06. August 2020
The era of digitalization is a perfect time to question everything, says Gina Röge, Agile Coach at Valtech. At 56 years old, she’s still “young at heart” and embraces learning - always.
Who are you and what do you do at Valtech?
Originally from Hannover, I´ve lived in different countries (UK, Sweden, Netherlands) and
had a few career twists. I evolved from a programmer & trouble shooter into a manager role and thereafter into a ‘coaching’ and scrum master role.
Arriving at Valtech in 2016, my professional experience nicely summoned to Agile Expert, also called “Agile Coach” and is now largely associated with digital transformations and culture change. Being an Agile Coach means to constantly act as an “integrator” between technology, psychology and methodology, and to shape common grounds between
diverging opinions amidst the power struggles that unfortunately still prevail in the hierarchical structure of established companies.
What do you really enjoy in your job and what else do you value highly?
I really enjoy the variability of the job and the opportunities to get to know
different customers, including the learning about many different problem patterns. I love to dive into customer dilemmas and at the same time empathize with the people around me, be it customer, colleagues or team mates.
It´s not always easy. When the going gets tough and, for example, the customer is struggling with profit margins or underlying organizational conflicts on the customer side surface. But I value highly that on the Valtech side, we always manage to get our act together as a team, re-energize and go forward without fear of making a mistake. I value highly that we talk about our mistakes freely and embrace learning. This spirit liberates mind and heart.
Why do you work for a digital consultancy and in a tech surrounding?
Honestly, this was not a conscious decision. Intuitively I realized at a young age that
I am interested in many things. The biggest industry in Germany has always been “Technology”, offering a variety of jobs to choose from.
Although not being super enthusiastically about “Tech” at a young age, I realized that I would need appropriate skills to enter the sector. I call it the PIXAR strategy:
It is easy to turn an artist into a programmer. It is not so easy to turn a programmer into an artist. So I entered Tech as a “non-tech but artsy enthusiast”, knowing full well that there is more to come.
The step into a digital consultancy was ignited by the wish to develop myself, to be challenged by facing high-end tech customers and the outlook of meeting
digitally swamped employees, stressed managers and over-burdened organizations. My “helping” and “caring” genes reacted in view of the possibility to follow the path of psychology.
How did you find Valtech?
I was looking for a job as Scrum Master / Agile Coach and literally stumbled over Valtech, discovering an ad in the internet. The formulation “if the chemistry feels right” in the ad caught my eye and made me look at the Webpage. The lightness of absorbing the displayed information impressed me, and the values emphasized matched mine.
What do you need as a woman to succeed in the industry? What do you think needs to change?
A great deal of stubbornness, healthy self-esteem, standing up for yourself, the capability to build alliances to support you, using the talents that you have – and talk about them. Talk about them again – and again, read the book “Spiele mit der Macht” – Marion Knaths. There are some clever observations which she sympathetically analyzes and behavioral hints which openend my eyes.
We need much more visible role models. One problem I observe is that one does not see women in tech offices, or canteens of tech companies or visibly as speakers and leaders.
The prevailing majority of male faces on corridors, trains, hotel lobbies, conferences, fairs, and exhibitions contributes to and confirms the underlying assumption “it is and remains a man’s world”.
The spiral starts here. As a woman sees only few other women in a tech profession, she is less encouraged to enter the tech domain kingdom so fiercely guarded by men. It is a shame, as especially in the era of digitalization, it is a perfect time to question
everything. World crisis calls out for female touch, logic, and
empathic analysis towards holistic decision-making. 50% of the world’s population is dangerously underrepresented in all aspects of our societies.
Women need to fully grasp that our voices and ways of leading are needed in this world to impact societal advancement and contribute towards the balance between ecology, economy and social balance.
“The routine to do virtually everything remote has become a habit”
Which of your projects are you particularly proud of and why?
My current project for a renowned automotive customer makes me very proud.
For Valtech this was a greenfield customer, meaning it is the first time we are working together. We are half way through the project and after a phase of getting to know each other, ramping and scaling up the teams, we are “in flow”.
Despite the very difficult situation mid March 2020 to be forced to only work remote with the customer, I am extremely proud of the project team members. Within less than a week they switched the project to remote utilizing video conferencing and visualization tools and were able to master frequent complex communication & coordination meetings not only with fun but with accuracy, effectiveness and efficiency. A real success in the distant working environment from Day One.
The setting up of meeting etiquette for video conferencing, social video chat meetings as well as gaming nights balanced the occasional mood struggles during this difficult time period.
Since 16 March 2020 we haven’t been on customer site and it has been only three weeks that we occasionally meet each other in the offices, but we feel the same closeness as if nothing unusual ever happened. The routine to do virtually everything remote has become a habit, even increasing the focus on productivity and work-life balance.
What do you do in your spare time?
I love vegan gourmet cooking and learning about yoga. I’m practicing yoga every day and hope to stay healthy and grow my knowledge.
