Lukasz' Blog

WAC is not over - memories remain!

Herby, I would like to thank You all for organizing and participating in the WeAllCan program:

•Thank You Sandrine, Angelique, Marie-Jose, Stephane, for organizing this event (I hope not to skip anyone)

•Thank You William for being My Coach, Petra and Hellena for warm welcome in Zurich

•Thank You Beloved Bloggers for contribution and fun

•Thank You Malgosia, for being my Angel helping me mentally and giving comfort to my soul for writing

Dziękuję! Kocham Cię Małgosiu :-* 

My WAC presentation

Dear all,

I would like to encourage You to download my presentation I created about my participation in WeAllCan.

1. Power Point presenatation with special fonts

(*.pps 1,55 MB – automatic slide show)

2. Power Point presentation in Arial

(*.pps 1,55 MB– automatic slide show)

My participation in WAC

Here in the description I write only few words…just very short summary… and as an attachment please download/open my file I posted here as well.

Just in a few words: In the mid-December I did not plan my spring period. The thing that changed my schedule was email from Universitat St. Gallen HSG with the WAC application…I tried my luck…had interview… and finally did it!

Day by day I learned about Alcan, and day by day I knew more and more about the Company. Discussing the dates of my Alcan Days with Wiliam I felt more and more anxious to come to Zurich. And it even took over my best expectations. Warm welcome with William, Petra and Helena, participation in meetings, building sightseeing and a small brat during lunch... Professional experience I gained, knowledge I developed, new interesting people I met, new work style I experienced, new problems I had to face to, positive experiences materials I took home, and some experiences and memories I hold for ever. This is surely my WeAllCan program participation.

And the most important thing I learned – Just be Yourself, think positively, always look at the brighter side, exploit Your potential and always do Your best !

Thak You All!

J

J

Summarizing & Assessing - William’s job

To be short, precise & concise William’s job is just what people with both IT and finance education can do with great success.

Of course knowledge from different branches (e.g. managing a group, attitude towards people, team work described in one post) help a lot. William sits very important position not only in Zurich’s Headquarter but also for the whole company. His job and daily activities require engagement, responsibility, good time-management and organization of work (he travels a lot). Multiculturalizm of Alcan also reveals in his job (please refer to My Alcan Day description where, among others, one post describes teleconference with Paris Office in French, and then our activities in English and German and the Second Day).

But knowledge of languages and professionalism in their use, is not the only thing that matters… it is mainly attitude towards different nationalities that contribute most to discussion’s success.

What is most important for me, are 2 features:

- perfect time management – he always finds time for this and that and at the same time DOES NOT forget about his wonderful family (see photos at the bottom of the page) and manages his time in a way, not to be forced to overwork!

- William is Master in his activities! His appropriate background knowledge, good attitude…

...both contribute to his and at the same time Alcan’s success J

Small piece + small piece = huge part

The point in puzzling is to combine ALL parts together. Each of them has to be good, appropriate and fulfill “big picture” requirements…and the right number of pieces is required, pieces of the right size and shape, pieces with the same color and pieces form the same game. And even though only one of them, even the slightest, smallest does not match, one can not be successful.

Analogically, the situation in a company depends on all people involved in activities people perform. These are by no means separate parts, it is a huge mechanism where connections, activities, responsibilities, hierarchies and tasks have for smallest parts of the game (people) to be given (strategy).  Hence, each job in the company is essential for growth. It is not the number of separately thinking and working individuals that matters. Important is however visibility and structure in company’s strategy. All rules in Environmental and Health Safety should be given and obeyed so that everyone feels safe, understood and needed. Continuous Improvement should not only be seen in statistics. Workers simply have to feel that.

To motivate people will do to prepare clear rules that they will accept. Rules that allow to develop their skills, rules that make them feel comfortable with the job, rules that acceptable by everyone.

William is Manager with huge professional experience, but he always repeats: people are the most precious asset for every company.

So are they for Alcan!

Human beings, being human!

Puzzle or Tennis? Do I really have to choose? Of course I choose waterpolo! Yes, waterpolo because I had been training waterpolo and swimming for 8 years...Day by day, hour by hour, month by month...

But to be honest it depends...Each of them (I mean tennis or puzzle) can be either boring or making fun! Each of them can be of relevance and importance...each of them can be tiring as well. 

That depends on circumstances...e.g. it is 22:45 when I am typing this post....and right now none of them is not good for me.. because I am terribly sleepy. My eyes are already sleeping so that is why I am making so many mistakes. But, who cares...

But as a matter of fact, I like both of them: but what is obvious, puzzles have to match with each other and any must match! Puzzles make result only in case of appropriate use and appropriate positioning. And even though we have many of them, from one set, but if the general order is inappropriate…we can not benefit form them….

It is enough writing…about general issues…let me just start with question No.1

Team work – it has become sexy word and sexy style of cooperation nowadays. No so long ago, workers had practically stable set of activities to perform and not much used to change. If they have to face some changes, they were usually small, rather minor than considerable changes. And what happened right now, is that we have fast changes on the market, time for managers for decision making has shrunken and quick decisions must also be precise and strategy-oriented. Hence, none a single person can take the decision, can take decision separately. Team work comes here as solution and provides management structures with synergy effect. Different attitudes, backgrounds…perfect for brainstorming and as a result of unstructured conversation comes very good structured idea.

As far as William – My Coach- is concerned, he is manager responsible for team work. He is major “connector” gathering people together and encouraging them to talk and express their points of views to the topic. As William’s job requires meetings and cooperation with representatives of different departments (often form different countries), it is crucial for William to cooperate efficiently and effectively. And cooperation here should be seen in very broad sense. Sometimes it is normal cooperation “face-to-face” but sometimes (and it happens more often) it is virtual cooperation “on-the-phone”, via. teleconference, etc. Both types require some common background features of character e.g. ability to talk effectively, expressing one’s ideas, benefiting form mimics, gesturing, etc. And even though teleconference via. email seems to be completely different, rather easier than more difficult, it is in general more complicated because we are deprived of some features we would normally use. For William both of them are piece of cake (and as I mentioned in My Alcan Dayand My Coach post – different languages are not a problem for him). During My Alcan Days (FIRST DAY + SECOND DAY) I encountered, William cooperates with many people in the Zurich’s Headquarter and thanks to some features (mainly appropriate attitude, ability to listen and talk, etc.) he and his co-workers cooperate efficiently.

As I have noted several times so far. He is a good, well-skilled manager who can deal with any task that comes his way. It is his greatest advantage. He treats everyone seriously, regardless to his/her position, education and performed tasks. He and his coworkers are like puzzles: cooperating together they can do everything!

BlackBerry® at Alacan

As I promised in posts, here is short description of BlackBerry Technology :-)

Launched in 1999, BlackBerry has rapidly gained wide user recognition and become an essential work tool for corporate users, law firms, government institutions and all organisations that need secure and ‘always on’ access to their communications and information.

BlackBerry enables wireless access to email and other information including corporate data located behind the corporate firewall (e.g. intranet, data applications and databases). Email message delivery is rapid and entirely automated. Email is delivered automatically to the user’s BlackBerry device which also features integrated phone, browser, SMS and organiser applications.


BlackBerry also supports attachment viewing of popular attachment formats, for example MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point®, WordPerfect®, Adobe® PDF and/or text and graphics files. Availability of a message-filtering engine permits withholding selected emails or attachments.

BlackBerry supports the wireless organisation of meetings, remote management of contacts and task databases, and drafting and deletion of notes.

BlackBerry has become an international standard in business communications. It is comfort of constant wireless access to corporate email. BlackBerry’s ‘push’ technology rapidly and automatically sends emails from the user’s email system to his/her BlackBerry device. For corporate users, all emails are encrypted between the corporate email system and the client’s BlackBerry handheld. Data transmission security is further enhanced through the remote management of access rights and data removal functionalities.

Today there are over 2 000 000 BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. The high security standards it complies with have gained it acceptance by a wide range of government, security and military organizations. BlackBerry is also used by many of the largest corporations in Europe and around the world.

To sum up, BlackBerry gives:

• Unlimited, always on and mobile access to corporate email inbox
• Receive and send emails as easy as SMS
• Support for mobile access to corporate data
• Remote management of contacts and task databases
• Complete security of data transmission

To be or not to be…innovative?!

To be or not to be…innovative?!

That is a question…that everybody wants to solve, that everybody wants to find a good solution for. As stated in the question’s description, it is not enough to develop new products to be more innovative. Of course for the end-user, the new product (let’s say stronger but at the same time lighter Boeing’s spare par) could be seen as innovative one… but products is the result of more innovative process behind. So the product is innovative itself, however we should talk about the whole process behind its development. So, it is usually new attitude to existing resources, new ideas that allow to benefit form existing resources in a more efficient and cost-effective way, exploring new hidden features, finding new usage, etc. Sometimes it is just smaller or bigger change in the production process that helps in exploring new features or simply to be more effective.

What helps to be innovative?

The answers seems to be unclear. However what is clear, people’s ideas and new technologies help to be more flexible and at the same time more innovative. Why??? Below there is my explanation….Of course You are more than welcomed to confirm this or add different attitude!

It is said often: Necessity is the mother of invention. And it is true! Hence, it is really important and visible in manufacturing department where considering some failures over the machines, new ones were created.

In the IT branch it is almost the same. As we all know and have been touched by that, IT systems change quickly and considerably! The major reason is to make them more flexible, better tailored to end user’s needs and at the same time quicker and easier to maintain. As far as William’s department is considered to be really engaged with IT, it is one of his tasks to assure IT systems working smoothly and be reliable. Apparently, it seems as a simple task but in reality it is definitely not! New IT systems have to mainly be INNOVATIVE which means to be able to serve unexpected and uncovered risks emerging form daily activities without much fraction.

William and other managers do their best to assure fluency of IT systems maintenance and they are of course monitoring some bugs and errors.

So here innovativeness comes. Why? Because if a bug or error have been noticed, they have to use different (as done) attitude to solve that problem. Sometimes it requires small changes, sometimes rewriting source code and sometimes even change in whole conceptual plan. So the new approach has undeniably be innovative to minimize or most preferably reset all errors and bugs and contribute to new (bugs-free) system development.

William and his colleagues have to deal with other problems in their daily activities. To be more flexible and always online, tanks to innovative approach they use e.g. BlackBerry system which connects them with everyone (inside and outside company) 24/7. This innovative approach is especially appropriate within international companies operating in different time zones (Canada vs. Europe). BlackBerry mobile phone replaces laptop (smaller and easier to handle) and offers similar (not to say almost the same) functionality as far as communication means are concerned. New style of meetings, in small groups focused only on a few issues also helps in managing some problems. It is completely different idea because William often works with end users who either give appraisal/complain about existing IT systems. So his work is highly dependent on satisfying user needs and assuring stability and performance of IT System.

And at the very end I would like to summary saying that innovativeness is surely Alcan’s strategy. New ideas for processes in one department, contribute to different procedures and organization in another one what has impact on manufacturing, better product range and at the same time contributes to better company’s performance. Anyhow, if at the same time the company lowers costs, success is guaranteed!

To be international these days…is it possible???

What does it mean to be really international these days? I am not that old (at least I think so, hehe :D) but if I look back just a few years ago we were not international anyhow…why….here comes the explanation…

My suggestions base on some observations that I have for myself, my family and friends. As we in Poland had totally different regime, we were completely non-international. No contacts outside, no impact from other countries…even there we no chips and ht dogs in Poland!!! It was such a closed country these days!!! We were not even at the beginning allowed to travel abroad….but fortunately the situation has changed! And it has changed for the better! We can travel without any limitations, we can meet other people, we can visit other counties and so on and so on…As the boarders have opened on the May, 1 2004 we have joined the great community of European countries. So did I! There are no obstacles to go abroad, I do not need anything more than my ID…Yes, no passport is required, there are almost no limitations to go abroad. If I feel like going somewhere,  I can do it easily… noone, no government says no…I just decide to whenever I want to! And if we combine this fact with latest development on means of traveling, it is even more obvious that the boarders have shortened! Yes, the journey for My AlcanDay in total lasted shorter than the journey to my parents to south Poland. Internet and mobile devices made us fully mobile and flexible and at the same time there are no limitations to use them all over the world.

So, although we represent different cultures, different countries, different patterns of studies, and different behaviors, we all are international. We belong to one huge family of ineternational people...people who are sensitive tfor other's issues!!!

So is Alcan Staff as well. Even only during my Alcan Day, My Coach William spoke completely 4 different languages: he started with me in English, then there was a teleconference call in French (that is a pity that I could not understand), then he s witched to German (Hoch Deutsch) and at the very end small conversation in Schweizer Deutsch J Do not think I did not benefit from languages on that day. OF course I was able to use only 2 of them (English and German) because there was noone who wanted to talk to me in Russian, Swedish or Polish, hehe L that is a pity!

If one works in the European headquarter and sets the position as William does, it becomes clearly understandable that there is no other choice than being International! Different languages, cooperation with different parties, clients form different parts of the world, different times zones, different habits and styles of doing business (try to compare the US, Canadians and Chinese :-) these everything means every day at Alcan brings something new, some challenges, some new experiences. But at the same time such internationality requires much more effort and possibility do adjust our behaviors, styles of performing tasks and even style of writing emails-probably one of simplest things but also very important.

William at his job has to deal with many nationalities, talking to them in their native languages, adjusting system properties to requirements of different users (just imagine what the date 04-05-2005 means in the US and Europe). Everyday he finishes his job in Zurich, something new starts in Canada and his BalckBerry mobile device rings with announcements for new email!.

To be international means to be always on the move, beig able to accept different ideas with understanding, giving adequate measurement of every situation in every country we find ourselves in….and although it might be difficult and even sometimes boring…I like it!!! So do not go to bed, because someone in different part of the world is not sleeping!

William's suppliers and clients...

The traditional definition of Suppliers and Clients defines a group of external partners who create a tailored to their needs and requirements network and thanks to effective cooperation and division of jobs (specialization) they fulfill each company’s goals, benefiting from economies of scale at the same time.

However, this notion can also describe a network of internal professionals, representatives of different departments, managers dealing with smaller or bigger groups of people in order to perform some activities and tasks.

The situation describes relations among My Coach William Thieres and his partners.

As mentioned in My Coach description, William is Director IT. As the name of his function states itself his department is responsible for cooperation with the whole company.

IT is everywhere not only in back-office but also in middle-office and front-office. IT serves to other departments of the company and created appropriate working conditions. So, in general, we can state that William’s client is the company itself.

And as far as suppliers are concerned it is also the company as a whole especially people dealing with some applications William supervises. The most significant “product” is Treasury system that William supervises and manages. The system is prepared for all parties who deal on aluminum stock market. So among them there are professionals and first-time users who are rather poor in maintaing IT software. Hence, William’s tasks are:

• Removing possible errors and bugs from the software noticed by end-users

• Enhancing system features, accessibility, new functionality

• Developing other systems which create background for the Treasury System

To be more concrete: William is responsible for Corporate Finance Applications which means his department’s suppliers while preparing and maintaining IT Tool (e.g. Treasury system) are:

• End-users who are satisfy/complaining with some features of software. As end-users we should not only understand internal staff but also external users who are using the same system and who are representing the so called external factor

• Testers who are testing tools at the very beginning and can testify whether the system contains bugs and is/is not user-friendly enough

• IT programmers who are the only source of technical knowledge and can visualize the conceptual model into practice

• Head of Treasury Department – stays at top of all Treasury Software users and represents their needs and requirements. At the same time he reports and states about feasibility

• External advisers who cooperate closely with William on some projects

• Alcan representatives from different locations (France, Canada)

On the other hand we have clients. They are:

• Treasury software end-users who are in need for this software to perform their daily activities. As the system is crucial in their work and at the same time in well-being of the whole company. On the very top there is Head of Treasury Department – represents needs and requirements of end-users

• All external users of Treasury System - who use it to trade in aluminum prices, hence the system has to be user-friendly that even first-user can easily benefit fully from system’s features. It can not be too complicated but at the same time it has to offer considerble features that allow to trade.

The fact that clients and suppliers overlapping sometimes makes the network more dependent on each part. There is excessive cooperation and society of trust, helpfulness and care among everyone, hence each issue can be discussed in multidimensional view based on different approaches, attitudes of people with different background and experience.

The variety of project that William has to face each day gives him a wide scope what to do, how to perform his activities better. As I noticed, he always does his best to perform his activities in the best possible way and his cooperation with different parties in the Zurich’s Headquarter and worldwide as well is very appropriate and positive as well. He combines all parties involved in solving issues and has been doing that with success.

Well done William!