Services
New Leadership Development
New Leadership starts where most leadership programs stop.
Leadership development that works doesn’t start with the leader. It starts with the system they’re operating inside. When the structure forces firefighting — or when every decision requires escalation — no seminar fixes that.
Most programs produce good intentions. Three weeks later, nothing has changed. That’s not a personal failure. It’s a system problem. New Leadership means redesigning the conditions that make real leadership possible — and developing the leaders who can use them.
No pitch. No obligation. Just clarity.
BEFORE OUR COLLABORATION
Six Signs the System Is Working Against Your Leaders
Most leaders recognize at least two of these. Some recognize all six.
Problem
Permanent Firefighting
80% of leadership time goes to operational issues the team should handle. Managing has replaced leading.
Problem
No Time for What Actually Matters
Strategy. Team development. Long-term thinking. Always pushed aside by what’s urgent today.
Problem
Controlling Instead of Enabling
You want to delegate more — but without the right structures, you hold on. And nothing changes.
Problem
The Bottleneck Problem
You were good at your job, so you got promoted. Nobody taught you how to actually lead.
Problem
Leadership by Accident
More time on alignment rituals than on actual customer problems. The work that matters keeps getting pushed.
Problem
The Program That Didn’t Transfer
You’ve been to the training. It was good. Back in the organization, nothing changed — because the system didn’t.
Behavior follows structure. Change the conditions — and most leadership problems dissolve. The ones that don’t are where the real coaching work begins.
15 minutes. 100% obligation-free.
SURVEYS
The Cost of Leadership That’s Stuck in the Wrong Mode
The research is clear. Most organizations are working against the odds — without knowing why.
7%
of annual revenue lost due to weak or unclear leadership structures.
Delayed decisions, missing accountability, high turnover — all structural, all preventable.
Source: Saville Assessment — Cost of Poor Leadership
32%
of voluntary turnover is caused by ineffective leadership.
Not by pay, not by role fit. People don’t leave bad organizations. They leave bad structural conditions.
Source: Burns Leadership Consulting — research synthesis, 2024
25B
hours lost annually in Fortune 500 companies due to poor collaboration.
Not a Fortune 500? The same structural patterns produce the same losses — scaled to your size.
Source: Atlassian — State of Teams – Work Life 2024
The pattern is always the same: treating leadership as a people problem. It isn’t. It’s a system problem — and systems change when the conditions change.
AFTER OUR COLLABORATION
What New Leadership Looks Like When the Conditions Are Right
Not a new model to memorize. A real shift in how you lead, decide, and create the conditions for value.
Solution
Back to Actual Leadership Work
Less operational noise, more time for strategy, team development, and the decisions only you can make.
Solution
Delegation That Actually Transfers
You know what to hold and what to hand over. Ownership moves with the work — and stays there.
Solution
Leadership That Enables, Not Controls
Your team acts without waiting for permission. You create the conditions — they do the work.
Solution
Decisions at the Right Level
Things move without routing through you. The system decides where decisions belong.
Solution
Leadership Built, Not Stumbled Into
A grounded way of leading that fits your context — developed deliberately, not by accident.
Solution
Development That Transfers to Monday Morning
What changes in the sessions changes in the work. No post-program relapse into old patterns.
This isn’t a description of perfect leadership. It’s what becomes possible when the structural conditions are right — and the leader has developed the capability to use them.
HOW IT WORKS
How We Develop Leadership — Clarify, Develop, Cultivate
Leadership development isn’t a nice-to-have. In organizations where markets move faster than hierarchies can respond, it’s the structural foundation for everything else.
Leadership development that works doesn’t happen to someone — it happens with them. We bring a diagnostic frame and a structured process. You bring the real situations, the actual tensions, the decisions that keep you up at night. The development happens in that contact — not in a curriculum.
And because we work with the individual and the structural conditions simultaneously, what changes is not just how you lead. It’s what becomes possible when you do. Our starting point is always the same question: what’s actually driving this pattern — the individual, the structure, or both?
Phase 1: Clarify — What's a Leadership Issue, What's a System Issue?
See the pattern clearly before touching it
Which patterns belong to the individual — and which are produced by the structure? A leader who micromanages because the system punishes delegation isn't a micromanager. They're a rational actor in a poorly designed context. We diagnose both levels before we touch anything. Result:A clear picture of where to work — and at which level.
Phase 2: Develop — Build Leadership Capability Where It Counts
Build capability in your actual context, not in a classroom
Delegation with structure, decision-making under uncertainty, feedback that lands, creating conditions for team autonomy. Always grounded in real situations — not role play. Result: Leadership capability that transfers to Monday morning.
Phase 3: Cultivate — Anchor and Hand Over
Make the new patterns the new normal
New patterns replace old ones in real work, not in workshops. Where the system is producing the problem, we address the system — decision rights, role clarity, escalation paths. Result: Change that runs without us. Because that's the only kind worth building.
Every engagement is scoped to your situation — for individual leaders or leadership teams, as a focused intensive or an ongoing partnership. No standard program.
FOR WHOM?
Who This is for — and Who It Isn’t
If you recognize yourself in more than two of these, it’s worth a conversation.
Not for you if…
You want validation of your current approach — not honest challenge
Your organization doesn't support the kind of leadership this develops
You're looking for techniques to control your team more effectively
You expect development to happen without real participation between sessions
You're looking for a leadership model to memorize — not a practice to develop
You want a quick fix before the next performance review or strategy cycle
This is for you if…
You're a team lead, department head, or manager who wants to lead — not just manage
You're a founder or CEO navigating the shift from doing to leading
You've been leading for years and feel stuck in patterns you can't seem to break
You want to enable your team — not control and carry everything yourself
You want honest feedback, not diplomatic reassurance — even when it's uncomfortable
You're responsible for leadership development and want a partner at the system level — not just training delivery.
Leadership development is not a program you complete. It’s a practice you start. If you’re ready to start — we’d like to be part of it.
Think big, start small.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
Don’t Just Take Our Word for It: Hear What Our Customers Say
🏆 Our project was honored with the German Design Award
»Working with Martin Backes was great. We hired him to direct and consult us in our vision of becoming a worldwide-leading audio product.« Niklas Jansen, CEO and co-Founder blinkist
Challenge: Blinkist’s leadership team needed to align around a bold new vision — becoming a worldwide-leading audio product. Getting a complex, cross-functional stakeholder group moving in the same direction, fast, was the critical bottleneck.
Solution: Structured leadership alignment sessions brought the team to strategic clarity in days rather than months. Martin then stayed on as a strategic partner, coach, and consultant for 18 months — keeping execution sharp and the team aligned through the full transformation.
Result: Blinkist transformed into a premium audio-first product, and won the German Design Award in 2021. Two years later, the company was acquired by Go1, valued at over $2 billion.
🎯 This is what lasting organizational change feels like
»Working with Martin Backes was a turning point for our organization. He helped us build real structures for leadership and collaboration — not just better meetings.« Anna Schieber, CEO UVR Berlin
Challenge: Slow decision-making, low team autonomy, and no scalable leadership structures. UVR Berlin was stuck in day-to-day firefighting — with no frameworks to unlock strategic innovation or growth.
Solution: Systemic redesign of leadership and collaboration: transforming leaders from firefighters to enablers with clear decision paths, defined responsibilities, and lightweight structures that enable real team autonomy. Built from the inside out for lasting results.
Result: Leadership became a real enabler — giving direction instead of creating bottlenecks. The team became more autonomous, decisions moved faster, and the dynamic shifted in ways that outlasted the engagement. UVR went on to open two new stores and successfully transitioned to a more sustainable brand.
FREE DIAGNOSTIC CALL
Not Sure Where Your Leadership Is Actually Getting Stuck? Let’s Find Out
Most leadership problems have a structural source — but it’s rarely where it looks like it is. In a free call, we identify where it actually sits.
1. Scheduling
Pick a time that works for you — slots are available within the next few days.
2. Situation Analysis
We look at what’s actually driving your leadership situation — not just what looks like the problem.
3. Your Diagnosis
You leave with a clear picture of where to work — whether we continue together or not.
Our first meeting is 100% free of charge and without obligation.
No pitch. No commitment. Just real value.
FAQs
Questions We Get Frequently
The questions we hear most often — answered directly. If yours isn’t here, just ask.
1. Structure, behavior, and psychodynamics — how does that fit together?
We look at structure first — decision paths, roles, communication channels, information flow. Because structure overrides behavior: the same people behave differently in different structures. That’s our primary lever.
That said, structure doesn’t explain everything. Individual patterns, blind spots, and psychodynamic processes influence how organizations function. We don’t ignore that — but we start where the leverage is highest. Organizational dynamics first, psychodynamics second.
2. What does working systemically actually mean in practice?
It means we don’t change people directly — we change the conditions that produce behavior. Concretely: we observe before we act. We treat the organization as a living system, not a machine. We look for the real leverage points, not the obvious symptoms. And we create conditions where solutions emerge from within — not imposed from above.
3. Why does this require external support — can't it be solved internally?
Anyone who works inside a system naturally develops blind spots — and sometimes becomes part of the very pattern causing the problem. Internal initiatives fail not from lack of will, but from lack of neutrality, time, or structural distance. We bring the outside perspective that’s always missing internally — not to deliver solutions, but to find the right leverage points.
4. How is this different from classic consulting or training?
Classic consulting diagnoses and recommends. Standard training delivers content and leaves. We build together with your people — co-creatively, iteratively, shaped to your reality. The goal isn’t a concept we deliver or a curriculum we run. It’s a capability that stays inside your organization.
5. Do you work with individual leaders or with leadership teams?
Both — depending on where the leverage is highest. Individual leadership development goes deep into personal patterns and context. Leadership team development builds shared language, aligned decision-making, and collective capability. Most complex situations benefit from both. We clarify the right entry point in the first call.
6. How long does this take?
There’s no standard timeline. Meaningful leadership development takes time — typically a minimum of 3 to 6 months for focused work, often longer for complex situations. We agree on a realistic scope upfront with clear milestones — and adjust as we learn more.
7. We've tried leadership programs before and they didn't stick. Why would this be different?
Most leadership programs focus on information transfer. This focuses on pattern change — in real situations, with real feedback, over time. And it changes structural conditions in parallel, so the context doesn’t pull the new behavior back to old patterns.
8. Will our leaders be able to continue this on their own?
Yes — that’s the core of our approach. We build internal capability, transfer ownership, and develop simple routines that make the new patterns self-sustaining. Your leaders leave with real capability — not a dependency on us.
9. How does the investment justify itself?
Structural friction in leadership is expensive — in lost time, missed decisions, avoidable turnover, and value that never gets created. The effects of better leadership show up quickly: clearer priorities, faster decisions, less escalation, stronger retention.
10. What's the difference between Leadership Development and Coaching & Sparring?
Leadership Development is a structured program focused on building capabilities over time — often for a specific role, team, or organizational context. Coaching & Sparring is a thinking partnership for live decisions and strategic challenges. Different needs, different formats. Many clients use both — development builds the foundation, sparring keeps it sharp.
11. What if my organization doesn't yet support this kind of leadership?
This comes up often — and it’s worth being honest about. If the structural conditions actively work against the leadership you’re developing, individual development has limits. We address this directly: what’s realistic to change from your position, how to lead differently within a system that isn’t yet ready, and when it makes sense to work on both the individual and the structural conditions simultaneously.
Still have a question that’s not covered here? Just reach out — by email or by booking a call directly.
CONTACT
Book Your Free Leadership Diagnostic Call
The Leaders Who Create the Most Value Aren’t Born That Way. They Built It.
Leadership is not a personality trait — it’s a practice. But if the same patterns keep returning despite good intentions and genuine effort, the cause is almost certainly structural. That’s worth understanding before investing more time at the wrong level.
If you’re ready to lead with more intention and less friction — we’d like to hear from you.
No pitch. No commitment. Just real value.
