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Workplace Activism Research

Your personal values, right through to the company's social responsibility, should have a place. Topics such as improved communication and collaboration, mental health in the workplace, positive contribution to climate change and other social issues may play a role.

Over the next few months, we will be conducting research and asking employees and decision-makers how relevant and urgent the topic of workplace activism REALLY is.

What about such issues in your company? How important are they for you personally? How important should they be for decision-makers?

Workplace Activism describes a form of activism that transcends one's own role and task in the company. "Activists" in the company get involved. They take responsibility. They provide support and followership within the team and beyond. They have for themselves the motto "No one can tell me which direction to be active in." They are a blessing to any company that manages to take advantage of this energy.

At Strasser and Strasser, we advocate Workplace Activism. We think it makes companies better and more attractive. They increase their performance. And they are more awake to the question of how the world as a whole can become a better place.

We look forward to participation, attendance and sharing.

We need your voice

Strategic management development: marketing agency of a nationwide retail company

The marketing agency supports the two sales divisions of the trading company in the conception, realization and production of all marketing and communication measures. At the time, the new managing director of the marketing company wanted to bring more clarity and consistency to the management processes. Different management styles and a lack of binding management tools characterized the picture. In addition, a program to increase productivity placed new demands on the management team. A completely new management level was established to handle the management margins that had become too large. To this end, team leaders with full personnel and management responsibility were introduced - very often "from colleague to boss." Central leadership tasks were target agreement, resource and quality management, process optimization, conflict management and powerful leadership communication.

The optimization of the management processes was to support the achievement of the demanding Time, Cost, Quality targets. The aim was also to use this change process to make the culture more performance-oriented and efficient. For the newly appointed junior managers, the process was also intended to provide an opportunity for personal examination of the leadership role and for practicing the various leadership tasks.

In a workshop, the new firstline drew up binding management processes and tools and developed uniform management values, from which specific management tasks were then derived.

Following this, the managing director and division heads informed all employees about the new values, tasks and tools. All managers then underwent 2 days of training on their new role. They were also able to discuss the leadership values and guidelines in depth with the managing director. After six months, the managers had the opportunity to share their experiences and deepen their understanding of individual training topics in a one-day refresher course. The result of the development program was not only clarity in leadership, but also in the core processes of the agency. With the help of the acquired knowledge on process optimization, the managers also created an organizational manual with all important processes following the training. The challenging change targets in Time, Cost, Quality were achieved through the professionally implemented new leadership organization.

The digital Space - What cannot be seen, cannot be judged.

During the last months, we have spent a substantial amount of time researching on the topic “The psychological and neurological effects of remote work”. What does it do to us humans and human systems to limit encounters to the virtual space? What does it mean when the basis of information we have available to place and form an opinion about others, shrinks substantially? What happens to our interaction when the image we see of each other is “cropped”, preventing us from seeing the person in his or her entirety?

This has especially been noticeable for me as I am 8 months pregnant. When I am meeting others virtually, my frame is limited to my upper body and everything beneath that is “invisible”. It remains private.

Suddenly, I realised what a relief it is to have this freedom of choice: Do I keep a meeting strictly professional or do I share something personal with my counterpart(s). Why, you may ask, is being pregnant something strictly personal and why do I value this freedom so much?

In September 2020 I joined our family consulting business, with the clear objective to take over all management and ownership responsibilities by the end of 2022, together with Verena Neumayer, one of my fantastic colleagues. Two weeks before the start of my assignment, I found out I was pregnant - unexpectedly. In our family history, entrepreneurship and having a career has never stood in contrast to having children, so me and my partner decided to make it work.

Nevertheless, over the last 8 months I have realised through many reactions and hints that the very prominent mental model in our society, namely, that women with children cannot perform as well as men, persists everywhere and all the time. The fact that I can can continue my work until I fancy to, without having to encounter doubtful looks, questions or comments, is something yet unheard of.

The digital space allows us all to be much more deliberate with what and how much we would like to share and with whom. We can choose whether to switch on our camera and what background to show. The reduced image quality means that it becomes impossible to determine whether someone is wearing an expensive Armani Suit or a basic M&S suit. The interaction in the digital space makes it impossible to say whether someone is wearing a refined perfume or has not showered in three days.

During the last year, we found out that personal bonding in the virtual space is more difficult, but at the same time more important than ever; As what used to happen during lunch, now requires active planning. We therefore advise our clients to make meetings as personal as possible when held in the digital space.

Nevertheless, the extent to which one can choose what and how much to share has increased tremendously. My sincere hope is therefore, that this is a ground-breaking game changer when it comes to diversity and equality. As what cannot be seen, cannot be judged! 

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