Our Principles
It’s About Community
ZF Way: Powered by Teamwork
Winning Together in the Race for Future Mobility
The ZF Way is a transformation program for the organizational development of ZF and describes the “how” behind the company’s strategy. It formulates the way we do things as an organization, expresses what the people at ZF stand for and how, together, they will win the race for tomorrow’s mobility.
Our Principles
How do we successfully transform our business? Our method is based on the five proven and timeless principles that helped ZF rise as a company and organization over decades to become a leading mobility specialist on global markets. They are: passion, anticipation, diversity, empowerment and accountability.
Intrinsic motivation
ZF Way in Practice
The ZF Way describes the implementation of our strategy with five principles that are lived and breathed within the company. It’s a concept that works. One proof point for this is the internal ZF Excellence Award. Since 1995, ZF employees worldwide have had the chance to receive internal recognition by submitting their creative and meaningful projects and ideas. The quality competition has thus far encompassed five categories. 2021 saw the addition of another – The ZF Way.
Numerous divisions, regions and functions submitted projects with the aim of winning the coveted award. All the ideas demonstrated a high level of commitment, creativity and determination. The projects submitted show that the ZF Way has been embraced by employees across all hierarchies and locations.
The winning team of the 2024 ZF Excellence Award in the category “ZF Way”: The international and cross-functional team with the project “Be smarter@work campaign – Learn more about modern ways of working and digital tools.” The team offers colleagues worldwide training and support for digital programs and tools. The goal of smarter@work is to empower all ZF employees for the digital working place.
ZF Way Excellence Award: The Winners
The award is hugely important to ZF employees. In 2024, 540 creative ideas in six categories were submitted from all over the world. Here is the selection of the winners:
2024 ZF Excellence Award Ceremony
Learning Organization
Group-wide Qualification Campaign
How VUCA and Megatrends are Influencing the Working World
The abbreviation VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It describes the challenges in a world affected by rapid and unpredictable changes. This also applies to the working world and the industry in which ZF operates.
In addition, megatrends are changing entire societies and forcing companies to realign their visions, structures, business models, processes, offers and communication.
ZF is also in its transformation, but we do not only want to master these challenges but also turn them into business opportunities. As a central component during the transformation, ZF supports its employees in acquiring new competencies so that they can use them in their daily work.
From E-Mobility to Digitalization to Sustainability
It all started with the so-called E-Cademy – a qualification initiative of the Electrified Powertrain Technology Division to get prepared for the requirements of the future in the field of e-mobility. This initiative was very successful and established a new learning culture that greatly enriches us as a company. In today's world, it is a decisive factor to be able to understand trends and follow the transformation. With this knowledge, everyone can actively contribute to shaping change.
The successful concept is now available to around 92,000 ZF employees with PC workplaces under the name "Skills Hub". In addition to the learning content for e-mobility, the offer was expanded to the megatrends of "digitalization" and "sustainability".
