Today's Guest: Christine Pfisterer
What drives our employees? Where do they come from, what is their motivation and what is life at objective partner actually like? Questions upon questions, that will be answered in our series #EmployeeVoices. My name is Rebecca Jankowski. I started as Content Manager on May '22 - and let's face it - I’m responsible for literally everything around communication. That's why it's especially important to me to capture our employee’s voices and tell the world out there what makes us tick as a company.
What is your educational and professional background?
After completing my bachelor's degree in tourism management in Northern Germany, I finished my MBA in 2018, parallel to my work for Lufthansa Cityline. I then switched to Lufthansa Group Airlines, where I worked on a project that jointly introduced a new flight operations control tool to seven airlines.
Flight Operations Control Tool...What exactly is that?
The Flight Operations department takes care of the control of all aircraft, i.e. when which aircraft flies to which destination, needs maintenance, etc. The tool can be imagined as a huge Gantt chart that must know all regulations & restrictions. Irregularities are primarily "visually" noticeable, UI / UX played a major role. In the past, each airline had its own tool. Through the project, everyone received a common system, which was then also the basis for AI. And that’s when I realized my passion for digitization projects.
Okay. So that’s when you had the idea to take a different direction?
Yes, exactly. I wanted to move to a smaller company where I could be more than a consultant. At some point I came across objective partner and noticed that my wishes and expectations were in good hands here. I decided to join objective partner in no time, which kind of frightened me at first!
What do you think is unique about objective partner?
Our holocratic organization. There are no fixed structures and every employee has the opportunity to get involved and help shape the company. In addition, or perhaps because of this, we have an incredibly open culture. My colleagues support me with words and actions and are also open to critical questions or other points of view. I think that we can only get better if we actually have these open discussions.
You are involved in many customer projects. What does your everyday life look like? And what is your favorite project?
Very varied. I have an external customer as well as an internal project that receives funding. That’s where I spend most of my time for. However, I also take care of the OKRs in the company with two colleagues. OKRs stands for Objectives & Key Results. They are like a guiding system for companies. Put simply, they help the entire company to identify the right direction for the next three months, either bottom-up or top-down. Since we are still in the learning phase, there is always something to do and improve.
I also regularly represent us at trade fairs and congresses on topics like asset-as-a-service. This is also my favorite project.
Okay, and what’s your motivation here?
I am absolutely convinced that asset-as-a-service will be a relevant business area for many companies. We are working on the basic functionalities of administration shells. It is often incredibly complex, but that's exactly what makes it so exciting. For example, I am involved in the research project BaSys4Transfer. It is about simplifying the use and implementation of Industry 4.0 for companies. It builds on the results of previous research projects in which we have already been involved.
And as far as the OKR topic is concerned: We can really create something here! In our workshops, we build the foundation for the following quarter. We can evolve as a company and playing an active part in our journey motivates me tremendously. Just like our collegial environment. We work together, we want to move forward and solve problems. There is no politics and games here, which makes working incredibly pleasant (and above all saves an enormous amount of time).
Time - a good keyword. What was your personal highlight and lowlight 2022?
(She thought for a moment...) Wow, I had a lot of highlights. Above all, always the personal meetings with colleagues, whether it was the private ski trip with the Munich colleagues, or trade fairs, congresses and the summer party or the Christmas party in Weinheim. At all these events, the personal ties have probably grown the most, which also make everyday work much easier. I can't think of real lowlights, of course there are topics that take longer in the processing or until the commission, but that's part of it.
Keyword challenges. Which ones did you have and how could you solve them?
I always find it challenging in my role to work with a commissioned budget, especially when the scope is not set in stone at the start of the project. Here there can be a situation where the project budget is used up, but the customer may not yet be 100% happy. I try to prevent this somewhat by consistently creating transparency and maintaining an open exchange. This allows us to weigh up what is still possible at an early stage and the customer can decide between must-haves and nice-to-haves.
Understood. What are your best practices for attracting new customers and how do you keep them for the long term?
Honestly: I am still learning from our experts, for example Pit Wunderlich. In general, a first workshop helps to go deeper and weigh up possibilities and added value. I always find it best to communicate openly about what we can and cannot do. I live in Munich and here you would probably say: don't take everything to seriously. Fun is also part of work. Even if we act as a service provider, we can create a pleasant working atmosphere with customers and laugh together.
I think that's a great attitude. What do you think we can do better as a company in the new year?
I think we can question ourselves more strongly whether projects, deadlines, etc. are set up efficiently and thus really bring the desired added value. What we do very well with the customer, we could and should make greater use internally.
Since you’re involved in a lot of projects: How do you manage to stay balanced?
Being outside! My free time rarely takes place indoors, I do my sport outdoors all year round. On weekends, we also like to go to the mountains for hikes, climbing, ski tours, etc. Because not everything is always action-oriented, I meditate daily. And when it comes to the holidays, you rarely find me in Germany.
Finally, a slightly different question. If you had 3 wishes: What would you wish for?
That's easy: Health, contentment, and that my favorite icecream store no longer takes a winter break!
Thank you Christine for your openness and the sympathetic interview!
Stay tuned for our upcoming employee story. After all, they build the foundation of objective partner.
