'Building tomorrow's management'

Miranda Aleman: "We are part of the chemical supply chain, and are in the middle of it. Our strategy is to move towards the end products. It's what you call 'going downstream' in the sector. We work with finished goods manufacturers on innovations within the sectors they serve. Because our products are also evolving, you can see that in some segments we are now supplying finished products ourselves. As a relatively small producer, we therefore manage to have a huge portfolio, from semi-finished products to finished products. We make a lot of different products that end up in a huge range of end products, that increases the complexity of the plants and of the business demand. This means that we are often looking for the most versatile people. Lodiers & Partners keeps us grounded by asking the questions from a different perspective."

With honesty, integrity, respect, and responsibility as core values, Miranda Aleman is always looking for employee engagement. "It's about engagement and creating a bond - something you always have to invest in. It is how I look at HR as a whole, whether it relates to organisational restructuring, employee development, and collective labour agreement negotiations. In the end, it is all about how you deal with people. How well you can convey the bigger picture. Working in HR means that you are an instrumental, operational and/or strategic partner of the Executive Board. For me, it has always been predominantly the latter. You must be able to work together at all levels - within the context of the organisation you work for, of course. You have to understand what the stakeholders want, but also understand the position of the works council. It is the trick to find the momentum to innovate. And it is crucial to get everyone engaged and on board in that bigger picture."