Between tradition and change: organizational development at DRV Bund

Dr. Schlegelberger, you lead strategic corporate development at Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund. How did you come into this field?

I don’t actually have a traditional public administration background. My training is in cultural anthropology, where I learned to analyze systems and cultures. I spent a long time in the private sector before focusing on strategic organizational development. My goal is to understand the organization and its structures, which shape people’s behavior. I also worked in HR for a while, where you often hear, “I want to do something with people.” That resonates with me as well – making an organization a good place to work – but from a cultural and systems perspective. This means understanding the framework within which people operate, which is the anchor point for organizational development: the structures and cultural conditions inherent to the organization ultimately shape human behavior.

Change has accompanied me throughout my career. Wherever I have worked, there has always been transformation. I have learned to see change as something positive and to actively shape it. But change is also demanding – just when you’ve adapted, the next change arrives. My guiding question is always: how can we ensure that people perceive change positively and aren’t overwhelmed by it?

At Deutsche Rentenversicherung, this is even more relevant because we have a statutory mandate for social security in Germany and stand as an institution of reliability and stability. Contributing to this, particularly by supporting change processes, is something I find very rewarding.

You spent a long time in the private sector. What differences do you see in transformation between private companies and public institutions?

There are many clichés: that public administration is slow, while private companies are dynamic. I haven’t found this to be entirely true. The demands in the public sector are enormous, and transformation is unavoidable. Leadership plays a crucial role here, especially in highly hierarchical organizations like public administrations.

Public organizations are hierarchical, but decisions don’t always flow smoothly from the top down. Bringing employees along during change – to prevent resistance from arising in the first place – is essential.

Another difference is that public organizations often lack the clear economic orientation built into private-sector structures. This can mean less cost awareness and a weaker focus on cost-benefit considerations. Leaders therefore need to actively provide strategic direction: where should the organization go? What principles guide us? A strong shared purpose – such as contributing to social security – can serve as a unifying element. Acceptance of change as normal is growing, but it is not yet fully embedded everywhere.

The world of work is changing dramatically due to digitization and demographic shifts. How is DRV Bund responding?

We have introduced hybrid work models, and many teams work entirely digitally. The technical transition went well, but physical workspaces need to catch up to fully embed hybrid ways of working. We are designing co-working spaces to support new working methods. Challenges remain: as a KRITIS organization, we cannot use every digital tool freely – hurdles are often higher than in the private sector. Transformation also requires moving away from old structures and habits – moving beyond “we’ve always done it this way.” The greatest challenge is not just implementing new technologies, but bringing employees along, opening them to change, and preparing the organization to work with new technologies.

Administrative systems place a strong emphasis on quality. How can efficiency be increased nevertheless?

Quality is the foundation of a public authority – it ensures the reliability of state decisions and cannot simply be relaxed in favor of an experimental culture. Yet growing pressure to adapt requires rethinking: where is quality indispensable, and where can we act more pragmatically and quickly? Especially in times of digitization and automation, conscious decisions must be made in this tension. This deeply affects employees’ professional self-conception. Sometimes, I would like to experiment with a “greenfield approach,” starting from scratch to see how core processes can truly be designed. Of course, this isn’t feasible, but without targeted adjustments, administration remains sluggish – more flexibility and speed are needed in some areas.

The public sector is also under pressure to reform. Do you see parallels with DRV Bund?

At DRV Bund, the need to think more in terms of processes rather than just functional expertise is growing. Coordination across different responsibilities is time-consuming and often lengthy. Stronger networking, especially between IT and business departments, is essential but not automatic. A digital ministry could theoretically help strengthen a holistic view of administrative digitization. Real change requires integration of multiple perspectives. The challenge is balancing competing interests without ending up with only the lowest common denominator. More rigor and decisiveness would sometimes be necessary to truly enable change – but exactly how this can be achieved is still open.

If you could describe your vision – what would DRV Bund look like in the future?

I hope transformation becomes a collaborative process, understood as a normal state rather than an exception or a threat. If change becomes so natural that explaining why transformation is necessary is hardly needed, that would be a great success.

We need to think long-term: how will DRV Bund remain a relevant organization in 10 or 15 years? What services will customers need then, and how will old-age security evolve?