Agnieszka Kowalska, toom store manager, leads a large team, optimises processes down to the last detail and always remains close to her staff. Her recipe for success: clear rules, a high degree of personal responsibility and a leadership style based on leading by example. As a mentor in the women’s advancement programme, she also supports female toom employees on their career paths.
After completing her bilingual A-levels, Agnieszka, who was born near Gdańsk in Poland, moved to Ingolstadt to study ‘International Business Management’. In her first job at a large electronics retailer, she rose rapidly through the ranks, but eventually realised that, as a young woman, she was hitting a glass ceiling.
In 2017, she decided to switch to the DIY store. The reason she chose toom Baumarkt was down to the person she met during her job interview. “I’d rarely had interviews at such a high level that challenged me so much. ‘You can still learn something here,’ I thought.”
She was given her first store in Oberursel. Just one year later, the call came: “We need you in Troisdorf.” With the move came the offer to turn the Troisdorf store, located near Cologne, into a flagship store. An assessment centre and a development programme followed. The assessment focused on her ideas about strategies, concepts and herself as a role model. After all, being a hub store means training future store managers, testing new concepts and supporting other stores – including one on the Dutch border. For several months, Agnieszka divides her time between the Lower Rhine and the Rhineland. It’s a gruelling period. But: “Organisation is everything. And you need a team that works.”
Photo: ©Achim Bachhausen
She has built up just such a team during her eight years in Troisdorf. How? She is approachable, rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck in, knows her stuff and has clear rules. The first is: “A rule is a rule.” The second: “Processes must be followed. I’m strict about that.” And thirdly: “Everyone must know exactly what they have to do.”
That’s how she manages to lead a team of 80 to 100 people, depending on the season, and consistently rank among the top in the turnover charts year after year. And it’s not because she’s an expert in screws, plumbing or chipboard. “I didn’t grow up in a DIY shop.”
„Anyone who does their job properly has complete freedom under me.“ Agnieszka Kowalska, toom
To achieve this, however, she meticulously ‘breaks down’ all market processes into their individual steps and optimises them. ‘If, for example, this saves me three hours’ work, it gives my specialist sales staff the freedom to do what ensures our profits: namely, advising customers and making sales.’
How does she lead? “If someone does their job, they have complete freedom under me. But freedom also means taking on responsibility.”
She spends a lot of time on the shop floor herself. When she arrives, she first does a lap of the shop, checking the external appearance before going inside. She spends a lot of time on the shop floor, talking to her staff and stepping in when we’re short-staffed. “Nobody likes working for you if you don’t roll up your sleeves and get stuck in yourself.”
Because, in her experience, people work for people, not for a company. And when things get hectic in the shop and staff are on the verge of losing their heads, she calls out: “Stay calm. Everyone’s got only two hands. Panicking doesn’t help anyone.”
Half of her team are women. Agnieszka values their empathy when dealing with customers. At the same time, she works equally well with both men and women and has realised how valuable a good mix can be for a team. Just recently, she took on another male cashier.
„I support good people and let them move into other markets.“ Agnieszka Kowalska, toom
It is Toom, rather than the DIY sector itself, that she feels a connection to. “I like the corporate culture; Toom suits me. I suit Toom.” She appreciates the way staff are treated here, the fact that mistakes are allowed to happen, and that she can help her staff develop. “I always have people in the second tier who can step up. Good people whom I support and also allow to move into other markets. You always have to think outside the box,” says Agnieszka, who has been a mentor in the company’s own women’s advancement programme, women@toom, for four years. For several months at a time, she acts as a mentor to a mentee. If one of them is feeling unsure about their next career move, she asks: “Why shouldn’t you do it?” And if there’s no counter-argument, I say: “Why are you still thinking about it?”
After all, the waters at toom aren’t quite that cold. There’s “a proper induction programme – that’s one of our strengths here. And we have a really good network.”
By currently acting as patron of the Cologne-based alliance ‘Mit Frauen in Führung’ and the ‘Frauen auf die 1’ initiative, the REWE GROUP is sending a clear message in support of visibility, equal opportunities and modern leadership. The aim of ‘Frauen auf die 1’ is to highlight female senior managers as role models and to attract more women to leadership roles. In doing so, the REWE GROUP is underlining its commitment to a balanced gender ratio in senior management positions. Although the proportion of female senior managers already stands at just under 45 per cent, women remain under-represented, particularly at senior management levels.
As part of “Women at the Top”, we regularly showcase female senior managers from all Business Areas of the REWE GROUP. As role models, they talk about their career paths, their leadership styles, their experiences and the factors that have shaped them along the way. After all, true equality of opportunity is not achieved by women having to prove themselves time and time again – but by making their achievements, perspectives and successes visible.
