“Managing growth through simple processes”

After four years at PAWLIK Consultants, organization expert Layla Dolfen (29) is moving up to the management of the international consulting firm as COO. Alongside CEO and founder Joachim Pawlik, Arne Adrian, and Professor Henrik Meyer-Hoeven, the Munich native is thus the first woman and youngest member of the company's management board.

“Against the background of our growth, we decided to give more weight to the topic of ‘operational excellence’,” explained Joachim Pawlik: “Layla Dolfen, with her outstanding management skills, is the perfect fit for this.” She has contributed significantly to the company's growth over the past two years. Layla Dolfen's responsibilities include the operational management of all PAWLIK-related services: project management, consultant support and expansion, office management, and IT hardware.

Dolfen started her professional career in 2015 in project management at the bioanalysis service provider Eurofins. In 2017, she joined the project management team at PAWLIK Consultants. Here she quickly built up her skills: as assistant to the management, team leader for strategic customer development, and Head of Operations, where as team leader she most recently optimized operational processes to increase efficiency.

Five questions for Layla Dolfen

What do you want to achieve in your new position?

Since the Group has planned to develop further over the next three years through its ventures and steps for continued expansion, the processes must grow along with it. My task is to maintain the high process quality through the use of manageable, lean processes, clear interface management, and transparent reporting.  We want to limit the individual effort of management, thereby giving them more freedom for strategic issues. 

What is currently the biggest challenge in relation to your position?

Communicate and implement the new processes and policies in a way that employees will gladly follow them and do not perceive them as a constraint or hindrance.

What is important to you when it comes to leadership?

I am there to create the ideal environment for my employees to succeed in. I want to encourage them to make their own decisions and proactively take on responsibility. It is important to me to have a trusting relationship so that everyone involved feels free enough to give and accept feedback at any time. In my view, a manager must be reliable and have the ability to make decisions quickly when necessary. I also demand this of myself.

What drives you?

Being able to solve problems together with the company every day and paving the way for the future. The speed with which things move in our company and the passion with which everyone works and fights for their area within the company is what connects us. It’s that feeling of “family” that drives me.

You’re the first woman to be a member of the management team. What's special about it?

If you know PAWLIK, then there is nothing special about it.