One team leading together. There is no question this approach to business has a profound effect on the success of the organization. But at global corporations like Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, achieving this objective can be tricky. Different regions, cultures, languages, time zones, products and priorities can complicate communications and collaboration on a day-to-day basis.
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ Oil Seals Powertrain and Driveline Division (OSPD) recently hosted a global Culture Week at twelve OSPD sites. The September event was organized by the OSPD’ One Team Leading Together group. The idea was to ensure that cohesion, communications and collaboration are at the forefront of the division’s work.
The team members have one overriding mission, said Connie Sandros, Vice President of Learning and Engagement within Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ Human Resources organization. “We try to make our people satisfied and happy to come to work but we also drive the needs of the business from a culture and people perspective at the global and local level.”
The Freudenberg Group Guiding Principles were highlighted. Each day, one of five principles – innovation, value for customer, responsibility, people and long-term orientation – was explored at the site and divisional levels.
OSPD employees in India, Mexico, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Turkey and the United States took part in activities, which included videos, best project and process presentations, and photo shoots, among others. They then shared their results on Teams and in Stream. One key theme was leadership. Different employees guided their location through the activities. Each site dedicated a space for the Guiding Principle activities and for employee recognition. Videos were shown on monitors throughout the individual sites.
“This year we were very focused on the fact that we’ve just been through a very difficult period of the pandemic, and it was our way to say thank to our salaried and non-salaried workforce for everything that they’ve done,” Sandros said.
Overview of action week
On Monday, the theme was innovation. The centerpiece was a video contest where the different facilities shot footage of their best innovation in the last year. Videos of the best product and process, and the best video overall, were shown on lunchroom monitors in each facility and emailed to salaried workers who have email addresses.
Tuesday’s focus was People. The occasion was used to launch a P&D calendar for 2022 that will feature photos of people at work having fun.
Wednesday highlighted the Value for Customer principle, with videos of each product made at every P&D site showing how they were used in vehicles. “It was just so people would understand where their work goes at the end of the day,” she said.
Thursday was the day to recognize longterm Orientation, and each locale unveiled a wall honoring the people who have been with company for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years.
On Friday, the focus was Responsibility. Each employee received a packet of seeds appropriate for the local climate and season. “The idea is they take those seeds home and plant them with their families and take pictures with their families,” she said. “The idea is to make the earth just a little greener.”
