Ansell: Value system drives employees, company growth

In the world of HBC manufacturing and beyond, the best and brightest people — not the products themselves — have become the linchpin for growth. It’s against this backdrop that Ansell, in the “spirit of growing a positive culture,” has over the past seven years developed a value system that is the basis for recruiting, motivating and training talent.

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“The goal is that everyone will have a vision for themselves and for the company that drives growth and innovation,” said Carol Carrozza, VP marketing, North America for Ansell’s sexual wellness global business unit.



The value system has seven tenets — integrity, trustworthiness, creativity, involvement, passion, agility, teamwork and excellence. These tenets, Carrozza explained, are in Ansell’s view the characteristics of an engaged employee, a future leader and a potential mentor for incoming recruits. “It’s understood that an individual who espouses these qualities will drive an innovative and engaging culture that is people-oriented; candid and transparent; decisive; global-and long-term oriented; driven to be faster, better and smarter; proactive; and risk-tolerant,” she said. “This, more than the fact that someone” has a certain education or worked for a competitor in a similar position, “is what Ansell looks for in its recruits.”



A comprehensive mentoring program complements and supports this value system. To allow for a more open relationship between mentors and mentees, the latter are typically assigned to mentors outside their direct reporting line. Mentors and men-tees are matched according to disciplines, competencies and personal empathy for the individual mentee. The mentor role does not include taking over responsibility for mentee performance reviews or staffing-related decisions from mentees’ managers. It does encompass sharing expertise or perspective to develop a specific mentee skill-set and/or capability, as well as offering clear, concrete suggestions for growth, as well as perspectives based on personal experience. Ansell uses the PIE form of mentoring, especially for female mentees. This, Carrozza said, helps them to build business performance, enhance their executive image and gain exposure.



To illustrate the benefits of the mentoring program, Carrozza shared an anecdote about one woman whom she mentored — an Ansell employee who had come from France to work for the company in the United States. While the woman was “brilliant,” Carrozza recalled, she had difficulty relating to others on her team, and every first interaction with new colleagues “started off on the wrong foot, with a lot of antagonism.” Carrozza determined that part of the issue was related to the fact that the mentee, being French, “loved the debate — which is not something we do in the United States.” In addition to other assistance, Carrozza shared with the mentee four concrete steps to follow when communicating with colleagues — “an approach that would start an open exchange or dialogue.” Considerable improvement followed.



There is other training as well. For instance, Ansell — which has affiliates in more than 50 countries around the world — now maintains a diversity program aimed at assisting its employees in working with people of other cultures and genders. The program includes self-teaching online, as well as in-person workshops held at various times of the year.



“The objective here is that there is compassion and empathy when people work across borders,” Carrozza said.



Training within disciplines — for instance, brand management, manufacturing operation and supply chain — is provided in-house. A three-day leadership workshop rounds out the options.



Training and mentoring notwithstanding, Carrozza said Ansell still encounters challenges related to the new workforce. “They’re not patient, and they have big expectations,” she stated. “They come in and ask how quickly they can become a vice president, and how quickly they can accelerate. We have to set expectations. We say, ‘we’ll work with you, but it has to be a two way street.’ They need to understand and live by our values, and have the competencies that suggest they are ready to move up. It takes effort from both sides, but it can happen when it all comes together.”