Pros
If you have a chance to work at Straumann Group, do it. It could become your pinnacle career move. If you are driven, passionate and collaborative, then you will absolutely be fulfilled working here. There are many stellar employees and leaders throughout the company, and around the world. Guillaume and Aurelio are an intelligent duo that have the potential to help push Straumann into new heights within the dental industry. As with all companies, there are challenges and rewards. During my tenure at Straumann, I found it rewarding on a professional level. I have also built wonderful relationships that I will definitely keep growing on a personal level. You find yourself invested in people’s daily lives - their new pup, new house or new car, just as much as you are in their new product launch. I truly enjoyed the business unit I was a part of, and look forward to watching them continue to be successful as the post-Covid industry shifts their way. The company offers a mentoring program, management courses, tuition reimbursement and a stipend for education courses. These are great benefits that should be taken advantage of by every employee interested in development.
Cons
Oftentimes at Straumann, the competition was internal instead of external. For example, annual goals and product portfolios draw lines in the sand for resources and sales incentives. You’re either focused on implants or digital. Premium or value. Products or services. The NAM organization has not found a successful method to integrate business objectives in a way that makes it feel like we’re all working together for one common goal. Instead, we are competing for internal resources and prioritization. This causes inadequacies and inefficiencies as some portfolios are not being supported to their full potential. Our marketing communications department keeps growing, yet our competitors run laps around us in marketing specific technologies and solutions. Not because they are doing anything exceptional, but because some of our team leaders and employees are not prioritizing appropriate support towards specific portfolios. There is a subculture of unconscious and implicit bias: 1. Affinity Bias: A tendency to gravitate towards people similar to ourselves. 2. Confirmation bias: The tendency to look for or favor information that confirms beliefs we already hold. 3. Conformity Bias: Similar to groupthink. Very common in group settings, this type of bias occurs when your views are swayed or influenced by the views of others. When you are in charge of people management, it is always a good idea to learn ways to improve your blind spots. I witnessed popular employees bullying others in social settings, and it being passed off as “he deserves it”, “it doesn’t bother him”, and “he loves when we tease him” types of victim blaming. This has also extended to some people managers creating environments of favoritism and disfavoritism. These managers are also very selective when involving HR, especially when it concerns situations involving favorited employees. As adults, we all believe we would never engage in these behaviors. Unfortunately, it is happening at Straumann explicitly and implicitly.
