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No 79

PEOPLE

40

The courage to change

In this issue, a look at both sides of the mobility coin: that of the manager and an employee. Here, a manager
who has been mobile in his own career strongly advocates for his team members to do the same.

hen I began the mobility

process in my own career, says
Laurent Perinet, Head of Propulsion Domain Procurement at Astrium, managers were not nearly
as involved in this kind of process.
Today, its important that we as
managers are flexible in authorising mobility, that we take risks.
Laurents story of mobility began
in 2001, during a downturn in
Airbus activity following 11 September in the US. Though he was
working as a designer at Astrium
Aquitaine with the intention of
going to Airbus Toulouse, HR instead offered him an opportunity

to become the micro mechanic

line manager in the production
department at Astrium in Les Mureaux, and he took it.
I discovered the added value
in mixing up the population of
the production department with
a designer, he says. I could explain to my new colleagues what
constraints engineers are working
with and why they impose certain
constraints in the design. Laurent credits this crossover knowledge in helping his early career
take off, and years later as Head
of Production at Astrium Space
Transportation, it would reflect in
his own decisions as a manager.
It was important to me to position
some of our production guys in
different areas of the company,
he continues. We certainly had
better designers for it.
New eyes and
new ideas
Laurent has been mobile throughout his career, adding that hes
been fortunate to have managers
who encouraged his mobility, and
now at the age of 46 he has begun
a new job in a new department at
Astrium in the Procurement direc-

forum79_40+41_EN.indd 40

torate. I had 10 years in a design

office, 11 in production, and now
I consider that its time to start a
new period, he says. Its also
important not to stay in the same
position for more than four or five
years. You improve the performance of your department during
this time, and after that its the
time to let other people arrive with
new eyes and new ideas.
As a manager, Laurent first realised the utility of mobility and the
responsibility of a manager in the
mobility transfer when the production service he was in charge
of was transferred to Germany. He
was tasked with finding solutions
for everyone on his team, because
if he didnt, theyd be out of work.
I realised the importance of investing time with HR to find the best
solutions for my people, he points
out, and in the end found new positions for everyone.
Managers must spend time
with HR Business Partners from
across the Group if we are going
to have a good level of mobility
within our teams, Laurent says.
We also need to spend time with
our team to identify who wants to
be mobile. He cites the example
of an employee who wanted to

transfer to a Eurocopter site outside of Paris. With my HRBP, I

met with the local manager and
HRBP on her behalf. In the end
she went to Eurocopter, and now
we have a mobility exchange between the two sites.
Offering a voyage
of discovery
Laurent concedes that it takes a
lot of work as a manager to make
mobility possible for everyone,
white and blue-collar workers alike.
Hes established monthly meetings in which the mobility question
is addressed, so that the topic becomes standard work. If we want
to increase the numbers of mobility, we cant wait until the end of
the year to think about it, he says.
We as managers need to be courageous. You have to accept risktaking. You have to accept that
one of your people will not be in the
team in a few months, and it may
raise a problem that youll have to
manage. You have to be courageous because you have to address the topic of mobility with your
people and give them the chance
to discover something new.

Jess Holl

25.09.13 10:53

A complete conversion
An Astrium employee makes the leap into an entirely new field, with support from HR and her
future manager, discovering new applications for her past job skills.

n 2011 Christelle Lerou was

ready for a complete job transformation. I had already tried what
I call simple mobility, she says,
which is that I changed services
but not my position I had been
working my entire career as an
accountant. Now, she wanted a
bigger change, but her search had
started off unfocused.
HR was helping me look for another job, but I was having a hard
time. They asked me what I would
like to do, but having only been an
accountant before, it was difficult
for me to choose a different path.
Then one day, Christelle was called
with an interesting proposition:

forum79_40+41_EN.indd 41

there was a scheduling position

opening in Laurent Perinets Production department in Astrium.
Christelle first became interested
in Production while working as an
accountant in the small Astrium
subsidiary where she began her career. When I had a problem then,
I didnt send an email, I would go
directly to the people in Production,
in Quality, to suppliers outside the
company. These early interactions
came back to her now, as she saw
the potential to apply her ability to
forge relationships to helping track
the various elements of the production cycle, which is what the job in
Scheduling at Astrium would entail.
Christelles manager at the time
was resistant to the idea of change,
however. Though she had communicated to him her mobility desires,
when she told him she had actually
found a job she liked, he felt the
timing wasnt right. When I started
to discuss with the local manager,
says Laurent Perinet, he told me
he didnt think she had the required
competencies. HR had connected
Laurent and Christelle, and Laurent
saw potential in her profile. He was
inspired to advocate on her behalf.
From time to time, we have to take
some risks, he explains, and em-

phasised this to Christelles manager. I said, I am really convinced

that if this woman accepts our offer
and makes the personal investment
that job conversion takes, it will be a
good story. In the end, Christelles
manager agreed.
Breath of fresh air
I began learning a completely new
job and a new computer tool, but
all of my new colleagues helped me
every time I needed it, Christelle
underlines. She quickly recognised
the overlap between her old and
new job skills: You have to be organised, meticulous, and you have
to maintain close relationships with
clients and suppliers. While at times
the job is really different from anything Ive done, it doesnt scare me!
In the end, it was a pleasure,
says Laurent of the conversion.
It was a real pleasure to see this
woman who changed completely.
For me, its a great story in terms
of mobility. We as managers have
to give people a chance.
My advice to those thinking
about mobility is not to be afraid
of change, says Christelle. I believe mobility allows you to free your
mind. After a while you may get

bored in your work because it gets

repetitive, routine. You know, I think
you need a breath of fresh air.JH

Thanks to everyone who commented on

the Toms Blog entry on mobility. The
HR teams are analysing your comments
to look at future process improvements.
Links
If you are interested in mobility, please
feel free to contact your HR Business
Partner. Questions? Check out the
Mobility web page on myEADS for the
EADS Job Mobility Golden Rules and
Policy.
Tips
Inform your manager and HRBP about
your wish for mobility take the opportunity of your annual interview to
do it.
Find out what jobs are out there in the
job market create a Job Agent alert
in the EADS Jobs & Mobility tool.
Make yourself visible to all EADS recruiters update your profile in the
Jobs & Mobility tool and release it if
you would like your details and CV to
be seen by all EADS recruiters for current open positions.
Log on to
myHR > About Me > Jobs & Mobility

25.09.13 10:53