Continuous improvement
Anna Meduna, managing director and member of the management board of Miele Global Services / photo: press materials
She is a manager with over 20 years of experience in the business services sector related to management and transformation in the area of finance, administration and sales support. He has experience in working directly with clients, managing and coordinating transformation activities and improving the quality of services provided, while minimizing costs and optimizing processes.
She started her professional career as a controller at the city hall, and then developed skills in direct work with clients as a Key Account Manager in the sales and marketing department of one of the tour operators.
In 2006, she started working as a Team Leader at Zurich FS in the insurance sector, where she led the transition of projects related to the company's German units. In the years 2009–2016, she was associated with Capgemini, where, rising through the ranks, she was promoted to the position of Katowice Head Site (2014–2016). Under her leadership, Capgemini in Katowice grew to over 400 employees, increasing employment by 30%. within one year. In 2016, she joined MAN Shared Service Center (MAC), where she served as a member of the management board and Head of MAN Shared Service Center. During this time, among others built a new way of defining KPIs and initiated a new development program for Team Leaders.
Since 2019, she has been managing director and member of the management board of Miele Global Services (MGS). There was another challenge ahead of her – creating a shared services center in the field of finance
and controlling from scratch. Today, MGS has 340 employees.
She is consistent “to the point of pain” (as her co-workers joke) and strongly committed to what she does.
– I love the moment of creative discussion, creation and improvement. The idea of continuous improvement is very close to me and I use it every day. This allows me to be alert and open to what is outside, to what is happening with others, to innovations and news in the industry and more, she says.
He also points out that he always demands as much from himself, if not more, than from others. He believes in “lead by example” and at the same time sees his role broadly – more as a “doer” – a man of action – than a “gold-mouthed orator”. No less important, in her opinion, is honesty in the approach to people, oneself, one's competences, but also shortcomings and limitations.
When asked about the recipe for success, she advises to rely on internal motivation, employ people who are better than you, be modest and keep distance from yourself. She was strongly inspired by holacracy and the model of a turquoise organization, where an employee is defined by what he brings to the organization and the team, and not by the position he holds.
Creative interactions
Justyna Demkowicz-Dobrzańska, managing director at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking / photo: press materials
A passionate leader with 20 years of experience gained in the financial and consulting industries. He is constantly looking for new challenges, deriving satisfaction from setting and achieving ambitious goals, working in a dynamic, complex and competitive environment. She created and transformed teams responsible for finance, risk, processes and operations, technology and change management at both local and international levels.
He is a cosmological physicist by education. She started her professional career in 2003 at KPMG, providing advisory services to banks in the field of financial instrument valuation. Then she expanded her substantive competences at PwC, implementing projects in the areas of risk and profitability management and modeling. It was also there that she took up a managerial position for the first time. Since 2007, she has been associated with Kredyt Bank, where, as deputy CRO and risk director, she was responsible for the transformation of the division and the implementation of a number of strategic projects.
In 2013, she joined the Santander Group, where she has been working in the area of corporate and investment banking (Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, SCIB) from the beginning, and since 2020 as a managing director. Over the years, she has served as CFO and COO for the Polish SCIB division and CFO for the Continental Europe region in this segment, and for two years she has been creating and responsible for the over 300-person SCIB Global Technology Hub in Poland and coordinating the activities of the international network of SCIB Hubs.
What gives her the greatest satisfaction and joy at work is contact with people who are a constant inspiration for her and with whom she can together change the world around her.
– Curiosity, combined with the ability to listen and openness to others, are the features that I particularly cultivate. Today, perhaps more than ever before, the role of every leader should be, first and foremost, to create a space in which each team member can fully be themselves, and creativity is born in creative interactions between people with different experience and views on the world, says the manager.
He equally strongly emphasizes the importance of authenticity, deeply believing that “role modeling” is the key to building lasting, good relationships based on mutual trust. The director also advises, especially those involved in transformation projects, to arm themselves with endurance and determination in pursuing their goals.
– If it were easy, it probably wouldn't be a transformation, and the moment when, after months, we notice how big the change we have implemented is, makes up for all the difficult moments – he sums up.
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