From fleet management to IT: For many questions, assistants in the branches and projects are the first point of contact. They make sure that "the store runs". In the Power Assistance team group, assistants from all over Germany are looking for ways to tackle challenges efficiently together. Katrin Voigt launched the initiative together with two colleagues.
The assistants in Germany not only work for different divisions and projects, but are also spread across the country - from Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Cologne, to Raunheim and Nuremberg, to Munich and Freiburg. And yet they struggle with similar challenges. Like when it comes to IT infrastructure, for example. "Whether it's setting up, accessing programs, looking after data management systems or ordering computers: we are the first point of contact for many IT issues, especially when there are problems. For us, that means we have to be up to speed on all programs," explains Katrin Voigt, Assistant Branch Office Nuremberg for the Civil Engineering Division.
An efficient tool for finding solutions
But with all the updates, changes and new tools, how do the assistants always know what's going on and how, and how do they support the others to keep things running smoothly? Katrin Voigt, together with Michaela Jansen from Berlin and Sabrina Paworski from the Munich office, started the Power Assistance team group on her own initiative and moderates it. "Cross-divisional cooperation is important for us: we often have the same questions. But we lacked a platform for exchange. Now we have this tool with our Teams Group," says Katrin Voigt. And not just for IT.
Saving resources and costs
There are also always burning issues in fleet management, marketing, accounting or human resources. The palette is as wide as the areas of responsibility of assistants are nowadays. Time and again, the teams group calls in guest speakers from Implenia to address specific challenges and, where necessary, looks for new ways to optimize processes and thus save resources and costs. "This not only makes our work easier, but also benefits the entire company," emphasizes Katrin Voigt.
Power Assistance aims to create added value across the board - with concentrated back-office expertise. In the meantime, 70 assistants have joined the Teams Group. With their own initiative, the group lives collaboration, one of Implenia's five corporate values, in their daily work.
Power Assistance has been active since October 2020. "Initially, it was about breaking down inhibitions and building trust," Katrin Voigt recounts. "After all, if we want to learn and benefit from each other, we also have to address and put things on the table that may not have gone so well."
Relevant information at a glance
In the meantime, the forum has also become an information pool for the assistants: Here, members can find not only minutes of meetings, but also - well-structured and easily accessible - responsibilities, contact persons for the projects or links to important documents and information relevant for the assistant. The initiative has attracted attention from various quarters. And perhaps it will become a model that sets a precedent within the company.
