06.07.2020 Christin Müller 13374

Interview: How leadership succeeds in times of crisis

pme regional manager and management coach Carla Hees explains how she experienced the early days of the coronavirus crisis with her teams at three locations and what short-term measures the company took to overcome the crisis.

The corona crisis has demanded a lot from all employees in recent months, but also from managers who were suddenly faced with the challenge of leading their teams through an unknown situation. How intensely have you experienced this time?

The first two to three weeks were more than intense. Not only because of the workload, but also because of the uncertainty. Nobody knew what would happen if all childcare facilities suddenly had to close and what the effects of the first contact bans would be. Our customers also had these questions and wanted us as a service provider to have a plan B ready, as we have always done in the past. But in many respects, our hands were tied. And of course, just because we are pme Familienservice , we couldn't keep our emergency care facilities open for everyone who doesn't belong to system-relevant professions. In the first few days, we had thousands of calls from unsettled customers.

What exactly were the challenges that you suddenly found yourself confronted with?

The abundance of constantly new information and of course nothing reliable. There was new information every day, sometimes every hour: Which restrictions apply in which federal state and when? And what does this mean for our company, our teams and for everyone personally?

How do you manage to stay calm and give your team members a sense of security?

By remaining authentic and honestly communicating that there is no security right now - for anyone. That was and is true worldwide. And that we managers will nevertheless do everything we can to keep things going somehow. I have asked all my team members for solidarity and made sure that we regularly communicate with each other. Our CEO set up ad hoc crisis meetings twice a week for all managers and all team members as a mandatory offer. At the beginning, there were up to 150 participants and, in the first few weeks, up to three and a half hours of space for specific questions, attitudes, implementation of measures, but also worries, concerns and needs. This exchange provided enormous security.

What specific management skills are needed to master a crisis situation like this?

As clichéd as it may sound, I believe that it is enormously helpful for me as a manager to stay with myself and to have the feeling that we are all in the same boat, which I can also convey. I have always "functioned" quite reliably in crises. I'm sure that's also a grateful characteristic.

What strategy have you pursued at pme Familienservice to overcome the crisis in the best possible way so far?

We have always had the best possible technical setup. So the switch from up to 50% mobile office (in my region as an option before Corona) to up to 100% overnight was a quick first step. We didn't lose a minute of time for the actual implementation.
We also allowed ourselves company-wide to think the seemingly impossible and implement it super quickly and creatively. In addition to all events and customer contacts online, planning and implementing the upcoming vacation programs for children online together with all departments in just one and a half weeks was THE CHALLENGE par excellence. And our customers gratefully accepted and appreciated it.
But there were also immediate initiatives in our childcare centers to keep in touch with the children and parents online, even without them being allowed to come in every day.
We were able to reactivate the start-up power that allowed us to set up our company and continuously develop our services. This has also motivated and inspired young new team members enormously.
The company-wide exchange with our CEO Alexa Ahmad twice a week across all parts of the company was also a great strategy!

You are also an executive coach yourself. Do you get a lot of inquiries from managers looking for help? And what questions do they ask?

Demand from managers has not yet increased. However, I suspect that this will come. However, the quality of the questions and coaching sessions cover the entire "crisis spectrum".

Short-time working, job losses, the double burden of childcare and working from home: employees across Germany have had to cope with a lot in recent months. How have you experienced the personal "crises" of your team members and how have you dealt with them?

My team has not been spared short-time working either. However, I think that the short-time working package adopted by our government at short notice has also allowed us to act quickly in this regard. We have found good solutions together with the team members and employee representatives in the areas where there are only a few customer inquiries. Some have even found the short-time working option helpful, e.g. team members without the opportunity to work at home without disruption. Others have left their specialist areas and offered support in areas where there was still a need. The fact that we pay a company-wide top-up of at least 80 to 100 percent of salary prevents financial difficulties.

What have you personally learned from the crisis so far?

For me as a manager: that it is possible to lead without planning and making statements that may no longer be binding tomorrow. And how important authenticity and trust are for needs-oriented action. And for me personally: that social contacts and cultural and social life are something infinitely valuable! And to have time for reflection.

Carla Hees is Regional Manager East, Marketing Manager and Executive Coach at pme Familienservice.

 Jutta Dreyer is a family therapist and head of pme life situation coaching and also an executive coach at pme Familienservice.

Executive coaching with the pme Familienservice

Whether face-to-face, virtually or by telephone, in individual or group coaching sessions: our coaches also know from their own practical experience what challenges you and can also support you in answering specific questions.

The topics of our coaching sessions include

• Accompanying change processes
• Preventing overloading
• Leading decentralized teams
• Having difficult conversations
• Moderating conflicts
• Maintaining a personal balance

You can find more information on the pme website Familienservice.
 

New now! Online group coaching:

• Group coaching: Loneliness blues in the home office?
• Communicating in partnership in times of crisis
• Managing conflicts
• Group coaching resilience

Find out more about our online group coaching sessions here.