Strategic area: MORE POWERFUL
The strategic area MORE POWERFUL has formed the anchor for our claim to increase our impact as an organization. We are focusing on achieving a high and sustainable level of performance by means of structural changes and a consistent focus on the common goal of a strong rail system.
Meeting the recent and future challenges requires good cooperation across all business units. To also anchor the Strong Rail strategy in the company’s culture, we have developed the compass for powerful collaborations with each other. It serves as an orientation and benchmark for all employees and managers at DB Group – for better cooperation and performance in the interests of our customers.
In the first half of 2020, it became clear that we as an organization act quickly, pragmatically and in a customer-oriented manner, even in exceptional situations. Whether shipping masks from China, new goodwill arrangements, the implementation of new hygiene measures or for the establishment of digital travel centers – cohesion and customer orientation in the integrated rail system have increased in intensity with our new alignment. These positive developments are also evident in the high level of participation of our employees in the development process for the 15 employee building blocks.
Four new employee building blocks
With 15 employee building blocks, we are involving our employees in the implementation of the strategy. The objective is to develop additional building blocks that reflect the central concerns of employees and support the implementation of the Strong Rail strategy. These building blocks are created in what are referred to as Expansion Workshops. The first of these workshops was held in autumn 2019. The result was the building block safe travel (2019 Integrated Report). We started implementing the building block in January 2020. At the same time, the subject of unified knowledge was identified as another area of concern. In February and March 2020, three additional Expansion Workshops were held under this focus, resulting in the creation of three building blocks:
- “My knowledge – Your knowledge – Our knowledge” addresses the need of employees to be able to access documented knowledge more clearly and easily and to gain better access to internal knowledge carriers by means of a central search function.
- “Colleagues leave. Their knowledge stays” aims to provide an effective structure for safeguarding and transferring empirical knowledge. Among other things, the use of innovative, digital tools and overlapping staff appointments will help to structure the handover better and, in addition, the standardization of processes will ensure that the empirical knowledge of outgoing colleagues is documented and transferred to new colleagues.
- “Knowing how railways run” aims to establish a broader understanding of system and interconnected knowledge. This building block contains mandatory seminars for selected target groups and the more consistent use of e-learning courses, as well as the development of new solutions for the comprehensive training and further education in the integrated rail system.
