Imagine you are planning a peaceful move and then along comes coronavirus, the pandemic that will bring life as we know it to a standstill in spring 2020. When Kristin Grott signed her lease, the rule that you should keep a distance of 1.5 meters (ideally 2 m) from others hadn’t yet been introduced, nor had the curfews or the closed shops. Two weeks ago, asking friends and relatives to help her on moving day seemed like the most normal thing in the world. After all, we have all moved house at least once.
The date was soon set for Kristin’s move. The team had already agreed to help Kristin and her boyfriend as they moved back to their former home of Hanover, and chili con carne was on the shopping list. Everything seemed perfect. After completing her studies in Dublin, Kristin decided she wanted to work in Hanover. She contacted an old acquaintance who told her about an opening at Sennheiser in Consumer Marketing and her application was successful. “Even as a child living in Hanover, I was not aware that Sennheiser’s headquarters were actually in my home county. I knew the brand well. Sennheiser was always this hidden champion among the trendy headphone manufacturers. This fact immediately made me feel at home,” she says. When they returned to Hanover, it was like coming full circle. The long-planned move was a logical step.
“We had to get pretty creative. Even if the ban on public gatherings would not come into force until the following week, we certainly didn’t want to make the street unsafe with our furniture and lots of helpers. We were also unsure who we could even ask for help given the current situation. So we didn’t move on the weekend as planned, but on the Tuesday night with a very small group of helpers and as quietly and as inconspicuously as possible.” The move was a success: When we call Kristin at her home office—as many people are currently having to work—to interview her, she has already unpacked many of the boxes and the WiFi in their new apartment is up and running.
It’s not the case that Kristin is not used to change or has never had plans change at the last minute. During her studies in marketing management in Dublin, she was introduced to companies in which structural changes were a regular occurrence. “The topic of change was ever present,” she says. “I think change has become an integral part of every company. And I’ve met a lot of people who want to bring about change.” Kristin learned early on to see the positive side of change, even if those changes can seem unpleasant to begin with. She likes to think back to her first months as Marketing Manager in the Consumer division at Sennheiser, a market in which trends and structures are subject to constant change. “Of course, I noticed straight away that there was a lot going on and situations were constantly evolving. However, the open way in which everyone communicates really excited me from day one.” As we picture Kristin booting up her computer between moving boxes ready for her next teleconference, we feel happy in the knowledge that Kristin and Sennheiser make the perfect match!