What have you achieved as a team?

"When no on-site training was possible in 2020 due to the Corona pandemic, we had to change completely. Personal exchange is very important in our work as trainers and training managers. That's exactly what fell away. And we were forced to build something completely new in order to continue to support our customers with our expertise. In just 10 weeks, we managed to do this: from the concept to a diverse online offering. In addition to virtual training, we now offer a wide range of e-trainings that can be accessed around the clock. After just over two years, we were able to offer more than 200 virtual training courses and train around 4,000 people this way. To do this, our international team had to be prepared, because digital training presented us with completely new challenges. The personal exchange with our customers was missing and new technical possibilities had to be found to offer our trainings with the same quality. We overcame these challenges together in a short period of time: We continue to meet participants at eye level, share our knowledge and provide practical tips. And we do all this in an active exchange. Because it's important to us that our customers can rely on us even in challenging times and say: 'With Bilstein, we have a good partner!"

How did you achieve this together?

"Team spirit is very important to us. Precisely because of our different professional experiences and skills from the technical and commercial areas, we complement each other uniquely. We support each other with all our diverse expertise and burn for our tasks.  Our claim is to respond individually to the needs of our customers. When we offered the online training courses for the first time, we collected feedback from the participants from the very beginning and implemented it as quickly as possible. We are in constant exchange - also with our colleagues around the world - and are a well-coordinated team. This has enabled us to continuously improve our offering while remaining close to our customers.

We asked ourselves the question: 'How can we transfer the character of an on-site training course to a virtual training course?’ The answer: to encourage interaction with the training participants and to convey content in an exciting way. The web conferencing tool vitero supports us in this. We have also managed to maintain close customer contact through good cooperation with other departments. A nice idea from the marketing department: to send small care packages to our training participants with additional documentation and muesli bars for sufficient energy. This small attention provides additional joy and thus has an influence on the willingness to learn as well as the atmosphere in the training sessions themselves. We want to further personalize our offering in the future and are currently working on profiles of all our trainers, for example."

What does your performance mean for thyssenkrupp?

"We want to set new standards and show that we can continue to develop even in difficult situations. This shows that thyssenkrupp is prepared to change and take on challenges. Adaptability is a key characteristic. When we want something, we get it done - and break new ground. The team behind this is particularly important: People from all over the world work together at our company and create something really big. This is thyssenkrupp. And we at Bilstein are proud to be able to contribute to it."

Congratulations to the #topteam of thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering's Bilstein Academy for this great achievement!

Are you also part of a #topteam? Then send us an email. We look forward to celebrating your successes together!