MyCollective Pulse: Vol. 3 Alexandra Mebus

Diversity leads to more innovation. You're seen as a talent because you have power, and then show it, bring it in, and then every action counts.

I totally believe in that, that diversity leads to more innovation. When I look into my career, of course, I was often the only woman in a boys' group, I would say, since many years. And the feedback I get is really that we are getting more modern, more different ideas than in the past, when it was a whole male crew. I can see it similarly in our company. For example, as we are in the construction area business, it's a male-dominated business, and we have some really great women in there. And our customers love them, our product management loves them, because they look differently at our products and also at our services — about the size, the fit of something, even how something is designed. Sometimes it's a different way to look at things. So I'm totally convinced that in a team with a good mix of male and female, and even better, different nations, we are much more innovative.

This is a hot topic, I would say, because often it's not conscious — it's unconscious bias that people like to recruit people who are similar as they are. What we do is we train, we sensitize the people, especially our managers, to look at that, and especially in recruiting. We currently have, I can openly say, 17 women and we want to go to 25 — so at least one-fourth of our leadership employees. And of course, we have some measures on that. This starts exactly like you said, in the recruiting process, where we sensitize on taking people who are different or take a special look on women. And of course, when it comes to development, what we see is that women — they do studies in universities, they have great results, they come into a company, they do an excellent job, and then all of a sudden they are lost. This is something we really want to avoid. It often comes either with kids or sometimes with frustration to say, 'I see my male colleagues, they are developed, they are better seen than us.' This is something we really have to avoid. So for me, it's important to do trainings on top management level, also to mid-management level, so they are able to be aware of unconscious bias and be conscious of what they do. Every action counts — that's for me the most important.

Okay, to be honest, it was not planned. I'm a person who wants to have fun at work — I want to create something, I want to push things, I want to make something happen. That's what motivates me. So I started in HR almost 20 years ago at Bosch, and I was 14 years in the Bosch company — in Germany, in China, a couple of years in Stuttgart, Frankfurt — and everything was created step by step. At the beginning in HR, there's a lot of women, and as soon as you come into a leadership role, it becomes more and more male-dominated, especially when you work in the business, not just in a central role in HR. What I got to see is, I hear a lot about women having disadvantages, but I often had the different impression — that my colleagues were proud to have me in the team and took care that I was doing very well. For example, when I had both kids, my first boss, who was even the HR boss, was really upset because my predecessor also became pregnant. To me it happened the same, but what I did was I said I'd come back in six months — we really set the date — and I said my husband will take the other six months of parental leave. And the whole business was so happy that I was coming back that I really felt highly appreciated. I was able to work mobile already there almost 10 years ago, and this was not a problem at all. I did not feel that I had many disadvantages. Of course, it depends on the manager, what kind of picture he or she has in mind. With my second child, I did the same — we shared our parental leave — and it was again like this that my business manager said, 'Hey, we wait for you, six months is okay, we will find a solution.' And of course, I kept being linked with the business and came back six months later. But I have to admit, there was one critical situation, because with our first baby, we lived in Stuttgart and I was working in Frankfurt. After six months, it meant I would go back to Frankfurt and not see my baby anymore — have an apartment there. Two weeks before that, I really said to my husband, 'I cannot do that, my baby needs mama.' And my husband said, 'The way we made the arrangement, I'm fine taking care of the baby, and I encourage you to do so.' This was really a critical point at that time. And then two weeks later, at Monday 8:30, I was standing in my office in Frankfurt, and I was thinking, 'Wow, this is great — I'm mama and I'm back to business, I love it.' My brain was challenged again, and since then I really love it to have both. A hint is really to make concrete daily dates or agreements, because it's so easy to say, 'Oh, maybe six more months, three more months,' because there always is a reason not to come back. I'm happy that I did so, and I'm happy that my husband encouraged me to do so.

Yeah, keep close contact to your team, to your department, to your boss — that's for me the most important. I would say maximum parental leave of one year, because a lot of things happen within one year. The shorter the better, because then it's much easier that your position is held and you can easily come back, because you know your position and they know you. And the third one is, of course, we also have part-time positions, but leading positions where you influence are much easier if you work close to full-time, because there's a lot of communication that is not always on the agenda — a lot of informal communication. If you're there only four hours a day, you might miss quite a lot. So I really encourage you to keep close contact, to be clear when you come back, to keep the period even short, to come back really with full power. And then, if you work on your career, you need the full power also in the future and to be seen with full power. You are also in positions and seen as a talent because you have power, and then show it, bring it in, and find solutions how to make arrangements with the kids, with your partner. That's the challenge for everyone.

I think the most important one is to work and find a structure in chaotic situations. You know, if a baby is sick in the morning, of course there's a business trip, grandma cannot come because of Corona, being a risk group, whatever — and then take the situation as it is and find solutions. I think I'm much more relaxed since I'm a mom, because at home it's often a bit chaotic and we find solutions. I'm much more relaxed in the office, where I feel it's much easier — you have teams where you can delegate things, you have assistance, whatever. But this is the most important thing — seeing the chaos, not panicking, really finding solutions. That supports a lot, being a parent and getting unplanned situations every day.