Leadership culture at OTTO
Freedom instead of micromanagement and career without personnel management? At OTTO it works
Stefanie, leadership at OTTO, what does that mean for you?
Stefanie Hirte: A constant and permanent development! And I am proud to have been actively involved in this for many years. Because one thing is clear: you can't have a big company like OTTO without leadership. That's why I see our leadership culture as an essential cornerstone of our corporate culture - and the basis for appreciative cooperation at eye level.
What guidelines apply to managers?
A common attitude and a guiding principle for the topic of leadership have always been important to us. For a long time now, we have been strongly oriented toward the agile mindset: in other words, we rely on employees taking strong personal responsibility, while managers act more as talent managers and coaches. In addition, new guiding principles will soon apply to all employees at OTTO, not just the managers, and we will use them to align our attitude and behavior at OTTO. They are intended to permanently enable us to achieve our corporate goals - and to do so quickly, efficiently and sustainably.
What leadership models are there? And what if someone doesn't feel like managing personnel?
In addition to the classic "People" responsibility, we also have the "Specialist", "Project & Product" and "Process" management areas. These are management roles in which personnel management plays no or only a subordinate role. Instead, the focus is on specialist management or primary responsibility for a product.
For a long time, we have been strongly oriented towards the agile mindset: We therefore rely on a strong self-responsibility of the employees
How and when does one become a manager at OTTO?
What is important is the interest and motivation for a management job and, associated with this, the willingness to take on greater responsibility. And then it comes down to competencies: Who has the potential to be a manager or not is decided by an official potential assessment from HR. This involves comparing the current skills set with the requirements of the leadership role in question. If a suitable management position is available and all the requirements are met, the employee can take it on. If an employee does not yet meet all the requirements, we support them in developing their skills accordingly.
Looking specifically at the competencies: What are you looking for?
A basic requirement for disciplinary managers is leadership competence. For a first leadership role in particular, it is crucial to have a keen interest in people, a high degree of empathy, and a pronounced willingness to collaborate and communication skills. The higher the management position is to be classified in the hierarchy, the more important core competencies such as entrepreneurial action, strategic thinking, decision-making ability and willingness to take responsibility become. Technical competence is relegated more to the background.
What about leadership roles without disciplinary leadership?
Core competencies such as customer centricity or process orientation are more in demand. Communication skills are also important, because you're always dealing with other people. I also find the ability to inspire people very important.
How do you support and develop both new and old leaders?
A special focus is on supporting executives in their first management job. When new executives take on their first management job, they start our fit2Lead program - with various training modules, coaching offers, and modules for networking and collegial advice. There are also other development programs, for example for new divisional managers and for those being prepared for a management position. This is rounded off by an annual program for all managers, where we address current leadership topics as well as current business issues.
Leadership remote, what's there to consider?
No one leads remotely all the time at our company. That's why we talk about hybrid leadership, in which remote and office situations alternate. In order to be able to lead hybrid teams well and successfully, you need a high level of empathy to sense individual situations, team dynamics, and invisible circumstances, to evaluate them, and to react accordingly. And it requires a great deal of mutual trust: After all, the absolute majority of people work remotely at least as responsibly and efficiently as when they are present. Distrustful managers are therefore out of place.