Christian von Albrichsfeld, CEO Continental Romania: “All employees should know that by adapting to these modern times they can achieve what they desire”

“2020 is a year like no other for all of us. What we need to see is opportunities. All the crisis situations bring not only difficulties, but also opportunities. We just need to see those situations where we can take an advantage, a lead. 2020 is no exception. In the automotive industry, Continental and other companies learned how to see this year as an opportunity and took action, looking to foster digitalization, be more efficient, focus better, and be more agile,” Christian von Albrichsfeld, CEO Continental Romania told The Diplomat-Bucharest. “This is how both employees and employers start building together, one brick after another, trust in our capabilities of transformation and empower ourselves. When you start convincing the ones near you that opportunity is knocking at your door, then you have made the first steps towards adapting the mindset to the new times, to the new situations and you can start build the purpose you asked about.”

What leadership skills do you find most useful in the current changing work environment? 

Flexibility/ Agility/ Adaptability is, in my opinion, one of the roles which will play a significant part in today’s more and more faster changing world. One needs to adapt constantly to the needs of the organization, of the markets, of the entire world progress. This brings a lot of challenges, of course, but have the advantage of keeping one’s body and mind very sharp. And 2020 has shown us that we need to be in good shape, from all points of view, in order to lead a successful organization.

Also, we will live in a more and more digitalized world, so we need to learn as much as possible about these aspects of our life. Because digitalization is not about turning on the computer, but about finding smart ways of simplifying every life aspect. We speak about Artificial Intelligence in cars, in logistics, in transportation, in smart city apps etc. We need to be able to use it in a clever manner even in management in order to obtain efficiency and best results.

On the other hand, in this context, when the interaction is limited and things are changing on short notice, it’s mandatory to keep close and communicate to the employees, customers, suppliers and stakeholders.

Which are the empowering mindsets and building the sense of meaning & purpose, both for employers and employees, to keep each other engaged in reaching the business objectives in 2020 and in the next year?

2020 is a year like no other for all of us. What we need to see is opportunities. All the crisis situations bring not only difficulties, but also opportunities. We just need to see those situations where we can take an advantage, a lead. 2020 is no exception. In the automotive industry. Continental and other companies learned how to see this year as an opportunity and took action, looking to foster digitalization, be more efficient, focus better, and be more agile. This is how both employees and employers start building together, one brick after another, trust in our capabilities of transformation and empower ourselves. When you start convincing the ones near you that opportunity is knocking at your door, then you have made the first steps towards adapting the mindset to the new times, to the new situations and you can start build the purpose you asked about.

What should be a CEO’s and leader’s power message on business resilience conveyed to peers, partners, and employees for 2021, in order to enhance the trust and engagement?

Act! See opportunities, take decisions, and change into your favour the given chances. All employees, from blue collars to management team, all of them should know that adapting to these modern times they can achieve what they desire. And to make this message powerful, one needs to bring concrete measures, concrete examples. This is the way we adapted fast and organized online trainings for professional reconversion in order to offer employees better chances to bring their contribution to the welfare of all of us. And this is just an example we reshaped our organization for best results.  

The current dynamics of the economy, of the world, of the automotive industry market and, not only, can be managed by the ability of each one of us – especially leaders – to adapt quickly to new requirements, in a flexible and agile way.

How can a CEO and leader of an organization capitalize on the current challenges to enhance and promote the company’s competition advantages currently?

Adapting the way of working in an uncertain environment makes the big difference between the classic way of behaviour & work and the new one, of agile type.

The adaptation of the “behaviour” as a whole, respectively the change of behaviour, entails the change, which flow into adaptability.

Which are the current concerns of a CEO / leader in 2020?  Which are the hopes for 2021?

I would say the health of our employees is the main concern for all the leaders in 2020. We all expect a vaccine as fast as possible for the coronavirus pandemic to end. But in the meantime, we all need to take all the measures in order to prevent infections and to make the employees feel we take care of them. In automotive sector, a major concern is the drop of car sales which affects the entire industry. Automotive markets will recover, but they are still in the middle of a fundamental technological transformation. And with the number of coronavirus cases on the rise once again, the markets continue to be unpredictable. The overall critical situation clearly confirms that, above all, resolute and flexible action is needed to safeguard our competitiveness and viability. That is the goal of our structural program as well as our realignment and strategy. With the decisions made recently by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board, we have passed a key milestone and are now increasingly looking ahead to our profitable growth with future technologies.

 What kind of innovative measures and inclusive leadership initiatives have been applied within your organization this year, to better cope with the current context and bring the business forward in 2021?

Increasing transparency in all segments and at all levels, foster the transfer of decision-making power where information is, the analysis and pragmatic action in an optimistic and spontaneous, resilient manner, are some other key attributes that facilitate the successful path through the volatile context we all live in.