In an era dominated by rapid innovation, Simona Almajan, Country Manager at NXP Semiconductors Romania, emphasizes the need for tech companies to match global speeds while fostering motivated, purpose-driven teams.
“We’re living in times where speed is number one,” Almajan said during Work Compass HR Conference organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest. “You go out on the street and see cars developed in China. Maybe we know it or maybe we don’t, but those cars from China are developed in 2 years versus cars developed in Europe in 4 and a half years.
Almajan pointed to the diverse talent pools in tech development, including engineers who write code, designers, HR professionals, and sales teams selling chips and software products. The key challenge, she noted, is motivation: “How do we manage to motivate them, how do we make them come to the office with joy in the morning? That’s what it’s all about.”
Central to this is purpose. “A very important element is purpose, creating an organizational environment where the purpose is clear and people understand the added value of their work,” she explained. “Ultimately, that’s what it’s about. How do daily tasks help? How does the piece developed today and tomorrow end up in the final product? And what is the final product? Often you develop a chip, you know you’re working on a chip, on a small piece or component, but you might not know where that chip ends up and what its purpose is.”
Leadership plays a crucial role in bridging this gap. “Here is the responsibility of the company’s leadership to convey this information clearly, so people know and understand how important what they do is,” Almajan stated. “One element is the added value of what we do and its importance, followed by appreciation. Let’s not forget appreciation, feedback, and the fact that employees need to feel satisfied, receiving constant feedback on their activities, as well as learning opportunities.”
She advocated for a growth mindset: “We learn from what we do, we learn from each other. That’s another element – coaching, mentoring, and so on. But we also learn from mistakes. There’s that trial-and-error in programming. We learn from mistakes.”
Beyond culture, Almajan stressed creating a pleasant, open environment where employees are encouraged to share ideas and make decisions. Training has evolved too: “Employee training happens on the job. We no longer spend a week or two in a training room and then see what we’ve retained from those two weeks and what we can apply to the project. That doesn’t work anymore. Everything must be fast. Need something? I don’t wait to call the trainer or ask them. The information must already be there: a podcast, a video, etc. The learning program should be adapted to organizational transformations and speed.”
Modern tools further reduce the need for formal training. “Today, you don’t need training for the tools in the organization,” she added. “Tools are built on modern architectures and are intuitive.”