Structure of the Leadership Forum

The Future Congress on State & Administration is a space that brings together leaders from central government, the states, local authorities and public enterprises on an equal footing, in a confidential setting and with the utmost discretion (Chatham House Rule) to engage in intensive dialogue. Participants can speak openly about successes and failures in the planning and implementation of change processes and projects and, drawing on the experiences of other participants, solutions for upcoming tasks or problems to be resolved in the future.

The Leadership Forum focuses on direct and confidential communication, as well as collaborative work and exchange. Specifically:

• Targeted and interactive selection of topics: Relevant topics and propositions are identified in advance, to be debated and expanded upon at the start of the forum. New topic suggestions can be developed on the spot.
• A total of 12 “round tables”, with four running in parallel at any one time, each focusing on one of the following areas of action:
  • Strategy and implementation
  • The working world of tomorrow
  • Understanding technology better
  • Implementation and law.
• The topics will be explored in a practical manner in smaller groups of up to 10 participants. At the start of each debate, the discussion is guided by two ‘representatives’ who adopt the specific perspective of a particular stakeholder. Their contributions serve to identify any prevailing blind spots and to facilitate the exchange of different perspectives.
• Peer coaching: Experts provide a focused framework for the exchange of advice and lessons learnt.
• Reality rather than glossy imagery: The discussion and analysis of wrong decisions and unsuccessful projects requires the absence of the press, social media and the commercial interests of the participating experts from the fields of consultancy and academia.
• No buzzwords: What does digitalisation mean in each specific case? We focus on simple, open and clear language.
• Awareness and self-confidence: Culture, organisation, leadership and digitalisation are intertwined, multifaceted and constantly evolving – we do not view leadership as a task that can be completed once and for all, but as a journey of continuous learning.