Leadership Guidelines

Made for Rhenus Home Delivery and Rhenus High Tech.

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Preface

Ronny Sassen, Business Area Manager RHD / RHT

I believe that we are well positioned in terms of leadership. But I also believe that due to our growth and size, we can no longer distribute all topics via informal networks. Instead, we should write down how we understand leadership at Home Delivery and High Tech and how we expect it from our managers. Regardless of whether you are new to us, are growing into a leadership role, or have been leading employees with us for several years. One of our five Rhenus values is “employee orientation.”

With our leadership guidelines, we are creating concrete principles for how we want to deal with each other and with our employees. Managing employees is something special and has earned its own important status.

We have chosen the compass as a symbol of our understanding of leadership: As an instrument for determining a given direction, our guidelines should serve you as orientation.

For reasons of readability, the masculine form has been chosen for all formulations in this brochure; nevertheless, the information refers to members of all genders.

Our Leadership Culture

AS A FAMILY-RUN COMPANY, WE TAKE THE TIME TO LEAD OUR EMPLOYEES, WE ARE COURAGEOUS AND CONTINOUSLY QUESTION OUR DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES.

We take a family approach to leadership. This forms the foundation of our leadership culture. This means we treat each
other with respect and honesty. By embodying our leadership guidelines we act as role model. “Leading by example”.

We question our day-to-day activities. This includes looking back on each day and critically examining what we could have done better and the lessons we can learn from it.

Leading and guiding employees requires time and we take this time. We consider leadership to be just as important as other management tasks.

We are bold. That means that we make decisions quickly and we are innovative. We also take uncomfortable decisions.

1. COMPANY GOALS

WE COMMUNICATE THE GOAL OF OUR ACTIONS.


How I communicate the company’s goals (Nils Thiesen, Managing Director)

I give my employees all the information, which is important for their work and which is needed to understand the
overall context. After all, a clear definition of goals is the basis for successful action. Clear goals make it possible
for an organization to work in a common direction.

Communication should thus, not be based on a simple task such as “Ensure the punctual departure of all tours.”
It is much better to communicate about specific goals. This could possibly be: We are the quality leader in the market. This allows us to impose prices on the market needed in order to keep a service at our level. Punctuality is a particularly important criterion for our customers’ perception of quality. Therefore, we have set on-time delivery as one of our most important goals!

2. RESPONSIBILITY

WE ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS AND TRANSFER THE UTMOST RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR EMPLOYEES.


This is how I implement this guideline within my teams in daily business (Nadine Breidbach, Head of Project Management)

There are always many projects running at the same time. To ensure the speed of implementation of all the running project topics, it is necessary to delegate and to give employees responsibility and trust. As a supervisor, I cannot have in-depth expert knowledge in every topic, but there are experts in my team I can trust in. My job and responsibility is to qualify and enable them so they can do their job in the best way.

 

My experience is that the motivation of employees is increasing with the size of the tasks, as well as when they can see how they can play an active role in shaping the company. It is in my responsibility to create a working environment that offers employees a suitable degree of independence and security. Regular meetings allow me to check on the progress of work and offer support to employees as needed. If mistakes happen, I do not withdraw from responsibility – instead my team and I deal with them constructively. Only if we have teams
that think and act on their own responsibility, we can move the company forward and develop new solutions for our customers.

3. TRUST

WE CONSIDER MUTUAL TRUST AND OPEN COMMUNICATION TO BE THE BASISOF OUR ACTIONS AS MANAGERS.
 

That’s what trust means to me (Anne-Katrin Gilles, Talent Acquisition and Development Manager)

Mutual trust is the basis for common success and good results.

That’s why it’s especially important to me that my colleagues can trust me, just as I can trust them. Communication on an equal footing plays a very important role to me, which I achieve through openness, transparency, respect and appreciation. For me, it is important to be true to my word and to be perceived as a reliable member of the team.

A constructive approach to mistakes is also part of this in order to build mutual trust. We can do this by seeing mistakes as an opportunity and not looking for someone to blame, but rather by working together as a team to find solutions. In this way, I learn from my colleagues’ mistakes and at the same time stand by my own mistakes. As long as we live these points, I am convinced that trust is one of the most important success factors in our company.

4. EMPLOYEE GOALS

WE AGREE TARGETS WITH ONE ANOTHER.
 

This is how I deal with my employees (Dimitrios Raptis, Operations Manager)

In regular goal-setting meetings, I assign responsibility to my employees in accordance with their function and qualifications. In doing so, I actively try to encourage my employees to take responsibility for themselves. The task must be clearly and comprehensibly defined, in this case the scope of responsibility can be as wide as possible.

I communicate transparently my expectations and by when a certain goal should be attained. I achieve this by agreeing on “smart goals” with my employees. On the way to the goal, my employees are not alone: I am not afraid to lend a hand myself when it comes to achieving goals. Challenging tasks and times require a strong team. That is why I encourage my employees to work together as a team.

5. DECISIONS

WE STRICTLY IMPLEMENT DECISIONS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE.


That means for me (Ralph Decker, Managing Director)

Basically, I implement discussed points, even if it hurts sometimes. I experience repeatedly that in meetings, topics and projects are met with great approval by all those involved, but are subsequently not implemented or only partially implemented. I therefore pay particular attention to ensuring that these decisions are put into practice. If there is any ambiguity, I encourage an open discussion and answer questions.

Of course, it happens that I also have to question decisions that have been made, e.g. if the framework conditions change. If, after a period of reflection and reassessment of the situation, I am not convinced of the new conditions, I sometimes stop a project. This has to be weighed up carefully. Nevertheless, I personally make sure to implement decisions once they have been made, and I occasionally remind my colleagues of this from time to time with this management guideline.

6. Feedback

WE PROVIDE ORIENTATION THROUGH REGULAR, INDIVIDUAL FEEDBACK.


How I give feedback to my team (Michael Paatz, Managing Director)

If I think an employee can still improve, I take the time to discuss the issue in private. In doing so, a positive and interference-free atmosphere is important to me. I don’t want to tell my counterpart what or who he is and how he should be. I can, however, describe my observations and talk about the feelings that are triggered in me. I always formulate feedback from my subjective point of view and only address points that can actually be improved by my employee. Of course, I also try to find a good measure, i.e. not too many points of criticism at once and always say something appreciative / positive.

Feedback is not a one-way street! I would like to encourage my employees to give me feedback – just the way I provide them with feedback. This helps me to learn more about the needs of my team and thus to enable a constructive collaboration. When I receive feedback myself, I try – even though it`s sometimes not easy – not to adopt a justifying attitude, but to listen and think about it first and sleep a night over it.

7. Motivation

WE MOTIVATE OUR EMPLOYEES AND DEAL WITH MISTAKES IN A CONSTRUCTIVE MANNER.


How I motivate my colleagues (Birgit Riedel, Branch Manager)

Recognition and praise are worth more than any financial reward, which is exhausted at some point. Whereas the good feeling of having done something right, you carry always with you.

That is why I find words of praise even for partial successes, because they don’t cost me any money. From my point of view I don’t think you should be too shy to compliment people in between. It is important to give encouragement even in the case of failures or lapses, to motivate the employees to carry on and not to “hit them with a hammer”. If someone has made the wrong decision, I give them support and show them that I stand behind them, in order for them to achieve their goals.

I also motivate my team through mutual trust and the creation of space. In this way, I transfer responsibility and encourage my employees to actively take responsibility and not to rely on me or my decisions, just because I should or could perhaps know better.

8. DEVELOPMENT

WE SUPPORT OUR EMPLOYEES IN THEIR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT


This is how I develop the employees in the company (Paulina Bilinska, Talent Acquisition and Development Manager)

For me, of course, this is one of the central guidelines. In my role as a personnel development manager, I am firmly convinced that people don’t stay with us for the money, they stay because of the opportunities we give them.

Together with our team, I am responsible for creating the structures that allow our employees to develop themselves personally. After all, the personality of our employees creates added value for our customers. Developing our employees therefore means securing our future viability. I support our managers in organizing the right measures in this respect, e.g. through training offers or our talent programs.

Our times and our industry are very dynamic. Customer requirements are increasing and the digital transformation no longer stops at any area. This makes it all more important to take employees with us on this journey and prepare them for the demands of the future.

9. FREE SPACE

WE CREATE SPACE FOR CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION.
 

That’s innovation, and that’s what we need it for (Boris Jeggle, Managing Director)

Innovation exists on a large and small scale. From new business models to small technical improvements. Innovation is renewal. It makes life easier for our peers, partners and customers. It makes us more efficient and strengthens us against the competition.

I let all team members participate in the innovation process. In this way, everyone can help shape the company and build a deep bond with it. It is essential that our peers have the opportunity and time to be creative. And this is why: If a colleague is at his or her breaking point, he or she will not contribute any ideas. It is our task to give our peers this time.

Tools such as Shopfloor and RAIK provide a platform for sharing ideas throughout the company. Team members who contribute ideas are valued, receive feedback, and worthwhile ideas are implemented.

10. REFLECTION

WE QUESTION OUR ACTIONS – CRITICALLY AND AT ALL LEVELS.


This is how I live this guideline with my team (Franziska Bonk, Managing Director)

We are enthusiastic about what we do every day, perform our tasks with passion and are proud to be part of the Rhenus family.

In every good family, issues are discussed and decisions are made, even if they are not understood or approved by all members. Decisions and actions are openly discussed and questioned. I live this self-image in my daily work and in my dealings with colleagues, employees and managers.

We are adults who analyze, evaluate and critically question processes, decisions and measures. Constructive criticism helps all of us to continuously reflect on our own working methods and to permanently recognize the potential for improvement.

Our aspiration must be to be even better tomorrow than we are today. In order to meet this at all times critical questions and opinions are always allowed and welcome.

 

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What can you look forward to next?

What can you look forward to next?

The contents of the leadership guidelines and the underlying competences are conveyed to our managers in lively, short learning nuggets: All ten guidelines are packed into crisp digital workshops that can be easily combined with daily business.
YOUR HR CONTACT PERSONS
YOUR HR CONTACT PERSONS

YOUR HR CONTACT PERSONS

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK ON THE LEADERSHIP GUIDELINES / TRAINING MEASURES?

YOUR HR CONTACT PERSONS WILL BE GLAD TO ASSIST YOU:

Paulina Bilinska
Phone: +49 (0)175 - 7919372

Anne-Katrin Gilles
Phone: +49 (0)171 -9987386