Dr. Katja Schöler: Leading for the first time

Head of the team Research Programmes at Corporate Development (UE-FF)

Forschungszentrum Jülich / Ralf-Uwe Limbach

“When my manager Silvia Nigro approached me at the end of 2021 about heading a team in Corporate Development (UE), I was quite surprised at first. I had just returned from parental leave to a part-time position, and the matter of leadership was not on my radar at all. All of a sudden, however, this opportunity presented itself to me because UE had introduced a new team structure, among other things in order to relieve our management levels. I’m an experienced research manager at UE. Still, I first had to think hard about whether to take the plunge. I asked myself many questions. Could I lead at all? Would it be compatible with my young family? On suddenly becoming my staff, would the great cooperation at eye level with my five colleagues change? In the end, I took the plunge – and my concerns failed to materialize.

However, it was immediately clear to me that I would need support, and I contacted P-E straightaway. The onboarding talk including a self-assessment questionnaire in advance was particularly helpful, in which I first assessed many of my skills around leadership quite critically. When talking to my manager, however, I quickly realized that I have many more strengths than I thought. Together with Leadership Development, we then discussed which further trainings would be useful. One important insight for me: as a manager, I don’t have to be perfect in everything right away, nor do I have to throw myself into a training marathon, but I can learn a lot gradually in the daily routine. Since then, I have done from-colleague-to-leader training and now want to continue learning in a leadership development programme. With the competency model, I was able to clarify for myself what is actually required of me and what kind of leader I want to be. In May, in the second round of the onboarding talk, we will discuss what has happened since I started.

There’s one thing I initially underestimated despite all the good preparation, however: how much time leading takes! Finding a good way to balance it with my own work packages is really difficult. The daily management routine while working part-time quickly showed me that I did have to increase my hours. However, I was able to arrange this with my husband in a way that, as a family, we could continue to cope well. What is great is that we are a total of six new team heads at UE and often exchange ideas. It’s good to hear that their challenges are similar, and we can look for solutions together. The heads of UE’s departments involve us well in their strategic considerations with monthly jour fixes and with retreats. In short: I settled into in my first leadership role well supported!”

Last Modified: 10.03.2023