Hartung Wilstermann: Surviving Disruptive Trends Through Change and Adaptation

Major industries of the world experienced a massive shift due to the pandemic with many corporations navigating through the disruptive scenarios hoping to achieve growth and recovery in a post-pandemic landscape. 

For Hartung Wilstermann, Executive Vice President Battery Systems of Webasto Group, the journey towards achieving growth is to understand one simple truth: change and adapt.

In this interview, Wilstermann discusses and explores a wide range of topics such as the future workplace, the megatrends that the automotive industry needs to know, and how all of it comes back to the need for change and adaptation.

   

Understanding The Post-Pandemic Landscape and Challenges

It’s safe to say that everything changed due to the pandemic and with the economies opening back through rampant vaccination, corporations are preparing future scenarios to keep up with business growth in 2021 and beyond.

However, Wilstermann believes that the focus should not be on creating scenarios or predicting the outcomes of the future. Rather, what is important is for organizations to understand that reacting and being flexible to situations that arise should be the priority.

 

What is your outlook on the European automotive industry in the latter half of 2021?

 

My personal opinion here is, let’s not try to find the right scenario for the future. Instead, understand that whatever you have planned, will come differently.

Of course, you can have plans and scenarios, either internally or through different companies that are analyzing and predicting what will happen in the industry. However, if you look at the past year, they have all been wrong.

Nobody foresaw Corona(virus), and nobody was prepared for the crisis.

It is not that important to predict or analyze what will come. It is more important to be able to react to whatever will come. So for me, the answer is, whatever happens, we need to be prepared to react and be flexible to the situation.

Be flexible, have your scenarios but expect it will come differently.

 

What about post-pandemic challenges for the European automakers? Will it be different?

 

Again, it’s not new and there will always be new changes and challenges. Our whole life is nothing but changes and currently, there are several big changes in society that corporations need to keep an eye on; namely, autonomous driving, connected vehicles, and e-mobility.

These are well-known megatrends that we need to focus on, that is clear. 

But for the European automakers, the challenges are the same as it was in the past. They need to adapt to new realities, be it to jump into services, invest in e-mobility, or autonomous mobility. 

This is my key point here. Corporations must react faster to the changes because the changes are occurring faster and faster.

 

Interconnected Industry Megatrends, Climate Influences, and The Speed of Change

2021 kickstarted a global effort to bring COVID-19 under control through massive vaccination and a reenergized global agenda towards climate change. There is no question that 2021 will be a year of transition, but how has it affected the megatrends amongst major industries and the automotive industry in particular?

Wilstermann highlights that many facets of the automotive industry’s megatrends have shifted towards sustainability and e-mobility, in addition to digital transformation, and how change is at the core of all these megatrends.

 

What are the key megatrends or changes that will drive growth for the European automotive industry?

 

The big ones are the well-known ones. You have digitalization, which can be a megatrend and a source for change.

And then you have e-mobility, which for me, is something which I have believed in 15 years ago and is now coming through. And the e-mobility trend will not just be batteries, it will be a global trend, for all the mobility that we have on earth. Like aviation, automotive, and marine mobility.

Another megatrend is the speedup of changes. The speed of change is a megatrend itself because it influences all of our challenges and pushes organizations to adapt. The world has become closer and globalization has shown how connected we are on a global scale.

And when one industry goes down, it influences the rest of the industry as well.  A virus can influence the production of chips and the supply chain, which shows how fully integrated and highly connected our industries are.

Yes, organizations are reacting to this, by getting more local. But we need to get faster. To react and still be calm when we experience changes. 

And of course, we also need to adapt to climate change. It is something which we can see, and is happening now. Climate change will influence the way we need to think, the way we need to act, so, I would also call it a megatrend. 

It might not be one which we like to have, but it is happening. It is a megatrend we need to understand and realize it is there. It will influence our way of thinking, of acting, and therefore the industry.

 

The New Balance of Future Workplace and The Roles of Leadership

The pandemic has disrupted the structure of the workplace as more and more corporations have adapted to the idea of mobile work offices. However, finding the balance for the future workplace is a question that many leaders within the automotive industry are struggling to answer.

For Wilstermann, the focus should not be on finding a single solution or a sweeping generalization on what the “next-normal” workplace will be for an organization.

But rather, to adapt and change as necessary, create a new balance that works for the culture of the company and at the same time, having those in the leadership roles lead the way for these changes.

 

What will the “next-normal” workplace look like and how can organizations achieve it?

 

The “next-normal” is something we cannot predict. But, we can create it.

We can create it by understanding what are the needs of the workplace, and what are the changes.

For example, before COVID-19, most companies were reluctant to have mobile offices. Now, we’ve all understood that mobile offices are possible because we were forced to do it.

Will we stay completely with mobile offices? Of course not. 

There needs to be some kind of balance where we will integrate this new change into the new workspace. Yes, there are a lot of different solutions depending on the department, but the new reality will be a very diverse one.

Each area, each department, each team, needs to find its balance and adapt it to the changes that will come up. So this, for me, will be a new reality. It is much more flexible and more reactive to the needs of the customers, the employees, the industry, and the megatrends.

 

What role should those in leadership roles play to help transition into a diverse workplace?

 

For me, the most important part of leadership is to lead people, and sometimes also results. This also means that you need to create an environment where people can do their jobs.

And being in that leadership role means setting an environment that allows people to adapt individually and react quickly to changes.

Leading, or being in a leadership role, does not mean setting a goal and waiting until somebody reaches those goals. It means creating an environment that allows people to adapt, fast and individualized, to their needs while still being part of the team.

This is what I would call, real leadership. It is setting the environment for people so that they can find their solutions. Not setting solutions, or defining what the “next-normal” will be, how it looks, or how it will work.

 

Adaptation Is Key In Organizational Structures And Embracing Change 

Corporations are constantly in search of the perfect organizational structure that will help align their vision and drive growth, especially in today’s volatile market. 

With major industries within Europe pushing towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), corporations are scrambling to find and develop the necessary elements needed to overcome the disruptive changes coming due to sustainable initiatives. 

But as Wilstermann points out, there is no “perfect” solution or structure, and that companies must react and evolve constantly to the changes that occur within the industry.

 

How should organizations structure themselves to overcome disruptive changes such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

 

I would say it is very important to first understand the history of the company, the mindset, and the culture of the company. 

There is no one organizational setup that is the best as there are many elements that you need to take into account, such as the culture, product, and even the size of the company. 

The only consistent element that I see the same for every organization is the need for change and adaptation to the megatrends, the society, your customers, and the competition.

The best setup is to have a continuous improvement and change of the organization and not assume that the organization you have now will be the same for the next ten years.

If you’re open to changes, you will be able to find the perfect organization for this point in time, in this situation, the environment you are in, and for your industry. And tomorrow, it will be a different one. 

But, if you’re open to adapt, you will find another setup.

Of course, it all depends on different factors such as region, product, history. Adapting to all of these factors and elements will lead to a temporarily optimized organizational structure.

 

What advice would you give to organizations on overcoming changes from disruption?

 

Let me share a personal experience from when I was in the Philippines for one year. 

Coming from Germany where everything was structured. Safety was, for me, having insurance, enough money, and all these things which were related to planning and stability. 

Then going to the Philippines, and seeing how different it was. I came back with a different understanding of what feeling safe meant. 

It was not having money, insurance, a car, plans, and so on.

I came back with the understanding that feeling safe means having the confidence of being able to deal with every upcoming change. 

Do not try to avoid changes and replace them with plans, which will never come true. Rather, it is necessary to adapt to the future, deal with all the changes that come from disruption, and keep pace with the speed of the changes.