Two junior colleagues took over as executive managers of music4friends for two months. The agency had been awarded the NEW WORK AWARD 2018 by Xing for this experiment titled “Trainees being Boss”. We spoke to Marnie Günther (23) about her experiences:
01 Complete the sentence: For me the experiment “Trainees being Boss” was …
…hurly-burly, sensation & advanced training!
02 What was your focus, why was it of importance to you and how did you prepare?:
My focus pretty much appeared automatically: to strengthen music4friends as a brand and pushing internal and external communication further. I felt quite strongly about that because many people know our bands and DJs, but they don’t know who’s pulling the strings back at the office – and I feel like there’s quite a lot to see. We are a great team and value trust and community strongly. I think that’s special and it reflects in the way we work with our clients – and who doesn’t want to work with an agency living those values?
I didn’t re-invent the wheel, quite the opposite actually. I just searched for a way to push our strengths and to find opportunities to make use of hidden potentials.
03 What was your biggest challenge?:
I’m a doer and when I’ve set my mind on something, I usually do my thing. Personally the biggest challenge was letting go when it came to implementing my ideas. Also it was tough to free your mind from the precise images you create in your head and getting frustrated when things turn out differently as planned. This process of “letting go” is, however, necessary to let the idea develope into creating something even better than maybe anticipated.
04 What was your biggest success?:
I can only repeat myself, because my biggest challenge led to my biggest success: stop being stubborn and advance our ideas together!
05 How did these two months of being boss change you as a person?:
Thinking “I’m boss right now” naturarlly helps you to make decisions with more confidence and to act a lot bolder, more spontaneous and agile. Before the experiment I noticed that I would pause to think about just throwing an idea into the conversation or if I simply wasn’t courageous enough. Taking part in the experiment forced me in a way to come up with ideas and I realised that even though some ideas were bad or would not be implemented in a certain way, everyone listened to me and I was taken serious. That’s when you question yourself: what was I even afraid of?! I think, overall, the experiment enhances your self-confidence in the longterm. I would definitely take the challenge again – so Saschas, if any of you are planning a longer vacation…? 🙂
-> Connect with Marnie on XING!
-> Read part II: DARLENE HAMMER on “Trainees being Boss”
