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Part 1
Empowering women in manufacturing: inspiring stories
To celebrate women across our manufacturing sites, we brought together six outstanding BASF professionals to discuss female leadership in the industry, their challenges, experiences and learnings.
According to The Women Manufacturing Institute, women currently account for less than 1 in 3 manufacturing workers. Yet, female representation in the industry is steadily growing, and BASF is taking the lead.
This year, in recognition of the recent Women’s Equality Day, we brought together a few extraordinary BASF colleagues to discuss working in the industry, their learnings and challenges:
- Regina Bergeron, Global Process Safety Manager for Performance Chemicals and Environmental, Health and Safety Manager for North America for the Performance Chemicals business, joined BASF 13 years ago.
- Celina Gilbert, Production Director for the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) value chain at BASF’s Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana. She joined BASF 26 years ago.
- Shawntel Shilo, Customer Care Account Specialist at the BASF Houston office and part of the company for the past 17 years.
- Morgan Dart, Production Director for Super Absorbent Polymer plant at BASF’s other Verbund site in Freeport, Texas, and part of BASF for the past 12 years.
- Carol Easley, Operations Director for Polyol in North America at BASF’s Geismar site. Joined BASF in 2016.
- Bryanne Bellman, Operations Manager at the Converse, South Carolina, site for BASF’s Environmental Catalyst and Metal Solutions (ECMS) carve-out division since 2021.
In this first part, we dive into the importance of leadership in developing talent, the keys to forming new leaders and advocating for caregivers.
Leaders that make or break
In the past decade, leadership has experienced a shift, and the technical skills that once were considered the most important are now complemented by others that are equally important, including empathy, effective communication, conflict resolution and change management.
As leaders, the group recognizes the impact they can have on individual, team and, by extension, company performance. Celina Gilbert experienced this situation firsthand many years ago with her first leader: “I was in a situation where my manager told me, ‘You are not like any other engineer we have.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that's great. I'm different.’ And he's like, ‘No.’ He said, ‘You do not fit the mold of an engineer.’ And that really crushed me. And so I went to the bathroom and cried because it was probably my first discussion with a manager. He then proceeded to tell me about everybody else in the group and everything great that they were doing, and I wasn't like any of them. That really hurt me. I was 24 years old. I found informal mentors after this to help me figure out how to develop since my manager didn’t know how to effectively help me or really explain the areas that I needed to work on.”
Having a great experience with mentors and internships, creating that pipeline is so important because it creates a culture, it fosters an environment of wanting to be around, wanting to work here, showing up for work every day and being happy and having that joy to be here.
Morgan Dart also endured the challenging scenarios that came from her inexperience when she first started in the industry, navigating her way through those first few weeks, all of which have really impacted her leadership style. “Back then, I felt like I couldn't ask stupid questions because someone was going to judge me or as an operations engineer in the control room, not knowing how decisions were made and the “why” behind them. So I've steered my career to make sure that when I communicate, I'm open and transparent, and I give the information that I wish I had when I was an operations engineer or in another position so that everyone feels like we're working as one team,” she remarks.
Female leadership has grown significantly over the years in manufacturing, especially at BASF. Fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity is one of our aspirational goals. In fact, by 2030, we aim to increase the number of women in leadership roles to 30% worldwide.
Carol Easley, who has been with the company for the past eight years, highlights this very fact, “There are a lot of women in leadership at BASF. It was refreshing coming in and seeing all these women in different roles: vice presidents, senior vice presidents, technical experts, early career, late career, and everything in between. You can learn something and get a different perspective from all of them. It's very inspiring to see different women succeed in their career journeys.”
Tapping into potential leaders
The group agrees that becoming a leader is all about others seeing something in you and helping you steer it into the right opportunities. The best way to get you to those opportunities is through mentoring. This can be developed through formal channels and programs or informally, and both are key to BASF’s culture.
This spirit is echoed by Bryanne Bellman’s experience, who, after three years at BASF, also recognizes the priority the company sets in terms of mentorship and the impact it has on women. “In the companies I've come from, mentorship was not a priority, especially for a black female, so I really appreciate that from BASF. Everyone has the same drive and empathy and wants to help others and see them succeed as well. When I see another female in my field of study in my profession, it invigorates me. And I think that's why we have so many females coming here because they see that.”
Programs such as Female Leader Advancing Manufacturing Excellence (FLAME) provide a formal mentoring framework to help women develop their leadership skills and continue to grow their careers. Morgan was, in fact, part of the original cohort and is one of its biggest supporters to this day. Since its inception in 2017, over 110 women have participated in the program.
As Morgan articulates, “Over the years, BASF has done a good job of attracting the right talent, but it doesn't just stop there. You want to make sure that you're building that network for the individuals who might not look like everybody else in the room all the time, and that BASF is retaining them. And in order to get the diverse pipeline that we all talk about and be able to get to the diversity goals that we have, we really need to start early on.” This can be achieved through STEAM initiatives, such as Kids’ Labs or Teen's Labs.
Advocating for caregivers
Motherhood and caregiving remain challenges for many women in manufacturing. It’s a common thread that has not only affected their career journey but also the way they lead teams. As Morgan explains, “It is so important at work as a leader to give people grace. We are all humans, and we all have so much going on day to day; kids get sick, dogs get sick, you've got to take care of somebody...It’s really important for a leader to be flexible, talk, and let people know that they don't have to be embarrassed to bring something up like that. That goes a long way with the teams.”
Today, they all agree that the rigidity with work/life balance topics that once existed in manufacturing has slowly yet steadily lessened, helping caregivers, especially younger parents, to have successful careers while also achieving a healthy balance at home. Bryanne echoes these feelings and recognizes that “the work-life balance being pushed and prioritized today is helping a lot of working mothers” while also understanding that this was not her reality when she was a young mother.
Her motherhood experience came with its own set of challenges, heightened by the fact that her husband also worked in operations in the same plant. She felt misunderstood and, at times, had to work twice as hard and take on a supervisor role while at home with a young child. “It was pretty difficult because you have everyday activities with your kids. I would actually get in earlier or work later to make up that time. I was satisfied to make sure I was putting those hours in and making sure my job was being done. Operations can be challenging; however, things happen, and you sometimes have to adjust the routine, get up and come to work."
Every family is different, and every person's situation is different. As a leader, I have come to embrace that just because it works for me, doesn't mean that I expect that of everybody else. And I am very open, very upfront and clear about that. Recognizing that is really important, as is being a role model.
For this reason, having a leader who can empathize, understand your needs, and drive is crucial. Regina Bergeron got to experience these traits from her manager as a mother of young children and treasures it to this day. Yet, she understands that back then it was unusual. “Ten years ago, I had taken a new role in corporate engineering, and my manager told me that I didn't have to climb the manager ladder, that there were other ways to still be successful and contribute, and eventually, at the right time, become a manager. And that gave me some relief because I really wanted to make an impact, but I was also taking care of small children. I didn't really want to travel a lot, and I couldn't be at the plant all the time; so I just built my craft, and I learned to be an expert. Looking back now, I can see he helped me so much by allowing me to take that route,” she recalls.
Published on September 25, 2024, by Mariana Licio.
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