Impulses for organisations – Part 16

On social media, we repeatedly encounter inspiring personalities who provide valuable impetus for successful collaboration within and between organisations. In the sixteenth part of this series, I would like to present some of these impulses in the showcase of the t2informatik Blog. This time, we will discuss the true meaning of leadership and the resulting tasks for managers, the declining interest of both women and men in taking on leadership positions, and the question of what organisations can do to counteract this. We will also look at typical mistakes made by freelancers when it comes to pricing.

Let’s start with the impulses:

Leadership – a dynamic between people

Leading employees is what managers do. That is still the prevailing opinion.

To me, this shows how little systematic thinking is anchored in our organisations. Otherwise, the answer would be more like the old advertising slogan of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken: ‘We clear the way.’

My understanding of leadership in complex systems is clear: it is not about leading people, but about effectively shaping the self-organisation and autonomy of the team.

If you are now wondering what you as a manager should do if you are not ‘leading employees’, here are a few suggestions:

• You are supposed to control something that cannot be controlled. It is therefore a matter of finding appropriate interventions so as not to hinder self-organisation too much.
• You accept that it cannot be controlled and approach your task with the attitude ‘I don’t know, but I have good hypotheses…’.
• You form good hypotheses from observing interactions and behavior. You find ‘good’ explanations for them and offer them to the team for discussion and reflection.
• You invite employees and let them decide whether they want to work in the autonomous team. Employees can also say no.
• You focus the team’s attention.
• You support communication and observe patterns here as well. What language do we speak? What terms are used? What distinctions and observations do we use?
• You support the team’s social learning by allowing time and space for retrospectives, reflection and team development.
• You create transparency about all data, processes and undertakings necessary for the completion of the team task. This also includes the company’s economic data.
• With your choice of personnel, you ensure diversity rather than uniformity in the team, thereby increasing the chance of creative ideas.
• With regard to the external environment, i.e. the organisation, the most important task of leadership is probably to tolerate and balance contradictions within the team. Control and self-determination, coercion and freedom, centralisation and decentralisation – when is how much of what appropriate?
• You act on behalf of the team together with other managers, your own and other important stakeholders to ensure that the team’s autonomy is maintained.

This is very demanding and, above all, different from what has been taught in business schools to date. Times have changed, and our understanding of leadership should slowly follow suit.

Ralf Lanwehr²:

Leadership? No, that’s not for me.

Why are fewer and fewer people wanting to become managers?

Why is this particularly true of women?

And what can we do about it?

It’s a strange phenomenon, isn’t it? Everyone is talking about leadership, but no one really wants it anymore.

‘Do you want to be on the board?’ ‘God forbid, no way. I’m not crazy!’

How did this happen? Three reasons are particularly important. So why are fewer and fewer people interested in leadership?

1. Because people are afraid.

When you take on leadership, you take on responsibility. For others. For yourself. For things you can’t fully control. This creates fears and concerns

a) about failure.
b) about your own work-life balance.

Incidentally, this is twice as common and twice as pronounced among women.

2. We are asking the wrong questions.

If you ask, ‘Why do so few people want to lead?’, you end up with employer branding, trainee programmes and salary models. But these are not the right solutions in this case.

Instead, ask: ‘How have we actually designed leadership in such a way that no one wants to do it anymore?’

Leadership is often portrayed as a lone warrior role. As a stress upgrade with a bonus. As 24/7 availability. No wonder the ‘leadership track’ looks like a nasty career trap to many. Not like an opportunity. And if care work continues to be so unevenly distributed in society, this will continue to apply especially to women.

3. And then there’s the brutal short-term thinking.

When everything revolves around quarterly figures, there’s no room for long-term thinking, sustainable development or good leadership. Leadership becomes a sprint, even though it’s a marathon. The result: less development, less trust, less courage.

This is particularly toxic for women because they (have to) pay more attention to long-term compatibility and cannot find the structures to do so.

So what can be done?

Rethink leadership: design leadership as a team game. More co-leadership, fewer individual heroes. Don’t just think about it, implement it.

Create psychological safety. Allow concerns to be addressed. Allow leadership to be tried out – without fear of failure. Build prototypes.

Reward long-term commitment. Fewer bonuses for short-term KPIs, more recognition for sustainable team development. Completely revamp performance management.

Leadership will become attractive again when it not only challenges but also encourages. When it becomes a space of possibilities rather than a threat. When it is understood as a contribution rather than a status symbol.

Leadership is not a title. Leadership is an offer. Make it acceptable.

Sources:

We are afraid to lead: Tavares, G. M., & Iwai, T. (2025). Worries about leadership: Examining the role of career stage, gender, and personal resources. European Management Review. OnlineFirst.

We are asking the wrong questions: Ananth, P., Baer, M., & Deichmann, D. (2025). Developing Problem Representations in Organizations: A Synthesis across Literatures and an Integrative Framework. Journal of Management, OnlineFirst.

We are caught up in short-term thinking: Wiersema, M., Koo, H., Chen, W., & Zhang, Y. (2025). Corporate Short-Termism: A Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Management, OnlineFirst.

Alex Rammlmair³:

Common mistakes freelancers make with pricing

Dear freelancers – here are four common mistakes I see time and time again when it comes to pricing

I’m not trying to sell you anything. My clients are the companies that hire you. That’s why I often hear first-hand what they think about freelancers.

These are the most common mistakes when it comes to fees:

❌ Mistake #1: ‘My time is worth at least X pounds’

Time is secondary to many clients – what’s more important is what you do with it: results, risk-taking, speed

➡️ Better: Focus on the result (definition of done), not your time investment.

❌ Mistake #2: ‘I have experience, certificates, seniority’

Kurt Tucholsky once said: ‘You can do something badly for 20 years’ (and we all know someone to whom this applies). Experience and training are only means to an end.

➡️ Better: Show how your superior skills lead to better, faster, more reliable results than others.

❌ Mistake #3: ‘My fee is fair because I cover my own costs.’

Customers are usually just as uninterested in your costs as you are in the costs of the petrol station owner or restaurant proprietor when you stop there.

➡️ Better: Justify your fee in relation to the result and its positive effects (lower costs, faster, saving resources, avoiding mistakes, etc.).

❌ Mistake #4: ‘The bottom line is that I’m cheaper than an employee.’

If someone prefers an employee to a freelancer, it’s often not because they’re cheaper, but because of tax and enforcement options, a clear chain of responsibility, status or CV enhancement (span of control).

➡️ Better: Don’t position yourself as a better employee, but as an effective problem solver who needs little supervision and doesn’t burden the budget at the end of the job.

⏩ In short: Talk about your results instead of your hours. Your fee will thank you for it.

PS: By the way, this applies not only to freelancers, but to all other service providers as well.

Impulses and questions

Three topics, three experts, three ideas. What does leadership really mean, and what insights does this offer managers? Why are many people reluctant to take on leadership roles, and how can this be changed? How do service providers sell their products, and how could they do it better?

Questions upon questions. Perhaps you have some of your own – great! Then Part 16 of ‘Impulses for organisations’ has once again achieved its goal.

Notes:

[1] Stephanie Borgert deals with the management of complexity and essential aspects such as leadership, management, communication, mindfulness and systemic. You can find information about Stephanie Borgert in her LinkedIn profile, the impulse can be found here in the original on LinkedIn.

Stephanie Borgert has published several articles in the t2informatik Blog – for example, Change resistance in a team or ‘We need training!’ or Power and self-exploitation.

[2] Ralf Lanwehr has been working as an expert and consultant for evidence-based leadership, culture and change for over 20 years and has held a professorship in management since 2008. Information about Ralf Lanwehr can be found in his LinkedIn profile, the impulse can be found here in the original on LinkedIn.

Ralf Lanwehr has published an article on Authentic leadership is nonsense! on the t2informatik Blog. And here you will find an accompanying blog post by Rebecca Hartmann on psychological safety – the invisible booster for successful teams.

[3] Alex Rammlmair is a podcaster and expert on value pricing, as well as the author of Das Ende der Tagessaetze – Die besten Preisstrategien für IT-Unternehmen, die skalieren wollen. Information about Alex Rammlmair can be found on his impressive website, here you can find the original on LinkedIn.

Alex Rammlmair has published several articles on the t2informatik Blog, including Who needs long-term goals, No wonder that no software developer applies to you, and Why I advise my clients against agile software development today.

If you like these impulses, please feel free to share them as a multiplier in your network.

Here you will find a selection of further impulses in the t2informatik Blog: