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Waage mit zwei Figuren und einem Sternchen, Schriftzug Gleichstellungsbüro
Panoramic view of the North Campus © Roland Baege​/​TU Dortmund
female.2.enterprises on stage

Students learn the basics of agile working and New Work

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  • female.2.enterprises
Viele Papierschiffchen © Brenker​/​TU Dortmund
Wie am Fließband: Die Teilnehmerinnen erprobten, mit welcher agilen Arbeitsmethode ein Team effizienter produziert.
How do modern companies work and how do we want to work? The third workshop of the current semester program of female.2.enterprises got to the bottom of these questions on 1 July. The topics were "agile working" and "new work". Some companies are currently throwing these terms around in job advertisements. However, it often remains unclear what the words actually mean.

The consultant, coach and trainer Andrea Kaminski works for companies and organizations and accompanies change processes. She has a lot of experience with the demands that companies place on applicants and knows what is important in the modern working world. For example, creativity, ideas and talent are particularly important today. Companies want to hire people who can't do exactly the same things as all other employees.

In the workshop, Andrea Kaminski introduced the theoretical foundations of agile working and also explained methods such as Scrum and Kanban. She demystified the big buzzwords with practical application examples. The participants then tried out some of the methods themselves in a playful way. Folding paper boats like on an assembly line and teamwork while playing Jenga made the applicability of the various concepts in everyday life visible.

In addition to all the input, the workshop thrived on the exchange of ideas. Andrea Kaminski responded to individual questions and also talked about her personal career. It was important to her to empower the participants: "I want you to have the courage to fail. Nothing happens without courage and no one can take the experience away from you," said the cultural studies and economics graduate. The participants also discussed leadership and the art of handing over responsibility, having fun at work and the view that life only begins when you retire.

What do I really, really want?

The afternoon was all about New Work. Andrea Kaminski explained that this term has been used misleadingly in recent years: "Many companies call it 'New Work' when they enable working from home and flexible working hours," the trainer noted. However, New Work goes much deeper and is not a new concept. The social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann developed the New Work concept back in the 1980s, launching an entire movement. At its core is the question: "What do I really, really want to achieve in life and at work?"

With this in mind, Andrea Kaminski encouraged the participants to think about what they want from an organization and to consider: how do I want to work? "I never realized, for example, that I can also have demands on a company and that I don't have to be happy if someone takes me on," said one participant at the end of the seminar.

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