New Job: New Work

Not everyone is made forstanding still. The All for One Group, and my colleague Sarah can pretty much confirm this fact. Sarah is not only a communications expert, but also a transformation expert in her own right and has recently dedicated herself to the topic of Microsoft 365 in the direction of the customer market. I was able to talk to her about what motivated her to make the internal change, how it happened and what is important in the consulting business around New Work and Modern Workplace.

Jochen: Hi Sarah!

Sarah: Hey Jochen!

Jochen: Please tell the readers briefly about yourself and your current position at the All for One Group.

Sarah: I'd love to ;-) I am 27 years old and live in beautiful Ludwigsburg. Since February, I have been working within the All for One Group in the Microsoft Excellence area as a Consultant New Work & Modern Workplace.

THIS STUDY IS SUITABLE AS A SKILL BASE

Jochen: Before looking at your professional present, I would like to take a look at your career. You studied at Pforzheim University - Design, Technology, Business and Law. What exactly was the focus of your studies?

Sarah: I studied business administration with a focus on media management and advertising psychology. That suited me very well and, in retrospect, was a good basis for my current position.

Sarah | Consultant New Work & Modern Workplace

Jochen: How did you actually end up at the All for One Group?

Sarah: It was more by chance. After my bachelor's degree, I started a master's degree in distance learning and was looking for a student job. Since I was living in Filderstadt at the time, I looked for open job ads here and finally decided on All for One. 

COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION IS KEY

Jochen: What role did you join All for One with? What did a typical project or workday look like?

Sarah: I realized relatively quickly that distance learning was not for me and approached my supervisor about it. Within a few days, I had an offer for a full-time position and then started in the Group Communication department. Here I (further) developed and implemented many company-wide formats and was the contact person for our internal communication and collaboration tools. This also included providing regular training and supporting the introduction of new tools. 

Jochen: With your change of position within the Group, you swapped internal customers for external ones. Sounds like two very different pairs of shoes at first. But if you take a closer look, the next step as New Work & Modern Workplace Consultant fits quite well into your mindset and skillset, doesn't it?

Sarah: Yes, totally. A lot of things I used to do internally, I now implement for clients. I enjoy finding solutions to challenges and getting employees excited about using new technologies. And that's what my job is about now, too.

Jochen: What were the reasons for the change?

Sarah: I was keen to develop both personally and professionally. Since we also worked internally with Microsoft Excellence, I overheard that a new position was being advertised.

INTERNAL CHANGE AS A PROCESS

Jochen: What happened next? As we all know, internal changes in particular are not always a foregone conclusion ...

Sarah: Maybe, but it wasn't a big issue for me. There is a clear process for internal changes at the All for One Group. I first found out more about this on our intranet and then approached my people manager. The subsequent discussions with my new manager, my people manager and my old supervisor were all very straightforward. The eventual changeover also went smoothly and I felt well supported throughout the entire process. 

Jochen: Apart from the (apparently smooth) procedure - was there anything about the internal change that you found less easy?

Sarah: Yeah. Of course it was hard for me to leave my old team. But I felt so welcome in the new team that I was quickly reintegrated there and felt part of the team right from the start. And I still have good contact with my "old" colleagues 😊 

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE NEW ROLE

Jochen: What do you absolutely have to bring along for your new role? 

Sarah: Clearly, flexibility and adaptability. When it comes to user adoption, the focus is on the employees and they are not the same in any company. We always adapt our measures to our customers so that we can do justice to everyone and so that the new structures, processes and ways of working really fit the respective corporate culture.

Jochen: How has your day-to-day work changed? What is the new focus?

Sarah: My focus is on the topic of user adoption for M365. With various user adoption measures, we want to inspire and empower employees for M365 solutions, with the goal that the platform around Microsoft Teams can, will and will be used by everyone.

Jochen: Sounds exciting! Do you already have some highlights that you like to think back on?

Sarah: Highlights for me are always our workshops. For some customers, we offer so-called departmental workshops and there I always enjoy seeing how teams develop new work processes that suit them based on our M365 tools to replace their outdated and complicated ways of working. 

THE ALL FOR ONE AS AN EMPLOYER

Jochen: In general, how do you perceive the All for One Group as an employer?

Sarah: I really appreciate the All for One as an employer. In addition to the good working atmosphere and transparent communication, I also take advantage of some of the corporate benefits, such as Well Pass or the regular employee offers. We are given a lot of freedom to design our projects and further develop our formats, and we can organize ourselves in our clusters to the greatest possible extent. Nevertheless, our manager is always available to us for questions or feedback. 

Jochen: Sounds great! So there are no internal construction sites at all?

Sarah: Well, New Work & Modern Workplace thrives on constant change, so I would say that we always have potential for optimization internally as well. Overall, though, everything is already going very well and we serve as a role model for our customers in very many aspects. 

Jochen: We place a lot of emphasis on our values in the All for One Group. Which one is particularly important to you?

Sarah: In the past, the value Respectful Communication was clearly my number 1, which probably had a lot to do with my role as Collaboration & Communication Expert. In the meantime, I also really appreciate the value Valuable Space. I enjoy being able to work independently and manage my own time. 

Jochen: Speaking of time - an interview can be over so quickly :-) Thank you so much for taking it for our conversation, Sarah!

Sarah: You're very welcome.

NETWORK WITH SARAH

You have questions for Sarah or want to expand your business network? Then just network with her on LinkedIn ;-)

OUR JOB OFFERS

You want to get started in IT consulting and are keen on driving the digital transformation of our customers and implementing exciting Microsoft projects? Then take a look at our current job openings for Microsoft Experts.