Interview
Process & Project Management Lora Benz

In this interview, Lora Benz talks about her work as head of DPMO and in Process & Project Management. She also reveals what she values most about WAGO and why the roll-out of “Global Opportunity Management” was her personal moment of success.

How long have you been at WAGO, and what has your career here been like so far?

I came to know and love WAGO through two internships, one of them at WAGO in Paris. After training as a foreign language correspondence clerk and industrial management assistant, I started working as an international sales clerk in 2007, responsible for WAGO companies, representatives and direct customers. Since the beginning of the SAP roll-out, I’ve been responsible for sales processes in the various teams. After my parental leave, I worked in a support role for International Sales Management – a stage that, although short, was important for me – and began my career as a project manager. In order to create synergistic effects, I was then able to transfer to the “Sales Excellence” department, bringing my responsibilities with me. Since 2017, I’ve also been responsible for managing DPMO Sales (the Division Project Management Office).

What are your current duties, and what do you enjoy in particular?

I’m responsible for the “Process & Project Management” division in the “Sales Excellence” department. My activities are quite varied, but, roughly speaking, I support my colleagues in Sales throughout the world by working with them to analyze processes and advance their development. My goal is to achieve continuous improvement of the general parameters and tools our international sales team work with, as well as good integration of processes across different departments. Doing so might involve optimizations – for example, optimizing the IT systems we develop as part of our demand management – or major changes implemented in the form of projects, such as changes arising from the strategy.

In my management role in DPMO Sales, I’m also involved in establishing and helping to shape project management at WAGO. In this capacity, I coach project managers and support them with the monitoring and planning for the division’s project portfolio.

For me, whatever my role is, it’s important to create added value for others – for example, identifying problems and working in a team to find the appropriate solutions that are as pragmatic as possible. “Getting better together” is my approach. Development doesn’t just happen by itself – we have to work actively to determine the form it will take, for example through feedback. I approach this with a lot of energy, which I mostly derive from my enjoyment of challenges and from working together with my colleagues. I’ve been here for a quite few years now and it’s never been boring!

I value this agile environment and the trust that’s put in us to help shape the company’s future.

And what do you particularly appreciate about WAGO as an employer?

The latitude we’re given for our own ideas! This company is open to new things; its corporate culture is developing in a positive direction, and there are many different ways to get involved. I value this agile environment and the trust that’s put in us to help shape the company’s future.

From your point of view, what attributes should successful applicants have?

I trained at WAGO, and the internal support, my self-study and various seminars allowed me to develop further and reach my current position. The feedback I’ve often gotten is that the right attitude, commitment and motivation to learn are much more important than an academic degree. So, apart from technical qualifications, I think it’s very important to have a genuine interest in and enthusiasm for the work, as well as a willingness to engage with new things.

Can you describe a “WAGO moment of success” in your career so far?

The roll-out of “Global Opportunity Management,” a large, international project in which my colleagues and I traveled around the world to most of the WAGO sites to communicate our new sales philosophy. What made this my “moment of success” was that it involved a high level of independent responsibility, creative leeway in the workshops, and a holistic, international approach to our customers, along with the positive feedback from my colleagues.

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Interview Process & Project Management Lora Benz