Author: amanda.manconi

Shaping Your Career Through Danaher’s Leadership Development Programs

The collective talent of our people propels Danaher’s success. Your talent is our most essential resource, and it’s also your greatest opportunity—which is why we are so intentional about developing it. From the moment our associates arrive at Danaher, they are surrounded by supportive colleagues and encouraged to take advantage of learning and development resources that will hone the skills they bring to the table and challenge them to discover new strengths. From the Danaher Business System to leadership training to proven growth tracks, our L&D programs ensure that whatever your career dreams, we can help you achieve them. The stories in this series will show you how.

The Leadership Development Programs at Danaher provide associates with a strong foundation to become effective business leaders. Two major successes from the General Manager Development Program (GMDP) are Clancy Cashion and Natalie Arbanian, who happen to have met through Danaher and are now married. Clancy and Natalie discuss below how the GMDP has propelled their careers at Danaher. Natalie recently switched to the Human Resources Development Program (HRDP), which similarly is molding her professional future.

What is your background, and why did you decide to join the GMDP?

Natalie: It’s been a global journey. My mother is Colombian, and my father is Iranian. Although I was born in the U.K., I consider myself Colombian since I moved there when I was 10, and it’s where I’ve lived the most and where my family is today.

When I was in business school at UCLA applying to full-time positions, I was looking for a general management program that could broaden my skill set. My background was heavily concentrated in internal strategy, consulting, and corporate and commercial finance. Danaher’s General Management Development Program was the perfect fit, and I was placed with Beckman Coulter (a Danaher operating company focused on biomedical testing) and started with its business development team.

Clancy: I was born and raised in the South, in Arkansas and Tennessee. After college, I took various roles that are more traditional before I went to business school: investment banking, private equity and corporate strategy. In each of those, I got a little bit closer to really being in a business.

In my last role, I moved with a couple of private equity colleagues who went to lead a business in Portland, Oregon. I saw them lead at all different levels, from the C-suite with shareholders to the operations floor with the manufacturing site. I was very impressed by that and became inspired to lead teams and change paths.

That drew me to business school, and I was recruited by Danaher. I was already aware of the

company because we had hired some Danaher associates in Portland, so I knew they had a good business tool system, and they were very well-known for developing general managers. At Danaher, I got an internship working in strategic development, which gave me great experience and exposure to how the company thinks.

When I got the full-time offer, I was able to think about where I really wanted to go that could provide some of those deep, rich experiences I was looking for. I looked at a number of opportunities, but ultimately, I took a product manager role with Beckman Coulter in California, allowing me to lead a small team and help the company grow. From there, I grew into my career.

What surprised you about the program or the opportunities you received?

Clancy: Danaher has given me pretty substantial responsibilities and has been willing to take risks on me at fairly junior levels of my career. Two years into my time at Danaher, I was leading a portfolio management team for Beckman Coulter in hematology and urinalysis. The business was declining, and we were trying to develop a roadmap to turn things around. My background is not in clinical diagnostics, but I have intellectual curiosity. I’ve got a bias for action, and I can think about strategic elements from that perspective, so I was able to call on experts and work with the team and the technology people. Ultimately, we came up with a detailed plan that identified various iterations of solutions. We developed a concept to identify sepsis in the clinical environment, and we were able to launch several products and support turning that business around.

It was a phenomenal career opportunity and a way to really affect lives. From both a career and personal perspective, it was an amazingly powerful thing to be part of a solution where you can start to identify sepsis earlier in a patient with the blood count.

Danaher allowed me to build on that experience, and I ended up taking more progressively senior marketing roles, which meant bigger teams, more revenue responsibility and more of the demand generation side of marketing versus more of the upstream or strategic marketing. And the company has allowed Natalie and me to make our paths work for both of us—although, on our end, balancing each one’s career challenges has not always been easy. How do you optimize? When do I take a back seat?

Natalie: It has been a wonderful surprise just how supportive Danaher is both professionally and personally. When I was in business school, I was an international student, so I couldn’t apply for every opportunity I wanted because not every company was willing to sponsor me. Danaher was willing to interview me, knowing how complicated and risky the sponsorship process is.

A year and a half into my first rotation I wasn’t getting the work visas necessary to work long term with Danaher, and I had to either leave Danaher or leave the U.S. Because I was in that business development role with Beckman Coulter, and one of the deals we were working on was in Colombia, where I am from. Beckman worked with me to relocate to Colombia to become the Integration Leader for this $10M asset deal. It turned out to be one of the most enriching work experiences I have had yet – transitioning a family distributor to a Beckman Coulter and Danaher subsidiary. I was accountable for all parts of the P&L, delivering the target return on investment, and keeping our talent engaged and our customers satisfied. I was just in my first rotation in the GMDP.

Natalie, you’ve embarked on a new adventure transitioning to the Human Resources Development Program (HRDP). Can you tell us about why you’re interested in making this change?

Natalie: It’s quite personal, to be honest. Here I am in the U.S. as a woman, an immigrant and a Hispanic. My sister is transgender. I was coming to work with all these different pieces of my identity, and I found, just like everywhere else, there was so much room to improve in all of these aspects at Danaher.

I was asking myself how I could better develop my own career experience. When I say “better,” I don’t mean trying to climb the corporate ladder. I mean better in the sense of, how do I make the process and conversation better on how to improve the careers for all associates. I thought to myself, “I can do this, and I can make it better.”

Leadership development is a passion for me, especially for people who just don’t have the same opportunities. I love my husband to death, but he’s the classic white American man who has privilege, and he takes it for granted. He tries not to, but he takes it for granted. Trying to level the playing field is a passion of mine. I want to play a role in making it better for my Hispanic son, my daughter and my transgender sister.

Clancy, can you give us an overview of what your new role in Singapore entails?

Clancy: I actually have two roles. First, I’m Vice President of Asia-Pacific Sales for one of the business units of Pall Industrial called FTAP (Fluid Technology and Asset Protection), which is essentially all the industrial products that are not microelectronics, aerospace or the food and beverage industry. We do a lot of oil and gas, petrochemical and lube and hydraulic filtration to improve the process and help equipment run longer.

Before this role, I’d never directly led a sales team. I’d never taken a customer’s order. I’d never lived internationally, and Danaher was willing to take a bet on me to lead an over 100-person team with over $100 million in revenue and relocate me and my family to Singapore. I mean, that’s a significant expense for the company and a level of risk with a significant amount of revenue. Yet, they said, “We’re going to support you. We’re going to give you some development. We know it’s a stretch. We know you may get some bloody noses along the way, but we think that’s good for you, and we think ultimately that’s good for us because it’s going to round you out as a leader.” That level of support and risk-taking in my career at Danaher has been consistent since my experience in the GMDP.

My other role is Southeast Asia Country Leader, and this position is more facilitative and strategic with regard to safety and compliance, particularly with the emergence of COVID, which is still a significant concern. Many of our associates are rebuilding the support structures for their families before they can return to the work site. Part of my job is to listen to them and come up with solutions that allow them to be effective in their roles. It’s a great way for me to develop as a general manager and contribute to all these different challenges.

What are your goals for the future? What does success look like?

Natalie: The role I’ve just started is a meaty, full-blown, generalist HR leader position where I’ll be partnering with the Global Operations Leader and supporting at least 500 associates for SCIEX (a Danaher operating company developing mass spectrometry for scientists and lab analysts). This is going to be an opportunity for me to bring my DBS mindset and business experience to be an effective HR business partner.

My goals are to hopefully have a low turnover and show engagement in career and leadership development. The culture in Asia is very much a meritocracy, and people expect to get promoted if they keep their heads down and work hard. However, this is a U.S.-based company, and the people who get promotions usually raise their hands and ask for it. I hope to be that liaison and teach this to our associates, so they can grow and develop.

I think my success will be defined by my growth and the functions I support, as well as the complexity and scale of the business I’m supporting as an HR leader. The sky’s the limit for me, but I aspire to ultimately become an HR leader of a small operating company and then continue to grow and scale as we go along.

Clancy: My aspiration remains the same from when I was part of the GMDP program: to lead teams of people toward a common goal in a meaningful business that impacts lives. There remains so much to learn and so much to do in my role today. If I can prove myself and continue to deliver in this incredibly complex environment, I hope to take on increasing levels of leadership.

Over time, I would like to find ways to contribute to Life Sciences at Danaher. I think it’s a really attractive area, especially with the direction that Danaher’s headed. It would be a wonderful place to make a career and make an impact.

Ready to take the next step towards growing your career? Explore our open jobs or join our talent community to get started!

May 25, 2023
Get to Know: Henri Sund, Senior Manager, Assay Development

For organic chemist Henri Sund, coaching an amateur football team helped him discover a passion for leadership. Through mentorship and the Danaher Business System (DBS), Henri nurtured his talent, and now leads his own team of scientists as a senior manager in assay development. Below, Henri discusses his journey from research assistant to team leader, how DBS empowered him to take on a mentorship role and how he’s guiding his team through the transition to a hybrid work model post COVID-19.

What do you do at Radiometer?

My two main responsibilities are to lead my team and to secure continuous development of tools and workflows for the R&D department here at our site in Turku, Finland. I manage a great team of nine chemists and scientists who develop dry chemistry-based test kits for our immunoassay product line. More specifically, it’s the test cartridges that hospitals and other health care providers use in a Radiometer immunoassay device—similar to a coffee pod or an ink cartridge for your printer. My team members work on new product development so they really make a difference in providing caregivers with point-of-care (POC) solutions to make fast and accurate diagnoses.

We have project managers who are responsible for the progress of each project; my job is more focused on the team itself. I make sure they have the tools and support they need to do their jobs effectively; I keep an eye on their workloads and I mentor them on how to build and grow their careers further.

Our big focus right now is automation and digitization. We’re looking for opportunities to streamline processes and eliminate “muda”—a Japanese term meaning “wasteful” that we often use within DBS. We want to remove unnecessary manual steps to make better use of people’s time. We’re also upgrading equipment to make it compatible with the current systems for analyzing and utilizing data. We already gather tons of information, but we’re still laying the groundwork to make that more organized and easier to use.

What led you to this role?

I basically started my professional career here at Radiometer. I studied organic chemistry at the University of Turku, and while working as a temporary research assistant for the Department of Biotechnology we were collaborating with Radiometer on some projects. It was motivating for me as a young chemist⁠ to get to contribute to something new and to have support and mentoring from the team. They invited me to do my thesis work here, and after I finished that I officially joined the team in 2010.

Early on, my goals were very research-oriented, in part because I admired my mentors so much. I was working with these widely known experts in the field, and I wanted to be just like them! But over the years, I started getting more interested in management. At one point, I started coaching amateur football as a hobby, which taught me a lot about what to do and what not to do, working with people from different backgrounds and keeping them motivated. Then in 2017, I became laboratory supervisor for our organic chemistry lab, which is a cross-functional group⁠ that includes both Operations and R&D.

During those earlier years, I got to better understand the DBS tools, like Problem-Solving Process and Situational Leadership, and that led me to a sort of an “aha!” moment. I realized there were a lot of shared values with what I’d learned as a coach. So I started to think the manager path might be a good fit. My own managers suggested different trainings to help me prepare for a leadership role and see how I would like it, and then last year this opportunity came up.

Even though I’d been preparing, I was hesitant at first. I’ve worked in assay development my whole career, but as an organic chemist in a research team. This role also meant managing people in biochemistry, biotechnical engineering and other fields—which aren’t my areas of expertise. I wondered, “Can I really pull that off?” I wanted to make sure I could create the trust I needed to fully support people. I decided to go for it, and I’m very glad I did.

Tell us more about that. What’s the transition been like?

It’s been a lot of me learning—about my team members, the details of their work, and the kinds of challenges they face. We did a lot of one-on-ones, especially in the first year, to help us get to know each other. Of course, every relationship is different. There are some associates I’ve worked with for years—so we had to figure out the dynamics with me leading the team—while others I was meeting for the first time.

Because I was focused specifically on organic chemistry until last year, I’m not always the person to give my associates the answers or tell them what to do. I ask a lot of questions; it’s more about thinking through together how they might solve a problem. We’ll find someone in their area they could talk to, or I’ll give them insights from my experience that might apply. Whenever I can help by sharing something I learned in a similar situation, not just specific tasks, but navigating challenges and ups and downs, those are the most rewarding moments for me.

How have you and your team navigated the challenge of remote work since the emergence of COVID-19?

Like most companies, we’ve been through a lot of change in the past couple of years because of the COVID-19 pandemic—but of course, that doesn’t affect everyone the same way. If you’re doing research in a lab or working on our Production team, you probably don’t have the option to work from home often. With this new role, I’ve been able to work remotely, although I’ve always been mostly on-site.

The last year was a bit hectic just because I was learning so much that was new, but I do have the freedom to decide where and when I do a lot of my work. I still regularly work on-site to make sure I’m on top of what’s going on in our facilities and to help me stay connected with my team.

We’ve now officially moved to a hybrid model, meaning everyone is on-site at least two days per week. We’ve had workshops about different models for the future of work, and it’s been really interesting to hear how associates feel about their workdays and what the downsides and upsides are of working in person versus at home.

We’re thinking a lot about how we can make each arrangement work—scheduling meetings differently, for example, or aligning the days certain groups are at the office so they can collaborate more easily. It’s a very personal thing—how you respond to different situations, what you need to be productive. But at least for me and my reports, we’ve found a lot of value in flexibility, being able to fit work and family into the day. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what kind of possibilities these new models will bring.

As a manager, how do you help your team members grow their careers?

I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have great managers and other mentors who got to know me quite well, and when they sensed I needed support or was ready for a new challenge, made suggestions. I’m so grateful for that, and I try to do the same for my team⁠, in part by just sharing my own story and learnings. If someone is wondering about career progression, it’s quite natural for me to talk about how I started and that there was a long period of time where I thought I’d stay in the lab, or was stuck there, but then a different path opened and I started work systematically to achieve it. It raises a question for them, “Okay, what could my version of that story look like?”

One thing I avoid is telling them directly what I think they should do, because it’s easy to influence someone and I know firsthand how important it is for people to feel free to change their mind.

I know my team members might find it frustrating at times that I don’t just tell them what they should do. But it’s important to really listen—to pick up on clues: what kind of work do people do, what motivates them, what makes them feel alive. Then I suggest DBS tools or other areas of potential interest, but what’s exciting is letting it all play out.

You don’t have to know from the start where you want to go. Everything someone experiences and learns will play a role in helping them find their path, and it’s my job to support them on that journey.

Interested in joining the Radiometer team? Check out open roles and join our talent community!

April 28, 2023
Maria Fagerberg on Building a Career and Growing a Team at HemoCue

It was geography that first put point-of-care testing provider HemoCue on Maria Fagerberg’s radar, but it’s serving her fellow associates—and customers—that’s kept her there for 18 years and counting. Below, Maria describes what it’s been like to build her career as the company has grown, explains how she encourages members of her Regulatory Affairs (RA) and Quality Assurance (QA) team to say “no” when they need to and shares what she’s excited to see as her work and HemoCue continue to evolve.

What do you do at HemoCue?

I head up our Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance department, which is a team of 25 great people. On the regulatory side, we keep up to date on licensing and regulations in the countries where HemoCue devices are used, and on the quality side, we support product development all the way from design through to production, launch and customer feedback. I have four direct reports, each of whom manages their own team within RA and QA, and my main task is to make sure they have what they need. I want people to be able to approach their work in their own way—they can decide how they do what they do—but we meet one-on-one every week so I can support them if needed.

When I moved into this role that I have today a few years ago, I also joined HemoCue’s leadership team, and I’ve really enjoyed that collaboration. I get to interact with stakeholders all across the company, so we can make decisions together and keep our resources and energy moving in the same direction.

Tell us about your path to HemoCue—and your path since you joined.

I’m a chemical engineer by training, but I always wanted to work in quality management—even during my time at university, that’s what interested me most. I joined HemoCue in 2004, and it was actually the location that got my attention at first; I grew up here in Ängelholm, and when the company I was working for in Copenhagen decided to move, I thought it was a good time to see what my options might be back home. I also knew people who worked at HemoCue, and they had nothing but positive things to say. So I picked up the phone and called, and they invited me to come interview.

I started in what was then a very small Quality department, and did try out almost every position there—I worked with corrective and preventive actions, complaints, Operations, R&D. After a few years, they asked if I would be interested in building a new regulatory function to run licensing globally. I didn’t have a lot of regulatory experience, but I said yes and grew that team to what we now have in place. I really enjoyed being part of its evolution—there was lots of learning by doing, which I like! I was in that role for 12 years, until I got this position.

What have you learned from the different leaders you’ve worked with—and how has that shaped your leadership style?

They’ve all been experts at different areas within quality and regulatory. Some helped me think more about the big picture and take a high-level view. Others were experts in the requirements and helped me learn all the details. But beyond that, they’ve all had an impact on me as a people manager. When I was new to HemoCue, for example, I had one leader who really helped me believe in myself. She pushed me to look at what I could actually do, instead of focusing on what I didn’t know how to do yet. I started to think, “Well, why not?”

I had another leader who was really focused on talent management; she’d only been with the company a few weeks when she sat me down and asked when I wanted a role like hers. I did want it, but I didn’t think I could say that! She encouraged me to go for it, and she helped me get prepared for when that opportunity came. That’s something I try to do for my associates now—encourage them to articulate where they see themselves, now and in the future, and then coach them toward that and work together on a plan to make it happen. I see the leaders I manage working towards the same thing for their teams.

What’s the culture like at HemoCue—and on your team specifically?

I think one of the advantages of being a smaller company is that we’re very collaborative. No matter what role you’re in, you’re close to everything. You have a sense of what’s going on and who’s working on what, and you know everyone, more or less. That makes it very easy to reach out.

We also try to get to know each other as people, not just colleagues—that’s especially important now that we’re hybrid, with some people working remotely. We have to dare to talk about the soft things, because we’re all humans and we all have feelings. Sharing them makes for better discussions and helps us learn. In one of our teams, for example, we do “temperature checks” twice a week where we check in on workload, support needed, and we send out regular surveys where people can share how they’re feeling. Then we discuss the results of those surveys as a team, and if we see a negative trend, we talk about how to solve it. BUT also, focus on what is working really well so that we ensure to sustain that.

This is something we’re working on as a leadership team, as well—we want to be very clear about what our overall priorities are, so we quickly can align and redirect if we need to set a lower-priority project aside and focus our attention elsewhere. Then we take that mindset back to our teams, so they can feel comfortable, too. Saying no is difficult for all of us; we think, “I can do a little more. I can manage.” You have to practice—and know each other well—before you can start to say, “I need help,” or “Actually, I don’t have the bandwidth for that right now.”

Tell us about some of the challenges you and your team have worked on.

The difficult stuff is what’s really fun! One ongoing challenge is keeping up with regulations in 130 countries with a regulatory team of around 10 people and even though it is an extremely big and challenging task, the cooperation we have and the learnings we do are extremely motivating. Priorities are key—we have to know where the biggest and most important changes are happening. Building our network has also been helpful; colleagues in other Danaher operating companies can help us stay on top of what’s going on.

Another challenge that comes to mind is adapting to the EU’s new IVDR, or In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation. It’s a much more stringent requirements vs before, and has been a make-or-break factor for companies in our space. On the Regulatory team, we started preparing in 2015—getting involved in the industry groups that helped develop IVDR, and discussing it thoroughly with our colleagues inside HemoCue, so that everyone understood what it would mean for the company and how we together could succeed. From there, we worked to balance what was really needed with what was nice to have, and I think we’ve seen that strategy pay off; while some companies that didn’t manage the transition well needs to drop off, we’re still going strong.

What are you looking forward to?

The IVDR project is a good example of how RA and QA can play a key role in the business, and continuing that journey is what’s most interesting to me. I think there’s so much more to explore in terms of the ways we can add value—for HemoCue as a company, and ultimately for our customers. It’s one thing to be compliant, but how do we take that to the next level and for example build a truly world-class management system supporting all employees at HemoCue and our customers in the very best possible way?

We’ve already seen the benefit of having cross-functional collaboration start earlier in the development process; you never know when insight from RA will be critical. Now, the next step is what we’re thinking of as “quality made easy.” We do not want to add complexity, we want to talk with the rest of the company about how to make it seamless for them to ensure compliance. We’re working with them to understand what they do and how, and then asking, “How does that work for you? Would this change help?” The tools and processes of the Danaher Business System are really useful for those conversations, because it’s a shared language we can use to investigate why we do things the way we do, and see if there are opportunities to improve.

It’s a step-by-step process, and we know that our team can’t create quality on our own. It’s something we’ll do together, as a company. But we are seeing the connection now between doing RA and QA well and helping the business grow, and that’s exciting.

April 7, 2023
Progressing at Pall: How Ben Datson Went From the Shop Floor to an Engineering Role

Ben Datson went from stocking shelves at a supermarket to joining Pall, where he’s worked his way from the factory floor to an engineering technician position. Below, see how his approach to embracing every opportunity led him to his current role—and toward a degree in manufacturing engineering.

You’re at the forefront of what Pall makes. Tell us what the company produces and about your role. What projects are you working on?

Pall makes hundreds of products that have to do with filtration and purification, and we have factories around the world. Here in Newquay, UK, we make medical products, and the main one now has to do with breathing filtration. If someone’s on a ventilator, for instance, there’s a filter between the machine and the patient. It stops anything from transferring back and forth. So when the machine is switched to a new patient, only the filter has to be replaced instead of taking the whole machine apart and cleaning it.

I’m a product engineering technician now, but I’ve probably worked in about 75% of the rooms here during my time on the shop floor. At the moment, I’m actually working on projects from a room I worked in for five years, so I’ve gained a lot of knowledge. I’ve got a nice blend at the moment between teaching others and learning new skills myself.

Our job is to help the shop floor resolve material issues. For example, if the raw materials come in from the suppliers and they’re the wrong shape or color, or they’re not reacting the way they should react, it’s up to us to investigate. Sometimes, it’s the machine setting, in which case we change our machines here on-site. Or it could be the supplier has made changes that affect how the material runs in our machines.

Can you share your journey from the shop floor to a management role?

Six years ago, I was working in a supermarket, stocking shelves, without a lot of career prospects. I felt like I had to do something. Another guy I was working with at the store was feeling the same way, and he went to Pall first. I think he’d been here for about three or four months when he convinced me to give it a go.

When you’re on the shop floor, you may wonder why management can’t change a process. It’s not until you come upstairs and see how much paperwork, regulations, and signoffs you need to be able to change something small that you understand. Coming from the shop floor means I have an understanding of what the people on the floor are thinking. Having that crossover is invaluable, really.

How does the Danaher Business System (DBS) inform and support your work?

We use DBS for almost every meeting, whatever department you work in, which means everyone can go to every meeting and know how it will run. Everyone knows what the graphs are showing. Everyone knows that red and green days show if you hit a target or not.

Our DBS boards are like a grid, so anyone should be able to walk up to a board, see why it’s red, and know what action is in place to make it green again. It really depends on what metric you’re looking at. If it’s output, maybe you need to run overtime to catch up. Maybe you need to get more staff in.

For example, there are milestones for every project. That could mean if you need to make 1,000 of a product a day and you made 900, that’s a red day. We then have a 24-hour action to get back to a green day. If it can’t be resolved in 24 hours, there’s a permanent action. So if something extreme like a machine blowing up requires the permanent action of bringing in a new machine, the success links to that single red day in production even though it’s part of a six-month project.

Once you learn how DBS works, it’s really useful. When we have engineers off, we can cover each other’s areas. When you’re on the shop floor, your main focus is to keep the machine running, but up here in Product Engineering, you actually see what can happen if a procedure isn’t followed, which is quite eye-opening. When you see the whole picture, then you actually understand why each part of the process needs to be controlled strictly.

What does the future hold for your work at Pall?

As part of my new role, Pall is putting me through an HND (Higher National Diploma). It’s remote learning, which means I can work my 39 hours a week and study at home. Eventually, I’ll have a foundation degree in manufacturing engineering.

I’ve finished the engineering and mathematics part, and I found that interesting, so it didn’t really feel like work. Now I’m learning about material properties and electromagnetism.

The plan now is to complete the HND and, hopefully, go to a full degree. I’d like to specialize in something that we can use here at Pall. About 80% of our products are made from plastics, so something like plastic molding techniques or the molecular structure of plastic would be useful. I want to continue progressing.

Interested in joining the Pall team? Check out open roles and join our talent community.

March 21, 2023
Believing in the Power of Teamwork: How Monika Gram Ritter is Taking on HemoCue’s Global Marketing Opportunities

Despite two advanced degrees in business management, Monika Gram Ritter didn’t initially see herself going into leadership. A decade and a half later, she is at the helm of HemoCue’s global marketing efforts and reinvigorating the scope of her team’s impact. Her secret? Combining a strong focus on teamwork and development while setting clear goals.

Tell us about your role. What does your day-to-day look like?

I’m the Senior Director of Global Marketing for HemoCue, a Danaher operating company (OpCo) within the diagnostics platform. We focus on serving caregivers in decentralized healthcare settings with point-of-care tests, which enable healthcare providers to make treatment decisions during patient visits. I manage the global marketing team and the three teams within it: Digital and Market Communications, Up – and downstream Product marketing as well as marketing intelligence and strategic innovation. I really enjoy the challenge of an executive leadership (L1) role and the authority that comes with it.

Monika Gram Ritter

My everyday work is extensive, but I am mindful of work-life balance and not the least, signal to my team that their well-being is important to me. My duties vary broadly from developing the long-term strategy for HemoCue and helping to drive key commercial and strategic initiatives, to working on how we improve standard work for delivering on marketing deliverables. Today, for example, I had four one-on-one meetings with team members to review the status of different marketing programs and initiatives while also preparing work for our upcoming company strategy process. Since we are one of the smaller Operating Companies, I also do a lot of hands-on tasks—but I am not afraid of taking on the details with my team.

In my early days as a marketer, I did an enormous amount of traveling and the many voice of customer visits in different countries related to various projects became a great learning, not just for the projects but for me as a marketeer. Listening to customers is very much in the Danaher DNA. Now that I’m in a leadership role, I’m still focused on learning. What have we learned since last year? What’s changing with competition? What’s changing in the market? We work with several data sources, and we’re still out there talking to customers and other players in our industry. I want us to drive strategy based on real information. It’s especially meaningful to do this work in the MedTech field because we know we’re making a difference in people’s lives.

You were at Radiometer for 15 years before you came to lead Marketing at HemoCue. Why did you make the move?

Constant learning has always been a driving factor for me. Of course, I want to succeed in my current role, but I like the journey and expanding my capabilities just as much. And I felt that this role would be a great new learning experience. At Radiometer I worked closely with members of the executive leadership (L1) team for several years, which inspired and prepared me to become an L1 member myself. Although I am a great believer in teamwork and leveraging the skills of my full team, in the end, I’m the one that has to make and own the final decisions for the marketing function. Knowing that, at the end of the day, all of this is my responsibility, has been a great challenge—and one I really enjoy.

Even though I have years of relevant experience, I haven’t always seen myself as a leader. I grew up doing team sports and took the role as captain several times, but it wasn’t until I was getting my executive MBA that I realized that leadership might be the right path for me. Feedback from my peers highlighted that leadership seemed like a natural strength for me. I realized I didn’t have to be the stereotype in my head of what a leader had to be. I really care about developing people, and positive feedback from my teams has just inspired me to continue the leadership journey even more.

How would you describe your leadership philosophy?

I believe in working as a team to achieve goals, and I also believe in personal responsibility. I always want to be able to fully trust my team members. That doesn’t mean I won’t follow up and make sure things are getting done, but people thrive so much more when they are trusted. No one likes being micromanaged. Often, if I find myself having to be too supervisory, it’s a sign that the person is struggling for another reason. It’s up to me to find the underlying cause and help fix it.

There’s no template or model for being the best leader because we’re all different. Of course, there are some principles to follow, but those need to be integrated with a leader’s personality. The most important thing, I would say, is understanding that leadership is about developing people and involving the team, not about getting more stripes on your uniform. I’ve seen wonderful colleagues struggle with leadership because they couldn’t let go of the notion that it was about their own career.

I believe in working as a team to achieve goals, and I also believe in personal responsibility.
Monika Gram Ritter

Leadership, like life, is about getting your priorities straight. An employee once said to me that it’s obvious that I’m ambitious and want us to deliver well, but that the team knows I also care about their well-being and our collective success. Actually, my daughter recently said something similar, too. “You always have a lot to do,” she said, “but it’s crystal clear that we are your main priority even when you work hard.” I’m very proud of that.

What are some of the key challenges you’re taking on right now?

When you’re on the L1 team, you have to find the right balance of representing and standing behind your own functional area and staying dedicated to solving cross-functional challenges for the company.

In general, taking a next step up in leadership requires taking up your space, and having the courage to challenge others. I’ve had to find ways to stand up for me and for my team—maybe in a more direct way that’s less natural to me, but without compromising who I am.

The HemoCue Marketing team has been through quite a lot of changes, but we’ve got a great team with people who have been here long and new colleagues that make a great addition to the team, and I believe we’re on the right track. As a leader, I’m working with my direct reports to take the marketing team to the next level and in a different direction. One major challenge has been pacing ourselves. We get requests coming from other departments, of course, and we need to remember that we can’t succeed if we’re trying to fulfill everyone’s wishes. I’m not afraid of making tough decisions when they need to be made, such as prioritizing or saying no if it means we are then delivering on the key priorities we committed to.

Overall, my key challenge is reinvigorating the team while simultaneously ensuring people feel involved and are part of the journey. We’ve been finding a balance, taking our work to a new level while not rocking the boat too much. I’m proud of how far we’ve come.

Ready to take the next step towards growing your career? Explore our open jobs or join our talent community to get started!

March 9, 2023
Gerardo Gutierrez on Helping Scientists Solve Problems

After spending most of his career on the bench leading R&D projects, Gerardo Gutierrez initially wasn’t sure about switching to sales. But at Cytiva, he’s realized R&D and sales have more in common than he imagined—and it all comes back to helping patients. Gerardo reflects on joining the company during COVID-19, shares his experience in Danaher’s LatinX + Friends Associate Resource Group (ARG), and explains what he’s working on going forward.

First, what do you do at Cytiva?

I’m a sales specialist for our Biacore instruments, which means I support our customers—researchers at universities and biotech and pharmaceutical companies—who use our technology to develop new therapies. Biacore machines allow them to study the interactions between molecules in real time. If they want to test a new drug, for example, they can see exactly where, and for how long, antibodies stay bonded to a specific protein. A group of scientists that helped develop one of the COVID-19 vaccines last year used our instruments to verify parts of the virus and characterize its binding territories.

It’s my job to talk with customers about the experiments they want to do, then use my knowledge on Biacore and the science behind it to advise them on which option will give them the best results. Essentially, I get to help scientists solve problems so they can help their patients. That’s my passion, and I’m so thankful I get to be part of work that matters.

So I knew it was a great company and a great product. But when the opportunity to join came up, I was still a little worried at first; I’d spent 12 years on the bench, and I wasn’t sure if sales was the right move for me. Then I started having informational interviews with some of the managers, and I realized how similar the work was to what I’d done at UGA, when I was designing experiments. You talk with researchers to understand their needs and their short- and long-term plans, and then you partner with them to help them succeed.

What’s challenging about your job?

Right now, because of COVID-19, we can’t meet face-to-face with our customers. But I think that’s a challenge we’ve been able to turn into some great opportunities. For one thing, I cover a lot of territory, and I can reach more customers remotely than I can in person. And when I schedule calls, I try to get the whole team together—the account manager, the application scientists, the field engineer, and me. That way we can all meet the customer at the same time and answer any questions they have right away. We call it “showing Cytiva muscle”! I think it’s helped customers be confident in our team and the products we offer.

What’s the culture like on your team?

I first joined in August 2020, so I’ve been working from home so far—and I’d always wondered how that would work in terms of getting to know your colleagues. But we have so many tools we can use to communicate, I actually feel very close to my team. Once a week, we get on a call and go outside—you can walk, garden, whatever you want to do—and just chat about anything except work. One of my teammates was growing chili peppers, so I gave him a recipe. Little things like that really bring us together, even though we’re all remote.

Tell us about getting involved in Danaher’s LatinX + Friends Associate Resource Group.

I’d never had the chance to join a group like this before, so when I first heard about it I thought, “Well, let’s see what I can learn.” And it’s been great. We’ve had events like salsa lessons, which I never expected at work. But the ARG is also a place to share our struggles and successes—and our ideas. We help each other with our personal growth plans, which is something everyone at Danaher updates with their manager every six months. Being new to the team, it’s been so helpful seeing how others develop and present their plans.

The ARG has also given us an opportunity to share our culture, costumes, and language with other associates—and to know that’s appreciated here. A lot of companies have mission statements around inclusion, but at Danaher and Cytiva it’s not just words. You see it in action. English isn’t my first language and I have an accent, so I’ve sometimes felt shy. But I’ve realized that people on my team are truly interested. They want to hear about how to prepare a certain dish or pronounce a certain word. That gives me more confidence and makes me feel like I belong.

Additionally, with everything becoming increasingly global, it’s more important than ever for all of us to learn about different backgrounds. Inclusion is something we should be proud of and discuss on a daily basis. It helps everybody.

What’s next for you?

There are so many opportunities to grow. It’s hard to keep up! Not only within Cytiva, but throughout Danaher. One thing I appreciate about working here, though, is that it’s not just the classes you can take and the tools you can learn. It’s the guidance you get. It’s kind of the best of both worlds—I feel a little like an entrepreneur in my job, because I’m in charge of my own business and territory. And I’m in charge of how I want to develop my career, too. But I also have so many people who are there to help.

I’ve been interested in marketing, for example; I like the idea of reaching people who aren’t yet aware of our technology but could really be helped by it. So I shared that with my manager, and within a couple of days she suggested a class I could take and put me in touch with some people I could learn from. I feel like whatever I decide to do, I’ll have people supporting me and pointing me in the right direction.

Interested in joining Gerardo and the rest of the Danaher team? Check out open roles or join our talent community today.

March 1, 2023
How Stretching Outside My Comfort Zone Has Paved My Leadership Development Path at Danaher

The collective talent of our people propels Danaher’s success. Your talent is our most essential resource, and it’s also your greatest opportunity—which is why we are so intentional about developing it. From the moment our associates arrive at Danaher, they are surrounded by supportive colleagues and encouraged to take advantage of learning and development resources that will hone the skills they bring to the table and challenge them to discover new strengths. From the Danaher Business System to leadership training to proven growth tracks, our L&D programs ensure that whatever your career dreams, we can help you achieve them. The stories in this series will show you how.

Michelle Gao, Director of Talent Development

From day one at Danaher, I’ve been asked, “Hey, Michelle, do you have a thought on this?” At the beginning, I’d say, “Nope, just listening. I’m fine.” But then, at some point, I realized I had become someone who was able to say, “You know what? Yes, I do have an opinion here. Based on my experience, I think we need to consider this.”

In my eight years with Danaher, I’ve learned firsthand that stretching outside your comfort zone leads to growth, and this learning has become a vital part of my approach to developing leaders. At Danaher, it’s easy to find the stretch. There are always new things to explore—Danaher Business System (DBS) tools, an Operating Company (OpCo) in an industry you know nothing about, or dreaming up ways to make things better. And the culture encourages everyone to chime in, just as I learned to do.

My progression through Danaher has been a balance of staying open-minded to new experiences and sticking to my passions. I joined Danaher straight out of my Human Resources and Industrial Relations graduate program, which I completed after earning an undergraduate degree in Accounting, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

During this time, I discovered how much I love leadership development through working with the University Leadership Counseling centers. I knew that I had found my passion, and ultimately what I wanted to drive my career towards. However, in my first role at Danaher, I was placed in a compensation role. It made sense with my accounting background, but I fully expected to hate it. I soon realized that compensation is about a lot more than just how much people are paid, and it’s equal parts art and science. Danaher invested in me by sending me to compensation courses to learn the fundamentals of total rewards and job classification—knowledge that has served me in every subsequent role. I also started to understand Danaher’s scope and complexity, and how everything fits together.

My next role was as an HR business partner at Videojet—one of our OpCos in the Product Identification platform—supporting the vice presidents of Global Operations and Global Supply Chain. It still wasn’t where I thought I wanted to be, but I ended up falling in love with the role and the work. Being at Videojet taught me what it is to truly partner with your client groups to move a strategy forward, and how to trust my fellow HR colleagues with my life. Then, in 2017, I moved to Danaher Corporate, where I’ve had roles of increasing responsibility in Leadership Development and Learning. I was promoted last November to lead the team focusing on executive Leadership Development programs.

Throughout the years and across all of these roles, I’ve had amazing leaders who gave me the space to grow through development opportunities. They helped me find the balance between trying something new and narrowing in on where my passion lies. They’ve given me the chance to stretch beyond what I thought I was ready for by trusting me, letting me stumble, giving me the feedback I needed, and always having my back. Recently, I was asked to act as the project manager on a strategy development process that brought together the Danaher Business System Office and the Corporate Talent Management team. Talk about high-stakes work, and unprecedented visibility—both to our most senior leaders and to the direction of the company! I spent all four months of this project second-guessing myself as I tried my best to get it done.

The thing is, if you’re doing it right, development is not always fun and can often feel like an uncomfortable stretch. When you have an assignment that takes you out of your comfort zone, there can be a lot of insecurity that comes with it. It can also be pretty emotional to be introspective and reflect on your personal derailers that affect the way you lead or contribute to a team. But without these experiences and subsequent reflections, growth happens at a much slower pace.

The thing is, if you’re doing it right, development is not always fun and can often feel like an uncomfortable stretch.
Michelle Gao

I’ve grown my confidence at Danaher by giving it my all, having the right leaders advocate for me, learning our businesses and DBS, and saying yes when someone asked if I wanted to do more. I’ve also been a little lucky with being ready for the next right thing at the right time. Even though I have been willing to try something new, I have often gone in with a feeling of trepidation. But at every turn, I’ve had fun and learned more than I could have imagined. When I mentor interns and other associates now, my advice is to stay open to opportunity. You may have an idea of what you are passionate about, but there are other experiences you just haven’t encountered yet. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t change a thing about my own journey—it’s shaped me into who I am today and how I approach the work that I do.

Ready to take the next step towards growing your career? Explore our open jobs or join our talent community to get started!

December 16, 2022
Developing Talent and Galvanizing Careers at Danaher’s India Development Center

When Venkataraman Ravikumar became Danaher’s Vice President of the India Development Center (IDC) two years ago, IDC contained seven operating companies (OpCos). Now there are 14. Below, Ravi discusses his experience and philosophy as a software technology leader, what brought him to Danaher, and the opportunities for growth and career development associates will find at IDC.

I’m a geek. A hardcore, bona fide geek. Problem-solving is what gets me excited, which is why I became an engineer. I grew up in India and earned my undergraduate degree here, then I went to the U.S. to Northwestern University for my Ph.D.

After Northwestern, I joined GE’s R&D group, where I worked for about 20 years, mostly in the U.S. In the late ’90s, I came back to India to set up a small R&D group for GE, which is now its largest engineering facility. I did the same thing in China, Munich and Rio de Janeiro, so I was exposed to the globalization of R&D and became quite excited about multi-industry product design.

Throughout my time at GE, we used Danaher several times as case studies on how to understand mergers and acquisitions. I thought the company was fantastic at identifying organizations to acquire and having a very light touch maintaining the OpCos’ centricity of operations

and marketing while putting the Danaher Business System (DBS) of continuous improvement as a cultural element around it.

I decided to move to India in 2008 to lead a large engineering design team that used several of the DBS principles around policy deployment and problem-solving. Throughout this time, I continued to be interested in Danaher as an example of how to best problem-solve without ever knowing I would get an opportunity to work here.

Perfect storm

When Danaher reached out to me, it was like a perfect storm. I had an absolute fascination and admiration for the company, and they wanted me to look into strengthening their global R&D footprint in India.

The India Development Center started about eight years ago as a Beckman Coulter R&D group. While it is housed under the legal entity of Beckman Coulter’s diagnostics focus, Danaher took governance of the IDC about two years ago, which is when I joined. Danaher’s desire to grow its footprint didn’t just mean the number of OpCos or its headcount. The company wanted to grow its impact, and I think my background and experience were the reason they brought me on to help achieve those goals.

The India Development Center

Leadership approach

Over the years, I’ve developed my leadership philosophy, which has three parts to it. First, I’m very big on authenticity, especially in a virtual or hybrid environment. If your authenticity doesn’t come through, it’s hard to get buy-in. It’s hard to get folks to agree with your thought process.

The next is purpose. There has to be a purpose aligned with your growth plans. Or, your transformation ideas need to be aligned to the purpose of the organization. Can you tap into the purpose of your colleagues? How do you nurture them? How do you help them grow? The work we do here has such a positive health effect on society and there’s a great opportunity to accentuate that purpose, which I’ve seen as a driving force at Danaher.

The last one is communication, which seems simple, but it’s very hard. This was probably the biggest struggle during COVID-19, since it’s much more difficult to communicate when you’re not face to face. I try to emphasize understanding what the expectations are and communicating how we are meeting those expectations. That’s how I’ve seen leaders I admire operate.

Unified ecosystem

One of the unique selling points for someone coming into the India Development Center at Danaher is the ecosystem. While you will be hired by one of our 14 operating companies, everything is under the same Danaher ecosystem. We have put together a governance methodology, so all of the operating companies have a seat at the table. This allows us to synchronize on the commonality of people’s agendas, the associate value propositions and the internal fill rate. We discuss how to build careers, as well as how to build systems and processes related to policies that are standardized across multiple operating companies.

Regardless of the operating company you are in, our IDC policy remains consistent. Our compensation philosophy is aligned and singular, and we talk about technology in India as a single entity. Therefore, anybody can consider and put their name in the hat for any opportunity that becomes available across different technology OpCos in India. At IDC, career growth cuts across Danaher and cuts across the 14 operating companies.

People bring their ideas from other OpCos with them, so there is a lot of cross-pollination. There are no walls. Anybody can stand up and wave, and they’ll be able to see me. While we have 14 different email tags, we are part of one large cafeteria. This Saturday, in fact, we have a family day, and about 1,800 people are going to show up—associates and their families.

Value propositions

When it comes to our associate value propositions, the first one centers on obvious elements around compensation, work-from-home benefits and health insurance coverage. That’s the easy part. These go back to the consistency of the Danaher ecosystem I mentioned.

The second value proposition is career development, which also has multiple facets. For example, we partner with Udemy, so every associate here has a license and they can get as many certifications as they want across any course Udemy offers. Given that we are in the field of software development technology, the tech stack changes every quarter. It’s a fast-moving cycle. Our partnership with Udemy provides associates with continuous learning, certification and opportunity for career growth.

Our Takshashila initiative, which gets its name from an ancient university in India, looks at technical core competencies, and we create a curriculum for people to get certified in that. Some examples we do through this university concept are things like testing, verification, validation, software development cycles and cybersecurity, which benefit all the operating companies.

The third associate value proposition is the ecosystem. Whenever a leader for any OpCo visits, there are opportunities for everybody at IDC to interact with them. This gives you the ability to network, and the ability to understand the industry and how the customers benefit from you across multiple platforms. This is unique to IDC at Danaher.

Beyond career development opportunities, I also think there is something important about a tangible impact on the society or ecosystem you live in. It’s exciting to amplify the purpose of realizing life’s potential. I’ve seen the spark in people’s eyes when you start talking about it. We can honestly say our tests save lives. Our tests help cure cancer. We can say that. It’s not fiction. It’s real. You’re part of something much larger than just your platform, and that motivates people.

Ready to take the first step toward your next career move? Explore open jobs and join our talent community!

December 14, 2022
Danaher’s India Development Center: Impacting Global Operations with a Silo-Free Approach to Problem-Solving

When Danaher wanted to strengthen its global hub for research and development two years ago, the company made Venkataraman Ravikumar (Ravi) the Vice President of the India Development Center (IDC). Below, Ravi discusses the IDC’s place in the Danaher family, how its work influences Danaher and the world, and how it provides top talent with career growth opportunities.

What is the IDC, and how did it start?

The India Development Center is a multi-platform, multi-operating company (OpCo) ecosystem that serves as the center of gravity for software delivery and product development for Danaher across the globe. We represent 14 different OpCos, and we have about 800 people working here, creating solutions that meet the needs of all Danaher OpCos, not just those represented in the IDC.

The IDC started eight years ago as a Beckman Coulter R&D group in diagnostics, but Danaher took governance of the IDC about two years ago. It was primarily a software design and delivery center, but there was a desire to move into hardware development, chemistry, and all product development globally. We are also slowly getting more into digital work, such as providing artificial intelligence, machine learning, data sciences, hardware design and subsystem-level engineering.

How do OpCos come together there?

Danaher is an OpCo-centric organization. We created a governance structure for the IDC so that when an OpCo signs on with IDC, it joins a steering committee which includes one member for each of the 14 OpCos.

The committee meets once every three months to evaluate which cross-platform IDC initiatives—processes, people or growth and innovation—need to be prioritized. The impact of this is felt by all of the OpCos.

We also use a multi-OpCo test bed to try and make improvements in our processes and the way we deliver software. Within the IDC, collaboration is key and we operate without silos; this model allows us to make improvements that not only serve individual OpCos, but Danaher as a whole. It’s common to see associates from multiple OpCos working together to solve a problem. If something works in the IDC across multiple platforms, we package it and push it through the Danaher Business System for continuous improvement across the entire globe.

How does the IDC develop talent and promote the career growth of associates?

The IDC has a very strong associate value proposition. For example, all of the 14 OpCos in the IDC are consistent with compensation and benefits around work-from-home and health insurance coverage.

We partner with Udemy, so every associate here has a license, and they can get as many certifications as they want across any course Udemy offers. We also have a separate education policy in which we reimburse up to a pretty large amount every year for higher learning.

And lastly, whenever a leader for any OpCo visits, there are opportunities for everybody at IDC to interact with them. This gives associates the ability to network and understand the industry and how the customers benefit from you across multiple platforms.

What challenges is IDC working on at this moment?

We are in the middle of our journey transforming from software development to product development. Different OpCos are at different maturity levels in this transition, which means there is a lot of work to be done to integrate some of the less mature OpCos.

For me, the definition of success would be when I don’t have to talk to people about the differentiation between software development and product development. When it becomes common knowledge that if something needs to get done, IDC is the only destination to get it done.

What skills are you looking for in candidates?

There are many skills required for candidates to succeed at the IDC. One of the most important is the “jugaad” mentality, which is a “let’s figure it out” solution mentality. However, Danaher believes in standard work and process, so we blend the “jugaad” mentality with the Danaher Business System collaborative approach to continuous improvement. A highly successful person in the IDC has that Indian element of crazy innovation, but at the same time, they are structured and able to follow through on an action plan, all while being comfortable with ambiguity.

Ready to take the first step toward your next career move? Explore open jobs and join our talent community!

December 14, 2022
Get to Know: Tea Holck, Production Planner

What do you do at Radiometer?

I’m part of the Radiometer team in Turku, Finland. At our site in Finland, we make reagents for our immunoassay tests—which hospitals, medical centers and labs around the world use to diagnose their patients. I work as a production planner, which means I take information from our Global Supply Chain team on what customers need, and turn that into a plan for the manufacturing of our reagents analytes, which are formed with test-specific components, chemical substances or mixtures added to cause reactions. We have nine different analytes, and on average we start a new analyte batch each day of the week. For our Troponin test, for example, which helps triage patients with chest pain, we might do two large batches per week, while a test like βhCG, used for early detection of pregnancy, might run once per month. It’s my job to fit all those production runs together, communicate that plan to the manufacturing teams and other stakeholders and then oversee the process and address any issues if they come up.

We use Daily Management, one of the Danaher Business System tools, to track the progress of each batch. At our daily management meetings we always start out focusing on on-site safety, because that’s very important to us, and then we look at quality and testing, manufacturing processes, inventory, maintenance and anything else we need to address to ensure proper testing and packing. I follow each process from beginning to delivery and help make sure everything goes smoothly.

Tell us about your background, before you joined Radiometer and since.

I used to work in the furniture industry as an upholsterer, but after I started having problems with my elbow, I went back to school to be a laboratory technologist. I didn’t really know much about scientific work at first—I’d just seen all the equipment and white coats on TV and thought it looked cool! But I was interested in chemistry and biology; it drew me in. After I finished my studies, I got my first diagnostics job as a production worker in batch packing with a company called Innotrac Diagnostics, a company that Radiometer acquired a few years later. That was 16 years ago, and I’ve since worked on nearly every process we have here at the site in Turku—SA and analyte coating for substance testing, lab maintenance, solution manufacturing, tracer dispensing and quality control testing. I’m very interested in learning new things, and I’ve gradually gotten involved in more and more. I’ve also started training new employees; I like helping people and I know the processes, so it just comes naturally.

My journey to becoming a leader started when I became an assistant supervisor, first in packing and then in liquid quality control (LQC) manufacturing. I guess I did well because, after a couple of years, my manager asked if I was interested in being a supervisor. At first, I wasn’t sure. But then I thought, “Why not take the chance and challenge myself?” So I said yes, and started out with a small team, supervising a few processes as a team leader. Then, in 2018, I was named stream leader, which meant I was responsible for laboratory maintenance, solution manufacturing, coating, tracer dispensing and LQC manufacturing. And then last year, after about eight years as a supervisor, I moved into this role. Most of what I’m planning, I’ve worked on myself, so I understand it well, and I was excited to try something new. I’m still learning a lot, but I enjoy it.

What’s the company culture like?

It’s a very helpful, supportive culture. No one’s on their own. If you have a problem or question, you can ask someone for help and solve it together. And it’s flexible, as well, in terms of both when and where you work. I spend part of my week on-site at the manufacturing plant and then work from home two days per week.

We’re also very open-minded, both to different cultures—we have associates from lots of different backgrounds here—and to new ideas. It’s a two-way conversation; workers are listened to and we hold a lot of “kaizens”, which are like weeklong process improvement workshops that anyone can join. We recently did one around batch approval process, for example, to make our release process more efficient and reduce batches lead time. Whether you’re a leader or a quality specialist or a production worker, everyone has input.

How do you collaborate with your teammates?

Beyond our daily management meetings, I meet with the Global Supply Chain team a couple of times per week to make sure I’m up to date as customers’ timing and needs change—sometimes they need a product sooner or other priorities shift. I work closely with production managers and our technical service manager, as well as the senior operators from every process, all of whom help manage the information flow to the rest of the team. Some of those conversations are proactive and some are more reactive. If a supplier can’t deliver materials on time, for example, an operator might come to me to figure out what we should prioritize instead. Or we might have an equipment issue, or sometimes it’s staffing, as so many companies have faced during COVID-19.

I’ll go to Global Supply Chain if I need to talk through some options or get more information, and then I’ll adjust the plan so production can keep going. Because these are products being used for critical care, we want to make sure our customers always have what they need to help their patients. Whatever happens, we make sure we have strong quality but also try to solve things as quickly as possible.

What are you excited about right now?

We’re growing quickly—Radiometer in general, and our location in particular. We just bought the building we previously only used part of, so we are expanding our operations to a much larger scale. That means new lines, new equipment, new staff and all of the training and testing that entails. We actually just had a workshop for the new floor plan.

Continuing to keep up production while we’re building so much that’s new is challenging, but it’s worth it to see all our plans come true. It creates new opportunities for our associates to succeed; I love it when I see my former team members grow to new roles and be promoted, for example. And to know that it all helps our hospitals and medical centers and the people they serve—that’s wonderful. It’s inspiring.

Interested in joining Tea and the rest of the Radiometer team? Check out open roles across Danaher or join our talent community today.

November 7, 2022