Everyone who applies for a job wants to know what condition their potential future employer is in. People applying for internal positions have an advantage in that respect. They already know how well the company is doing, whether and how well the teamwork and collaboration works; they know the written and unwritten rules and whether those values are really taken on board. I was an “outsider”.

So I spent a great deal of time intensively studying GEA before my application: I worked through the website, read newspaper articles and analyst reports, and of course I spoke about GEA to everyone in my professional environment. The company provides a wealth of insightful information to anyone interested. I only found rather limited, but very good news in the press. Surprisingly, my otherwise so well informed professional environment knew only little about GEA. It had a good reputation, but was not well known. That’s no doubt typical for a brand that serves other companies and industries rather than consumers themselves.

GEA’s motto is “Engineering for a better world”. That immediately appealed to me because it indicated that people always play an important role. GEA’s close collaboration with the food industry, which I knew very well from my previous employment, was also a bonus. So the key factors looked good, but would my role and responsibilities be exciting?

I met my future boss and my predecessor at my first interview and was positively surprised that the CEO Jürg Oleas also took the time to meet me. The interview went well and both sides were interested. I have to admit I was a little put off by the CEO’s very neutral and reserved manner. I got the impression that he had other more important things on his mind. An HR consultant joined me at the interview and I remember giving the following interview feedback to him: “A CEO with whom you don’t “click” is usually a no go scenario for any HR job.” Usually.

I’d almost decided in favor of another employer, but despite my skepticism, something made me go to the second interview with GEA. The turnaround happened right at the start of our conversation. Jürg Oleas spoke to me in clear, direct words to thank me for my feedback, which the HR consultant had passed on to him. Jürg Oleas reacted by asking a number of employees if he did indeed sometimes make that impression. He therefore changed his interview behavior in the very next talks we had. He was very grateful to have received personal feedback, from which he was able to learn. Being ready to learn is not only a virtue, but also a success factor for innovative companies and cultures.

I too was grateful for that open and personal manner, which ultimately convinced me in favor of GEA. I truly experienced: At GEA, the values and corporate culture really are lived for, from top to bottom and back again.

These are two issues which could jeopardise the long term sustainability of your organisation but often the solution is already in front of you – it just needs some attention and careful planning.

The GEA First Professional Program is a GEA Corporate initiative, run with the assistance of Munich Leadership Group, designed to identify and develop “talents” within GEA in order to secure the sustainable future growth of our organisation. This program, which includes four modules spanning eight months, brings together twenty one young GEA professions, from a cross section of disciplines, Segments and countries, considered to be high potentials within our talent pool. These young men and women, in general, have been with GEA for between two and five years and have just embarked upon a journey of personal development which will prepare them for a potential move in to their first management positions within GEA.   

But how do we identify this potential and how do we determine which specific areas our “talents” need to work on to further enhance their management and leadership potential? Firstly, Segment management is responsible for nomination of candidates on to the program, based upon clearly defined criteria. Once selected, our “young saplings” begin their journey with a two day development workshop where they are challenged by four situational exercises, under the close observation and scrutiny of several “observers”. The observers, of which I was one, comprise senior Managers and Leaders from Segment Companies and Business Units plus HR experts from across the Segments.  Naturally, my colleagues and I believed that we were already skilled in spotting potential and talent however what is critical to this process is the consistency in the criteria we are observing and how these are assessed. So, even for us seasoned professionals, the program started with our own observer training. 

The participants performed in 4 different exercises which are designed to challenge our participants’ natural ability in leadership, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, negotiation and business creativity. What was intriguing to witness was to elicit several unique approaches form the different participants being observed, each participant showcasing their own individual strengths whilst also providing me with an insight in to areas for their own development potential.

Following completion of the exercises, my colleagues and I reviewed in detail our observations of each participant, identifying strengths and also areas for further development, in preparation for the individual feedback session. I would say we didn’t always see things the same way which certainly prompted some further reflection on my part as to what I had observed over the two days. Even an “old dog” can be convinced to look at things from a different perspective!

Providing constructive feedback is of course a skill all Managers and Leaders need to acquire and is by no means a simple task. It’s easy to tell someone how well they have done, which of course we did as our participants in general excelled across all exercises, but we also need to explore areas of weakness, which through mentoring, coaching and training we can develop in to strengths. The feedback process is, I believe, as important to the development of our future Managers and Leaders as any amount of training and based on the feedback I received from our participants, I think the session was well appreciated.

Let us not forget that personal development does not just comprise classroom teachings and observation session, but also the interaction between individuals from different cultures, backgrounds and professions which help us develop a more rounded perspective of the world and the global business environment. This too is what the GEA First Professions Program provides to both participants and observers alike.

After this intensive start to the 2013 GEA First Professional Program, I packed my bags, boarded my plane and based on what I have observed over the past two days, I was content in the knowledge that the sustainable future of GEA is indeed a reality and in safe hands.

One reason is certainly that GEA is a top employer. The magazine Focus has researched which employers deserve the “Best Employers” distinction and recently published a ranking list.

And GEA is right up there among the best!

Focus magazine joined forces with the data specialists Statista and Xing to analyze 820 companies in Germany with more than 1,000 employees. Including GEA.

The companies were studied in detail in a multi-stage process, focusing on the opinions and experiences of their employees. In an initial step, employees from all hierarchical levels participated in a XING survey on their employers. At the same time, experts scanned online portals for assessments and employer distinctions. In a second round, employees again gave their feedback and answered 45 questions on themes such as responsibility, corporate climate, working environment, development, wages and additional benefits. Employees were also asked whether they would recommend the company to friends and relatives. The results were converted into a points score to produce a ranking for the many companies.

The outcome is impressive!

GEA is among the TOP 10 corporations in the category “Mechanical Engineering, Multitechnology”. GEA came 9^th in the sector.

In the overall rankings, GEA managed 88^th place, thereby outperforming 732 other companies.

The speed of adoption and the ubiquity of social media herald a shift in how the world relates to us – and in turn, in how we relate to the world. No longer can organizations rely on a model where a well-designed message is broadcast and then received and understood by its target audience. Today people expect companies to engage with the world in a much more transparent and direct way than most organizations have been used to.

This development has been evident in the business-to-consumer B2C (business-to-consumer) markets for a number of years. Many of us have probably come across social media initiatives by some of the large B2C brands like Starbucks or Coca-Cola. In their markets social media success is a question of life or death and enormous resources are spent on social media. In the B2B (business-to-business) world the development has not yet had the same sort of impact.

However, from our point of view that does not mean that B2B companies such as GEA can neglect social media or that social media activity is a consumer company activity only, though. In fact, many B2B organizations already make extensive use of social media.

In our positions as Head of Corporate Branding & Publishing at the Headquarters and as Online Marketing Manager at the Segment GEA Process Engineering, we have already been using social media not only in our private, but also in our business life. In 2012, we wanted to find out how the use of social media would be beneficial for GEA and its customers, applicants and other stakeholders. Therefore, we developed a GEA social media strategy together with other colleagues from GEA Headquarters and the Marketing Departments of our six segments.

During the strategy development process we have identified that for GEA currently the most important platforms are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and XING (for the DACH region). As far as LinkedIn, YouTube and XING are concerned, we have adopted a common, cross-segmental GEA page. In order to reach industry-specific target groups, for Facebook and Twitter there are several industry-related pages.

For Facebook we have set up pages for the farming, food and pharma industry: facebook.com/GEAFarming, facebook.com/geafood and facebook.com/GEAPharma. For Twitter, check out these pages for the food and pharma industry: twitter.com/gea_food and twitter.com/geapharma. As we will gradually become more active in social media, we expect pages for further industries to be set up in the future.

With the new structure, we will work even more collaboratively with our colleagues from other segments, Business Units and legal entities than before, because we are working together on the same social media pages. Possible questions on the company culture, job experiences or product solutions will be answered from a cross-segmental, group-wide perspective – in itself a good example of how social media brings about change in organizations.

GEA pages

Below is a list of the pages that we are starting with – check them out and join in the conversation!

Facebook

facebook.com/GEAFarming

facebook.com/geafood

facebook.com/GEAPharma

LinkedIn

linkedin.com/company/geagroup

Twitter

twitter.com/gea_food

twitter.com/geapharma

XING

xing.com/companies/geagroup

YouTube

youtube.com/thegeagroup

What kind of news do you want to read about on the social media platforms of GEA? We are looking forward to hearing from you – here or in social networks.

The events are a way for the GEA Executive Board to provide answers on future strategic alignment. Every Board Member also presents important information on themes and issues from their field of responsibilities. We discuss our competitive situation in the various fields of business and present the winners of our annual Innovation Contest. Naturally we always invite guest speakers, who talk on future trends or provide economic insight.

Many colleagues were pleased to renew personal contacts – the noise during the welcoming drinks on Sunday evening was like a swarm of bees! After that, our CEO Jürg Oleas welcomed everyone during dinner together. As every year, the event included young talented employees who sat together with myself and Jürg, in order to ask questions directly to the CEO and discuss different opinions. So I was able to follow a very interesting dialogue! Many participants also used the opportunity during after-dinner drinks to exchange ideas personally with international colleagues.   

Monday began with the “State of the Nation” speech by Jürg Oleas. After presenting an overview of the performance of the individual segments, he stressed how important it is for all employees and managers to share the GEA vision and work together towards fulfilling our aims. In that context, he repeated the significance of the GEA Values and our understanding of leadership. His lecture closed with our strategic alignment, for which the application field of food plays an increasingly important role: Once again, its proportion of the overall volume rose last year. In addition to closeness to our customers, innovative leadership in the fields of products and applications will continue to have the greatest importance to secure our strong competitive position for the coming 20, 50 and 100 years.

Professor Yiorgos Mylonadis from the London Business School addressed the theme of sustainability in his speech entitled “Strategic Conversation”. The audience was fascinated by his discourse on why only very few companies manage to remain consistently in the Top 500 of the world’s most successful companies for 40 or 50 years. Many even disappear completely. His key message was that to prevent that happening, corporations must constantly address what is changing in their ecosystem. Reacting to that and constantly adapting is a fundamental necessity. That sounds simple, but is often difficult to implement: Professor Mylonadis used amazing images to show how quickly one can fall foul of one’s own perception and overlook important details. Our perception is especially controlled by our expectations and experiences – which can sometimes lead us astray. Another strong image he presented is knowing when to “step on the gas pedal” and when to use the “handbrake” with respect to corporate management: Everyone learning to drive knows how difficult it is to set off on a slope for the first time. The same process happens to a company when it strategically adapts to new situations – and one needs to act in a similarly balanced way.

Following reports by the GEA Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Helmut Schmale, on the financial situation and expectations regarding the capital market, the member of the Executive Board, Human Resources/Legal, Dr. Stephan Petri, and I presented an overview of the future themes in the field of HR, e.g. changes in HR development, the new talent management approach and the worldwide employee survey we’re carrying out this year. Our reports were followed by a speech by the Chief Economist of Allianz, Dr. Michael Heise, on the status of the financial markets and the global economic situation. The GEA Board Member Niels Graugaard then gave us an in-depth strategy discussion: He presented future strategic options for GEA and explained which decision-making criteria play a role in the field of interaction between applications and technologies. Another presentation by Jürg Oleas on why thinking “outside the box” is so difficult enhanced the day – as did the thoughts of our Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Jürgen Heraeus, on the difference between publicly and privately run companies. He stressed that GEA – despite its MDAX requirements – has maintained many qualities of a private company and that he especially valued GEA for that style of management. So there was plenty of food for discussion during the day, which everyone reviewed on the concluding boat trip on the Rhine. 

Tuesday was mainly dominated by workshops. Four themes were on the agenda:

• What could lead to a situation one day where GEA no longer existed?  
• Innovation – where is there room for improvements?
• How can we improve our Service Business?
• What role should Key Account Management play in the future?

Ideas on those themes were gathered for half a day, solutions were discussed and recommendations for future action were derived and subsequently presented to the participants and the Board. In the afternoon, we focused on Compliance. Dr. Stephan Petri and Dr. Nina Scherf presented the theme, which is often regarded as uninspiring, in a very entertaining way using a TED survey. In the evening, the variety continued: We all went to the Classic Remise to wonder at a large collection of vintage cars.

Wednesday, the final day, was completely dedicated to the Innovation Contest. All our segments presented their latest innovative developments and applied for € 1.5 million for their research: During the presentation of individual projects, the audience was so excited and interested, you could have heard a pin drop! This year, “crowd sourcing” was used to determine the winner: All participants were able to vote on the proposals – apart from those whose segment actually presented the innovation. The winner was GEA Process Engineering with “Continuous Direct Compression”, followed by GEA Food Solutions with “High Speed Thermo Former”. GEA Mechanical Equipment came third with an “Intelligent Separation” solution.

Three and a half intensive days! I’ve taken a great deal of inspiration for my concrete task and my responsibility as a manager – both from the speeches and the many bilateral discussions with my colleagues from around the world.

Summer 2008. Freshly graduated from high school and with high expectations, I began my first day working for GEA IT Services GmbH in Oelde. I decided in favor of dual studies in Business Information Technology.

It was very exciting to join such a major business directly after leaving school. To begin with, everything was unfamiliar and new.  

Already in the first week, I benefited from the GEA training concept through the “Welcome Day”, since it answered many questions concerning daily corporate operations. At the same time, I was able to establish initial networking contacts with other apprentices and dual students. I quickly realized that GEA never leaves people alone with their questions and I certainly wasn’t alone in asking them. Today, I still benefit from that initial networking with other people from different segments and fields within GEA. During my training, I regularly had a chance to consolidate my network while on tours of other locations and at various events.

The dual studies system has a block structure: I always alternated between 3 months at the workplace and 3 months at the university. Professors at college teach us a great deal about “strategies, internationalization, technological leadership and core competences”. Often during lectures, I thought: “A lot of that applies to GEA.” My dual studies allowed me to combine theory with the skills I learnt in practice at an early stage.

Before I joined GEA, I didn’t know very much about the company. But over the years, it became clear that you come across GEA quite often in daily life. I gradually developed “an eye” for GEA . When my friends at the indoor climbing wall ask me where I work and I answer “GEA”, most of them don’t have a clue what “GEA” is. Then I point up to the air conditioning system with its GEA logo and say, “That’s where I work.”

Towards the end of my dual studies, I carried out my first project abroad. I worked for three weeks in England and supported switching the terminals from Windows Vista to Windows 7. I was able to get to know different locations and had a lot of positive experiences. The people I met were always very collegial and GEA gave us a sense of togetherness. I was given a lot of support regardless of nationality or corporate position. While working on location, I realized that GEA IT makes a key contribution to networking the entire GEA world. I was able to work and communicate from any location without any problems in terms of different standards or interfaces. Well, except for the English power sockets, that is .  

The next big step came when I completed my studies in 2011. I started working on my first extensive projects. No more theoretical essays on globalization and international processes. I’d become a part of it all. And before you know it, you’re talking with American business partners about suitable protocols for electronic data exchange, or discussing the ideally integrated connection for logistics data. On my way home after work, seeing the different trucks with their company names and knowing I’d set up their interface, I sometimes wonder: “Maybe that truck wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t set up that interface.”

So you quickly realize that IT is not abstract and has a major effect on all business processes.

In the meantime, I’ve moved to the field of SAP and EDI technology. I’ve also just completed my first MA semester in “IT Management”. Even after my initial training, GEA continue to provide enthusiastic support, either with my MA course or through the mentor program. The latter gave me the chance to regularly meet an experienced manager and exchange ideas.

Over the years and in discussions with fellow students, it became clear that a lot of the support from GEA that I take for granted is not necessarily provided elsewhere. I’m pleased to be working in a company that individually supports my career, allowing me to fully develop and contribute my potential.

This statement illustrates how difficult it is before one great idea is conceived. It also highlights the lessons learned on the journey of creating one great idea. The road to great ideas means not only thinking unconventionally, but among others also requires versatility, perseverance and resilience.

At GEA i²m, which stands for Ideas & Improvement Management, gives all employees the chance and the platform to come up with innovative ideas. Ideas that enable GEA to improve its product portfolio, quality of service, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and eventually the bottom line. The long-term results of this value chain is that GEA continues to strengthen its current market position, while strategically positioning itself to respond proactively and quickly to the rapidly changing market dynamics.

i^2m has been in existence within GEA for the last 5 years and its track record speaks for itself. More than 7,400 employees have conceived a total of 73,000 ideas. The total benefit is a staggering EUR 51,000,000!

GEA continues to invest the necessary resources to establish an innovative environment. It is both challenging and rewarding to be part of this innovative GEA environment. I am very excited to be a part of it and my objective is to continue building on that innovative environment by reaching out to even more employees, therefore generating more quantitative and qualitative ideas.

Just in case you are still wondering who made the statement at the beginning of the article, it was Thomas Edison. The man who according to popular belief provided mankind with the light bulb. Did you know that the light bulb was not Thomas Edison’s original idea? He improved on an idea that had been previously worked on by other people.

One of the first things I realized was that all the subsidiaries I visited were run by local management, with many of our Chinese managers having been with GEA for many years. To me, this proved once more that GEA’s entrepreneurial culture is really working: responsibilities are managed locally, close to both our customers and markets.

Steve Tzuoo, Managing Director GEA Process Engineering China Ltd., who is also a member of the GEA Process Engineering segment board and holds numerous responsibilities across the Asian markets, stressed that “the clear responsibilities create ownership based on committed budgets.”

Xu Zheng, our Human Resources Manager in Wuhu, said that GEA employees very much value the trust that management puts into every single associate. As a result, ideas and suggestions are welcomed and often put into practice. Moreover, our employees have access to training in various fields, helping them to grow as professionals and helping GEA to build a sustainable business.

“There is a good feeling for achievements,” said Zheng. “We all learn that we can develop.”

Youde Xiao, our President Sales Greater China for the segment GEA Refrigeration Technologies, reinforced this view. He told me in Suzhou that his segment is greatly benefitting from this management style. He specifically pointed out how important the low level of reporting lines and the trust senior management is showing employees time and time again.

“My voice is heard and our business strategies are aligned,” Xiao said, even though his office is thousand miles away from the segment’s headquarters in Bochum, Germany.

Overall, I was very impressed by how open and professional the working culture of my colleagues in China is. We agreed to work even more closely together in the future, especially with regard to employer branding in China and fostering the exchange and mobility of talent. Together we will ensure that GEA meets all growth targets through excellent and dedicated people strategies.

From a personal perspective, I always enjoy the Chinese food and how it is served. Sitting around a round table with my colleagues and sharing all the delicious food that is served on an inner table that can be moved around is an excellent tradition.

I am already looking forward to my next visit…

The Trainee program at GEA is offered to career launchers who have graduated from many different university courses and is characterized by allowing the Trainees to get to know a wide range of national and international corporate fields, and jointly experience various development measures in a network to prepare them for future expert or managerial positions.

For instance I’m a Trainee in Human Resources and am currently doing a 18-month Trainee program at GEA. I began the course immediately after graduating from university. I chose the GEA Trainee program to launch my career because its structure and accompanying measures offered me good opportunities to develop myself. The program is structured in a modular way so I’ve already worked at the Headquarters of the GEA Group and in a foreign company in the Segment GEA Refrigeration Technologies. The program is accompanied by further development measures jointly attended by all GEA Trainees.

There have been Trainees working at the GEA Group Headquarters for many years. The basic concept was expanded just over two years ago to establish a corporate-wide, cross-segmental Trainee program. The Head of Management Development involved amongst others a Trainee from Headquarters and myself, while I was still a working student, in that expansion process. So the strategic alignment of the Trainee program also took the previous experiences of a Trainee and the ideas, requirements and wishes of a working student into account.  Perhaps it is precisely that inclusion of various perspectives in restructuring the Trainee program that has been the secret to its success, as can be seen by the exclusively positive feedback from current Trainees.  

Last week, all Trainees came together for the event “Trainees around the table”, which is held regularly. This time, the focus was on exchanging experiences made in foreign locations, as well as feedback on the Trainee program and its components. The responses were very positive and many of us have already recommended the program to friends, which is a clear indication of our satisfaction. Once again, Gudrun Blankenhaus, Head of Management Development and Cornelia Hulla, Head of Corporate Human Resources, who were both present, gave feedback a high priority.

Recently, the GEA Trainee program was also externally evaluated and classified as a “career-enhancing and fair trainee program” by Absolventa, a portal for students, graduates and young professionals. That recognition is based on fulfilling criteria that include strategically integrating the Trainee program in Talent Management, involving Trainees in responsible tasks and accompanying learning measures, as well as salaries. All criteria are listed in the charta of career-enhancing and fair trainee programs.

Attractive career-launching opportunities and programs for graduates are a key component of successfully contacting potential applicants. In my opinion, GEA has managed that with its Trainee program. From your perspective, what do you think are other factors that make up an attractive employer?

My night ends at 6.30 in the morning with the unmistakable sound of my alarm clock and is extended by ten minutes with a well-trained hit on the snooze button.

Since I’ve just moved from Paderborn, which is 70km away, to Oelde, where my employer GEA Mechanical Equipment is located, I have a few precious morning minutes at the breakfast table and can take a quick look at the newspaper, while still arriving at work earlier than before.

After that, I wrap up warm and jump on my bike, arriving at the bike shed only five minutes later. I enter the company premises using my employee ID at a turnstile. My workplace is in an open-plan office on the fourth floor, where some of my colleagues are already hard at work.

My day’s work begins by checking my emails, looking at the meetings ahead and briefly planning the day’s tasks. Then I go to a regular fortnightly meeting, in which my colleagues and I exchange views on the progress of the relevant projects, agree on new priorities and, if necessary, modify the teams to adapt to new tasks. Once everything is agreed upon, there is finally time to work on my main project, namely testing an integrated direct drive for a series of our high-performance centrifuges, known as separators. An adjustment to the experiment structure is planned for the morning: The separator is modified so that it operates at the limits of the intended operative performance range. One of our dual Mechanical Engineering students provides active support by placing an imbalance mass in the drum, the heart of the separator.

To rule out even the smallest security risk, the experiments are carried out in a “bunker” with thick reinforced concrete walls. The separator is monitored on video and all sensors, monitoring systems, measuring devices and control elements are operated remotely. Despite the best possible preparation, there is always a certain thrill about experiments like this. Have I taken all the important settings into account? Are all external parameters constant? As the system starts up, it quickly becomes clear that my slight nervousness is unnecessary and the separator can operate safely even at its limits. Naturally, researching new and unfamiliar things is exactly what makes my job so exciting. If you want to stay a step ahead of the competition, you constantly need to venture into unknown territory. Even when you investigate in the best possible way, the outcome is uncertain, and yet it always leads to additional insight, regardless how.

After the eventful morning and a lunch break in the company canteen, the schedule for the early afternoon includes a web meeting with a computation service provider that supports us in numerically calculating flows. During the meeting, my colleagues and I discuss the results of the simulation and try to identify the influencing parameters to achieve expedient experiments, thereby reducing the overall number of experiments required and reducing the invested costs and time. These often highly complex questions can best be solved in a team.

Back at my desk, my colleague informs me that while I was away, a problem occurred at our location during the final acceptance test on a separator for a customer in Norway. Since the delivery date is urgent, a solution has to be found immediately. A quick brainstorming session reveals a simple, feasible solution. My colleague then implements it in the 3D design system and directly forwards it to the separator undergoing the acceptance tests.

The rest of the afternoon is spent making phone calls to motor suppliers, planning future experiments and ordering parts for them so that everything is available when the experiments begin.

At the end of the day, I finish my remaining email correspondence and do some desk work.

After that, I contentedly cycle home and can look back on an exciting, eventful day that represents a small step in the right direction towards the perfect separator. 

I ask myself: “Are the stereotypical characteristics of Gen Y really that typical for my generation or are they too generalized to describe the reality of individuals?”