Andreas Story: Dynamics meets responsibility

From quality control and safety guidelines to environmental protection measures: My current position as Acting Country Sustainability Manager includes a wide range of responsibilities in the areas of quality, safety, and the environment. My career path in the company to date has been just as varied. Since 2014, I have been able to perform various management tasks in the areas of quality assurance, production, and sustainability. This dynamic and the numerous opportunities to develop personally and professionally have made the last six years extremely varied. What has not changed since then: No day at Coca-Cola HBC is like another. And for me personally that is an essential motivating factor.

Finding the right mixture

When leading my team, it is particularly important to me to always have an open ear for all concerns. A philosophy that I can also fully underline for cross-departmental and cross-border work - a key factor in my position. This is a key difference to my previous activities: As an Acting Country Sustainability Manager, you have to break away from a pure production environment and pursue a more holistic approach. Because the topics of quality, safety and environment are of interest to each and every one of us. This makes my work extremely exciting, but of course also requires targeted communication and precise coordination with the most diverse departments.

A natural challenge that comes with this responsibility is to adapt flexibly to other teams, their routines and work-flows. The daily routine of quickly coordinating smaller, current topics creates a new rhythm for making targeted decisions that have a significantly greater impact on our business. Because of this need for “big picture thinking”, I have definitely learned to  take a more strategic than operational perspective.

Regardless of the challenges ahead, I would give every new team member the following advice: Every challenge that drives us out of our comfort zone is at the same time an opportunity for professional and personal development. So just put one foot in front of the other, have the courage to break new ground and everything else will come naturally.