New Managerial Skills at Atexis

The company

Atexis is an international company that performs customer support engineering activities. More than 600 people located in five countries help their customers to offer to their own clients optimized assistance services for operating or maintaining their equipment. One of Atexis entities is located in Iași, Romania. The company was set up in 2008 and it developed during the years in terms of the number and complexity of projects undertaken and also as regards the areas of assistance that are covered. In 2015 there are a number of approximately 270 specialists working for the local subsidiary.

As the company evolved here came the need to adequately manage the activities, the people and the relationships inside departments and project teams. This implied, among other things, investments in personnel training. In spring of 2015 the representatives of Atexis and ROSS Consultants decided to undertake together a project dedicated to improving the managerial skills of the department managers.

The project

The “Management for Performance” project included 4 training sessions, 2 days each, and was designed based on the following two solution that are part of ROSS Consultants portfolio of services:

• Management For Success – Managing Your Team approaches the managerial activity from the perspective of concepts, methods and instruments known and utilized by the manager. Managerial skills develop through the selection and application of tools that are suited to a specific situation, the analysis of results and by the learning from that particular experience;
• The Human Side of Management – Managing With The Heart approaches the manager’s role from a perspective that focuses on the human aspects of the manager’s work. This program is about the human interaction in the workplace and about how this interaction can contribute to the success of managers, of thier people and of the entire organization.

These solutions deal with different aspects of manager’s work and are designed to complement each other. Therefore putting them together represents an ideal solution for developing the managerial skills of a manager.

The project was undertaken in approximately 4 months and included a large variety of learning methods: individual and group assessments, case studies, articles, simulations, exercises, work assignments, video programs, seminars, etc. A special focus was placed on the application of the new knowledge to the context and the realities of Atexis.

The feedback

As regards the evaluation of the project the participants appreciated to a high degree three key dimensions: the contribution to their personal development, the contents of the program and the performance of the trainer. Three of the opinions expressed by participants are presented bellow:

“I recommend this program to those who want to become aware and better understand what means to be a good manager. Being a good manager entails more than delivering results. Through my own experience with this program I learned that good performance can be obtained by thinking constructively and acting effectively, developing relationships, knowing your people and empowering your team. I learned that the decisions that are made together with the team, and not imposed on it, can lead to better results and that the secret of being a good manager lies in personal discipline and in the relentless focus on achieving objectives”. Daniel Condurache – Department Manager

“An interactive program, with lots of practical activities. We worked well in teams because all participants were open and committed and the trainer knew how to guide us in order to not deviate from topics. I liked the fact that we approached many perspectives and many ideas and that we had time between the modules to reflect upon the subjects that we addressed.” Adriana Crăciun – Quality Manager

„I particularly liked this project because of its diverse workshops that offered me a multitude of perspectives and helped me to find out new things about myself and my colleagues. The greatest benefit of this program is the belief that performance is not something out of the ordinary, but something that is dependent only on me and my attitude. I’ve learned that our life experiences are the expression of our way of thinking, that great results start with a strong wish to succeed, a specific goal and small, but committed and enthusiastic steps; the rest is coming along. If the secret to any achievement is the way we think, then the best thing we can do is to invest in ourselves”. Ciprian Toniță – Project Leader.