Tanja Knob joined the next level consulting team in Salzburg, Munich and Tyrol in January 2019 as an interim manager, trainer and coach. In a short interview, she provides insights into herself and her work.
1) Can you describe yourself in a few words?
I am a generalist who doesn't fit into any mould. I'm curious and open to new things and at the same time have the ambition to understand complex relationships and familiarise myself deeply with new topics. I owe this not least to my professional career.
2) What professional experience do your customers benefit from?
What characterises me is the ability to understand people, to grasp their needs and to make them understandable for others. This quality is particularly helpful when working with experts and colleagues from the IT sector. It often happens that I act as a kind of "translator" between the world of the people who develop something technical and those who use it.
Overall, I can look back on 20 years of management experience in leading positions and functions in the media/advertising and digital industries. My professional stations include the marketing companies of ProSieben Sat.1 Media AG: Mediagruppe München, Letsbuyit.com and SevenOne Interactive.
I then moved to United Internet Media, where I took on personnel responsibility and built up a nationwide consulting team for digital communication solutions. The focus was on strategic consulting for companies in the FMCG, tourism, pharmaceutical, automotive and consumer electronics sectors. I also coached colleagues and employees in internal training programmes to optimise sales and customer service.
My last position as an employee was when I took over the management of CAMAO AG in Munich. Here I successfully expanded the agency business over five years and expanded into Austria with the opening of an office in Innsbruck.
I have been self-employed since August 2018 and advise, support and accompany companies and managers in change processes resulting from the digitalisation of business models and work as an interim manager in the tourism and communications industry, among others.
3) What were your last assignments?
My last interim management assignment was to deputise for the marketing manager of a tourism association. I am currently supporting an IT company in sales development and the strategic development of new business models, among other things.
4) What do your clients particularly appreciate about your performance as an interim manager? And how do you manage to familiarise yourself with a new mandate as an interim manager as quickly as possible?
Essentially, there are five "ingredients": empathy, openness, flexibility, experience and network.
In my professional development, I have always faced a variety of tasks and very different challenges. Thanks to my experience as a manager and not least as an entrepreneur, I have seen first-hand how digitalisation is influencing business models and how the role of leadership and project work in companies has changed. My knowledge of how to deal with these changes helps me to familiarise myself quickly with new topics and to grasp complex interrelationships. I generate information from my network or open doors through my numerous contacts.
5) Why do you think it makes sense for companies to use interim managers?
The rapid changes in markets, technologies and trends require companies to react quickly and put them under increasing pressure, and the use of interim managers offers advantages in many respects.
Particularly in special situations, the involvement of an interim manager is often the better alternative to a permanent position, for example to cover short-term bottlenecks. In addition, interim managers are experts in their field with a high level of management and technical expertise and can enrich permanent teams with their knowledge as enablers.
Another advantage is that they are not part of the system. Their objectivity and commitment to a client are conducive to achieving objectives and focussing on results. As the mandate is limited in time, the company remains flexible and can scale better.
6) What do you do when you're not doing IM?
My vocation is to understand people's needs, to motivate them to think and act authentically and responsibly and to support them in professional and personal change processes. That's why I focus primarily on the human side of digital change and, in addition to project and change management, I offer answers and solutions to tasks relating to this topic as a coach and in seminars.
In my private life, I am a passionate cook. I love writing, enjoy cycling long distances on my racing bike and love being out in nature - in all its variations: Mountains, lakes or the sea. One of the many reasons why I love travelling to South Africa ...
