In an era where technology shapes our world, IT leadership demands more than just technical expertise. Siemens AG CIO Hanna Hennig’s unique leadership style, where resilience meets strategic sustainability, has transformed IT into a powerful force for positive change. In this exclusive interview, discover how Hennig fostered a balanced and creative work environment at Siemens and drove well-being initiatives. Additionally, she shares insights on work-life integration, female leadership in IT, and the importance of embracing change in a rapidly developing technological world.

How do you secure the social sustainability of your workforce aka the well-being of your team in their professional and personal lives?

I really like the term ‘social sustainability’, but we use the term resilience. Now that we’re coming back to the office, people are still keen to stay at home in some cases, which is good because it also gives work-life integration opportunities, particularly if you are looking after children.

In our world, many people attend back-to-back meetings where they don’t think about taking breaks. We are taking care of this by providing advice, not only via our leaders but also via training, where people can learn how to be resilient in any situation and take care of themselves, not just be stuck at work and in meetings every day.

In addition, what we did as a role model within Siemens in IT introduced something we call Focus Fridays. It was not a top-down initiative but something people wanted. Every Friday, we set a calendar blocker so our team members can use the day to think about new strategies or catch up on emails without the disruption of meetings. That was very helpful to get people to relax a bit.

You mentioned people returning to the office. How does it reflect your personal view of work-life balance?

I’m not a big fan of the term work-life balance, because I don’t think it exists anymore. I would rather use work-life integration because it’s a better reflection of reality. For example, when working remotely, your baby may be crying, or your child may come and sit on your lap. You had to accept these things. And I must say, that also relaxed the stress of work-life balancing. It’s more of a work-life integration and understanding that there is life beyond work.

Another thing that is more accepted is people working from home. In Siemens, we actually introduced that three days a week, an employee can define where they work from. We trust our people to decide where they work best, and this has to be agreed with their managers. But in principle, people are open to work wherever they like. This obviously gives a lot of freedom and takes away the stress of commuting. The time saved is a big treasure for us in the working world.

How do you personally practice work-life integration?

My assistant helps me time block and I also try to adhere as much as possible to Focus Fridays which I use for training, catching up, and interacting with others. It’s my free time when I’m more relaxed because if I’m in back-to-back meetings, there’s not much creativity. Whilst I really appreciate having meeting agendas, I also appreciate the time when I can call my colleagues to exchange ideas without having a strict agenda.

What makes you tick as a leader in IT and making people’s lives better?

It’s about getting the best out of my team and using their potential to come up with great ideas to drive business outcomes.

This is something I always stress when I join a new company, I’m listening to my team, understanding where they stand and what they are driving towards, to ensure that we are jointly working towards the right outcomes. This will help the company be sustainable and provide the right products for our customers. It’s about ensuring that we leverage the potential of technologies together with people’s brightest ideas. It gives me energy when I see people use their talents to come up with great ideas.

For example, my team recently came up with a secure environment for a ChatGPT playground where the whole of Siemens could use company data to try out and discover the potential of generative AI. With this secure environment, people could see what was possible and have the potential to amplify the creativity of 300,000 people, which I think is great. I see people enjoying this process and figuring out how to apply ideas to their own environments, from marketing to software development. This is beautiful, and I think will give us a lot of productivity which will enrich our daily work and the lives of our customers.

In the era of transformation with rapid development, how do you make sure the right talent is in the right place?

Our CHRO and Sustainability Officer made employability a reality at Siemens when she joined a few years ago. What we mean by employability is that our people are not bothered by change but embrace change knowing that there will be opportunities without fear of losing their jobs. Yes, I acknowledge that technologies like AI are frightening to many people and there will also be changes in the workforce.

However, in IT, during the early days of the cloud, some colleagues who worked in data centers felt the change and feared losing their jobs. It’s our responsibility as leaders to recognize these trends early enough and offer training and a vast number of learning paths depending on what you want to work towards. Another thing is to create opportunities for people to learn on the job. For example, in the early days, I set up cloud service teams where I combined experienced colleagues from on-prem data centers with young colleagues who embraced new cloud technology. By combining them, it created a diverse team and opportunities for both sides to learn from each other. By doing so, they became role models to show it’s possible to learn new things and teach others regardless of how long you’ve been at your job.

How do you personally cope with change?

I put aside time to understand what the latest technologies are. I also have a network of colleagues to do best practice exchanges. Not only for me, but I also encourage my people to have an outside perspective regardless of how great we are. We always believe we are great, and we love technology, but you need to understand how others deal with these approaches. For example, I would ask my team to find me another unit or company that has the same issue and then tell me how they dealt with that.

You should never be complacent and accept the status quo.

Am I happy with how things are or is there anything else I can do to improve the situation? That’s how I challenge myself and I do that not to stress myself out but to ensure that there’s always something new I can learn or embrace. That’s the difference between a leader and a manager. Basically, managers usually look at things and preserve the status quo. Very often, a leader is a person who looks forward, recognizes trends, and ensures the team is on board.

How do you see your position as a female leader in the IT domain?

There are not many female leaders in the IT space and I’m working with my team to change that by promoting female leaders. It can happen with male leaders as well to give opportunities to female colleagues to grow and demonstrate their value. Women work differently than men, and there is no good or bad or right or wrong here. I think you just need to find your style. If you’re authentic, you will excel as a leader.

My personal observation is that in a team setup or meetings, women care about integrating everyone’s opinion. If someone is introverted, they will create a safe space for the person to express themselves. On the other hand, I have both female and male colleagues who want to be efficient during meetings and have a proper agenda and outcome.

In terms of communication, I feel women tend to share more. In a recent session with my leadership team, one of the women brought up the need to talk about emotions. Men are usually not as prepared as women in that sense. They will participate in the discussion but not express their emotions explicitly. This is exactly why we need diverse teams. This includes different nationalities and cultures too. We need to recognize the differences between cultures and appreciate that.

We need to listen to each other and build on each other’s ideas instead of explaining to each other how things work.

What’s the biggest lesson you have learned and want to share?

I think the biggest lesson and advice I’ve been given is not to take yourself too seriously. For example, you are determined and want to achieve something, but something gets in your way, and you fail. Even if you miserably fail at something, the most important thing to ask yourself is, “Is there something I can learn this? Can I apply this lesson to the next situation?” Maybe I’ve not considered something that I somehow missed. Have I also taken all the dimensions into account? Do I need to ask advice from somebody who I’ve not listened to?

*The interview answers have been edited for length and clarity.