Günter Carpus

I recently met with Günter Carpus. He is the founder, owner and Chief Executive of Carpus+Partner AG. I spoke with him about company culture and cooperative leadership.

Carpus+Partner have received multiple accolades, including the award “Great Place to Work“: Germany’s best employer. With more than 200 employees, his company plans and executes buildings, for instance for the high-tech and pharmaceutical industries.

An impressive company culture has developed at Carpus+Partner over the course of the last 25 years. What prompts Günter Carpus to bet so decisively on cooperation? To answer this question, we must first understand his business.

Carpus+Partner designs and constructs buildings for life-science and high-tech companies. Each project is different from the next. What is special about this is that Carpus+Partner’s designs inspire people to collaborate in these buildings. How does this work?

Understanding the client’s corporate culture

After the project kick-off, the Carpus+Partner project team’s first order of business is to understand what makes the client’s company tick. What is the corporate culture? How do the client’s employees interact with each other?

Equipped with this knowledge, Carpus+Partner develops a building that is customized to the client. The key is that suitable shapes and structures of the building promote the direct contact between the client’s employees. The various participants are therefore able to increasingly engage in discussions. This creates innovative ideas and new knowledge. Carpus+Partner therefore creates buildings that support team structures and multiply knowledge.

Creative and independent employees

Such buildings are innovative and unique. A plethora of ideas, creativity and empathy are needed to develop these. But that is not enough. Creative plans and ideas must not only be developed, but must also be executed. The projects are exceedingly complex. Consequently, Carpus+Partner places major emphasis on teamwork and independently operating employees that willingly accept responsibility.

Principle of cooperation

Carpus+Partner is therefore rigorously guided by the principles of cooperation when managing its employees. Günter Carpus is convinced that creativity and innovation can flourish best when the company grants its employees a maximum amount of freedom. Each employee creates his/her own working environment, but must ensure that they can easily collaborate with, and support others. All employees meet as peers. The project teams operate as small enterprises within the company. That is not easy. Many employees must learn to organize themselves, and to collaborate responsibly in constantly changing teams. For this reason, Carpus+Partner invests nearly 10% of its personnel budget into personalized employee development efforts.

The people success factor

Carpus+Partner‘s success is rooted in the collaboration of teams, and the focus on people’s abilities. But Günter Carpus also emphasizes that the cooperative leadership culture is not a good fit for everyone. This does not only result in difficulties for authoritarian personalities. The employees in his cooperative company are required to work in a highly independent manner, and must be able to tackle complex issues. Not everyone is up to such expectations.

Objectives and mission

I also asked Günter Carpus about the company objectives. He is not one to derive the future of the company from its past. Here as well, Günter Carpus sets himself apart from many others. The question challenging him is how the company addresses its values. Günter Carpus:

“Many influences on our future business cannot be controlled or foreseen. Therefore, the truly important work that I and my company can do is to develop the employees. The underlying objective is to survive with your own values!”

This attitude is also reflected in Carpus+Partner mission statement. It is a saying by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

“The future belongs to those who give the following generation a reason to hope!”

More detailed information about this fascinating company can be found at:

www.carpus.de