Scouted and developed: the managers of tomorrow

Krones brought the first programme for developing this talent into being last year. While it is in principle aimed at all employees, in 2023 the primary focus was on identifying and developing the next generation of female potential managers. This decision tied in closely with the Executive Board’s goal of increasing the proportion of female managers at the two levels below the Executive Board to 15 percent by the end of 2024. 

“Although the total number of female employees is growing all the time, it is still well below that of the male workforce,” says Kerstin Holzer of the HR team, describing the situation as it stands. And she provides a possible explanation for this: “That’s undoubtedly because of our industry. Like many other companies with a technical orientation, after all, we too are faced with the issue that the great majority of applications come from men,” Kerstin Holzer goes on. Veiko von Eckern, Head of Personnel Development, adds: “Particularly when it comes to management, we suffer the effects of the phenomenon known as the ‘leaky pipeline’. This is understood to mean the gap between the professional development of men and women, which widens further with increasing responsibility. What this means in practice is that while there may be equal numbers of men and women to start off with, statistics show that in percentage terms more men take on a management position over the course of their career. That’s because it is often still women who assume more of the responsibilities in family life, leading to them taking time out or returning in part-time roles. This has a detrimental impact on their career path.”

Focus in 2023: Actively approach those with potential

To counteract this trend, Krones has taken the decision to be more proactive in developing women with leadership potential. “We want to identify candidates from within our own ranks, encourage them to pursue a management track in their career path, and of course provide them with the best possible support along the way,” says Tanja Prudil of the HR team.

Those with potential were preselected in close consultation between HR, heads of department and the respective managers. “We then approached suitable candidates proactively. I think that was the right way to go about it, because from our discussions it was evident that some of them may already have envisaged taking on management responsibility, but were hesitant about making that first step. And then there are those who have never given a second thought to assuming a management position even though they have the potential,” explains Sabina Jordan from HR Business Partners.

Development Center and exciting training opportunities

Following this preselection process, some 100 female employees started the first round. They were given the opportunity to take part in a Development Center, which was supported by an external consultant and the respective HR Business Partner. The focus was on the duties, requirements and expectations associated with a leadership role at Krones. It concluded with extensive and structured feedback for each of them along with an overall assessment from the Development Center of the extent to which they would be suitable for a job with management responsibility in the future. The Development Center package was rounded off with a written summary of the impressions, which was intended to encourage self-reflection and set out possible future development steps.

Approaching almost 100 people for a Development Center, including preparation and follow-up, does of course take up a huge amount of time and staff resources, but it was definitely worth it, as Tanja Prudil explains: “Overall, the responses we got were consistently positive – the participants appreciated the opportunity and the individual feedback. Everyone is unique, after all, and has different skills or private and career goals. That's why we believe the individual feedback given at the Development Center is the right way to define the development goal that most suits each of them.” And, looking forward, not all of them have a future as a manager. During the Development Center, for instance, one or two participants came to realise that their strengths lay more in specialist or project responsibility than in a management role. 

The following development measures aimed at those with potential for management positions included courses from the existing training catalogue, but there was also an exclusive opportunity for the participants to take classes in “Body, voice, persuasiveness” and “Leadership basics” – the latter clearly focused on preparing candidates to take on management responsibility. 

Today: already 23 new female managers

While the participants are being prepared for possibly taking on a leadership role in the future, though, the team is keen to emphasis one thing: “Participation in the Development Center and the training does not give you a free pass to a management position,” says Veiko von Eckern. “Just because you have been identified as having potential does not mean that you are destined to be promoted.” When a suitable job is advertised, the participants in the programme must apply for it and go through the usual selection process just like everyone else. “We made this abundantly clear well in advance so as not to raise any false expectations,” Kerstin Holzer adds.

The programme bore fruit in its very first year, with a total of 23 women taking up a position with management responsibility by the beginning of August this year – either for the first time, or by assuming a management role with significantly more responsibility. “This shows that we are on the right track, because our development programme has enabled us to encourage many suitable female colleagues to take a step towards a management position,” Kerstin Holzer says. A closer look at the application figures reveals further positive trends: In the last one and a half years, for instance, not only have more women taken up management positions, but there has also been a general rise in the number of applications from women for vacant posts with management responsibility.

Veiko von Eckern and his team aren’t just looking at short-term success, though: “In the long term Krones too will benefit, of course. After all, if we want to bring more women into higher management levels going forward, we’ll need to replace the ones moving up from lower levels,” he explains. “These development measures enable us to establish a solid base of talent with leadership potential from which we can then draw in future recruitment processes.”

Round 2 in 2024

Of course, Krones has always been cognisant of the fact that it wants and needs to develop the next generation of managerial talent – which is wholly in keeping with our diversity objectives. “It was clear from the start that the first round of the programme would just be a first step. It goes without saying that we want to develop all talent at Krones, regardless of gender,” Veiko von Eckern emphasises. 
Because this expansion of the programme would have made the pool of potential talent far too big, though, the team also made changes to the selection process: “This year we are limiting the number of participants to 50. This figure is based on the management positions that we think we will have to fill in the next few years for reasons such as age-related exits,” says Tanja Prudil. 

This required fingertip sensitivity, “because we don’t, after all, want to raise any false expectations by taking employees through a programme if they don’t have genuine potential or there won't be a need for them in the near future,” Veiko von Eckern adds. Not only would that be demotivating for the participants, but from Krones’s point of view no added value would be gained from investing in their development but ultimately being unable to make use of the available potential.

The 50 participants from this year's round have now been selected and are embarking on the first development measures right now. Naturally, the experience gained from delivering the programme last year has gone into the current iteration and led to some changes: As well as the individual half-day Development Center, for instance, several additional training days have been set aside. In addition, each and every participant has the opportunity to be assigned a mentor from within the company to support them for the duration of the programme. “We are specifically looking for employees with many years of management responsibility who will pass on their knowledge and wealth of experience and thereby play a part in helping develop the managers of tomorrow,” says Katrin Heinemann of HR Business Partners. Collaboration between the mentor and the mentee will, of course, primarily be based on mutual trust. Regular dialogue and a willingness to discuss any issue are crucial if the collaboration is to be successful. 

Alongside the development of talent with leadership potential, however, HR is also hoping to obtain empirical values through this type of development programme. That is because delivery of the programme last year and this year will not be the end of the story: The aim is to establish talent development as an annual programme at Krones – right across the world. Expansion of the programme beyond a focus on those with management potential is also under consideration at the moment. “I am confident that every single employee has hidden talents that can take Krones forward. The programmes from last year and this year demonstrate that we are on the right track when it comes to talent management and that, based on experience to date, we can continue to work on refining it,” says Group Head of Human Resources Andreas Horn.