Are these subjects related, Leadership and dealing with works councils? Actually yes, companies are like democracies, every country has the government it deserves, every company has the leaders and works councils it deserves.
You want to have an engaged and responsible management team and a works council which cooperates with management on the key change initiatives? We will help you finding and developing the right strategy and next steps.
Back to the starting point: The company culture and building a positive climate and working environment is essential for the productivity and the enduring success of an enterprise. Studies see the relation of these two at 70% (70% of the delta of an top performing organisation versus a mediocre organisation is driven by a positive climate in the organisation).
And we know that the most relevant factor for a positive climate are the capabilities of the direct line manager. They are having the biggest influence by their actions on a daily basis. Therefore working on leadership subjects, skills and competencies is most relevant for the success. And we recommend to have a focus on personal leadership capabilities and people management as well as business leadership capabilities. Do you have a clearly defined competency model for your managers which are tailored to the specific challenges of your organisation? When did you do the last update of this competency model? Do you evaluate the potential as well as performance of your managers based on this model? Do you have your talent development model tight to the competency model?
If these questions and related subjects are on your mind and you are not looking for consultants who have ready made models they want to sell you, but consultants who have practical experience in this area having worked in senior leadership positions themselves please contact us. We are partnering with you, working in a targeted and pragmatic way developing fast the right approach with you and support you during the implementation.
A good leadership team communicates in a proactive and constructive fashion with all stakeholders which includes the works councils. And provided the works councils are considered a constructive body then you will have a good chance that colleagues who are constructive in their approach will put themselves up for election for becoming a works council member. They will have a good chance of becoming elected provided the company culture and the organizational climate is being seen as positive by the majority of the employees.
But maybe you have some very pragmatic issues at hand you need to have addressed.
What do you consult with your local works council what with the central works council and what with the european works council? And in what order? Do you have any room to maneuver? What is the responsibility of the union versus the works council? How do you handle a challenging change initiative with the works council in a way that you achieve the your objectives, meet the timeline, create winners on both sides or at least avoid generating a feeling of losing out?
Or your organization grows and you need a european works council.
What do you have to do and pay attention to to set it up successfully? The greatest level of influence and flexibility you have during the setup phase of any employee representative body, be it a local or a european works council or any other body. Don’t let this opportunity pass by without using it. We have a lot of experience in this area at the german, european and global level. The subject matter area is being led by Christoph Grandpierre who has 15 years of experience in consulting and negotiating with employee representative bodies, 10 years in Germany of which five years as the head of HR in Germany. In addition he was three years in charge of employee and industrial relations at the european level dealing with european works councils and two years at the global level. He is happy to share his experience with you.
Test his knowledge and experience and get in contact for a first discussion.