‘As an Innovation Manager, You Should Regularly Question Your Own World View’
Eva Köhler is a journalist and innovation manager. She supports editorial teams in utilizing innovative concepts and technologies for media offerings. Above all, working with innovations requires seeing possibilities where others only see the impossible, says Köhler.
Werksgelände: What does an innovation manager actually do?
Eva Köhler: A lot of different things. In my case, I usually work at the interface between editorial innovation and technology. This means that I work very closely with my colleagues in other departments. Together, we work out how we want to use social media in an investigative department, for example, or how we want to implement podcasts in a print editorial department. That’s always very exciting – because it often allows me to be involved in projects that are the first of their kind in the environment in which they are created.
What experience or talents should you have for the job?
Curiosity, openness and the opportunity to constantly surprise yourself and regularly question your own world view. As an innovation manager, it’s often about seeing opportunities where others only see the impossible. That’s why curiosity about new platforms, new narrative forms, new technologies and new colleagues is one of the most important qualities from my perspective. But creativity, empathy for colleagues and users, perseverance and the desire to work with different colleagues in a team also helps in everyday life.
What appeals to you about your job?
Experiencing firsts, again and again. As a journalist, I’m used to learning new things almost every day. For every article, you talk to experts and those affected – the overall picture is always put together piece by piece during the research. It’s similar as an innovation manager. You know what the goal is. You know the framework within which you operate and the tools you have at your disposal to achieve the goal. As with research, however, many things are still unclear at the beginning – because it’s the ‘first time’. It’s your job to combine the various tools in a meaningful way over the course of the project and to work together with your colleagues to develop the new and previously unknown – and that really excites me.
As an innovation manager, it’s often about seeing opportunities where others only see the impossible.
- Eva Köhler
What are the biggest challenges in your job?
The ambiguity that characterizes an innovation project on the one hand often makes it challenging on the other. After all, we humans would like to know everything at the beginning of a project. But precisely because what we are doing is new, there is no such certainty. This repeatedly causes minor and major hurdles during a project. What often helps is a little composure and the ability to approach colleagues again and again and build up an understanding that uncertainty is often quite normal in such projects.
What has been your biggest flop on the job so far, and what have you learned from it?
I once agreed to a project in which the framework conditions and the goal were not fixed. Even at the start of the project, we didn’t manage to create this basis. I learned a lot from this project – including the fact that it is particularly important to ask a lot of questions and ensure clarity at the start of a project.
Eva’s tips for the next generation
Find an area you are good at and become an expert. Try things out, master your craft and focus on your strengths. Once you have taken this step, you can move on to the next one. Don’t let yourself get stressed, and go your own way, the way that feels right for you. What has always been important to me is the human element. The second tip is therefore almost trivial: treat your environment, your interview partners and your colleagues the way you would like them to treat you. In short: be open, fair and respectful.
Eva Köhler
… works as a journalist and innovation manager in Hamburg. Among other things, she worked as an innovation manager for Spiegel and developed the podcast She likes Tech for NDR.
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