Ready for radical change: New success for businesses
TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN I PHOTOS: JÜRGEN KNOTH
The modern business world is shaped by radical changes, recently, for example, the digital transformation, technological revolutions and global interconnections that touch all areas. The Austrian business consultancy AnneBreitner GmbH makes companies ready to adapt. “Drastic changes make it necessary to think radically as well,” says company founder and consultant Anneliese Breitner, PhD, who supports companies, for instance, when it comes to strategic orientation. How can companies interlink their core business’ products and services across sectors, or how can they better adjust to developments in society? It needs a lot of courage and creative drive within companies to implement the relevant processes of change. Social and corporative change not always go in the same direction: Digitalisation increasingly dominates the business world and people’s private lives, at the same time a contrary trend has emerged: deliberately taking a break by switching off digital 70 | Issue 58 | January 2018
devices. The speed of modern communication often creates a maelstrom from which people cannot escape: They think that they need to be constantly available and informed, have to reply fast and so on. Indeed the need for being online has negative effects on the psyche. “Being offline therefore is like a digital holiday that allows to not be active all the time.” During coaching sessions Anneliese Breitner discovered that people are struggling to balance their mental wellbeing – because they do not have holidays from the digital world. “Basically, this becomes problematic where people lose their balance, because they do not recognise their own behavioural pattern,” says Anneliese
Breitner. Daily dealings in the virtual world are often poor substitutes for true social relationships; the fleetingness of a ‘like’ is no replacement for true sympathy. The advancing digitalisation in daily life challenges companies more than ever to work on their corporate culture to provide the necessary social connections. “In the end we engage because we are socially motivated. This is a good reason to think about employees’ social networks and provide a good working atmosphere.” Consultant Anneliese Breitner has supported companies in strategic and cultural processes for about 15 years now. As sparring partner she challenges clients to find a strategic focus and strengthen the social fabric through organisational development within a company. Through coaching she brings together both working digitally and relaxing at the same time, which allows finding the key to inner balance.