Leadership under Uncertainty
TAKTgefĂĽhl
Content & Target Group
The one-day workshop “TAKTgefühl – Leadership under Uncertainty” is designed for researchers who have gained initial leadership experience and are increasingly taking responsibility for staff and research teams. The workshop is tailored to the interdisciplinary, collaborative and high-performing research environment of POLiS, where researchers from diverse disciplines work together on post-lithium energy storage.
This workshop mainly targets early-career researchers with supervisory experience, in particular:
- (Junior) Professors interested in further developing their leadership skills (subject to availability)
- Postdoctoral researchers and group leaders preparing for an independent academic career
- Doctoral researchers (second year onwards) who have gained first supervisory experience and would like to further develop their leadership skills
What happens to your leadership when expertise is no longer enough?
As experienced researchers, you are used to operating in an environment where expertise matters. You lead highly qualified people, navigate complexity and make decisions without always having complete information.
TAKTgefĂĽhl temporarily takes away one familiar source of confidence: your expertise.
Instead, you step in front of a live musical ensemble – an orchestra. An orchestra is a fascinating leadership environment: a group of highly trained expert musicians, strong individual capabilities, high interdependence — and an immediate response to the person taking the lead.
During this one-day workshop, we will explore questions such as:
- How do you create direction when you are not the expert?
- How much leadership does a high-performance team need — and how much autonomy?
- What makes people willing to follow?
- How do different leadership styles affect the same group?
- What happens when intention and impact are not the same?
You will learn enough about conducting to experiment with these questions yourself — first in preparation, and later in front of a live orchestra.
The orchestra provides something leadership situations rarely offer: an immediate response. You act, the system reacts, and you can observe what changes when you change your own behaviour.
The experience is followed by guided reflection and transfer into your own leadership context.
No musical background is required.
Curiosity helps.
Registration
Due to limited space, please register here before 6 December 2026.
Number of participants: 16.
The workshop is exclusively open to POLiS members and affiliates and is free of charge for participants. Travel costs can be reimbursed via the EES Academy. Applications from external participants cannot be considered.
Selection Criteria
If applications exceed the available places, selection will be based on the following criteria:
- Motivation to take on leadership responsibilities, such as supervising doctoral researchers, leading a research group or pursuing an independent academic career.
- Existing supervisory experience (particularly relevant for doctoral researchers).
- (Junior) Professors may be considered for any remaining places.
Agenda
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Welcome, Check-in & Introduction |
| 10:30 – 12:00 | Leadership & High-Performance Teams: conducting styles, leadership research & orchestra as a model for expert teams |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Joint Lunch |
| 13:00 – 14:45 | Leadership Lab: presence, breathing, body awareness, leading & following, conducting basics, work with piano |
| 14:45 – 15:00 | Coffee Break |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Preparation of orchestra repertoire & individual conducting |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Break / Orchestra Setup |
| 16:00 – 19:00 | Conducting the Live Orchestra: individual conducting, feedback from conductor & musicians, reflection and immediate second attempt |
| 19:00 – 20.00 | Finger Food & Closing Reflection: transfer into personal leadership practice |
