At Paulig, an exceptional amount of effort is deployed in developing leadership and supervisor work. During the past six years, the Coffee Division has resolutely built a new leadership model in which a coaching approach plays a central part. In the beginning, it was defined what good leadership is at Paulig, the supervisor's role was clarified, and tools and means for leadership were created. A change in ways of doing things demands not only time but also a change in attitudes and courage.

"It now seems that we've achieved a certain breakthrough in these questions. Personnel matters are not exclusively HR's turf, they concern all supervisors. We provide supervisors with a leadership model and tools, a lot of training, and we act as sparring partners for them in all kinds of situations," says HR Director Tanya Strohmayer. "It's immensely important for supervisors at all levels of the organisation to be able to analyse their own actions and to understand the weighting of an example in every situation."

"A supervisor's work is really demanding. Traditionally the job is seen as promotion and an achievement in which a proven expert is appointed. In fact, you can get by and thrive as a supervisor only if you were made for the role and if you enjoy directing cases and people, as it can very challenging and pressured work at times. You have to assess suitability for this honestly. Deep expertise is irreplaceably valuable and other paths for its advance must be created within the organisation, not just the supervisor's role," Tanya Strohmayer points out.