Daniela Manharter
Solution-focused coach and often your first point of contact
I can compare my career path to a plane journey. This metaphor fits because this image well describes my colourful and varied career. It is important to me to always move forward and to see learning as my life’s work. On my journey, I have already gotten to know different countries, islands, and continents.
Airport #1: Educational institution for kindergarten pedagogy
Ever since childhood, I have wanted to become an elementary school teacher. My experiences there were so terrible that I wanted to do better 😉 So, from 2003 to 2008, I completed my training to become a qualified elementary teacher.
Airport #2: My first steps as an educator
After graduating from high school in Austria in June 2008, I wanted to start working immediately to put the skills and knowledge I had learned into practice. To this day, it is essential to me to provide support and a helping hand to those around me. So, I started my first job as an elementary teacher in August 2008 at Wiener Kinderfreunde, the largest private provider in the city. After two and a half years, I wanted to develop my career further.
Airport #3: The legal secretary
From December 2010 to August 2014, I had the opportunity to switch to a completely different professional field. I trained as a legal secretary with Dr. Elisabeth Scheuba and, thanks to her expertise, learned a lot about Austrian inheritance law and the legal system in Austria. The training also strengthened my administrative skills and organizational talent, which was and is very helpful in my future career.
Airport #4: Back to the roots:
In the summer of 2014, my desire to return to my original profession grew. That’s why I decided to work as an elementary teacher again. As I needed to get to know another provider, I decided to work for the St. Nikolausstiftung. In September 2014, I started working as an elementary teacher in charge of a family group. During this time, I was very closely supervised and supported by my manager, Claudia-Ricarda Bondi, who was always there for me later in my professional career. My boss and mentor also encouraged me to aim for the management course for executives. Claudia-Ricarda also introduced me to the solution-focused leadership approach for the first time – that was a real game changer.
Airport #5: Hello, sinnvollFÜHREN!
I had my first contact with Veronika and Ralph in a module during my management training. Veronika and Ralph further increased my enthusiasm for solution-focused work and leadership. I was immediately sure I wanted to implement the principles, attitudes and methods I learned in this module as a kindergarten manager. From then on, I was in constant contact with sinnvollFÜHREN GmbH through coaching and internal training.
Airport #6: Management experience:
In September 2018, the opportunity arose to take over the kindergarten where I worked as a teacher and interim manager. Having already completed the management course and being ready to take the next step, I accepted the offer. A new and exciting area of responsibility opened up for me. After my first taste of the new area of responsibility, I soon realized I wanted to continue doing this job. So, in February 2019, I accepted the manager position of a four-group home. That was another crucial step for me.
Airport #7: Studying “Social Management in Elementary Education” at the FH Campus Wien:
While working as a manager at the St. Lukas parish kindergarten, I realized after some time that I wanted to quench my renewed thirst for knowledge. I therefore decided to enrol on the Bachelor’s degree course in “Social Management in Elementary Education”. I completed the part-time course with excellent results at the end of March 2023.
During my studies, I realized I wanted to change my career again. It was essential to me to develop my strengths, namely my talent for structure and organization, on the one hand, and to continue supporting and advancing people on the other. I fulfilled my growing desire to continue my journey.
My destination airport “sinnvollFÜHREN”:
Now, the time has come. My plane has reached its destination airport. On February 1, 2023, I started as an assistant to Veronika, Ralph, and the entire sinnvollFÜHREN team. Since that day, you can find me in the back office of sinnvollFÜHREN. In this new job and through my training as a solution-focused coach and consultant, I encounter new fields of knowledge and experience every day.
I am looking forward to the new challenges and to the knowledge and skills I can acquire. I’ve already met a lot of great people and had many exciting conversations, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s to come.
Language
During my training, I acquired a good basic knowledge of English. Thanks to the conference organizations at sinnvollFÜHREN, I’m improving my English speaking skills daily. (And I’m secretly noticing that I’m even starting to enjoy it – but please keep that between us. ;-)) Of course, I still feel much more confident when communicating in my mother tongue, German.
Daniela Manharter and her strengths
From reading this, you may have already noticed that it is important to me always to move forward and only rarely (and then only briefly) standstill. That’s why I count my great interest in continuing my education to achieve the best benefit for myself and my environment as one of my greatest strengths.
My friends and colleagues describe me as very positive, and I agree entirely with them. I have often heard this sentence about myself: “Daniela always has a smile on her face”. I usually infect people around me with my optimism, which I’m proud of.
Another strength is my talent for structure and organization. I usually stay on top of things ;-), and I am happy to help my colleagues with project planning, implementation, and more.
Oh yes—I talk a lot (don’t worry, I also love to listen) and laugh. I think that proves that I am a very communicative and social person.
