Ms. Heil-Sonneck began her current business, Design2Sell, after working for IBM for several years. Currently, Ms. Heil-Sonneck spends most of her time organizing her business while communicating with clients both over the phone or email as well as meeting in person. One of the key lessons she explained to us is that one must be conscientious of one’s client. In her case communication is critical since her workplace is partially in their homes which requires a certain degree of tact and respect. Much of her work is based around organizing her team of workers so that each of her projects run efficiently. She told us that working with people from different backgrounds and skill sets may prove difficult, but that one needs to work as a team which requires everyone to appreciate one another’s work and point of view. Most of her work is done in English, but Ms. Heil-Sonneck firmly believed that having a greater cultural understanding allows one to better interact with clients as well as employees. Ms. Heil-Sonneck has used her ability to speak multiple languages to build trust with her clients and employees whose native language is not English.
The company she oversees works with interior design and renovations for houses. One aspect of this deals with social and cultural themes. Younger people want to stay modern and up-to-date with the area they live in. They also want to bring in outside influences from their childhood or family background as a way of staying in the moment. Older people usually want simpler living spaces or something kid-friendly so they don’t have to worry about so much. It is a means of expression and, while rare, could also touch on global or political themes as well. Much of the work is based around working with people and social interaction is critical for success. The cultural understandings are also important since one must realize how different customers may require certain adjustments in order for the process to run smoothly. Apart from some international interns, Ms. Heil-Sonneck’s work does not really relate to many global or political themes beyond what is mentioned above since most of the work is based locally.
During the interview Ms. Heil-Sonneck brought up several skills that she viewed as vital for the work she does.
The first skills Ms. Heil-Sonneck brought up were communication skills. Ms. Heil-Sonneck explained the key aspects of the communication skills which she uses while working with her clients. Ms. Heil-Sonneck began by emphasizing the utility of being an attentive listener with regards to the requests that her clients have with house designs which is analyzing what the clients want from the information they give you. She added to this the importance of body language to a conversation and the necessity for eye contact and an open, inviting posture to making the customers feel more relaxed and feel that they are being given your full attention; this is something which Ms. Heil-Sonneck felt that younger individuals lacked compared to the older generations and that the youth should spend more time developing these in-person communication skills.
Ms. Heil-Sonneck continued by addressing skills regarding empathy and understanding. One of the skills we discussed with Ms. Heil-Sonneck that we had not considered was that one must be willing to see through the eyes of others in order to effectively work as a team. Many of Ms. Heil-Sonneck’s team are specialized and their areas of expertise do not always overlap. With some of the tasks, team members must be understanding of the situation of the others since much of their work is dependent on one another. In some cases, it might mean they simply give each other more time and space to work or in other cases lend a hand if needed. In regard to Germany and the United States, Ms. Heil-Sonneck believed that this focus on teamwork is more common in the United States with many specialized and small-scale businesses finding great success through the rapport they share.
Ms. Heil-Sonneck ended by mentioning leadership and teamwork skills. Ms. Heil-Sonneck pointed out various qualities and skills that one should have as a leader of a project or as member of a project. Ms. Heil-Sonneck stated that leaders would need the skills to empower their members of the project to communicate with each other and to find solutions as a group. Ms. Heil-Sonneck also added that members of projects should have the desire to improve the project beyond the minimum requirements by being self-motivated in bringing solutions to the table. Ms. Heil-Sonneck also pointed out the overlap between the communication skills and the skills that are need as a leader or member of a project.
Overall, having experience with different cultures has allowed her to better understand her clients and co-workers. Her co-workers are mostly from America, so they might not have that level of understanding she has but she pushes them to become better at all aspects of their jobs. One of the big points of emphasis was communication and having the proper etiquette when talking to others. Germans tend to be more direct and upfront about these things than other people. This is less a point about the language and more about what is emphasized in Germany. Ms. Heil-Sonneck was transparent with her answers to our questions and added details so that we could get a better understanding of exactly what the differences between America and Germany are in terms of work and communication. She also offered some speaking and communication tips based on what she sees and experiences every day. For instance, Ms. Heil-Sonneck noted that younger generations need to work on maintaining eye-contact and an open body language. It was important to see that even the little things can make a difference in how others perceive us; relating back to the comments about body language, Ms. Heil-Sonneck noted that proper body language makes us appear more interested in a conversation and more enjoyable to talk to. The other point of emphasis was teamwork. When working with a team or group, you always need to communicate and play to people’s strengths so that you can get the best work from everyone.