The Leadership Connect Days meeting at the Palatinate Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK Pfalz) in Pirmasens was the last event taking place at the hosting partner institutions and was at the same time an informative conclusion of the program. Jonas Klein, Regional Manager of the IHK Service Center in Pirmasens and Bruno Backes, Head of Vocational Training at AHK East Africa welcomed the participants of the program at the Center for Continuing Education in Pirmasens.

The IHK Pfalz has around 85,000 member companies, of which around 12,000 are served by the Pirmasens location. It supports its members in many areas, such as bureaucracy and legal issues, personnel matters, training and continuing education, and business development. In total, there are 79 chambers of commerce in Germany and 150 chambers of commerce abroad in 93 countries worldwide.

For the question of training young executives, the area of training and further education of the IHK Pirmasens was of particular interest, of course. On the one hand, the IHK supports trainees during their training period, and on the other hand, it supports companies that want to train young people in their business. It has a training room with equipment for various skilled trades that trainees can use for practice purposes, and even its own welding room.

During the meeting, the participants had a discussion about the dual system of vocational training, which in Germany takes place 70% in the company and 30% in school and is not offered in this form in the USA. It is a system that combines theory and practice to prepare young people for working life, which offers advantages for companies, trainees and the state.

However, the number of registered training contracts is at its lowest level since the 1990s. This is because hiring an apprentice is primarily associated with costs for companies. In particular, demographic change and the trend toward higher education are making it more difficult for training companies to find apprentices. According to IHK expert Bruno Backes, the investment in training is nevertheless worthwhile for companies, as it enables them to qualify and retain employees in the company. Vocational training teaches young people not only their technical skills, but also their social skills. This is important because school leavers are often not yet equipped for working life. At the IHK Pfalz, there are currently 2,421 training companies that train more than 11,000 apprentices.

This brings us back to the topic of shortage of skilled workers, which the managers of the Palatinate Chamber of Industry and Commerce also have to deal with. The desire to obtain skilled workers from abroad is there, but it is associated with hurdles: Recruiting skilled workers from outside the EU is bureaucratically difficult. Although a new law is currently being drafted to take third countries into account, which should facilitate the process of issuing work permits to potential skilled workers from third countries, further developments are still unclear.

In addition to the shortage of skilled workers, demographic change and the generational shift also play a role, as already mentioned: Young people's expectations of career and work have changed significantly compared to the past - they are striving for a better quality of life and a work-life balance. In addition, young people are taking much more time to choose a career path. The IHK Pfalz tries to start early with career guidance programs for students - a challenge when they still have no ideas for their future at all.

So against this background, how can young people be inspired to take on leadership positions? From the experience of the IHK Pfalz executives, it can certainly be said that the younger generation is less likely to want to take on management positions. It is therefore difficult to give a blanket answer to this question. One possible approach: jump in at the deep end. Keeping your eyes open for natural talents and encouraging them, making them aware of their abilities and thus giving them self-confidence.

We would like to thank the IHK Pfalz in Pirmasens for this interesting exchange.