Wenke, as a woman, you’re successed at REWE digital in a still predominantly male-dominated IT industry. What experiences have you had on your career path? And who or what has been particularly helpful in your professional development?
“Performance alone is not enough. It needs visibility and networks”
In a male-dominated IT world, the example of REWE digital manager Wenke Weißmann shows how women can get ahead - with potential, visibility and good support. A conversation about the importance of superiors, partners and modern working models for women's career paths. And about the fact that leadership should be one thing regardless of gender: good and contemporary.
Reading time: 5 min.
Wenke Weißmann: First of all, I’d like to say that I studied business informatics in a very male-dominated environment – so I’m used to being in the minority as a woman, even though I wish it were different. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my professional life, it’s that performance alone isn’t enough. Visibility and networks are essential. This is a crucial factor that women, in particular, could work on more.
I’ve been fortunate that my previous bosses – both women – were very modern leaders. Just as one would hope, regardless of gender. Kirsten Schlemmer, my first manager at REWE digital – who asked me about two years ago if I would join her in the newly created Business Transformation department – is always looking at: How am I positioning my employees? What is their next step in their development? How do I make myself visible? It helps enormously when a manager notices you, supports your development, and encourages you. It takes that one “go-ahead,” that encouragement to persevere.
About:
Wenke Weißmann
Chief Project Manager at REWE digital
Even though it really shouldn’t be an issue anymore talking to female leaders, the question of compatibility still comes up in this context: As a mother in a full‑time leadership position — how do you manage it? What personal strategies, professional structures, or work models enable you to combine family and leadership?
Wenke Weißmann: I shared this question with my husband in advance. He said: Your answer is clear: you need a strong partner to go along with you.
And yes, that’s absolutely true. When I started at REWE Group in 2016, our children were still very young. In addition to private support, there are three things that I believe are needed to reconcile family and leadership:
- 1. clarity about one’s priorities;
- 2. a leadership culture that values results over presence;
- 3. Structural flexibility in working models.
- The first point is individual, but the other two can be controlled by the company. In my opinion, the belief that only those who are on site can lead is no longer up to date. A management culture should always be geared primarily towards responsibility for results – not office presence. I don’t need to be physically present every day to empower my team.
I would like to see a more open and modern management culture and models such as part-time management becoming the norm. Just because a woman goes on parental leave and returns part-time shouldn’t be a no-go for management roles. Of course there are organizational challenges – I see that in my team too. But modern working structures actually offer everything we need. If we see ourselves as an open-minded company, this should also be reflected in our working models.
And yes, I agree: we shouldn’t actually be talking about “female leadership”, but about good and contemporary leadership.
What can executives, whether female or male, do, to target women for the IT–Area to win and support in their further development?
Wenke Weißmann: In my view, women don’t stay away because they can’t do IT or don’t find it sexy. They stay away because certain framework conditions don’t suit their lives. And that’s exactly where senior managers should start.
Managers should recognize potential early on and develop people, not just when they are already performing. We could become even stronger in the promotion of women, for example through talent reviews that look less at the person in the narrower sense and more neutrally at skills and potential. And, here I come back to visibility, through role models: We need more female role models in which women can see themselves.
