For her new task, Anne Gradl is talking to colleagues around
the world. She knows the requirements of the holding
company and the divisions well. In 2010, the economics
graduate joined the company after working for a consulting
and auditing company for several years. After a two-
year stint in the holding company’s Corporate Development
/ M&A department, she became Head of Finance of
an ACTEGA company. “Here the paths are short and
the department borders transparent. It gives you broad in-
sight,”
says Anne Gradl. She is ideal for an international
position because at the beginning of her professional career
she worked in the U.S. and China.
her potential and recommended her for
an international junior manager program.
“From this program, I still have a sustainable
network of colleagues from across
the globe. In addition, it was valuable
for me to exchange ideas with ALTANA’s
Executive Management Team, which
closely accompanies this program, among
other things through individual mentoring,”
says Anne Gradl, summing up her
experiences. “Working on international
projects has made me even more aware
of ALTANA’s diversity. Due to our flexi
ble organizational structure, employees
have a number of development possibili
ties
that I would like to utilize more strongly
within the framework of the talent
management concept.”
Develop Potential
In the future, ALTANA’s worldwide talent
management intends to ensure transparency
concerning internal development
options and strategically important vacant
positions on a global level. Furthermore,
there should be targeted staff development
to optimally promote high-potential
employees in particular. With these measures,
a structure will be created that enables
staff to develop commensurate with
their own ideas, interests, and skills within
ALTANA and at the same time to safeguard
the company’s steady growth
through focused succession management.
Mobility across national borders as well
as business and functional areas is expressly
desired.
But how are ideal candidates found for the
positions? In the future, the local management
teams and human resource managers
will regularly engage in exchange
at so-called talent conferences. They will
identify positions for which successors
are pending and discuss possible candidates.
But one thing will stay the same, and
Anne Gradl is particularly happy about this:
Talented, curious, and open-minded employees
will be given freedom at an early
stage so that they can experiment with
and develop ideas. ALTANA’s corporate values
– openness, trust, empowerment to
act, and appreciation – could not be lived
out more concretely.
34 Sustainability Incorporated