Continental Ambassador - Sharing expertise, shaping our future!
As an Ambassador, inspiring talent for Continental as an innovative and attractive employer through authentic and personal dialogue, while constantly developing new perspectives myself. Learn more from our Ambassador Tobias.
My name is Tobias. I work at Continental as a project manager in the Vehicle Dynamics business unit of the Autonomous Mobility & Safety business unit. This unit develops safety-relevant components and systems for controlling vehicle dynamics. My motivation is to develop highly complex system solutions together with the specialists in international and interdisciplinary project teams and thus to actively shape the future of mobility. As an ambassador for Continental, I share this expertise with potential junior employees, giving them a practical insight into an innovative technology corporation with a genuinely human corporate culture.
Ambassador activities in different formats
There are many different ways to become an Ambassador. I am convinced that even during the academic training process of new talents, a direct reference to practice is helpful in order to understand requirements and processes within a corporate environment. For this reason, I am involved as a lecturer at a university and have a teaching assignment there on the topic of lean management. In this, I teach students the theoretical basics of project management and sensitize them to the efficient and sustainable design of value creation processes. Integrated case studies allow students to experience entrepreneurial practice directly. The knowledge gained and skills developed are then backed up with practical impressions during field trips to the Continental production site in Frankfurt, where braking systems are manufactured. I would like to be a personal contact for students and build a bridge to an international technology company. Specifically, I support students as a supervisor and mentor within our organization. During internships or theses, students get a direct insight into the business environment, which makes it much easier for them to start their careers.
I am also active in another format as an ambassador. It can be observed that the digital transformation is leading to an exponentially increasing technical and social complexity of the working world in companies. The increased pressure to innovate and change makes agility, flexibility and speed essential success factors. Cross-functional, autonomous teams are taking over many of the classic leadership tasks in order to manage the increased complexity in an agile manner. This changes the role of managers to enablers of an agile mindset in a multi-perspective and diverse corporate culture that promotes creativity, knowledge and collaboration. In order to emphasize this mindset and its importance outside of Continental and to build cross-company networks, I also leading a seminar within a university competence campus on the topic of agile leadership. The module is part of an MBA continuing education program in which professionals can develop agile leadership skills parallel to their job in order to master the challenges of an increasingly complex and dynamic work environment. Diversity is a crucial element here.
My personal motivation
Even during my own time at university, it was incredibly important for me to understand the relationship between theoretical knowledge and operational business and to develop the corresponding practical skills. Therefore, it was clear to me that I would also like to give junior employees an insight into my everyday working life. As an ambassador for Continental, this is a fantastic opportunity for me! I can optimally integrate my Ambassador activities into my everyday working life. The intensive interaction and professional discourse with students creates a creative atmosphere. The constantly new perspectives and points of view also continually broaden my personal horizons as a lecturer, create new inspiration for my own job and are an exciting change from everyday business life. Through such intensive cooperation with universities and the resulting knowledge transfer, networks are created from which long-term and strategic partnerships grow.
But there are also numerous opportunities for exchange within Continental. The Ambassador Community creates an international network in which knowledge and experience can be shared. A wide variety of Ambassador formats and best practices are presented at regular Ambassador Conventions. The open dialogue and constructive discourse with other Continental Ambassadors always provide new ideas for the Ambassador's own activities.
Opportunities to become an Ambassador
Continental sets technological standards in many industries. The Continental Ambassador Program shows the world our expertise. Ambassadors make an important contribution to this by applying and sharing knowledge and skills. Whether you do this like I do by teaching at universities and mentoring students, or in a completely different format, the possibilities here are almost limitless.
Especially for new talents and external institutions, we Ambassadors want to be personal points of contact and in doing so build the bridge to an international technology group with a genuinely human corporate culture.
This blog was written by our employee.
