What makes us special? Our values and our team.

Ilona Hannemann likes jogging along the Elbe beach and trying every ice cream shop west of the Alster.

Freedom has always been very important to me. Just like my career. That’s why I chose an employer who understands that I refuel the energy that I need in everyday project life during my spare time. Since coming to mgm, I have traveled around the world twice. After the first time, where I used my accumulated vacation time, I knew I wanted more. The next trip was to take at least 6 months and include more goals and experience. In an open conversation with a supervisor, we worked together to develop a way of fulfilling this wish taking into account mutual interests. The solution that was finally offered to me included everything you could ask for. I continued my projects and stayed with the client until a few days before the trip to complete my tasks and hand them over to other colleagues. Then I was able to pack my backpack and board the airplane without any worries. During the trip, I kept in contact with mgm, and thanks to good project planning, the career break could be extended by one month. In the meantime, I even did a small volunteer consulting project on a Pacific island. The experience of using the knowledge from my consulting career for a small island community has confirmed my decision to work as a consultant. These six months have enriched me with many experiences that I have been able to integrate in my professional life. Now project life continues. And I am already planning my next trip.

As consultants, we always find ourselves in different worlds. Family, customers, projects, colleagues, the company, mgm internal private activities, everything requires time, attention, concentration, patience, and full commitment. That‘s why it‘ s all the more important that all colleagues stand together in the project‘ s everyday life, take pleasure in what they do, support each other in a self-balancing way, and act as a single entity. This way, the necessary strengths are enhanced and the required support and freedom are built up to master the challenges over the long term. I am very fortunate to have supported clients as part of our “PuC Team“ for more than ten years. The mgm team has often been given preference over the well-known consulting firms for our proven PM/PMO, change, communications, and SCRUM competence. We have worked hard for this success as a team and I am convinced that it is based on the fact that we are first of all humans to our customers and then also highly trained and wholehearted consultants. We decide to take on new colleagues as a team. That‘s why new colleagues are welcomed with open arms and quickly gain a value-adding and esteemed position within mgm and in the eyes of our clients.

Many years ago, when I started working for mgm as a senior manager with the goal of building up the insurance business, I was single and wasn’t thinking about children in the foreseeable future. The position and task fit my personal goals and circumstances at the time. I met my wife a relatively short time thereafter. After quickly realizing that it just “fit,” our son was born only a year and a half later. At that time, I decided to take parental leave despite my position and I can recommend it to every father. In terms of projects, I chose a rather noncritical time over Christmas, during which project phases usually aren’t difficult. Clients and colleagues have reacted very positively to my decision and even explicitly supported it. Our second child arrived at the end of 2011 and I wanted to take parental leave again. This time it was during the generally critical phase of a project. The client was not necessarily pleased in this case, but understood my decision, especially since I had already announced it six months earlier and a very good colleague was able jump in for me as a replacement in the project. Parental leave is becoming more and more normal today and is now part of everyday life. However, in the consulting industry, mgm is certainly a special company that not only accepts parental leave, but even explicitly supports it. However, as a manager, it is not always easy to combine your professional duties with parental leave. But where there is a will, there is a way. And if the colleagues all pull together, then it will work out.

The interesting thing about mgm are the people and employees who come from different industries. And sometimes they are very different from each other in terms of their experience and skills. I see this as an enrichment for the customers and myself. Different perspectives and approaches are always challenging and broaden your horizon. Along with the readiness to approach others open-mindedly, being curious and able to have fun together even after work creates a working environment in which one can develop well. Flat structures and in the truest sense of the word open doors facilitate communication and shape cooperative interaction.

After my studies I was looking for an employer who could give me the opportunity to develop myself both personally and professionally. Everybody has certain ideas about what an employer should be able to offer. Especially after 5 years of living and working in Scandinavia, I consider values such as an open communication culture and a pleasant working atmosphere, flat hierarchies and mutual respect, as well as diverse further education measures extremely important. I was able to find all this in mgm and still appreciate it. I was able to participate in project work from very early on and take responsibility. Aside from that, all the colleagues are always available with advice and practical help to make getting started as pleasant as possible. Collaboration based on trust, instead of the elbow culture that all too often prevails in consulting environments, is a huge advantage for me at mgm. The colleagues’ different backgrounds, coupled with high motivation and commitment, offer the opportunity to take unconventional paths. This distinct type of cooperation creates results that earn us a good reputation among our clients. The various possibilities to use different approaches, methods or theories in the projects broaden one’s horizons and contribute to personal and professional development. That is exactly what I was looking for and found in mgm.