The focus of talent management has shifted towards fostering environments where employees can thrive and contribute effectively. Organizations today face various challenges, including adapting to economic fluctuations and ensuring alignment with strategic goals. The emphasis has moved towards creating resilient and agile workforces capable of handling the complexities of a volatile world. It includes implementing innovative practices to create the most value during an employee lifetime for both sides, company and employee.
Guiding this transformation, Matthias Schmeisser, Global Senior Director of Talent, is an expert renowned for his impactful approach to leadership. He focuses on psychological safety, transparency, and trust—crucial in building strong, high-performing teams. Known for his servant and transformational leadership style, he emphasizes creating a vision that inspires change and guiding his team through influence rather than authority. His leadership is identified by a commitment to consistent communication and a deep understanding of the need to craft compelling narratives to drive strategic decisions.
emnify is a leader in leveraging technology and innovative practices to enhance talent management. At emnify, the focus is on developing a skill-led organization that addresses both immediate needs and long-term growth. By integrating innovative technology and emphasizing the importance of strategic alignment, emnify is committed to building a workforce that can adapt and excel in a rapidly changing environment.
Let’s explore how a forward-thinking leader is reshaping talent management with transformative insights and strategies!
Journey in Talent Management and People Practices
Matthias’ journey into talent management began with his first work experience, paired with an excitement for interviewing experienced leaders. He shares, “I was inspired by the ability to truly understand the skills and approaches of individuals who could drive a company’s success—getting the right people with the right skills into the right roles.” “This initial excitement ignited a desire to learn more about people’s practices,” he added.
Later, he joined a master’s program in human resource management at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, where he engaged in modern people practices with a strong focus on learning and development, labor law, and business administration. This robust educational foundation equipped him perfectly to launch his career in recruitment.
Matthias believes, “Success in talent management is not just about the numbers—it’s about leading with psychological safety, fostering diversity of thought, and building high performing teams.”
Building a Resilient and Agile Workforce
At emnify, Matthias’ talent management philosophy is deeply aligned with its business strategy. In today’s VUCA world—marked by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity—it’s essential to build a resilient and agile workforce capable of thriving amidst constant change. The challenges posed by the pandemic, inflation, geopolitical tensions, and economic uncertainty have made it increasingly difficult for companies to succeed. emnify has embraced the concept of becoming a skill-led organization, focusing on critical skills that need to either buy, build, or borrow to ensure the company’s continued success.
Fostering Trust, Openness, and Visionary Influence
Matthias leverages servant and transformational leadership, grounded in the values of transparency, openness, and trust. He believes that psychological safety is the foundation of every high-performing team. Matthias emphasized, “As a leader, it’s essential to establish trust to create a psychologically safe environment where individuals feel comfortable expressing themselves.” Once that foundation is set, Matthias practices openness and transparency to encourage open dialogue and authentic communication.
The transformational side of his leadership is about creating a vision that inspires change and guiding the team through influence rather than authority. Giving an example, he shares, when emnify introduced the concept of skills-based hiring (SBH), there was a lot of enthusiasm but also challenges in execution. He helped the team tackle those challenges by fostering discussions around potential obstacles and continuously communicating the vision—often needing to repeat it multiple times to ensure it resonated. This approach of influence and consistent communication helped Matthias bring that vision to life.
Driving Innovation in Talent Acquisition
Matthias shares, “Appropriate implementation of technology provides more accurate data, allowing me to quickly iterate on my practices, learn from failures, and ultimately succeed in hiring top talent while creating meaningful, long-lasting candidate experiences.”
Technology offers insight, which allows professionals to craft a compelling narrative around their approach. Matthias asserts, “Crafting a compelling narrative is important when communicating the ‘why’ behind our strategies to executives, helping to influence decision-making and secure buy-in.”
Learning to choose the right technology has exposed Matthias to innovative practices that enhance the hiring process. Matthias leverages technology at emnify thoughtfully to create a more human-centered and impactful hiring experience along with an efficient process.
Ensuring Strategic Vision and Team Alignment
Matthias shares, “Effectively communicating your strategic vision requires overcommunication. If you ever find yourself doubting whether you’ve communicated enough, it’s a sign that you need to share even more.” Matthias learned the Rule of 7 from brand marketing, which suggests that a potential customer must encounter a message at least seven times before deciding. The same principle applies to leadership communication—consistent and repeated communication ensures that the vision truly resonates with the team.
Matthias has learned throughout his career to never assume that everyone has the same understanding of the company’s goals and strategies as he did. However, this assumption wasn’t always true, and it taught him the importance of regularly checking in with his team members to ensure alignment.
He believes, “Creating a psychologically safe environment allows you to openly question yourself in front of the team.” This level of openness encourages the team to share their perspectives and ensures that emnify can adjust its approach promptly. “At emnify, I learned to maintain alignment and flexibility to keep the team high-performing and focused on achieving success,” Matthias quoted.
Measuring Talent Initiative Success
To measure the success and impact of its talent initiatives, emnify began with tracking transactional KPIs like time-to-hire, number of hires, stage conversion rates, and the volume of applications. These metrics provide the company with valuable insights in the early stages. Now, emnify shifted its focus to more mature KPIs that generate sustainable value for the organization. Metrics like quality of hire, as well as the experiences we create of candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers, became key indicators of success in talent acquisition.
Vision for Talent Strategy and Cultural Empowerment
Matthias aims to ensure that emnify continues its successful journey as a leading global company to unlock the global potential of connectivity for organizations everywhere to drive groundbreaking IoT solutions. To achieve this, Matthias is committed to continuously raising the bar in its hiring practices, ensuring that emnify attracts, develops, and retains top talent.
He is committed to fostering a company culture where every individual thrives and is fully aligned with emnify’s strategic vision. This means creating an environment where people feel empowered, motivated, and driven to contribute to our shared success.
A Legacy Beyond Numbers in Talent Management
Matthias wants to establish a legacy where every person who joins emnify feels that they not only built a meaningful career but also grew into a better version of themselves through their journey with emnify. He desires that every hire walk away with skills, experiences, and insights that have a lasting impact on their professional and personal development.
“I aspire to inspire other leaders in the talent management field to embrace a new way of thinking—one where success is not just measured by numbers but by the strength of the teams we build and the companies we help grow,” Matthias quoted. His vision is to contribute to a shift in talent management that focuses on creating thriving workplaces that empower individuals to reach their full potential and drive sustainable success for companies.
