LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES

What does it mean: responsible leadership in a company? In order to answer this question the health insurer AOK North East developed 7 principles for its own senior management. With the help of a dialogue picture the principles were introduced and discussed at a management conference. Since then the dialogue picture has served as the basis for discussion on the topic of leadership at all three regional branches of AOK North East (Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

The Basics - „Health through passion“ - with these principles AOK North East, in existence since 01.01.2011, has put the topic of health into focus. For this reason, the health-tree, as seen on the AOK logo, stands in the centre of the dialogue picture. The roots of the tree symbolize the 7 principles growing and flourishing. In the picture a kind of fitness trail can be found. The trail outlines the map boundaries of three German states represented by traditional symbols such as the Berlin Bear.

On the trail, managers must master the 7 stations concerning the topic “Leading is responsible dealing.” Each station stands for a principle and shows a situation involving management and staff. The trail has no beginning and no end – all of the principles are equally important. The individual scenes were developed in small groups of managers. Over the course of a 1 day workshop, the ideas were sketched out by two illustrators and a moderator from DIALOGBILD, and later detailed illustrated.

Give direction!

Every worker is confronted with different decisions every day, while the overall corporate strategy remains unclear. Which way is the right way? Managers can illustrate the strategy through dialogue and so provide orientation and direction.

Show courage and initiative!

Managers come up with good examples themselves and then challenge the workers to be proactive with their own ideas and participate in the changes. To this end, managers will make decisions in real time and trust themselves to dare new paths. The Spreewald (Spree Forest): The river flowing through the forest surroundings of the dialogue picture emulates the course of the forest.

The Spreewald

Known for the Spreewald Kahn (a type of flat boat) and its traditional dress here symbolize the state of Brandenburg. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is represented by its distinctive coastline and the Warnemunder Lighthouse while Berlin by its heraldic animal, the bear.

Jürgen Heese
Head of Corporate Policy AOK North East

"The principles for our managers were presented at a conference in Autumn 2011. Prior to this several intensive discussions on the topic of leadership took place. The result of this process is the dialogue picture. It allows the participant to become engaged in fruitful discussions on the topic in a way that is enjoyable. The dialogue picture is fun and can be re-used again and again. For us as a customer service enterprise this is especially important and mission critical."

During a management conference in Berlin, AOK North East laid out its leadership principles. The completed dialogue picture was rolled out here. With the support of an improvisational theater group as well as selected managers, the principles were visually interpreted.