understanding and communication must be clarified. It is particularly important to meet the employees' need for identity and security.

Agile strategy is not grassroots

Does every company now have to trim its organization to "agile"? - Bickel recognizes a great increase in value in role-based collaboration - both in terms of efficiency and personnel management. Kretschmer is also convinced that companies that do not integrate the principles of the new forms of leadership will be left behind. Nevertheless, both also see limitations: A role-based organizational structure with little to no hierarchy cannot be implemented equally well everywhere. And it cannot be applied to every size of company. It seems advisable to implement agile forms in smaller companies as a whole and in large companies in specific organizational areas. And: An agile strategy is not a grassroots approach. Ultimately, management and the board of directors are still liable.

When an employee leaves the company, there are a number of dangers lurking in the search for a successor. But at the same time, there is also an opportunity to break new ground. However, when it comes to filling key positions, the focus is often on the wrong criteria, which cause potential candidates to fall through the cracks. Too often, companies look for competencies that are no longer up-to-date in view of current developments. Only a few executives take the possible loss of innovative strength into account in succession planning. One indication of this is the fact that the first management level is predominantly filled internally. Departing managers are often replaced by those exactly one level below them. Deputies are also regularly used to fill vacancies. However, this approach focuses purely on technical expertise and not on leadership.

Potential for restructuring

Currently, inspiring, courageous visionaries, drivers and empathetic motivators are in demand in leadership positions - not hierarchical commanders. But when it comes to leadership in particular, it is clear that companies are often faced with the problem of defining new criteria for awarding positions. Whereas in the past, classic management skills such as decision-making and the formulation of rigid guidelines were still in demand, today's agile working methods require other skills - such as the ability to listen, to motivate employees and to communicate clear guidelines. However, when filling new management positions, companies rarely take into account the requirements for such skills, which are made necessary by the digital transformation and the introduction of agile management structures, for example. Yet when a position becomes vacant, there is an opportunity to fundamentally rethink it. After all, it is not primarily a matter of reassigning a position in the shortest possible time: Rather, the restructuring represents an opportunity to optimally design the position and raise it to a new level - a key prerequisite, above all, for avoiding mistakes when filling the position.

Involve employees in backfilling

No matter how qualified an applicant is, if he or she does not fit into the team, this will lead to problems in the long run. For this reason, the management level should include the group surrounding the new position in the recruiting process. The assessment by the team is of great importance in this case and should therefore not be neglected - only if cooperation and communication function well in the long term will a future-oriented new appointment take place. Because no matter what qualifications the applicant brings with him, if he does not fit into the team, no successful cooperation will work. In the best case, direct colleagues are given the chance to get to know the potential new coworker and make an assessment during the application process. Managers and recruiters should not go it alone, but trust the decisions of the team or rely on peer recruiting.

Motivation versus competence

Although basic technical knowledge is a prerequisite, it is considered easier to learn and impart than soft skills and sufficient motivation, for example. Therefore, career, training or studies are not always the decisive criterion. Particularly if the position is to be redefined and developed in a targeted manner, HR managers should be open-minded and give the applicant's individual personality a chance. Managers must therefore redefine and categorize the requirements. What skills does the applicant need and which soft skills will have an important role in the position in the future? Sometimes backfilling cannot be avoided, but management can actively prevent vacancies due to resignations - with high employee satisfaction and employer branding. After all, satisfied employees are less likely to think about a potential job change than dissatisfied brainworkers who feel uncomfortable in their company.

For more information www.boening-consult.de

To the author:
Dr. Uwe Böning is a business coach, management consultant, managing director and founder of Böning-Consult GmbH, based in Frankfurt am Main. In addition to personality development for entrepreneurs and managers and consulting in transformation processes, "stress coaching" has been considered one of his specialties for these target groups for over 30 years.

Romaine Kuonen and Roger Goetz are the two new partners at Leaders Solutions AG, a strategy consulting firm for human resources solutions. Roger Goetz was most recently Managing Director of HSBC in Hong Kong, and previously held various positions at Credit Suisse for over fourteen years. As a trained industrial and organizational psychologist with an international business degree from the University of Chicago and mediation training from the University of St. Gallen, he provides consulting services in the areas of executive search, assessment, coaching, and strategy and organizational development. He works in Zurich, Bern, Basel and Vienna. Romaine Kuonen, 56, led REDOG, a nationally and internationally active rescue organization of the Swiss Red Cross with a focus on disaster relief and assistance for missing persons, as Executive Central President for more than eight years. In addition to her many years of leadership experience in nationally and internationally active organizations, as a certified coach she brings a great deal of experience in the areas of crisis management, team development, burnout prevention as well as leadership development. Romaine Kuonen works in the areas of coaching and organizational development in Zurich, Bern and Basel.

More information

"We will not master the challenges of the New Work with the work cultures of the 20th century," the science-practice network "HR-Panel New Work" of the University of Applied Sciences St.Gallen (FHS) is convinced. But how then? The hosts and co-leaders of the panel, Alexandra Cloots and FHS Rector Sebastian Wörwag, conducted a recent study on the topic of work culture of the future and presented the results at the 3rd St.Gallen New Work Forum. On January 8, the approximately 200 participants discussed in interactive, inspiring contribution forms which work and organizational culture approaches are suitable for the new world of work.

Self-realization and cohesion

"Today, the focus is on the meaningfulness of work," says philosopher Philipp Tingler. Appreciation and uniqueness count, because artificial intelligence recognizes patterns, but humans can do much more. For example, making exceptions. And that's something that needs to be kept in mind. His statement is also confirmed in the study by Alexandra Cloots and Sebastian Wörwag. They surveyed 540 employees in companies from various industries throughout Switzerland. When asked why they go to work every morning, 86% answered: because of self-fulfillment. The 21-25 year olds and the 61-65 year olds stood out. In contrast, the 36-40 year-olds consider community cohesion more important, and the 26-30 year-olds consider sense orientation and freedom (balance) more important. It is interesting to note that security orientation decreases with age. So different than one would expect. "We have to be careful with stereotyping; not promoting older employees more is a mistake," says Wörwag. They have already built up their social security, bring great experience with them and want to realize themselves. It is also striking that only 47% of the employees are (predominantly) satisfied with the work culture they experience. Many would like to see a modern work culture and inspiring leadership. While it is clear that not all employees share the same work values at the same time, the study shows that people most often seek development, realization and community at work. "These values need to be lived out credibly at all levels," Cloots said. A new value also emerged in the study: "perfect imperfection." It stands for more trust, being able to experiment more and a people-oriented (error) culture. In summary, the study shows: there is still need for action, because only every 3rd-5th person goes to work motivated, on average every 4th person has an identification problem with the company, 2 out of 3 employees can develop. For the effective development of a culture, Cloots and Wörwag recommend to pay attention to a congruence of values already during the recruitment of new employees. In addition, the culture must be consistently and authentically exemplified by the managers and combined with a modern management style.

Millennials as the driving force

Thus, the big question at the St.Gallen New Work Forum remains how cultural change in companies can succeed. According to Sascha Demarmels and Reto Kessler of Now.New.Next., there are three key points: Everyone influences corporate culture, but no one can define culture alone. Culture is created when something is always (re)made the same and accepted. And culture change is never complete; it involves ongoing work and reflection. Steffi Burkhart sees Millennials as key drivers. "Experience alone can no longer help us today; we need new ways of thinking," says the "voice of the Millennials." Young people need to be involved in decisions and developments, she says, and AirBnB is an example of this. Founded by millennials ten years ago, its revenue grew rapidly, overtaking the Hilton chain. Millennials, he said, are the digital users, savvy and creative-ups, consequently an important part of preparing a company's culture for the future. That's because 65% of the jobs Generation Z will work in don't even exist today. "They are the key to our future shortage of skilled workers," says Burkhart.

Spatial diversity

Changing the work culture also involves changing the workspace. Stephanie Wackernagel from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering made this clear using the example of the new AOK project house in Ludwigsburg. The company had previously been considered very conservative, but with the new innovative building and the different room cultures, it suddenly sounded like this from the workforce: "an inspiring work environment," "I have shining eyes when I enter the company," "this is a great motivation for work." Many companies are not yet that far, because according to the "Office Analytics" study, 48% of those surveyed still perform concentrated still work at a fixed workstation. But there must be new forms of collaboration today, toward a division of labor and cooperative work in spatial diversity, Wackernagel said. The dilemma, however, is that many companies shy away from a participatory organizational culture. So she asks participants in one of the 12 themed sessions, "Why do you shy away?" The answers from the floor pretty much coincide - it's fear of change, fear of losing power, lack of trust in employees and the problem of not being able to please everyone. Apart from budget issues that come into play.

Votum at the St.Gallen New Work Forum: "Cultivating a participative management style".

Heiko Stahl from Vitra AG and Marc Künzle from Domus Leuchten und Möbel AG also advocate a new working landscape. However, there is no need to copy a Google campus, but rather to make an independent culture visible. In this context, he says, togetherness among employees is becoming increasingly important. Gabriela Manser, the owner of Goba AG, provides a good example: "In our company, we cultivate a participative management style and appreciation for our employees. It's important that we like them and promote those who want it." So does Reto Rutz from valantic CEC Schweiz AG. In the bright, open office there is a "Tschüttelikasten" and on Fridays there is sometimes a game session between some employees. The credo: work with meaning. The only rule is that the week's consulting hours must be recorded by Friday evening.

Working out values together

"Let's accept different cultures, but live them authentically," was Sebastian Wörwag's conclusion at the end of the day. It is important to let go of old structures and work out values together. Ultimately, culture means always being in motion. According to Cloots, it is important to allow "room for experimentation for employees and to structure leadership accordingly in an inspiring manner and distributed within the team according to competencies. May many more developments prove successful in the future, on a small and large scale, in digital, haptic and human ways. In a new working world.

More information: www.hrpanel-fhs.ch

In 2019, the figures of the annual von Rundstedt outplacement statistics show, on the one hand, a few corrections of the partly failed results of the previous year. On the other hand, a few new interesting trends are also clearly visible. This Barometer 2020 concerns the whole of Switzerland and is based on information from 1,524 employees affected by a termination and from 192 companies from various industries that had to issue terminations in Switzerland in 2019. It thus provides an interesting picture of the mood on the Swiss labor market as a whole in 2019, which does not coincide in all respects with the mood on the labor market in elsewhere communicated optimism.

40-50 year olds with the greatest risk of termination

Compared to the demographic distribution of employment, the 40-50 age group is by far the most likely to be terminated. While this age group accounts for about only 25% of employees, they account for 42% of terminations. On the other hand, younger workers are terminated much less frequently. Thus, only 27% of the terminations have affected younger workers (under 40), although they account for 44% of the employees in the Swiss labor market. Contrary to frequent assertions, the quit rate for the over-50s, who are treated as a risk group, is in the normal range at 31%. It roughly corresponds to the demographic employment share of 30%. This refutes the assertion that over-50s are discriminated against when it comes to terminations.

Over50s take longer and longer to find a job

Last year, the length of time spent by terminated employees looking for a job increased slightly. This is despite the fact that there were more job vacancies in the Swiss labor market than in previous years and the labor market situation was positive. In 2019, the overall average search duration is now 5.6 months. It should be noted that the search duration for younger workers (U40) has again decreased slightly. It currently stands at around 4.0 months. By contrast, the search duration for older workers has increased sharply. For example, it is 5.8 months for 40-50 year-olds and 7.8 months for over-50s. This illustrates that age is increasingly becoming a disadvantage when looking for a job. However, the search duration depends not only on age, but also on other factors. For example, some over-50s find a new job relatively quickly, while others need all the longer. Von Rundstedt notes that the discrepancy between "easy" profiles (search duration of 3.5 months) and "difficult" profiles (search duration of 11.2 months) remains large. This points to the increasing polarization in the labor market.

Mandatory job notification takes effect - but not for over 50s

In 2019, many more vacancies were advertised publicly than in previous years. One weighty reason is certainly the new job notification requirement introduced in 2017. In addition, however, it has now become much easier for smaller employers to publish jobs at zero cost thanks to digital options and social media. This increasing transparency in the Swiss labor market means that in 2019, the majority of job successes were achieved via public job advertisements, with 41%. In the previous year, this figure was only 24%. Only 33% (previous year 41%) of the jobs were placed via personal contacts on the "hidden labor market". Thus, the hidden labor market is still an important search channel. Once again, the share of jobs found through headhunters or job brokers decreased in 2019, falling from 9% in 2018 to a new 8%. Thus, it can be stated that the job notification requirement makes an important contribution to transparency in the Swiss labor market and is a success in this respect. It should be noted that for over-50s (the original target group of the job notification requirement), the most successful search channel continues to be the hidden labor market. They continue to have difficulty with public advertisements and recruitment procedures and are successful primarily through personal contacts.

Skills shortage leads to more mobility

While the zero gap (i.e., no deviation from the requirement profile when hired, editor's note) has continuously increased in previous years, we saw a strong increase in industry mobility and functional flexibility for the first time in 2019. For example, at 48%, nearly half of job seekers succeeded in changing industries. This is a large increase from the previous year (25%). Functional mobility also increased sharply to 32% (previous year 25%). Thus, almost one-third of job seekers in reorientation found a job with a new function. It appears that the growing shortage of skilled workers is finally having a positive impact on mobility and job search dynamics. This shows that employers and workers are coping better and better with structural change and that flexibility in the Swiss labor market is increasing. This development is confirmed by the fact that many companies are responding to increasing agility by increasing internal mobility.

Source and further information: www.rundstedt.ch

The Michael Page Swiss Job Index measures the number of vacancies advertised on company websites throughout Switzerland and highlights the most important trends on a monthly basis. The finding at the start of the new year: Demand for skilled workers is still booming in 2020, with many industries experiencing a significant shortage of qualified applicants. Employers are investing considerable resources to attract and retain well-trained specialists.

Six reasons for optimism on the Swiss labor market in 2020

1. The number of advertised jobs increased by +8.4 % year-on-year (December 2018 - December 2019): according to the Michael Page Swiss Job Index (December 2019), many occupations have double-digit growth rates and are above the national average. For example, annual growth in advertised IT jobs reached +16.0 %.
2. Demand is outstripping supply for many specialist jobs: these include IT, facilities and building information managers, as well as planning and logistics specialists. Robust demand for IT specialists is driven by the ongoing digital transformation programs of organizations across all industries - but especially in financial services. Demand for logistics and planning specialists is driven by significant growth in online retail during the holiday season. The growth in advertised jobs for real estate specialists is related to demand for both new construction and remodeling projects.
3. According to the PageGroup Confidence Index (Q4 2019), 50.0 % of applicants are confident they will find a job within three months. In addition, three-quarters of applicants are willing to do temporary or interim work. Their main motivation here is the possibility of converting such jobs into full-time positions or acquiring new skills to improve their chances of finding a permanent position elsewhere.
4. Salary expectations have increased: Two-thirds of candidates expect a salary increase of 5 % or more, according to PageGroup's Q4 2019 Confidence Index, and 81.9 % say this is important when choosing an employer. But money isn't everything - three key factors are weighted more heavily than a salary increase: good working relationships with supervisors and colleagues (97.2 %), working for an organization that takes its social responsibilities seriously (85.9 %), and access to training opportunities (85.6 %).
5. Companies invest in sales jobs: The higher the investment in sales, the greater the confidence of company leaders in rising demand and higher earnings. Advertised sales jobs grew by +8.5 % year-on-year across Switzerland - particularly in specialist areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology and IT.
6. The need for new skills is growing: For example, in 2019, jobs requiring skills in the field of artificial intelligence appeared for the first time in the Michael Page Swiss Job Index. The gap between demand and supply of suitably qualified applicants is so large that companies are advertising positions for AI interns in the hope of securing such talent early on.
   The "Greta effect" is also making itself felt: The number of advertised jobs in the eco sector, for example for environmental scientists, has increased significantly in the last 12 months - since Greta Thunberg appeared on the international scene.

Applicants drive the market

"Recruiting top talent will continue to be a challenge for employers in 2020 as we find ourselves in a candidate-driven market in many industries," comments Nicolai Mikkelsen, Executive Director at Michael Page. "We recommend employers streamline their recruitment processes to attract the best candidates. In addition, they should be prepared to accept the second or third candidate on their shortlist, as the top candidates will accept one of many offers during the recruitment process."

Source and further information: www.michaelpage.ch

ClearMetal, a leading service provider of Continuous Delivery Experience, Predictive Supply Chain and Logistics solutions, opened an office in Feusisberg near Zurich, Switzerland, on December 1, led by Thomas Kofler, VP Sales EMEA. Thomas Kofler will strategically support and drive ClearMetal's expansion in the European market. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA (USA), the company already has a strong reputation with its solutions among internationally active companies. The ClearMetal platform improves data input by using machine learning and data models enriched with comparative data. It can thus significantly increase the quality of forecasts and transparency in the supply chain. Resilient data is a prerequisite for strategic decision-making. 25% of Gartner's top 25 supply chain companies are already working with ClearMetal, according to reports.

"ClearMetal is taking an important step into the future with the office opening in Zurich, our second office after London. We see a growing willingness to invest in AI and platform-based supply chain applications among industrial and retail companies in Europe. What is desired is more transparency along the supply chain end-to-end as well as higher data quality to come to better strategic decisions. At the same time, this leads to cost optimization," says Thomas Kofler.

Thomas Kofler M.B.A. (48) has already assisted numerous software companies in entering the European market. He has many years of sales and consulting experience in the areas of logistics, supply chain management and international trade. In addition, he knows the operational challenges in the digital transformation of companies.

"We are delighted to have Thomas Kofler on board. We are convinced that he will give new impetus to our company and the expansion of our customer portfolio in Europe. Only end-to-end, integral methodology and quality can improve the management of continuously changing supply chains. ClearMetal helps companies solve their data problems in international freight transportation," says Adam Compain, CEO, ClearMetal.

Source and further information

In her study, Alyssa Schneebaum from the Institute for Heterodox Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, together with her co-author Carolina Lennon, investigated whether globalization also affects the distribution of female and male employees in companies. For this purpose, the researcher examined developments in over 30,000 companies in more than 100 developing and middle-income countries between 2006 and 2014.

Internationally active companies are more female

The results clearly demonstrate the connection between internationality and the distribution of employees by gender. Alyssa Schneebaum explains, "We see a 'race to the top' here, meaning that when companies interact with countries with high gender equality, this also has a positive effect on the gender distribution within the company. But conversely, there is no negative effect, meaning that gender inequality is not imported from other countries." Numerous European countries are classified by the United Nations as having high gender equality, led by Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, among others. Massive inequality has been located in numerous countries in Africa, such as the Republic of Chad, but Yemen, for example, also stands out negatively.

Transmission of social norms

The study results show that internationally active companies generally hire a larger share of female employees than those that are only active on the national market. This is particularly evident among companies whose investors or even customers are in countries with high gender equality: They hire 6-7 percentage points more women than national firms that do not operate internationally. But ownership structures also play a role. "Companies with national owners hire 17-18 percentage points fewer women than those with owners in countries with high gender equality, even if both operate in the same market with the same local gender norms," the study author said.

Top jobs remain predominantly male

However, the positive effects of globalization and internationalization of entrepreneurial activities are not equally evident in all types and levels of companies. Production jobs in particular benefit from the development in terms of gender distribution, with white-collar workers (in classic office jobs) coming in second. "The proportion of women is increasing only for the lower and middle levels of the organizational structure. Top management positions remain unaffected by the 'internationality' of their companies," Schneebaum says. "Accordingly, on the one hand, we see how internationality acts as a medium for gender norms and can reduce inequality. On the other hand, it becomes quite clear that other measures are also needed to achieve diversity in management positions and reduce gender inequality."

Source: Vienna University of Economics and Business

HarbourClub, the network of communications executives from major Swiss companies and organizations, has appointed its board member Hans-Peter Nehmer as president effective January 1, 2020. The new president is Chief Communications Officer at Allianz Suisse, where he is responsible for the insurance group's corporate communications and corporate social responsibility activities in Switzerland. He previously held the same position at UPC/Cablecom, Switzerland's largest cable network operator, and the internationally active Hotelplan Group. Before "switching sides" to the PR industry, Nehmer worked for more than ten years as an editor and presenter at the private broadcaster Radio Z and on Swiss television. He has been jury president of the Swiss Annual Report Rating since 2015. His appointment is subject to election by the Annual General Meeting on March 13, 2020.

Hans-Peter Nehmer takes over from Dominique Morel, who has successfully led the renowned club as a mastermind for the last five years. Dominique Morel will leave the HarbourClub at the end of March 2020 for statutory reasons, as he will no longer be active as Head Marketing, Communications & Sales at KPMG, but as a consultant for Marketing, Reputation & Customer Experience. The HarbourClub Board of Directors will therefore be composed as follows in the future:

• Hans-Peter Nehmer (President), Allianz
• Larissa Alghisi, Julius Baer
• Edi Estermann, SRG/SSR
• Myriam Käser, Skyguide
• Salomé Ramseier, Hoerbiger
• Roman Sidler, Geberit

More information: www.harbourclub.ch

In itself, a change on the emotional level does not yet bode well for the employees. For those affected, an innovation means on the one hand a learning effort and on the other hand uncertainty with regard to the outcome and personal consequences of the entire undertaking - even opportunities are something uncertain. This conceals the potential for so-called resistance, which from a systemic perspective represents a striving for stability and security, which is important for all people - to varying degrees, of course.

What exactly makes change projects challenging?

The more stable your initial situation is in the perception of those affected, the greater the potential for resistance. It should be noted that one's own perception as a manager or initiator does not correspond to the perception of all those affected. Although the triggers for change are often technical and/or strategic in nature, change projects very quickly move to an emotional level. In this context, the relevant competencies of middle and senior management, but also of employees in dealing with change, play a decisive role. What is particularly often needed are specific, soft competencies within the organization. This is also reflected in the survey conducted on Xing by Nova Change, a cooperation network consisting of several management consultants from Germany and Switzerland.

A fairy godmother for change processes?

In response to the question, "What wishes in relation to the change processes would you address to a fairy godmother?", managers and those affected responded with the following statements, among others:

• let the results become visible faster and keep the motivation,
• Strengthen employees' self-management skills in dealing with their own fears and resistance,
• improve confidence in the experience of managers,
• let management model the change and put their heart into it,
• please ... make the others believe in the positive of a change and see more chance than risk!

Using modern adult education methodology to train how to deal with change

Unfortunately, good fairies only exist in fairy tales... or do they? Nova Change seems to have found one, in the form of a modern learning EDP and adult education methodology designed specifically for facilitation and training in change projects - Actee Change. The system is already widely established in Denmark as well as in some Northern European countries. With excitement, curiosity and joy, this methodology allows to understand the emotional side in change management in a very short time and to train how to deal with it. You can experience how this works at an event in Solothurn.

Seminar: Change Management beGREIFEN
Where: Coworking Uferbau, Ritterquai 8, 4500 Solothurn
When: 06.02.2020 09:00 - 16:00
Information and registration: https://www.xing.com/events/2391274

Just before the holidays it is fitting that I finally once the book "The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander listen to. Absolutely worth listening to and reading! The former world-renowned conductor and current musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and his wife share in it not only fascinating episodes from orchestral life, but above all how to bring out the absolute best in people.

These are sackful leadership lessons!

One topic that I particularly like and consider extremely relevant for almost all leaders is removing self-imposed barriers and opening up almost unlimited possibilities through outstanding leadership.

Concrete Tip:

"If you give your team members the highest positive rating first and then have them write how they will have achieved this outstanding rating (in the future), you eliminate all fear of failure in one fell swoop and open up whole new horizons for outstanding results.

Because the focus is now fully on HOW I achieve those outstanding results - instead of trying to avoid mistakes and failure.

That's a HUGE difference. Try it out with your team. You'll be amazed."

This all happens in our minds alone at first and is incredibly powerful.

Therefore, here is my suggestion for the upcoming holidays and the turn of the year:

Treat everyone as if they have your highest respect for their results. Take away the feeling of failure from the people around you. You will be amazed at what great achievements people are capable of and how willing they are to contribute when the shackles of the pressure to justify are removed and they are given the limitless world of possibilities. Most of them will grow into it.

Chances are great that your positive expectations in other people will manifest. This is another way we make the world a little better every day. And it is certainly worth it.

To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch

In today's age, everyone spends several hours a day in front of a screen. Whether laptop, PC, tablet or smartphone, you are constantly surrounded by digital devices. And for the human eye, this means one thing in particular: stress. Many people who rely on laptops and PCs for their jobs complain about Dry eyes. All these symptoms are part of everyday life for them:

• Itching
• Burning
• Foreign body sensation
• Redness
• Headache
• Difficulty concentrating

But special screen glasses are considered the solution.

Why is the screen so harmful to the eye?

Every age group is affected by the negative consequences of working in front of a screen. Researchers have discovered that the often short distance between the eye and the monitor can lead to myopia even in young people. The human organ of vision is still developing until the age of 30, and it is precisely this development that is negatively affected by the digital environment.

Visual deficits also become noticeable more quickly due to screen work. From the age of about 40, the lens can no longer process changes in distance at the same speed as, for example, at the age of 20. In front of the PC, however, your eye is confronted with different distances all the time: From the screen to the keyboard to your colleague at the other desk and back again. Many professionals sitting at a desk then tend to lean forward to see better. This, in turn, can lead to tension, back pain or even postural problems.

Screen glasses help: What you should consider

These special vision aids are designed for short viewing distances and rapid changes of gaze, perfect for working in front of a monitor. However, there are a few things you should keep in mind when buying such screen glasses.

• The version:
  Of course, you choose your glasses frame depending on the design, but for screen glasses a certain lens height is essential. This is because the special lenses are specially cut in a similar way to varifocals. This results in different visual zones. In the largest zone, you will then see everything sharply at a distance of about 50 centimeters, which corresponds to the distance to the screen. At the upper edge, colleagues and your surroundings become clearly visible, i.e. everything a little further away. In contrast, at the lower edge of the lenses, everything in the immediate vicinity becomes sharp, especially the keyboard and the desk. Of course, the screen glasses must also fit comfortably; after all, you wear them eight hours a day.
• The glasses:
  For the lenses, you can choose between glass and plastic. Screen glasses can be made from both materials, the decision is ultimately a matter of taste. Similar to varifocals, it can take a little time for the eyes to get used to the new screen glasses, regardless of the choice of material. In any case, lenses made of plastic are lighter and therefore more comfortable to wear than their glass counterpart. Do not worry that the plastic version is immediately covered with scratches. Thanks to modern techniques, the problem of quickly scratched plastic lenses is a thing of the past. Today, experts only recommend glass in screen glasses in particularly dusty work environments, for example in construction or production halls.
• In any case, anti-reflective:
  The lenses of your monitor glasses should definitely be anti-reflective. Otherwise, the many different light sources in the office would only distract and disturb you. If you like, you can also have lightly tinted lenses fitted to your monitor glasses to increase contrast. You can easily try out the different tint variants at the optician.

Costs are often covered

According to the guidelines to Ordinance 3 of the Labor Law, the costs of protective and preventive measures, in particular those for the training of employees and all other costs arising from measures ordered, are to be borne by the employer. If this point is fulfilled, the employer pays the costs for your monitor glasses. The situation is different in Germany, where you can have an optician confirm that you need special screen glasses for computer work. If this is the case, then your employer is obligated under Section 3 of the German Occupational Safety and Health Act to assume the cost of these screen glasses.

This article is based on the information about the anatomy of the eye available on fielmann.ch are to be found. Fielmann AG is the market leader in the field of consumer optics and operates over 700 branches in Europe.