Project GaF - Online Training
Demographic Change
Given the decline in the percentage of the working population and the steady increase in percentage of older workers in Saxony (c.f. Demography Monitor Saxony) due to demographic factors, the question arises as to which factors promote the long-term maintenance of performance, working ability and health of young and, in particular, also older working people up to the legal retirement age.
Project Goals
The project, titled "Promoting health through age(ing)-appropriate leadership in Saxon SMEs and microenterprises" (GaF), aims to transfer scientific findings from leadership research into the practice of companies in Saxony with a focus on age(ing)-appropriate leadership. The purpose is to promote the health, satisfaction and productivity of managers and employees. Up until then, the starting point "measurement of age-appropriate leadership" (Wegge & Schmidt, 2015), had only been used and evaluated in large companies. The (online) training courses on age-appropriate management, which were developed or adapted in the course of the cooperation project between AOK-PLUS and TU-Dresden, were evaluated in small and medium-sized companies. The courses meet the limited time and financial resources of the target group and offer the possibility of further training, flexible in terms of location and time, for lower and middle level managers.
Online-Training
Managers of two or more employees participated in the free of charge online training courses from December 2019 until May 2020, provided that they took part in the associated study. The online training covered the basics of leadership with a focus on age(ing) appropriate leadership.
Within six weeks the participants completed training courses and practical tasks regarding:
- defining effective goals together (SMART-Model, performance feedback)
- ergonomic work design (physical stress, work environment conditions)
- active listening (linguistic and non-linguistic techniques)
- giving feedback (techniques and rules)
- handling diversity and prejudice
- Appreciation in the team (effect model, recognizing communication that lacks of appreciation in the team and measures to increase appreciation)
- age(ing)-appropriate leadership (leadership concept, analysis and measures for leaders)
Prior to, during and after the online training participants took part in a survey of the research project and received a Certificate of participation as well as individual feedback about their performance as leaders. The effectiveness of the training was scientifically confirmed.
© Dipl.-Psych. Robert Winkler
Scientific staff
NameMr Robert Winkler Dipl.-Psych.
Project PENELOPE
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