New Leadership bewährt sich nicht im Konferenzraum, sondern dort, wo täglich Tausende Sendungen bewegt werden. Im HUB Löhne des Hermes Einrichtungs Service (HES) bedeutet das: Eigenverantwortung statt Kontrolle, mutige Entscheidungen statt Absicherungskultur und ein Arbeitsklima, in dem Engagement das Ergebnis gezielter Führung ist. Hakan Sanal, Supervisor im Outbound und Facility Management, ist seit August 2013 beim HES. Im Gespräch erläutert er, wie sich sein Führungsverständnis im Alltag ausprägt und warum eine gesunkene Krankenquote mehr über Führungsqualität aussagt als jedes Organigramm.
What exactly does your leadership style look like, and how does it differ from traditional leadership structures?
Hakan Sanal:My leadership style is strongly based on trust. I encourage my team to make bold decisions and take responsibility. Unlike traditional structures, where everything has to go through me, I rely on my team members to act independently. I see my role as giving them the freedom and resources they need to take ownership and develop innovative solutions.
This approach is closely aligned with what HES has established under the concept of New Leadership since 2023: leadership should create an environment that enables people to succeed rather than acting as a means of control. Truly delegating responsibility creates space for skills and expertise that might otherwise remain untapped. This mindset is a competitive advantage, particularly in the operational environment of our logistics hub in Löhne, where quick decisions need to be made every day.
How does this approach translate into day-to-day work?
Hakan Sanal: In our day-to-day work, this is reflected in greater personal responsibility and increased employee engagement. One clear indication of this is the decline in absenteeism. This shows that our colleagues are more motivated, enjoy their work and identify with their responsibilities.
Absenteeism can be a particularly insightful indicator of leadership. You can see it in everyday working life: employees who feel empowered are more likely to show up. Those who feel they are simply there to fulfil a function may be more likely to stay at home. At the Löhne HUB, the development of absenteeism is therefore not a coincidence, but also a reflection of the leadership culture and employee satisfaction.
If you had to describe your leadership model in three words, what would they be?
Hakan Sanal: Motivating. Inspiring. Empowering.
How do the team and the company benefit from this type of leadership?
Hakan Sanal: Both our team and the company benefit equally from this leadership style. By placing trust in our employees and encouraging personal responsibility, we not only achieve our goals, but even exceed them. In practice, this approach has significantly improved the working atmosphere and reduced stress levels among individual team members. This leads to greater motivation and creativity within the team, which in turn has a positive impact on our results.
What challenges come with this leadership approach?
Hakan Sanal: I offer my team members support and coaching to help them develop their skills and overcome challenges. I foster a culture in which mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn and in which my team members feel confident taking risks. Both ideas sound straightforward, but putting them into practice can be challenging. A genuine learning culture must be consistently demonstrated by leaders. If, for example, a decision made within the team does not go as planned, the conversation afterwards should not turn into assigning blame. Instead, it should focus on developing a shared understanding of what happened. Coaching, in turn, requires leaders to make time for their team, even when time is limited in day-to-day operations.
HES addresses these challenges at a structural level, for example through its Leadership Learning Network, where supervisors and leaders from different areas learn from one another and reflect on real-life situations from their day-to-day work.
What role does personal responsibility play in your team?
Hakan Sanal: It is the foundation of my leadership approach. I see my most important responsibility as empowering everyone on the team to take ownership of their tasks and decisions. Everyone has the opportunity to actively shape and improve processes and workflows. I support this by regularly seeking feedback and encouraging open discussions.
Participation is not just a nice-to-have, but something that has a tangible impact on day-to-day operations. My team members work with these processes every day and identify opportunities for improvement more quickly than any external perspective could. After all, influence and initiative emerge where the expertise lies, regardless of position or level of hierarchy.
How do you measure the success of your leadership style?
Hakan Sanal: Primarily by the KPIs we achieve. If we do not meet our KPIs, we work together as a team to identify the underlying causes and find ways to turn the situation around. In this way, KPIs become a management tool for us and a core principle of New Leadership at HES.
How is leadership evolving in your area?
Hakan Sanal: In our area, leadership will continue to evolve towards greater agility and individual responsibility. New Leadership is a continuous development process, not a programme with a defined end point. For the Löhne hub, this specifically means greater decentralised decision-making authority, faster responses to operational changes, and a team that continues to act on its own initiative rather than waiting for instructions.
New Leadership Series at HES
This article is part of our series on leadership styles at HES. Read our other profiles and articles on New Leadership here:
