The power of the second row
She comes to meet me in the corridor of the drugstore, and I know immediately: That's her. Evelyn Jamke, Deputy Branch Manager, with whom I have an appointment. Even without service clothes and name tag I would recognize her. Her way of going about the business always casts her eyes in the rows of shelves as if by chance. Then she looks me in the face - and scans at the same time the range of goods, just put a price tag here, adjust a bottle in its place.
For me, the shelves look absolutely perfect, but Evelyn Jamke discovers and corrects even the slightest irregularity. She is a landlady who is waiting for guests all day long. She ensures that the staff always has everything ready - and always stays calm and friendly, to the customers as well as to her colleagues. She often tackles with herself. Just like when she accepted goods, while store manager Andreas Langhinrichs jumped in at the cash register. One colleague is sick, two are on vacation: even at such times, the boss and his deputy keep the company running without causing any stress. And there are even days when Evelyn Jamke leads the branch all by herself.
Deputy stay despite promotion chance
I want exactly the position that I have now.
When the trained hotel and restaurant clerk from St. Michaelisdonn moved to Hamburg with her husband 15 years ago, temporary help was being sought in the drugstore in her neighborhood. Evelyn Jamke started there and worked her way up to the deputy store manager within a few years. For a long time she could run her own branch, there were enough offers. But the 45-year-old has repeatedly said no: "I want exactly the position that I have now." Because that has advantages: the same can and do as the boss, but not always in the center, be under observation.
"Many vice-bosses, whether men or women, are technically highly competent but reluctant to perform on stage, which is why they prefer to stay in the second row rather than continue their careers," says management consultant Doris Hartmann. Some feel that they want to have some freedom for life outside of work. Like Evelyn Jamke, who lives with husband and parents in a "great household" on a former farm and has three horses. She also wants to have time for all this, with all her commitment to the profession.
, deputy head of department at a health insurance company, could imagine, however, to continue to ascend. Although she likes the position of the number two, and she likes to have someone else to learn from, but vice-bosses are also at a higher level. Gabriele Stahmer was single-minded from the beginning: In addition to her previous job as a clerk in a pension insurance scheme, she completed evening studies in business informatics and then started working for her current employer in IT controlling. This is the department that purchases and keeps up-to-date computer equipment and software at the lowest possible cost.
Lead the team - together with the supervisor
Two years ago, Gabriele Stämmer's employer set up a support program for young and future executives. Anyone who thinks fit will be approached and invited to the application process. Gabriele Stahmer took over her new head of department, who was looking for a substitute. The 44-year-old has held this position since the beginning of 2008. Together with her boss, and when she is not there, she manages a team of 25 IT professionals - almost exclusively men, some of whom are older and longer in business than she herself. For some at first it was unusual to get instructions from her.
And also Gabriele Stahmer had to grow into her new role. She supported her coach, with whom she worked a full day once a month. The management consultant with additional psychological training was himself a manager in a company for many years. In difficult situations, she could turn to the coach at any time today. "That has not happened yet," she says. The mood in the team is good - despite the restructuring in the company, which brings disquiet to the departments. Perhaps this has something to do with the rituals that Gabriele Stahmer pays attention to. For example, everyone walks through the offices in the morning and greets the others. Or that there will be a small present from the department for the birthday party and everyone will come together at least once to wish their colleague good luck.
Be right and left hand at the same time
"Relationship work" is what the management consultant Doris Hartmann calls it. In her experience, it is the vice-boss in many companies who feels responsible for it. For example, Evelyn Jamke: She was even chosen by the staff in her drugstore branch as a "confidant".This makes her a partner in conflicts with colleagues or with superiors - and sometimes even with private worries and needs.
The job description of Susanne Witthöft: point of contact for all, the closest employee of the boss and at the same time responsible for everything organizational in the enterprise. Twenty years ago, her boss hired the trained foreign language correspondent as a secretary. The optician had just opened his sixth store and needed a colleague for his office. Meanwhile, the operation has grown to eleven branches, the management team includes the owner in addition to a marketing director, an accountant - and Susanne Witthöft.
Be a kind of co-pilot? This is enough career for me.
Much like the legendary Miss Moneypenny from the James Bond films, she is the woman without whom nothing works in the command center. A kind of co-pilot. "My left and my right hand" calls her the boss. "It's enough career for me," says Susanne Witthöft. In addition to her secretary's work, the 50-year-old negotiates with suppliers and decides when employees are recruited. Who enters the company, goes directly to a kind of porter's lodge. There, with a clear view on all sides, Susanne Witthöft has set up her workplace. Your cockpit is the focal point for everyone. Even with worries and problems.
We are like an old couple - we argue and get along.
Just like Evelyn Jamke in the drugstore and Gabriele Stahmer in the health insurance, Susanne Witthöft feels responsible for "the interpersonal" in the company. What's more, after all these years, she knows her boss as well as anyone else. If there are bad news from a branch, sometimes Susanne Witthöft will bring her to herself rather than send in the store manager. She takes the inevitable displeasure calmly. After all, she knows that the apology follows right away: "We are like an old couple - arguing and tolerating each other."
Many years of experience for the young boss
Of course, Susanne Witthöft has ever played with the idea to change the company or the industry. But as enthusiastic as she is about "our glasses and contact lenses", the precision work in the workshops and the service in the branches, this is unlikely to happen. She knows she could probably earn more in a big company. And maybe she would have gone on there. But she would not feel well in the executive suite of a corporation. The family would be missing.
"Over there I laid out a blanket with her toys for my daughter when she was little," she recalls. Since the child had the measles, in the office, the work pile up, and Susanne Witthöft found no representation, which could have jumped in immediately. "If she is feeling better again, just bring her along," suggested the boss. And gave the young mother a few good tips - his own sons had the measles just behind them. One of them is now also an optometrist and is likely to take over when his father retires. Susanne Witthöft has already calculated. You will then still in a few years to pension - so the new boss will also stand by the side.
