Personal growth at 55+? Here′s how a flexible employer will support your dreams

It has been about two years since I started out studying part-time for a Master’s degree in Business Ethics at the Munich School of Philosophy. What was it that motivated me?  Read ?The moment which made me redesign my life”.

I am now in my fourth term, and in a nutshell, this is an incredible intellectual adventure. I have written papers on social justice and reflected about my social media activities ethically.

I have taken an analytical look at “Vita Activa” by Hannah Arendt, and I carried out an evaluation of our coaching network GROW2GLOW with the goal to see if it shows any traits of Arendt’s perception of power. Indeed, it does! And I confronted myself with the topic of “Empathy in leadership behavior”, which introduced me to Jodi Halpern‘s concept of ‘engaged curiosity’. Right now, I am writing a presentation on “Corporate Social Responsibility”. What a great stimulus these past months have offered to me!

My daughter Charlotte is also enrolled as student. She studies English literature and language – and one day she told me that she was going to apply for an Erasmus study scholarship in Dublin. From the distance, I followed her every step in the application process, and I was delighted when she received her approval. Of course, I went to visit her in Dublin. It was during those days that my craving started – wouldn’t it be just great if I …? Shortly afterwards, I received an email from the International Office of my university informing me that they had joined the Erasmus+ program. Can you imagine how my craving peaked!

Let me explain to you: I had raised both my children as a single parent, with continuing support from my managers and co-workers in this effort. In this setting, a stay abroad was utterly inconceivable! So, I buried my desire deep in my heart and busied myself with the practical requirements of everyday life. 

But meanwhile, my kids no longer require the focus of my attention. I decided to give it a go – and I applied for a scholarship at the Ignatianum University in Cracow. To my application, I added a hint as to please not discriminate based on my age ... While the application process was going through its steps, I was wondering about my job situation. The obvious route to take was to go for a sabbatical. But I did not want to pause my attractive work; and the income was important to me – after all, I still need to support my offspring. 

I pondered on a scenario which would allow me to continue with my job. I did a trial, working from my home for a few weeks. This test worked out perfectly. So I laid out a plan: I would be switching from full time to part time and working remotely for four months. I designed a strong case around this model and asked my manager, Heiko Rohrmoser, for a meeting. I was just so excited – which turned out to be absolutely unnecessary: Heiko listened intently to my proposal … and he gave me his o.k. right away. What a moment of utter joy and gratefulness! I very much appreciated this responsiveness and flexibility on the part of my employer. 

Meanwhile, I received the approval from Ignatianum. Kickoff is late September. Please keep your fingers crossed … I need all my relatives to remain in good health, so I can indeed go to Cracow!