Allianz People Fact Book 2020: License to skill

As different surveys since the Covid-19 pandemic have shown, most employees across companies would prefer to have the option of working remotely and flexibly going forward. While this work culture gives employees an opportunity to pick what works best for them, it can be challenging for teamwork and team management.

Collaboration has often been identified as a pain point across the board when it comes to remote working. Rightly so. Even the best leaders would agree that managing people you rarely get to see or bring together in-person needs a lot of effort.

This is where Allianz's '#lead' program comes in.

The leadership development initiative was launched in 2020. At the heart of the program is the Allianz Leadership Passport, the 'license' that people leaders must have to effectively manage teams.

Over 18,000 managers, regardless of level, experience or location, will embark on the journey to obtain this passport before the end of 2021.

The Allianz Leadership Passport will become the minimum learning requirement to be a people leader anywhere in the Group. Managers will get access to virtual, instructor-led experiences and online gamified learning on the #lead platform, plus deep-dives on specific leadership topics. To maintain their passport, they will have to complete 100 development points every two years.

Each development point, earned when the participant does a training module through class, video, podcast or book, equals an hour's worth of learning.

When it comes to leading people, a high emotional quotient (EQ) is as important as a high IQ. ''Soft skills' will become 'hard skills' going forward,' says Stefan Britz, Allianz's Chief Human Resources Officer. 'Adaptability, creativity and emotional intelligence will be the basic skills that people leaders will need.'

In addition, adequate technological skills will be required for managers to make the best use of digital collaboration tools. Among some of the core topics covered under the #lead program are strength-based and inclusive leadership, digital leadership and IT literacy, change management and agile working.

'At the moment, we define a people leader as someone with direct reports but in the future, we may also consider employees who frequently manage people as part of a project,' says Renate Braun.