“One should understand the culture code of the people one is working with”

The general director of the Management Company Metafrax Group Ivan Feoktistov shared his story about his early career in the Holding, implemented projects, HR-brand and personal experience obtained in the company.

“Ivan, could you please tell about your education?”

“My education was built around mathematics. Firstly, I graduated from the Mathematics Gymnasium No. 17. Then I got my degree in Applied Mathematics at the Perm State Polytechnic University. This major is one of the most complicated and competitive at the university with big amount of material to study. The professors are focused precisely on ensuring that students understand the material, and not learn it “by rote”. I am grateful to my specialty for a habit to systematize big amounts of information and to think systematically in general.”

“How did your professional way begin?”

“I started to work in my second year, and I continues to combine work and study in the last years of my education. Prior to joining Metafrax Group, I worked for Lukoil in the Organization Development Department and then in the Labor and Remuneration Department. My responsibilities were regulation of the company’s operation, organization and systematization of labor, issues related to its fair payment, and headcount analysis.”

“When did you start to work for Metafrax?”

“I started to work at the Group, namely at Metafrax Trading Company, in February 2008 as a lead specialist in organization development, meaning exactly 15 years ago.

From 2010, I was a secretary of the Metadynea BoD. In 2011-2012 I was engaged in negotiations on purchasing the second stake of Metadynea from the Finnish Dynea. In 2013 I participated in negotiations for purchasing Metadynea Austria and later I became responsible for organizing regular business review meetings of this company. I also acted in a similar status for other foreign companies in the Group such as Metafrax Trading International and Samyang Meta.

I was responsible for the way the communications was built with our Austrian company. Business prospects depend on how transparent communication issues are. For example, if a decision is not worked out properly, and the interests of all parties are not taken into account, then it will not be made. A decision that is not made is the worst thing for a business, it is a waste of time and money. It has always been a priority for me to support the activities of the management bodies, so that they can work like a Swiss watch.”

“Another large block of your work at Metafrax Group is the development of HR function. Could you please describe it in detail?”

“I have been working to create a single strategy to work with personnel. The Companies belonging to the Metafrax Group are different. Where is the borderline between reasonableness of unification and centralization? It was a difficult question to answer.

Firstly, we had to identify an expert for analyzing both the payroll fund as a whole and proposals for changing it. The company's initiative is analyzed by an independent expert, who first works as a "prosecutor" for the company in order to continue to be a "lawyer" in the face of the Group's management. Thanks to the efforts of colleagues and, above all, the Head of the Compensation and Remuneration Department of Metafrax Group, Tatyana Tereshenkova, a culture of analyzing the competitiveness of employees' salaries at the Group's companies was formed and “field” automation of payroll fund planning was implemented.

Secondly, we had to work systematically with the high-potential employees within Metafrax Chemicals. Today we see its next round as "School of Masters", "School of Management". Thanks to Natalya Soboleva, the Head of the Recruitment and Development Department at Metafrax Group, the first step has been taken to systematically introduce and immerse top and middle managers into managerial and administrative functions. It resulted in the program of systematic professional development not only for back-up personnel, but also for current leaders. We also gave an impetus to restarting the overall processes of personnel development.

Thirdly, we had to focus on the adaptation of personnel. HR-specialists find a candidate, accompany him, promote him. However, there is an option when a person does not succeed, and you need to look for an error in the system and readjust it. In no company is there such a thing that a person comes “from the street” and immediately works successfully. Within our Group, the amount of rules we have written lags behind the actual amount of work. Therefore, an employee may not be able to cope with the task, not because he or she is bad, but because he or she does not have all the information about how the processes are built. Therefore, the common task of both HR-specialists and managers is to fairly evaluate the result of work and help the new employee become strong and successful, and the system to become more transparent.

The result of my work is that personnel management has taken the path from working with documents about people to working with people and working with managers about people. It is very important to understand the "delicate" role of the HR Department in such work – it is about the support of both the employee and the manager, and often about the translation "from Russian to Russian.

Intervention in the relations between managers and subordinates is possible only in one case – when there are problems in these relations that affect the sustainability of the system. If there is a conflict between a manager and an employee that ends up harming the business, then we have to step into. It is important for me that managers know that HR management is a resource of help and support in the most difficult aspect of the manager's role – working with people.”

“In early February the results of the Metafrax Group employer brand development project were obtained. Why is it important for the Holding?”

“An important step has been taken in systematic work on the image and reputation of Metafrax Group as an employer, which, among other things, will help unite the Group's companies actively develop their common features, but also bring something new to each company.

The Group's top management discussed the proposed hypotheses on how Metafrax should introduce itself most effectively on the labor market, and what focus it should take in working with personnel, and then voted for the most successful hypothesis. In the near future, the image of Metafrax Group as a single employer will be presented to the employees of the Holding and the labor market.”

“In 2020, you headed the project to create the Metafrax Group Management Company. What is the need to introduce a new management model?”

“The need for the project was determined at the beginning of 2020. The more interconnected the processes of the companies in the Group are, the more important operational coordination and the development of solutions that benefit the entire Group are.

In the management model that existed until recently, each company had its own BoD. The companies were managed independently, and evaluation of the personal results of top managers was done without taking into account the fact that the Group as a whole had to operate effectively as well. Everyone was responsible for the result only in their area.”

“How was the project implemented?”

“The most creative stage was the zero stage, when we decided for ourselves which model we wanted to achieve. Another important issue was to choose a partner for the project. We made our choice based on the correctness of the proposal and the comfort of working with the team. Because it depends on them whether there will be an understanding between us and the result of our work. In addition, one of my conditions was to keep key employees in the partner's team during the whole project. As a result, the consulting firm Ernst & Young was chosen as a partner. As the project manager, I am sure it was the right decision.

During the work, the target request has undergone several changes, but the overall structure has remained – a partially centralized management company, which does not lock in the specifics of managing production, commerce, logistics in relation to different productions and markets. Reasonable centralization is important – somewhere partial, somewhere complete in the area of functions that are engaged in supporting, auxiliary and controlling activities.

At all stages of the project the work was organized on the principles of maximum openness, transparency and involvement of all participants in the process of the upcoming transformation. Strategic sessions, meetings and discussions were held on a regular basis, and access to the accumulated materials was provided. We will continue the practice of openness within the Management Company.

At the final stage, for the first time in the history of the Group, we formed a set of rules that cover the activities of all areas of the Holding, and we defined the boundaries. The companies are grouped into three divisions. All functional standards, as upper-level regulations, have been written and will be put into effect from the moment when on April 17 the Management Company receives the powers of the sole executive body.”

“Ivan, how have you personally changed over 15 years at Metafrax Group? What lessons have you learned?”

“When you look in the mirror every day, the changes are not that evident. Let me tell you about one principle that I follow. If you see that something is going wrong in a related area, it is important not to pass it by. It is important to trust the competence of the colleague next to you. To ask about something that seems strange to you is necessary, but to double-check or to study for another person is a dangerous dead end.

The second point has to do with communication. I became a secretary of the Board of Directors of Metadynea when the company was a joint venture with Dynea, and the relations between the two owners were tense. I saw that many reasons for misunderstanding lie in the details of communication and in the misunderstanding of the other side.

One should understand the culture code of the people one is working with, and this is not even about national characteristics, but in general about the behavioral patterns of any person. It is important to develop a communicative awareness within the Group, which will help employees understand each other's style and intentions. This will make the work, in which a large number of different people are involved, more effective in terms of the interests of the company and easier for all participants in the process.”