Happy International Women’s Day!

Last year, RiMlers around the world celebrated International Women’s Day by wearing purple, the official colour of IWD.

The theme for 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge, which is why we have chosen to put a spotlight on the female leadership, specifically on the women who are shaping the future of our company and industry. Today, we are celebrating their achievements, beliefs, and values.   

From challenge comes change, and these women you are going to meet today are shaping diversity and equality within the company. This year also marks a special milestone for Retail inMotion, as our leadership team is becoming more gender-balanced – we currently have four women and seven men in executive positions.

 

Here, we explore the key principles for a successful career, work values, and leadership styles.

Research by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School has found that happy employees are 13% more productive. I strongly believe that making joy a priority at work will have a positive impact on people’s well-being and productivity.

For me, joy is the most important work value, along with having a great team that supports you and looking at the bigger picture, which helps you understand where you’re heading and gives you a clearer vision of your goals.

Olivia Trenczek

 

Gender should not be a factor in whether or not a person can be a great leader — a person’s leadership abilities should depend on their individual strengths and personality traits.

In RIM, women are encouraged to take on leadership roles as often as their male counterparts. We are very open to and interested in finding ways to continuously improve our personal skills, which makes us more self-aware, thus enabling us to have very strong emotional intelligence, a key trait of successful leadership.

Michelle Tully

 

I have learnt invaluable things about myself in my own leadership journey, which have led to an overall more satisfying life. I have learnt what makes me tick, what I bring to the table and what I should avoid and let others do.  I have also learnt to use my femininity as a gift rather than a disadvantage.

Another area of fascination (there are many!) is the concept of high performing teams. I do a lot of research and experiments in this area. In a high performing team, you learn to deliver what you do best to the team, support others in bringing their best and play an active part in the psychological safety of that team. Owning who we are is a huge part of being on a high performing team. If I need to pretend to be more masculine to fit in or pretend that I don’t have children I order be available anytime, that’s not a high performing team and never will be.

Stephanie Brady

 

My teams are my priority and my biggest aim for every team member is to become fully independent (of me), be confident in their own decisions and not be afraid to make mistakes!

Verena Ventsch

 

Within a young and dynamic company, one tends to use comparison in order to evaluate and position oneself. However, you alone are responsible for how you are perceived and for what you are valued by colleagues and superiors. Use your own assets to achieve your goals, rather than your comparable value.

Be appreciative if you receive constructive feedback, actively request feedback and use any kind of reactions to your actions as a possibility to reflect on what went well and what could have changed the reaction for a better one. Although you may have meant things differently than they have come across, fact is it was perceived differently. Adapt your narrative and course of action to be more effective in getting your message across. You might not always be able to change others, but you can change how you react.

Carolyn Himperich

 

Some of the guiding principles in my career are integrity, respect, and collaboration. Furthermore, I think it’s important to lead by example and take ownership, treat others the way you want to be treated and give people the tools and autonomy to perform their duties and trust they will.

Orla Carrigg

 

A great leader listens to their teams and understands the day-to-day intricacies their team may encounter which can later be considered in decision making at that leadership level. It also means when difficult decisions have to be made, the team trusts that the leader believes that things will work out, despite how difficult the road ahead may be. Finally, to be able to create an environment where your team does not fear failure is one to be very proud of, as it is at that place your team will strive and learn their full potential.

Julia Cahalan

 

We also chose to dive deeper into the ‘qualifications vs. experience’ topic because of the gender qualification gap and stereotypical beliefs. Since the theme of International Women’s Day 2021 celebration is #ChooseToChallenge, we have recommendations that work well in RiM in answer to this conundrum.

 

Skills, not gender or background, should matter in the hiring process. I’m glad to see that RiM selects people based on skills because skills offer the foundation for success.

Olivia Trenczek

 

Having experience in my role has won over qualifications. Knowledge is learned along the way and some qualifications would not prepare you for the  daily tasks in my role. In saying that I have just finished a college course to support a part of my role I felt I need more knowledge on.  A mix of both is a winner. You can’t get experience unless you get an opportunity  so both will play a big part in your career.

Michelle Tully

 

When filling a role or assigning a project, I look for five things

  1. passion and enthusiasm for the role
  2. willingness and ability to learn
  3. strong communication skills
  4. self-drive/initiative
  5. common sense.

I value these ahead of relevant prior experience or qualifications.

I have been fortunate to work with many people who thrive and outperform in their jobs despite lack of seemingly necessary qualifications or prior experience. They tick every box on my list of five and learn by doing and by immersing themselves fully to learn as they go. They are a pleasure to work with.

I am surrounded also in my personal life by people who have successfully started again and switched careers one, or many times, in their lives.  Lack of relevant qualifications and experience did not deter them. They brought their prior life experience and evident passion for the new work and flourished. 

I was also blessed with opportunities to move sideways or upwards into roles which, on paper, I lacked any relevant qualifications or experience for!  I was certain however that I could bring fresh perspectives and solutions in these roles, by drawing on prior life and general work experience. I took risks, put myself forward with ideas, and then worked like crazy to deliver when given the chance to do so! I look for that potential and possibility also in others.

Lorna Cullinan 

 

In our field of work, experience and work ethics matter most. What is taught in school/university very rarely reflects the skills we need, it can only be a foundation at best. Years of experience usually teach so much more than a book ever can! However, having common sense and good work ethics is something that can even outweigh experience in my opinion.

Verena Ventsch

 

Qualifications are very important but if they cannot be applied to the role or environment, then they are not as useful as experience.

Orla Carrigg

 

It is great to educate yourself academically however true leadership comes from experience and cannot be learned academically. It comes from the difficult situations you find yourself in, the uncomfortable conversations, or the tough decisions you find yourself making. It is at that point is you grow as a leader. At the end of the day, you can have all the qualifications in the world however, if what you are trying to do is not suitable for your business, it will never succeed. You need to keep your pulse on the organisation and talk to the wider teams to really understand the intricacies and areas where improvement can be identified. I really believe feedback is the most important tool any organisation or leader can have and was delighted to see Retail inMotion introducing Pulse Surveys in October of last year.

Julia Cahalan

Tomasz Adamczak

Tomasz Adamczak

Share

Recent Articles

Culture

In Focus: International Day of Families

amilies come in many shapes and sizes. Family dynamics and challenges can be relatively simple or complex. There is literally not one-size-fits-all and I would love to dispel the thinking that, as a business, we only consider families with a traditional mum, dad and kids.

Read More »

Meet Trish Costelloe

Chief Customer Officer

I am an innovative customer centric leader, passionate about people, quality, and the customer. I love that I am empowered here at Retail InMotion to lead our teams to deliver value to the customer. We use our global market expertise and insights to make a difference by driving out impactful innovative solutions. My focus is to partner with our people and customers to drive out and deliver a best-in-class customer experience, the opportunity to lead and transform that experience is what excites me on a day to day basis.

Meet Elizabeth

CFO

There is never a dull day working at Retail inMotion, our industry is in a rapid transformation which means the pace is fast and often complex but what I love most about facing these challenges is the people I get to work with every day. Our people are diverse and multicultural and this inevitably creates teams where new ideas and solutions are created – leading these teams is the most rewarding experience.

Laura Rösges

.

Of course, working in a growing company with international colleagues & customers is great - However, what truly delights me, are the teams and personalities working at RiM turning customer ideas into flying concepts! At RiM, there's always room to bring in new ideas on how to reimagine onboard experiences or try out new approaches to drive our business, which I simply love.

Meet Iarfhlaith

CTO

As the CTO at RiM, I am responsible for the global technology strategy. While overseeing Product, Engineering, Delivery, IT Ops and Security, I also enjoy the challenge of scaling RiM's technology capabilities for the next phase of growth for the company, and building a high performance organisation to deliver it.

Meet Colin

I am working at RiM since 2015. Watching how the customer base and solution grow into the industry leader during this time still gives me immense pride. It is still, all those years later, truly a special place to work. Without sounding cliché - every day brings something new, usually a new problem we need to resolve. Part of the RiM DNA is problem solving ability and doing this with our teams gives me a lot of satisfaction.

Meet Mir

Head of Retail NAM Region

Best thing about working for RiM is the team of creative, spontaneous and hardworking people that create a memorable Inflight experience for our clients and their guests onboard. We have a very unique culture that encourages each team member to bring their best out for our clients. We all enjoy our jobs and believe in our purpose which makes every work day fun and exciting. As they say there is “never a dull moment” at Retail inMotion.

Meet Michelle

Retail Director

I love working at RiM because the culture of our company means that everyone has a voice and we are all part of the difference we make together. We are free to make changes as part of a team and also as part of the Retail inMotion family. Travel retail involves so much more than I ever could have imagined and every day is different, exciting, challenging, and sometimes even a bit crazy.

Meet Sara

Head of OBR EMMA Region

I love working here especially because of the opportunities I was able to experience in different parts of the world and with different colleagues. These past years here have been a lot of work, growth and fun, and this is why we keep working together. Much more yet to come!

Meet Robert

Head of Retail APAC Region

RiM provides me with an environment and culture that empowers myself and my teams. Innovation and creativity are key to this culture and lead to a challenging but highly rewarding career. My role allows me not only to lead business development in my region but also to implement and then ensure performance standards for new business opportunities, so no day is every really the same, the diversity of challenges is a key driver of my personal and professional fulfilment with RiM.

Meet Stephanie

Global Head of HR

I love working here because I have been given the freedom to drive my purpose in life, which is to show people that they can belong and be supported, whilst having a satisfying and successful career. I am incredibly proud of my People Success Team, we have created an environment where each of us thrives and we work hard together to continue spreading that experience throughout the company.

Meet José

Head of Onboard Retail Europe and Managing Director Retail inMotion GmbH

RiM for me is not only the company I work for but part of my family. I had the chance to build up a team from 6 people to more than 100. More than 50% of the team I interviewed and hired myself. Apart from this, it is the inflight and travel retail industry which offers me the opportunity to work with a totally diverse universe of people and challenges me operationally and strategically every day. This is why I love working at Retail inMotion.

Meet Roy

In House Counsel

I love being a part of a global, committed, innovative, and diverse community bringing our customers and their passengers a better inflight experience.