Head of Supply Chain, Online Business, Germany

Please introduce yourself. Who are you and what is your job/career?

Hi, my name is Dorothée. I’m from Germany, I‘m 33 years old and mother of a one and a half year old daughter. I work in Operations with focus on project management in an international family owned German business.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

Actually I never had any job in mind. I just always knew that I wanted to travel a lot, work with people, work with purpose and enjoy what I am doing.

What was your first job?

I started as an intern in Material Management and got hired afterwards. The job title was Supply Chain Planner but it included all kinds of production planning, bottleneck management, distribution, logistics and purchasing topics.

Can you describe your profession to those who might have never heard of it before? 

In short: I try to optimize the processes along the value chain from providing components for the production of a product up to getting it to its final sales location.

What was your process for choosing your career path? Was it a long journey or an easy one?

It’s a rather unconventional path. I started the internship in the company because I just had moved to this city (following my boyfriend) and missed out the application deadline for the master at university. I needed a job anyways and I really liked the philosophy of that family owned, locally producing company with focus on sustainability, so I simply applied for an open spot that seemed not too far away from what I had learned in by Bachelor Study of International Management. Apparently I wasn’t too bad in what I was doing so I was hired. I really liked the team and I enjoyed the learning process with different project throughout the department and to be able to apply the knowledge from university.

Anyhow, as soon as work became routine and I became an expert of my field I got bored and asked for new challenges. My main drive and ambition was to learn new things.

Thereby I was able to sneak into a lot of projects and got to know different fields of material management. Still, after nearly two years of working there, I felt that I needed new challenges and started my master in MBA international business management as a double master with M2 strategical marketing in France. I mainly chose that master as I wanted to go abroad again  I also chose majors in fields that were new to me just to learn something different to what I had been working in. I was looking for intellectual challenges and international adventure. However, I remained with the company in part time (mobile office) and returned full time after my two-year’s study. I was grateful for the opportunity to stay and I loved the team but very soon –again - I was missing the challenge and a more international context.

I was very lucky to have had the best COO I could imagine and he made it possible for me to become project manager of a unique social business project to setup a recycling factory from green field in India. As soon as I heard of that project I knew that I wanted to do it and that it would be a project of heart for me. I was aware of the challenges, hurdles and issues to come (so I thought but of course it was much bigger and deeper than imagined) but I was ready to fight and give everything for the cause as I personally loved the idea of that social project. It was a wonderful, painful and educative time of nearly two years, including remote work during COVID lockdowns.

As soon as I started the project – or maybe even at the point of application – I knew that this was something I really wanted to do! The project in short: the plastics collected from waste pickers is washed and recycled into plastic pellets which are used to produce garbage bags. Hereby it is taken care that plastic is collected under fair conditions such as that the waste pickers (off age) are paid a fare rate and are provided PPE etc. As a social business all the profit generated is invested into social projects (education, healthcare, etc.) for the waste pickers.

As the production facility was setup my job was done and I was offered a new opportunity to be part of the founding team of a corporate startup to setup an online shop for sustainable household products. Again: new challenges for me as I had never worked in the digital context and had to setup the whole software chain. Plus as it was only three of us, we all had to become product managers and therefore search for innovative products. Basically we became unicorns ;)

I then got pregnant and took off 15months to spend time with my family (1-2 years parental leave are very common in Germany) and just recently started working again in part time. Due to some developments and new circumstances I got offered the great opportunity to become project manager in a major IT project in our company. Again: new challenge.

Can you walk us through your typical day of work? 

There is no real routine and that is what I love most. Still, I work a lot with project plans, check the different milestones, talk to the people involved in the project to get updated and create nice power point slides for steering committees to get everyone equally updated and discuss the project process.

What do you love most about your job? 

I love (most) people I work with. And that is something of major importance to me. I spend so much time with them that I would not want to be with people I can’t stand.

Further I still need the challenge for myself to feel that I am still learning and enhancing my horizon. And finally I really appreciate the flexibility in my job to be able to combine it with my private live.

What questions should someone really ask themselves if they want to get into your profession? 

Do I like to organize a project? Am I good at scheduling my work? Do I like change? Am I flexible to change my plans last minute? Do I feel able to delegate people? Do I have the empathy to read between the lines? Am I ready to work more than 8 to 5?

What did you study? How much schooling do you think is required to get into your role? What could you have skipped?

I studied B.Sc. International Management with Latin American development and then the two masters MBA International Business Management and M2 Strategical Marketing.

They are not necessarily related to what I am doing right now but I learned to organize myself. I learned how to work analytically, how to work with other nationalities (cultural intelligence) and organize international groups. But I also learned a lot during the process: How to use different tools, what questions to ask, what information to provide to whom etc.

Did you have any mentors that helped you along the way? 

My COO is the best boss I could imagine. He is very open-minded and shows a lot of empathy and trust in his employees. He knows how to challenge but not to overburden you and he will always have your back in times of crisis and help you take wise decisions.

Further our CFO with whom I was working in the Indian project showed a lot of patience explaining the financial and legal issues to me. Though I was a complete newbie and he was not obliged to do so, he always took time to help me and explain everything as many times as I needed to understand it. I always felt save to ask the dumbest questions and I learned more from him than I could have imagined as he is an expert on so many fields.

What was the biggest piece of advice that helped you get to where you are? 

Ask! If you don’t ask, you have a “no” already. If you ask, there is still a chance.

What do you think it takes to thrive in this role? What is the most and least rewarding part of your job?

As a project manager you also have listen actively and always be aware of the sender- receiver-problem. What you hear (and interpret) might not be what the other is saying /meaning [See communication Watzlawik or/and Schulz von Thun]. Hence communication - especially on a meta-level - Is key to get everyone on the table to talk about the same things.

Further I love what I am doing and I personally feel that passion is key to be happy and successful. Of course I do not like all tasks or m happy about all issues but I force myself to see the good in everything, e.g. that I learned what I dislike or how to avoid such a situation in the future. And if there are too many things on the negative list I tell myself to change something to get back to the positive state.

How is the flexibility? Work life balance? 

I was working a lot especially because I was commuting to India. But as I loved what I was doing I was happy to be there, explore the country, eat the food, etc. Since COVID we are allowed a mobile office which helps a lot to integrate private matters.

For example if the weather is nice and there are no meetings I can take a longer lunch break and take a nice walk, go for a swim and then finish work later which helps heaps for my mental health to just absorb some sunlight and then be fresh again for the second part of the day.

What tools/resources do you frequently use? Any tools you recommend?

I love mindmaps to gather all thoughts and get the connection between the different streams in a project into a visual work. I also print it out on large paper or draw it on a whiteboard as I feel to understand it better than only having it on the computer screen.

Further I use a project planner where I maintain milestones, issue logs, human resource planning etc. there are so many tasks in a project that else I would love sight. Plus I also like the option to have a visual gantt chart of the project process for a broad understanding of the timeline and to mark critical points.

In our company we use team, signavio and excel a lot.

What would you say to someone who is looking to figure out what they want to do?

Try it. Just start with something and see if you like it. Stop dreaming about what could be and what you should have. But be here right now. DO the work. And then analyze what you are doing and see what you do like about it and what you don’t want in your job. And from there on: keep looking and trying. Sometimes it also changes over time. Be honest with yourself. What is most important for you? Where do you get that? What compromises are you okay with? How do you feel about that?

What is something you do when things get difficult? How do you handle stress/challenges?

I personally need sports for my equilibrium. I need time for myself. Go out in nature, go for a run, do yoga. If I am stressed it helps me to start writing down own my worries. I just take a pencil and start writing what comes to my mind. And after putting it on paper it normally doesn’t seem so big anymore. It also helps to talk to my partner/friends and get their point of view on stressful events. They often help me to get out of my tunnel and help me to get solution oriented again.

Plus I also need a lot of chocolate ;)

What are your future ambitions? What’s next for you?

The upcoming IT project and then further projects in operations I guess. As I have no straight career path, I will continue to walk with open eyes and let life surprise me 

Any last bit of advice you’d like to share?

Travel! It is such a gain to meet people from other cultures and thereby reflect your own values, habits and mind set. And try to be with yourself only for some time – that can be the hardest task of all.

If people have further questions how can they find you/contact you?

Linkedin. Although I tend to answer late (sorry in advance)