Three times three days Leadership Retreat. That's the start of my MBA journey. After 6 months of lockdown, being on the road again for the first time, in a hotel and meeting new people.

Expectations are high, how will the group behave, will they get along? The weather for the first weekend is predicted to be bad.

 

After getting to know each other, we are thrown into the deep end - the first of many bridges has to be built. We fail the exercise, but grow as a group. The other weekends are similar. Theory is accompanied by exciting outdoor exercises. Not infrequently we fail. We learn what leadership means in theory and then try to put it into practice right away.

You can see particularly well how much our group has grown together during the voluntary after-work sessions. After an exhausting day, almost all of us actually allow ourselves to be entertained by nuclear energy for another hour and participate in the discussions.

The last weekend shows that even our so harmoniously praised group can show conflicts. As we realize only afterwards, these were deliberately brought about in order to illustrate processes in organizations. Here you can see how valuable good outdoor trainers are.

The three weekends have left their mark on all of us. The subsequent personal reflection was certainly not always easy. To understand where there is potential for improvement, but also what opportunities are now open to us with the newly learned.

Eileen Langegger, August 2021

For our cohort, the module "Leadership & Organizational Behavior" was the first module and thus connected with the first acquaintance. This module can also be booked as an independent compact program under the name "High Impact Leadership Development Program" and is available in German and English. Organizationally, the module is divided into three parts (on three dates):

1. Organizational Behavior & Leadership Basics
2. Leadership, Teams & Communication
3. Leadership, Organization & Change

 

The first two units took place in Tullnerbach and Puchberg am Schneeberg and were held by Univ.Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Güttel, the Dean of the Continuing Education Center (CEC), now TU Wien Academy for Continuing Education (ACE). He was supported by Mag. Markus Stockert, who was responsible for the outdoor units. The third unit was held in Mariazell, led by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sabine Köszegi and accompanied by Rob Hakenberg as outdoor trainer.

The combination of theory and practice, which I already appreciated during my diploma studies at the TU Wien, was also provided here. I particularly liked the combination of outdoor exercises and classroom training. In the course of the exercises, a common frame of reference was created, which could then be discussed. In this way, the knowledge that was to be conveyed was developed in the group and thus remains much better in memory than if it had been taught frontally.

I found it enriching to work on the most diverse tasks with like-minded, motivated colleagues and to build numerous bridges not only in the literal but also in the figurative meaning of the word. Friendships were made and the interaction with each other was always at eye level. The exchange among each other leads to putting one's own views to the test and to questioning one's decisions and one's own leadership style. This supports self-reflection and self-understanding.

It also helps to see that all colleagues face the same challenges regardless of what area they work in.

In this module we have learned to characterize organizations, to understand how they function and also how leaders can influence them. The motivation of individuals as well as the development of effective teams is addressed. The effective approach to change processes is highlighted as well as different HR architectures and basic knowledge about different personality types.

It was a bit of a pity in our group that due to health restrictions often the same people held the leadership position in the outdoor exercises, which deprived the other colleagues of the opportunity to experience this. Perhaps in the future these people could be repeatedly put in the role of observers in order to give several participants the opportunity to receive feedback from the group. Especially in the course of these exercises, one learns an enormous amount about oneself and one's own leadership personality. Although these are abstract situations that have nothing in common with the respective professional environment, these exercises are a valuable opportunity and one should (be able to) use it in any case.

Victoria Mohr, 2021

I found our first three (outdoor) seminars on the topics very exciting, both in terms of content and from a higher level perspective.

During my studies at WU, I completed the special "Business and Behavioral Management" and therefore probably had more contact with the topics of the seminars than most of the other participants.

Foto: Claus Drennig & colleagues at the Leadership-Course 2021

Of course, it was particularly exciting at the beginning of the first course, because it was not yet clear who the other participants would be, how the program would run in general, and what my first impression of it would be.

I found Wolfgang Güttel as a lecturer at the first two seminars extremely pleasant, with his book as a preparation for the seminars I had a little more difficulty because of the rather heavy focus on his theories. But the advantage of the seminar was of course the possibility of interaction and the opportunity to ask questions and discuss, accompanied by the outdoor elements, which provided variety and some aha moments.

I also found his somewhat different form of didactics without PowerPoint support extremely pleasant and very pleasingly varied. The group of participants turned out to be relatively young from my perspective, with about four to five others I probably belong to the oldest students. However, this does not detract at all from the seminar, not only the diversity in terms of content, but also the diversity from a personal point of view makes the group exciting, without any major disharmonies having occurred so far.

I found the second seminar in Puchberg am Schneeberg very, very nice, the location was great and the big outdoor game was really great. All of this led to a great group dynamic and everything was always followed by a very precise analysis phase, which made the whole thing complete.

I was particularly excited about the third seminar in Mariazell because, in addition to the location, the lecturers also changed. In my opinion, this brought with it a different atmosphere, although I didn't find it any worse, just different. I really liked the outdoor exercises, especially the giant Leonardo bridge, and at least on one evening I took the time to go for a drink with the others (before that I either had work to do or was too exhausted or had to finish the work for the first seminar), which also supports team building.

In sum, it was great impressions, in any case interesting contents and a great pleasure to meet such exciting people and spend the next few months together. I'm already very excited about the next topics, unfortunately we divide so I think and the outdoor seminars are seemingly over, actually a pity, maybe we will manage to do something similar together again ....

Claus Drennig, August 2021

After a "Corona year" dominated by lockdowns and homeschooling, cooped up at home with
minimal social contact and eternal virtual meetings, I was looking forward like a little kid to
three times three days in the hotel, and was naturally very curious about the professors and
new MBA colleagues.

The first three days at the "Wiener Waldhof" were simply phenomenal. The hidden location in the forest with the view of the green meadow, the group energy full of courtesy and will to discover, have been like a liberating cleansing cure from the stress and discontent that have accumulated over the past months.
The confrontation with the questions; "who am I, why am I here, what are my expectations" have created a trusting atmosphere, where everyone has honestly told their life story and listened attentively with interest to the other (including our guests of honor Alfred Wurmbrand and the house cat).

The combination of Wolfgang and Markus, the theoretical knowledge immediately tried out in practice during the away exercises and afterwards everything carefully analyzed and reflected, were able to satisfy the hunger for knowledge with the right ingredients extensively. "How do I spend my time, what are my priorities and values, how can I motivate myself and my environment" - privately and professionally; in my opinion the most important questions and we had the privilege to analyze and answer them in an extremely inspiring and motivating atmosphere. Because taking stock is the beginning of improvement and this must be done honestly and conscientiously.

Jana Gavril, August 2021

Rupert Hasenzagl has been working since 1998 as an independent management consultant and as a lecturer at various universities and universities of applied sciences on topics including: Group Dynamics, Change Management, Innovation and Technology Management.  From 2010 to 2017, he was a professor of management at AKAD University.

His focus is on leadership training and development, social competence, strategy and organizational consulting, change management and innovation, logistics and supply chain, management, systemic coaching.

Arne Keller is a postdoctoral researcher in the research area of Leadership & Strategy at the Institute of Management Science at the TU Wien. He received a B.Sc. in Business Administration and an M.Sc. in Management & Marketing from Freie Universität Berlin, where he earned a Dr. rer. pol. (Doctor of Economics).

His research interests lie at the intersection of strategic management, organizational theory and innovation management. In particular, he is concerned with the characteristics and dynamics of organizational competencies, strategic responses to technological change, organizational inertia, ambidextry, and the governance of strategic alliances.

Markus Stockert is a certified mountain and ski guide and has been working as an independent trainer for seminars and workshops in the business sector since 1993. His work focuses on team, communication and leadership development in various fields of work. Since 2002 he has also been working as a systemic supervisor and coach.

High safety standards as a prerequisite for a successful learning process are an integral part of his work as a trainer, as well as a mountain guide. His diverse experiences from more than 20 years of various activities in alpine terrain as well as his experiences in supporting people in their alpine challenges flow into his leadership activities.