Interviews › Frieder Gamm Group
The optimal context for optimal working
The freedom to give of your best
Frieder Gamm welcomes us virtually from Stuttgart. The author, trainer, coach, and negotiation expert could also have contacted us from Buenos Aires, Strasbourg, or any other of the world’s beautiful places. He is a digital nomad by conviction and comfortably at home anywhere in the world. When it comes to remote work or workation, he’s a passionate advocate of the new decentralized working—although the concept, the idea of new working, is not so new to him and his colleagues. “Let the people work from where they can and want to do it best,” says Frieder Gamm. “Whether in your home office or in another country—working in an environment where you can feel comfortable is three times better than from the office in your home country.” He lives by this credo and also makes it possible for all his employees to do the same.
After 10 years in purchasing and sales, Frieder Gamm left Porsche AG and founded the Frieder Gamm Group in 1999. Since then, he and his team have been coaching and advising companies both big and small, from medium-sized businesses to corporate level. “A lot has changed over the last few years. Where ties and business shoes used to set the tone, today a casual look and sneakers are the norm. And of course change also applies to the workplace. For us, ‘where’ was never an issue. What has to be right is the quality of the work.”
Where and when you work is basically irrelevant. What’s important is that the outcome is right and that the path to achieving it is smooth for everyone involved. “Of course someone from production can’t work from a vacation island and working for the fire service isn’t suitable for home-working either. But in the industries and professions in which remote working is possible, companies should allow it and promote it too,” Frieder Gamma asserts. “And good bosses have recognized that happy employees with a balanced private life—whether on the beach, at home, or in the mountains—simply work better.” Basically, it’s about creating the right conditions. A free choice of work location, whether temporary or in general, is a powerful offer in this regard. And, in Frieder Gamm’s experience, it’s being actively requested in companies’ HR departments.
“When the environment is right, the working atmosphere is relaxed, and the individual feels comfortable, something amazing usually happens”
“When the environment is right, the working atmosphere is relaxed, and the individual feels comfortable, something amazing usually happens: people open up, then things start to get lively—and that’s what we need. At work, but also in private life.” But Frieder Gamm knows that working in a place where others go on holiday doesn’t just have an impact on the individual. “No matter where I am, it has a tangible impact, it conveys something. It’s directly visible in video calls, where I can integrate my environment if necessary. But also in daily business. So give people the freedom to design their optimal environment, because each individual knows best how this should look.”
Alongside exciting places, where you can discover new things outside work for example, and a good infrastructure, Frieder Gamm lists some other important points that make traveling and decentralized working really good—the people who support him in his planning. As a Lufthansa status customer, he maintains good personal contacts with Miles & More and his travel agency, which manages his sometimes very spontaneous trips worldwide, finding him great offers.
The long-standing association with his personal contact at PartnerPlusBenefit, the Lufthansa Group airlines bonus program for medium-sized companies, is also particularly important to him. He’ll be making use of this again soon, because his next travel preparations are already underway. Buenos Aires, one of his favorite spots for a workation, will also be one of his destinations again in 2023.
Frieder Gamm is the owner and managing director of the Frieder Gamm Group GmbH. The FGG specializes in national and international seminars and coaching in negotiation. The Group’s range of services includes practical and individually tailored seminars, lectures, and negotiation and management coaching.
More about the range of services offered by the Frieder Gamm Group.
