Rethink Work Podcast meets Sophie von Saldern, Global Head of HR at Covestro

Dear Ms. von Saldern, you were a guest on the Handelsblatt's Rethink Work Podcast. Topics such as new leadership, new working models, purpose, and the changes in the world of employees due to megatrends such as digitalization are all on the agenda today. As Covestro’s Global Head of HR, which of the topics is at the top of your agenda?

If you ask me like that, I have to start by saying that at the top of my agenda are still the stressful times we are all going through right now. The Ukraine war continues to keep Europe in its grip, and the potential impact of the gas situation on private households, on energy-intensive sectors such as the chemical industry, and thus also on Covestro and our employees, is on our minds every day. This is a challenging time for our employees, and the HR team provides support in a variety of areas.

And yet we continue to push ahead with topics such as new work, new leadership, and transformation at Covestro. In this respect, I was very pleased to be able to talk about this facet of HR, about our understanding of leadership and also about my personal experiences.

Before you started your career in HR, you were a national basketball player and professional athlete. This is also addressed in the podcast. Are you often asked about analogies to professional sports in your role as Global Head of HR?

There are issues in HR where there are strong parallels between sports and business and both areas can learn from each other. Team spirit and leadership, setbacks, performance, and motivation are among these topics on which I am sometimes asked about my personal past. At Covestro, for example, we have set up a personnel development concept for managers that we plan to roll out starting in September of this year. Under “Moments that matter”, we want to further sensitize our managers to which moments in an employee’s life are of crucial importance. In working life, such moments are, for example, cases of illness in the family or a promotion interview. Here, as a manager, I have to be there for my team 150% of the time. These moments and how we deal with them are very formative when we look at employee loyalty.

At the moment, a lot revolves around performance, excessive demands, and simultaneity. How do you help teams at Covestro deal with the idea of performance?

By clearly addressing the concept of performance. Performance is not a stable construct. We should keep that in mind on a regular basis. Each and every one of us is not always equally capable of performing. There should first be a consensus on this, and I expect that much honesty from our managers. But what must also be clear – there are decisive moments when performance must be accessible. This is a strong focus of our HR development concept, which we plan to roll out from September.

In a sports comparison, that’s clearly what I mean. Training requires a different kind of performance than a game, and a game in turn requires a different kind of performance than a championship, and this can be continued. In the company, we often have too stable a conception of performance in people. This simply does not correspond to reality for me. Every athlete deals with his or her own performance, but not just with a view to a season, but to weeks, days or even individual training minutes. Even within a day, one’s performance can fluctuate. We have to keep reminding ourselves of that.

Another topic where I like to draw a comparison: Regeneration. Recovery makes me perform even better in sports. The interaction between loading and unloading must be harmonious and balanced. That often gets neglected in the corporate world. Sure, the availability through remote working, the constant simultaneity are tempting. But we also need to stop ourselves, take time to reflect and time to refuel. And actively plan for that for our colleagues. Both to perform and to stay healthy. Especially in our troubled times, we must have a strong focus on ensuring that our employees are doing well.

Here, you can listen to the podcast, but it is in German only.