Interview with Cecile Fougerouze, Group Product Manager of Access Products
Hello Cecile, tell us about your career journey?
My journey started with an economics engineering degree in France and then in the Netherlands I completed with a master in European business.
I relocated to Germany in 2004 for a job opportunity where I joined the photovoltaic industry, first as a sales and marketing manager then, due to my affinity to technicity, as a product manager.
In 2012 I started working at the former Tractel company in the role of Group Product Manager for Access products, for example Tirak electrically driven hoists, Blocstop fall arrest devices, UVM Blade maintenance platforms.
What does that mean, what do you do in your job?
My role is pretty versatile, I mainly engage helping all internal companies for specific projects, being the main technical contact for our key accounts and translate their needs to our technical and R&D team. It could be a minor product improvement or a new significant innovation.
As a product manager in a global organisation, I have a real cross function role across the group and I deal with all kinds of functions and professional profiles. I need to adapt my communication to different level of technicity. Living in Germany as a French person has played an important role in shaping my overall experiences and understanding of working in a multicultural environment.
What would you say are the biggest challenges and successes until today?
I started and led the development and harmonization of our global training and maintenance guidelines and their associated documents for all the products I was in charge of. Later, other internal companies used these procedures for their products as well, that was rewarding to see.
Additionally, I introduced the lean management practices in our factory, beginning with Value Stream Mapping, 5S Workshop, Qualification matrix, Process landscape, etc. I enjoyed exploring new domains of knowledge that were still related and relevant to my products. Both projects coincided with bigger organizational shifts, and it gave me useful insights in change management in the creation of robust and simple frameworks.
Do you have any leaders you’ve admired? If so can you tell me why?
Rather than a specific leader, I admire a leadership style that I call “participative management”. It’s all about participation and involvement. By involving employees in decision-making, participative management can improve morale, productivity, and overall organizational effectiveness and is often associated with increased employee engagement and empowerment.
Being a female engineer in a male dominated field, do you find this industry challenging for women in STEM roles? Any advice you would offer to women pursuing a career in this area?
Not specific to my industry but in general I would recommend staying true to yourself and your abilities. It’s important to be confident in your skills and knowledge, and to not be afraid to speak up and assert yourself in professional situations. Building a strong network of supportive colleagues can also be incredibly beneficial. Diversity in the workplace leads to better decision-making and innovation, so embrace your unique perspective and contributions.
Cecile, my last question. Is there anything you would like to share that I may not know about?
This may come as a surprise, but I actually suffer from vertigo, which is not that easy in our business. I remember two situations where I had to overcome my anxiety, one was climbing a ladder over 10 metres high in a wind turbine and the other was accessing the elevator shaft of the European Central Bank building in Francfort on the 50th floor or so. In both situations I couldn’t feel my knees anymore. But no one really paid much notice of me, I guess if you are working in the construction or wind industry everyone assumes you’re OK in such situations. But I took a deep breath, hoped for the best, kept smiling and trusted our products! It went well!