August 2024 - the eighth month of NOBO AUTO

The first week of September brings the eighth edition of my blog on the growth of NOBO Auto in České Budějovice. For new readers - my name is David Havelec and in January 2024 I became the first employee of NOBO Auto in České Budějovice. I started as HR manager in a company that was in the very beginning of its business. At that time, I knew that among my tasks would be to create an employer brand, which at that time was almost unknown to the external market. And at the same time, I didn't know of anyone who was writing news about the new company's growth process on a regular basis - at least not in the automotive industry. And since I had always told myself that one day I would write a book of my HR experiences, this period seemed like the perfect time to combine the above. Since then I've published 7 sequels, one for each month, and you can find them all at the end of this article.

What happened in our country in August?

Intercultural workshop

At the turn of July and August, the first group of employees from China joined us. The colleagues are part of the so-called "core team", which takes care of the start-up of our company for the production of car seats for BMW. For all of them, this is their first job outside of China. Many of them struggle with their English skills and of course the culture and customs are different in the two countries. As of today (September 2, 2024), there are 23 employees of seven different nationalities in the company. This diversity brings interesting situations for everyone in the company.

In order to understand each other's customs, standards and needs, we decided to conduct a full-day intercultural workshop with an external company for the first group of employees in August. I was tipped off about a company in Germany that was implementing intercultural activities for Chinese investors in Germany and helping to bridge the two cultures for large companies, not only in the automotive industry. Together we spent a whole day learning about the differences in our cultures.

For me personally, one of the biggest surprises was that if someone says "yes" to me in China, it does not necessarily mean that they agree with what I say and will act as we agreed. "Yes" in this way can also mean "I understand you, but I have a different attitude".

The second surprise for me was the topic of feedback, namely public communication and acceptance of criticism - we in the "Western" world are used to openly discussing all problems, openly telling each other what went wrong, where we need to change our approach, redo something or avoid something altogether. We are KPI, fact and data oriented. Personally, I have no problem admitting that I've got something wrong or that I don't know something. The culture in China is completely different in this respect, they pride themselves more on relationships and public criticism is basically unacceptable to them.

The third surprise was the food - during the workshop we prepared authentic Czech cuisine for our Chinese colleagues - duck with cabbage and dumplings, sirloin sauce, goulash, schnitzel with mash and cucumber salad. The snack was sandwiches and apple strudel. I asked what food they liked best and they said it was the cucumber salad and the sandwich. As for the Chinese restaurants in České Budějovice - I learned that there are 4 of them and all of them are worth the price of admission. My colleagues bought kitchen equipment for their newly rented apartments and cook Chinese food themselves. They even happily welcomed surplus zucchini from our garden last week.

As I also have a colleague from China in my HR team, training like this is quite crucial for me to be able to create conditions in the team where we all work well and are able to deliver results in the required time and quality.

Hike to Klet'

Since we have a lot of challenges in the coming weeks and months related to taking over the building, importing technology, installing all kinds of systems and of course the actual start of production, we decided to spend some time together outside the office. The goal was ambitious - together to climb the highest mountain of the Blanský Forest. The start of our journey was the parking lot in Zlatá Koruna, from where we set off together to the top of the mountain ten kilometres away. Cagewhere we had lunch together and after visiting the local observatory we headed back to the cars. In total we walked over 20 kilometers and climbed 600 meters. Not a feat worthy of the Olympics, but on the other hand, not a walk in the rose garden either.

Here are some photos from our trip together:

First visit to the new office

This week I had the opportunity to get my first look inside my office - I went with NOBO Europe CEO Jason MA to see the construction of our new plant and I couldn't stop staring. From the outside, the hall looks almost complete and inside it continues at a frantic pace. From my point of view, everything is heading towards the handover of the building for our use at the end of this year.

The tour of the building included a visit to the roof of the building. Given the pleasant temperatures (35 degrees) and my fear of heights, it was a perfect experience that I will remember for a long time. I feel like it was my first and last visit to the roof. Of course I'm smiling in the photo and I don't show my current excitement.

Onboarding of newcomers

When I joined, the onboarding process was not set up optimally - I bought my work computer and phone from Datart the day before I started and I did the IT administration myself with remote support from my colleagues in China. There are now more of us in the team and we realise that you only make a first impression once. That's why I'm glad to have such great colleagues like Daniela Víznerová RACR a Jaroslav Hrabákwho took on the onboarding of our newcomers with great enthusiasm, and a fully equipped workplace - with a working computer, email, a new phone and a little attention - was waiting for all of today's arrivals.

The next step is to create a pre-boarding site and link recruitment with onboarding directly in the new HR system.

First expedition

2.9.2024 was the first ever expedition from the NOBO Auto plant in České Budějovice. We transported test packaging material to the Munich office and we did not forget to record this historic milestone.

Plans for September

In September, 6 colleagues will be travelling to China to oversee the handover of the production line for our plant and the construction of one of the first sample seats, which is underway in China.

At the same time, of course, we continue to recruit for key positions. There are still a few positions where we do not have final candidates before the end of the year, namely IT, maintenance, quality, logistics and production. If you would like to become a member of our team, please leave your contact details in a private message or email me at the company email david.havelec@nobo-auto.cz.

During September we should launch the already announced company website, as soon as it happens I will definitely inform you here.

David Havelec

HR Manager in Nobo Automotive Czech Republic

3 September 2024