Women in top management – How to become a Plant Operations Manager?
Since I was a kid I liked to be successful in what I am doing; even in school I liked the competition and especially to be the first. To me, the desire to always better yourself is probably one of the keys to success.
I later studied chemical engineering, and started my first job in a leather producing company. Early in my career I realized that I have good people skills, and this helped me a lot throughout the challenges that I faced.
In 2001, I selected Continental as my employer of choice and started as part of the customer service team. One of my biggest career challenges came after less than one year of activity in Continental: I received the opportunity to take over the coordination of transport.
At the beginning I did not know much about logistics. However, since it came quite natural to me to be able to negotiate with people, I gained more and more trust. What was really important for me was the support I had from my superior, who then proposed me to take over the supply chain department and trusted me for further career development.
I am thankful that I had him as superior, who recognized the talent in me and pushed me forward.
Today as Plant Operations Manager, I am responsible for Logistics, Purchasing and Supply Chain Planning teams and related activities in the plant. This means that there is a lot of responsibility, many challenges, and a big volume of work. For me, this is a great scenario: I like to be able to put my skills and competencies to use, and I never get the chance to be bored, because my job is never the same day after day. The Plant Operations team is now a very big one, and I am very proud to be their leader!
It is very important to like what you are doing, and for me my work is very energy injecting. As example, Sunday evening I look forward to starting a new work week, and I do not feel it as a chore I have to be doing. My family is very supportive and my children have always been my source of inspiration, so yes so it is possible to have a good balance between family and career. My husband accepted my job from the first moment on and he was always really proud of me. Trust and support, without these it’s not possible.
I think it is actually not so much about men or women behavior, but rather about keeping a certain balance of gender diversity, of the level of knowledge and expertise, discussion topics, etc. You have to adapt your behavior to all people in general, no matter if male or female. The most important, in my point of view, is to gain the trust and respect of people, so attitude, support and knowledge are the most important characteristics. What is also important is to take the time to reflect about your day, your actions, and how you affected others, it will no doubt help you better yourself.
Good results at work and harmony in my family are keeping me always happy. In addition, I consider very important to reward yourself continuously 🙂
This article was written by our employee.
