An ever-growing workload, high staff turnover, tight timelines and frequent conflicts with neighbours and stakeholders on the construction site - working in infrastructure and construction is stressful. The job description for me was to improve communication and teamwork in the department, so people would collaborate more smoothly, mental health would improve, and people would be able to make safe decisions without too much handholding. We asked Alexander Buttgereit, then head of department, about the organisational development process:

Question: Reflecting on your transformational journey, what was the most important result of the one-year process in your organization?

Answer: We have significantly increased our productivity. We realised that we can be successful just by reorganising our work and changing our attitude. This mixture of rethinking work, redefining attitude, creating a community and strengthening the whole was decisive in making us extremely successful. 

Q: What do you think was the reason this could happen?

A: The awareness of being a strong team, pursuing common goals and wanting to be successful pushed us so much, both professionally and in terms of our social skills. Soon, no task was complicated or difficult or big enough for us not to say: "Come on, we can do it!"

Q: You told me earlier that there was a lot of scepticism in the beginning. People were tired of yet another change initiative. Why did they still cooperate?

A: You did a marvellous job of inspiring people: you really opened them up, got them out of their stagnation and awakened their creativity. Even those people who have been with us for 20 years or more, and who look primarily at what doesn't work. We had a great first workshop and achieved results at an incredible speed that we didn't think was possible.
I was then approached by employees who said: 'Wow, I was totally sceptical beforehand. But I really liked this way of working and I want to continue to be part of it, I want to take on responsibility.' That still gives me goosebumps.
We suddenly appeared self-confident in meetings with politicians and important stakeholders. And yes, this satisfaction and contentment is indescribable and, to be honest, thank you very much for that.

Q: What was, for you, the novelty? What did people mean by “this type of working”?

A: What turned out to be very positive is that you didn't stick to one methodology, but tried out a wide variety of new things. Design Thinking was one of the best experiences and helped us to understand who we are and what our purpose is, and yes, ultimately to reorganise ourselves, forming a unit that we had been before, but not with this immense strength and calm. From my point of view, it was incredible to see how people grew, how they grew together, how everyone gained strength and self-confidence.

We were suddenly infected by this virus, something is happening, that we can still create freedom in the strong corset of public service, where we do our work with much more joy and enjoy coming to work again. 

Q: What happened next?

A: I was thrilled with the results, as were the heads of the specialist centres. And there were positive signals from the staff: many things were brought to the table. We needed to find allies among the employees who would then take on tasks. We would give them space to organise things, plus allow for time and a budget. 
We had this great closing event. Everyone could sign up and say, "This is a great topic, I want to work on it." And when we looked at it at the end, all the topics were taken. There were more volunteers than we actually needed. Everyone had contributed their bit to this success.

Q: So, what was the most surprising result, in your eyes?

A: The best experience was seeing what this process did for the employees. Namely, how much they grew and became a lot more mature. Young people, but also the more experienced ones, all of them! That was indescribable and a powerful source of energy. 
We only knew one direction after that, and that was the way forward. I think we can be self-confident and proud of that. So, thank you very much for your extremely good work, your support and the personality you brought to it. You were a very important factor in making this whole story successful!

Q: Thank you very much for your feedback!