This interview is more like a conversation, a conversation with a friend whom we have known for a long time, but perhaps do not know the little everyday things that have shaped him as a person we meet every day. For this magazine, we asked employees which colleague they would like to read a more private conversation about, and Arnis was the overwhelming vote leader.
The time of the conversation has coincided with the moment when Arnis can look back on his first year as the head of the company.
When asked what the first year as the head of Knauf has been like and what has been the hardest part, Arnis says that letting go of the production management has been harder than it first seemed. Putting the factory oversight in new, caring hands... and yet it's hard to let go.
“Being factory director for nearly ten years is the longest I have been in my career so far, and at Knauf in general, and it was really not easy, and I was and am confident that people in production are knowledgeable, responsible, independent and each in their own place. I hope that I have been able to let this position go, and I can certainly say thanks to Artūrs Ozoliņš, who involves me from time to time in various matters, and I can pass on my knowledge to him at the right time and place.
I came to Knauf in August 2007 as a working student, with two years of experience at Grindeks, and started working as a chemist. Two years later, in 2009, I received an offer to head the laboratory, and I held this position for four years. Then I was offered a job to set up a Research and Development Centre, a.k.a. R&D Centre, but it was short-lived, only ten months, as I was recalled back to production as a production technologist. At the end of 2014, Kazimirs Buzikevičs, the then head of Knauf, offered me the opportunity to manage the whole factory. It was a responsible enough decision on both sides, to entrust the thirty-year-old with the factory and let him manage it. When I took over the management of the factory back then, I had a lot of thoughts and concerns about my responsibilities and my ability to deal with them. It was similar now with the offer to run the whole company. I think it is perfectly appropriate for any thinking person to feel concerns and doubt about such new career developments and decisions. I must say, though, that the support of my colleagues was and still is very helpful this time. I run what is already a very successful company with industry professionals at the helm.
Knauf is my longest-lasting workplace, a company that has given me countless opportunities and yes – it has also allowed me to make mistakes, but always with a broad view of the future.”
When asked, “Who are you at Knauf?”, Arnis says that it's a tough question. One of the 40,000 employees, I guess... “We sometimes joke that having so many years of experience is a already a fixed asset, but seriously, I hope that my seventeen years with the company are a good basis for the company to develop and realise its bigger ambitions.”
Arnis emphasises that his first year as the head of company has allowed him to get to know a part of the company that he was not familiar with before, and now he can speak equally about all company processes in the context of objectives and results. “We have been very successful for a long time with eight to ten product groups, but the market and consumer habits are changing and we have to be the ones to shape these new habits in construction. I am therefore very pleased that one of the cornerstones of Knauf's global Knauf 100 strategy is the development of new products, with a target of 15% of turnover to be achieved directly through new product sales.
In the private sphere, my goals are simple, I know from experience that the first two years in a new position are a continuous and very dynamic race, and I am determined to respect healthy boundaries so that my work does not drag into long evening hours or weekends, so that I can be a present leader with quality energy. Time for my family, my daughters, my hobbies and a little but also for myself is very important to me. I think it's important for each one of us to stay relevant to ourselves, also as individuals.“
Asked about the challenges, Arnis says: “The biggest challenge working for Knauf is to get everything done, which of course is impossible. I also tell my colleagues that it is a matter of priorities, thinking about priorities in the long term and not getting burnt out by doing and executing every initiative. There are so many ideas, projects and initiatives in our daily lives, and I would like to see us doing things with quality, not superficially.
What I enjoy most about working at Knauf is the environment itself and my colleagues, because we are the ones who are responsible for the environment around us. Openness is probably the quality I value most, and I look for people around me who are outspoken. If there is an environment of trust and keeping your word, anything is possible.
If I had one unique chance to make a difference in this world, I would probably leave things as they are. Every event is a part of our lives, something that complements and shapes us in some way, and everything has a place be. It seems that all the beauty in the world is in what happens. Of course, as a human being, I would like to exclude tragedies, but everything else – the good, the sad – should remain.“