Connection with the community and never standing still

Posted 24. May 2023

In Business coach, business training, people development

It’s taken a while, but it’ll be worth it: here is the sixth part of my article series on inspiring colleagues! Following the interviews with Susanne, Annika, Kirsten, Karen and Jin, this article is an interview with Martina.

It’s about people who inspire me as a coach and trainer.

The interviews will be, depending on the preference of the interviewee, in English or German.

My colleague Martina Schindler, who shares what inspires her, what she enjoys and more. We met at a Hospitation I did with her and a lovely connection, where we talk about work and non-work related matters has developed from that. I hope her answers inspire you as much as they did me, and leave the floor to Martina. Enjoy the read!

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I especially enjoy working with people. I’ve also noticed that I don’t really enjoy consulting jobs anymore because the contact with people in training and coaching sessions is much, much more intense. I find that truly rewarding.

When I sense that something is shifting in people’s minds, that I can make a difference, that’s truly rewarding.

At my age, I have the luxury of not having to do everything anymore. I used to do a lot of conceptual work in long-term consulting, and now I’m more interested in interaction and exchange. That’s where I focus now.

When you’re working on something new, where does your inspiration come from?

It depends on the topic: on the one hand, I realize that after 30 years in the business, I have a wealth of experience. Now, however, it’s all about inspiration, and I find it incredibly inspiring to be in constant dialogue with colleagues. You never stand still; like with the orangecpm network, for example, where we know each other from: you could just leave the training sessions as they are, but we don’t. I recently ordered a book by Simon Sinek because I thought the video we use in one of the training sessions was so great. The book then leads me to other topics, and the intensive engagement with the topics, even if they’re not new, means you’re always looking left and right and staying on the move.

It’s the combination of experience and exchange that makes it happen. Then something great comes out of it.

If we had asked you 10 years ago, what would your answers to these two questions have been?

No. I don’t think so. I was more involved in consulting back then, but the client was always the focus. I still know the people and am still in contact with them. I don’t think I would have said much differently. If you look at my DISC profile, I’m an I type: contact with people is very important to me.

If you could choose the next question: what would it be? And what would your answer be?

A question that has always bothered me: What will I be doing in 10 years? Will anyone still need me then? And maybe this is also a signal to my younger colleagues: things are always moving forward.

If you enjoy your job, if you don’t stop, if you look left and right.

I’m now the oldest in training, and things are moving forward. I think that’s great to see. In 10 years, I’ll hopefully still be doing this, hopefully I’ll still have a great network; I’ll still be doing a great training session every month, still have contacts, still doing what I enjoy, just with more time.

Thanks, Martina!

If you have any questions, feel free to write or call me. I look forward to hearing from you!