Biography:
Gunnar Schultze is a member of the executive board and a partner at CPC AG, focusing on change management, business transformation and leadership development. He took on leadership responsibility early in his career and has held every position from middle management to managing director. That lived leadership experience goes into every consulting project.
Change stopped being an exception long ago. New technologies, economic pressure, crises and rising expectations of organizations shape the daily reality of leadership in many companies. That makes one question ever more pressing: how can leadership work effectively in these dynamic times?
That is exactly where the workshop series "Führung im Wandel" ("Leadership in Change") run by the TRANSFORMOTIVE network comes in. It is aimed at companies and leaders in the Heilbronn-Franken region who want to reflect on and develop their leadership role in change processes.
We developed the overall concept together and guide participants through a hands-on learning journey. The focus is not on conveying knowledge alone, but on concrete work on the real leadership challenges participants face day to day.
Leadership in change needs answers of its own
Leadership in phases of transformation follows its own dynamics. Leaders have to provide orientation even when the conditions are uncertain. They have to deal with resistance, differing emotions and conflicting goals. At the same time they are expected to strengthen their teams, convey change and stay able to act. That is why the workshop series combines sound change management expertise with concrete case work, reflection and direct transfer into practice.
Throughout the learning journey, participants work on their own leadership situations. These include, for example, challenges posed by artificial intelligence, economically difficult phases for the company, or complex change initiatives in their own organization.
A learning journey with a clear thread
The workshop series was designed as a multi-stage development journey. It consists of a one-day opening workshop, a two-day deep-dive workshop, four digital peer-group meetings to reflect on concrete practical experience, and a one-day closing event that brings together two cohorts running in parallel.
The opening workshop creates clarity about one's own role as a leader in transformation. The deep-dive workshop focuses on concrete tools and courses of action. Topics include dealing with resistance and emotions, self-leadership, conflicting goals, communication during transformation, critical conversations and systemic interrelations.
One central element is the case canvas we developed. It structures the participants' individual practical cases and accompanies them through the entire workshop series. This creates a thread that consistently connects the content with their own leadership reality.
After the third workshop day, one participant described this approach as follows: "What I liked most was the thread running through our own case study."
From the workshop into implementation
For us, effective leadership development does not end on the last workshop day. What matters is that new impulses are applied, reflected on and developed further in everyday work.
That is why digital peer-group meetings are a fixed part of the format. Guided by one of our coaches, they help participants transfer what they have learned into their own context and develop their leadership approaches further.
The first cohort has already completed the opening and deep-dive workshops and starts its monthly peer-group meetings at the end of August. A second cohort is starting in parallel. The joint closing workshop for both groups is planned for December. If you are based in the Heilbronn-Franken region and would still like to take part, you are welcome to register for the second run: Führung im Wandel – Wirtschaftsförderung Raum Heilbronn GmbH
With "Führung im Wandel" we show how leadership development can take effect in times of transformation: close to practice, case-based and consistently geared towards implementation.
