Employee Qualification

Quality increase in continuing education and training
All over the world, employee integration and development are among the most important factors contributing to our success. In 2010 we used this to qualitatively expand on the good foundation of our extensive training program, focusing in particular on the successful Sales Qualification Program. Thus we refined the training portfolio, which at present comprises 30 courses, to target employees from international Sales and Research & Development specifically. The concept of receiving core course contents in the existing variety of languages remains unchanged. The tesa Code of Conduct, with its rules of conduct, continues to be a key component of all sales-related training and activities. Altogether 660 employees participated in 385 training days in the current reporting year.

Under the slogan “From presenter to trainer” tesa initiated the new international continuing education program “Train the trainer”. The aim of this is that employees pass on their expert knowledge as trainers in the framework of internal courses. In compact seminar units, tesa trainers receive methodical-didactic and communicative tools to transmit course contents in a professional and diverse manner. In the current reporting year the first 45 speakers were trained.

In 2010, we also launched some continuing education concepts which were designed in the previous year. Of particular note here is the successful implementation of a program for the qualification of junior staff who show potential for future management tasks. The appropriateness of this initiative became evident shortly after its introduction. Already with the first group of participants from all over the world we were able to position future-oriented topics such as sustainability and corporate responsibility in a meaningful and straightforward way. In addition to the specialized content, such topics as Corporate Compliance and the tesa Code of Conduct are also integral components of the courses.


In this reporting year tesa also gave the internationally valid leadership principles a new framework: “Leadership Excellence” promotes the so-called situational style of leadership, which deals with the different needs, strengths, weaknesses, and goals of employees. The revised leadership principles are to serve superiors and employees alike as orientation and therefore be integrated into future training. The six principles in detail:

1. Maintain mutual respect and mutual trust.
2. Agree upon clear goals.
3. Give employees leeway.
4. Create a feedback culture.
5. Increase performance through an atmosphere of challenge and encouragement.
6. Be a model.

There are four to five open questions for each principle – as an incitement to think about one’s own style of leadership and recognize potential for improvement.