An Insightful conversation with Lívia Rápolthy: Navigating Change, Communication, and Growth

Today's conversation presents a remarkable opportunity to delve into these vital topics, exploring Lívia's insights and experiences navigating change, fostering transparent communication and promoting a harmonious work-life environment.

Livia Rapolthy

Postition: Head of Marketing and Communications, thyssenkrupp OU Materials Eastern Europe

Status: Married, mother of a 12-year-old son

Hobbies: Business and life coaching, sports, nature

•  How do you navigate the unique challenges in marketing on the Eastern European market, and what strategies do you employ to effectively communicate?

  I think the key lies in our ability to take advantage of the new opportunities that are emerging as a result of accelerated change. On the one hand, effective communication comes from internal unity, where we all work as a team around the same core values and represent these values in a credible and harmonised way to our partners across all communication channels.

  At the same time, whoever is left behind is left out, we must also take advantage of the opportunities of AI to increase our efficiency and optimise our capacity in marketing and communication.

•  We are constantly speaking about transformation and changes, how important communication and networking are within these processes?

 I believe it is crucial to communicate the transformation process and its purpose transparently to the whole organization with clear messages about where we are going, how we want to achieve it and how employees as individuals can contribute to its success. Our communication tasks include maximal support for this transformation process, this way building a network within the region.

•  How you see future in marketing department, what skills should be developed?

 The regional marketing department is currently operating with a small staff. I think it is important that in the future we develop an even closer dialogue and cooperation with the colleagues of our group companies, forming a real unit, strengthening and supporting each other's work by sharing knowledge and information.

•  What are the most important steps for advancing in a career?

 We can't stop at marketing education, because what we learn in a school book will be outdated one year later. It's important to keep learning about digital solutions or to learn about related co-professions that we can incorporate into our strategy, and with which we are working closely today.

We also need to continuously develop our competences, such as assertive communication, presentation or negotiation skills, team motivation and leadership skill, as well as self-awareness and self-branding.

• With the increasing importance of work-life balance, how do you prioritize well-being and professional growth for yourself and your team?

In all cases, work-life balance is achieved through clear goal setting, prioritization of tasks, effective time management and appropriate management of resources and the use of further potential resources. It is a good idea to review our priority areas of life on a quarterly basis, possibly changing them in the direction where we feel weakened. We should not focus on more than 2-3 areas at a time, as we will get lost in the detail and be less effective.

I think that in today's world this is the only way to stay in balance. Personally, I think that if we can't energise ourselves, we can't invest energy into anything else. So it's important to be aware of the things that fill you up and to make time for that in your daily life.