Sometimes, the career path you’re on doesn’t allow you to achieve your full potential. At Koch, reaching out to your supervisor can help you better understand where you are and where you want to be.

Take Yashaswini B N, for instance. When Yashaswini (Yash for short) joined Koch Global Services in Bengaluru, India, she performed well as a Planview demand analyst. Still, she knew she had more to offer if given the opportunity. With her sights set on becoming a project manager, a role that would allow her gifts to truly flourish, Yash needed to find a viable path toward reaching her goal. She started that professional journey by initiating a dialogue with her supervisor, Suresh Sundaresan — a conversation about her future career aspirations that had actually first begun during her interview for the analyst role.

Taking the Next Steps Together

“I remember that, at the time, Suresh wasn’t just focused on the job’s role requirements,” says Yash. “He wanted to understand me, my broader gifts and talents and how we can grow together.” In fact, Suresh could see that Yash wanted to contribute in ways outside the typical role requirements for a demand analyst. Once she started at KGS, they met routinely to discuss her interests and how she could best use her gifts. “Yash had such a great aptitude and attitude,” Suresh says. “I could see she wanted and could do more, so I asked her about her aspirations. She answered, ‘Okay, what about project management?’”

“When I learned about the principle of self-actualizing, I realized I was missing out on something in my life. So first, I identified my interests and skill sets. Then I stopped and asked Suresh about them,” Yash says. Suresh decided the best way to determine if Yash would perform well in project management was to allow her to take on small projects alongside her regular duties and evaluate her performance. That methodical process allowed Yash to grow and learn in a safe environment. “We had a lot of good discussions along the way,” Suresh says. “Yash doesn’t just listen. She asks questions, gets answers and applies what she has learned. As a result, she was able to showcase her value to the organization quickly.”

Settling in and Taking Flight

Within five months of their initial conversation about becoming a project manager, Suresh completely moved Yash into her new role. Today, as a project manager for KGS, Yash helps own and drive projects from discovery to completion. “I’m an enabler for my team to succeed,” Yash says. “And it’s my responsibility to ensure I deliver projects on time.” Looking back, the deep trust she placed in her supervisor proved to be invaluable in her journey. “Nothing can happen unless and until I have a trusted, authentic relationship with an individual and understand what they are truly capable of,” Suresh says, “and helping colleagues to self-actualize by moving them into the right roles will maximize value for Koch.”

The Resources When You’re Ready

Are you a supervisor like Suresh looking to help your direct reports better achieve their full potential? You can start by tapping into our Supervisor Responsibilities and Expectations resource to maximize what you and your team can accomplish using the five dimensions as your guide. And for anyone looking to find a place where they can keep growing, you can learn more about how our roles are uniquely tailored to each individual here.

Insider Career Tip

Are you a Koch employee looking to find a role where you can continue growing? Our Internal Careers website is the perfect place to utilize our wealth of career navigation resources.

Koch Industries

Koch Industries

Creating value. Transforming life.

Our life’s work is to help people improve their lives by making and innovating products and services our customers value. Our focus is on delivering mutual benefit: Win-win outcomes that make life better for customers and employees alike.

Based in Wichita, Kansas, Koch Industries is one of the largest private companies in America. A diverse set of businesses and industries across the world, we work together to keep improving and exploring new ways to make life even better.

Koch companies are involved in manufacturing, agriculture, pulp and paper, packaging, consumer products, building materials, glass, automotive components, refining, renewable energy, chemicals and polymers, electronics, enterprise software, data analytics, medical products, engineered technology, project services, recycling, supply chain and logistics, global commodities trading, and investments. Since 2003, Koch companies have invested more than $150 billion in growth and improvements. With a presence in about 60 countries, Koch companies employ more than 120,000 people worldwide, with about half of those in the United States.

Stewardship in all we do.

Our approach to Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) is different than most. We believe in people and seek a system of equal rights and mutual benefit where individuals succeed by helping others succeed – and where people are empowered to improve their lives and their communities. It’s why we focus on empowering individuals to improve their lives and communities through bottom-up solutions rather than top-down imperatives.

Environmental Stewardship

Consuming fewer resources, minimizing waste and constantly innovating to improve our manufacturing processes and performance is essential to the way we do business – benefiting our customers, employees, investors, communities and planet.

Five environmental stewardship priorities.

With more than 300 manufacturing sites across the United States – and about 100 more globally – we’re one of America’s largest manufacturers. Every day, across those sites, we strive to create more value, using fewer resources than the day before. We do it through constant improvement and innovation – both in the products we make and how we make them, and by managing our resources in a way that benefits our customers, employees, partners, community members and society.

• Innovation
• Energy Efficiency
• Air Quality
• Water
• Responsible Resource Management

Social Stewardship

Philanthropy. Health and safety. Diversity and inclusion. Meaningful, rewarding careers and community outreach. These are just some of the vital priorities of social stewardship that empower each of our employees to develop, contribute, self-actualize and create value for the world while supporting communities in which we live.

Governance

Our management framework, Principle Based Management™, is based on proven principles of human progress and a deep appreciation for the dignity of every individual. Our private ownership, shared Vision, Values, compliance standards and oversight all help us focus on long-term value creation.

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