Success Through Ambidextrous Communication

What is ambidexterity? Why do we need it in companies? How does the concept change today’s understanding of leadership? How can I as a manager implement the ambidextrous leadership style? This chapter introduces the scientific concept of organizational ambidexterity and presents the ambidextrous communication model for leaders. It explains why ambidexterity is at its core a leadership skill and how you can bring ambidexterity into the organization through your daily communication. The currently widespread understanding of the role of leadership, according to which managers largely move within hierarchical organizational structures, is subjected to a rethinking process in this chapter. A complementary approach, the ‘second hand’, is needed to make leadership fit for the challenges of the digital transformation. The second hand is based on an understanding that sees leadership as detached from an assigned authority and as the result of a complex process of social interaction. If the interaction between people in the company moves into the focus of leadership, communication and exchange between individuals also take on a whole new significance. The central solution approach of this book takes this shift in meaning into account. It places communication at the center of daily leadership work.