#123 SPECIAL EDITION IN ENGLISH The Culture Journey @ Kostal Automobil Elektrik with Ralf Heinze and Marisa Müller-Eckstorff: Insights into the Culture Hub and the Culture Directions Mission, Pragmatism and Empowerment

This episode takes us into the heart of a significant cultural change at KOSTAL Automobil Elektrik, a long-established company in the automotive industry. The discussion is led by moderator Georg Wolfgang and features guests Ralf Heinze and Marisa Müller-Eckstorff, who are deeply involved in the company’s cultural transformation process.

A Brief Introduction to the Speakers

Georg Wolfgang is the host of this exciting podcast and guides us expertly through the talks and discussions. Guest Ralf Heinze takes us on a journey of cultural change at KOSTAL. And Marisa Müller-Eckstorff, also a guest speaker, brings her extensive experience and expertise to the discussion and provides in-depth insights into the projects and initiatives that are currently shaping the company.

Company Background

KOSTAL Automobil Elektrik is a traditional company in the automotive sector, widely known for its engineering excellence, precision, and stability. These traits are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture. However, in a rapidly changing world, even a traditional company like KOSTAL needs to adapt and innovate. The challenge is to blend this deeply rooted culture of perfection with a more dynamic, entrepreneurial, and risk-taking mindset without compromising the safety and quality of their products.

The Need for Cultural Shift

Marisa Müller-Eckstorff emphasizes the importance of a cultural shift to foster more engagement, empowerment, and entrepreneurial spirit. The aim is to create a proactive and bold corporate culture, always prioritizing product safety. It’s crucial to develop a healthy approach to handling failures and encouraging innovation while celebrating successes.

She makes it clear that the goal is not to increase the number of mistakes but to enable quicker decision-making, establishing a culture that allows learning from those mistakes. This involves clearly distinguishing between exploration and exploitation strategies—while some areas can adopt a bolder approach, core processes and products must remain stable and error-free.

Focus on Individual Motivation

A key aspect of the cultural shift is how the work and the company’s purpose are perceived. Transparency in corporate strategy and mission is vital to boosting employee motivation and aligning them with the company goals. Marisa and Ralf underscore the importance of giving employees a voice and allowing them to contribute their expertise.

The Cultural Transformation Process

KOSTAL’s cultural transformation process follows three main axes: Mission, Pragmatism, and Empowerment. Initially, most employees supported the empowerment axis. However, KOSTAL decided to begin the transformation journey with mission clarity to first establish a unified direction and then focus on empowerment and pragmatism.

The „Culture Hub“ plays a central role in this transformation. This hub is a cross-functional and cross-regional team working at eye level to drive cultural change within the company. Marisa explains that this network promotes open dialogues, shares best practices, and actively steers the transformation. Members of the Culture Hub engage voluntarily and serve as ambassadors who actively participate in the cultural change rather than merely consuming information.

Concrete Initiatives and Projects

Throughout the transformation process, ten initiatives were defined in workshops, aligning with the wishes of top management and contributing to the three major cultural directions. Some highlighted initiatives include:

• „Strategy in your face“

  : Aims to make the corporate strategy visible to all employees.

• „Strategy chain“

  : Explores how the strategy translates into daily work.

• „Celebrate success“

  : Encourages recognizing achievements through simple gestures like kudo cards.

• „Simplify approvals“

  : Seeks to streamline approval processes for greater efficiency.

Empowerment and Engagement

Georg, Ralf and Marisa stress the importance of empowering employees globally through initiatives that foster participation and responsibility. The Culture Hub includes management and ensures alignment and forward momentum of strategies through workshops. Regular workshops and planned meetings, such as the one in January 2025, help maintain continuous alignment between the Culture Hub and management.

Collaboration with Culturizer

An exciting addition to the transformation process is the collaboration with Culturizer. This platform supports the cultural transformation by providing workshop modules that facilitate dialogue without the need for constant external moderation. Culturizer is especially practical and easy to scale, making it ideal for a company with around 17,000 employees.

The Difference Between Change and Transformation

One of the most impressive metaphors mentioned in the podcast episode is that of the butterfly: the „KAE culture journey“ is described as a transformation akin to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly—an irreversible change that cannot be undone. This metaphor highlights the difference between short-term change management and long-term cultural transformation. The latter requires deep and thoughtful engagement and goes far beyond merely adjusting systems or processes.

Conclusion and Outlook

The discussion on CULTiTALK provides an impressive journey through the cultural transformation of a traditional company. It emphasizes the importance of blending long-standing values with new, dynamic approaches without compromising product safety and quality. The detailed planning and implementation of various initiatives, guided by the Culture Hub and supported by tools like Culturizer, indicate that KOSTAL is well-prepared to meet future challenges.

Invitation to Participate

The episode wraps up with a heartfelt invitation to all employees to actively participate in the cultural journey, providing suggestions or questions at any time. This openness and invitation to involvement are key elements in creating a truly integrated and engaged corporate culture.

It will be fascinating to see how this transformation process at KOSTAL unfolds and what successes the engaged initiatives will achieve. Stay tuned to learn more about these exciting developments and the ongoing cultural journey at KOSTAL.