Here’s to the women who are empowering, inspiring, and leading others!
This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating our Women of BMW! Each nominee exemplifies the pillars of movement and BMW and serves as an inspiration for the BMW family. Throughout the series, we will hear the stories and advice from women leaders who have broken stereotypes and shattered glass ceilings. We created the #WomenofBMW series to highlight the progress of women in their roles throughout the automotive industry while motivating change going forward.
Name: Tina Clements
Division: rpc – The Retail Performance Company
Location: New Jersey
Q: In a few words, describe your role at BMW?
A: My role is to inspire our employees to want to help others through our training, coaching, HR and data services business lines at the BMW joint-venture, The Retail Performance Company (rpc). www.rpcamerica.com
Q: You’ve been described as a people-leader by your colleagues. What skills do you feel are necessary to be an effective leader in the workplace?
A: Transparent feedback. Giving on-point, timely, respectful feedback with confidence is an art form that separates managers from leaders, moving them from good from great. Doing this is hard – and for some, scary – because it’s seen as conflict and very few of us can lean into conflict with comfort. The contrary is true – providing real time feedback with consistency actually decreases conflict and allows for behavior shifts and the redirection of your people, and you’re appreciated for it. Providing feedback is a game changer and arguably the number one skill necessary to be the leader others want to follow.
Q: How has your role in BMW helped you grow in both your professional and personal life?
A: “There are no mistakes, only discoveries.” My 17 years at BMW have been littered with discoveries, ‘do-differentlys’ and, let’s face it, mistakes. As a result of these life-learnings, I’ve shifted, grown, changed for the better and most importantly, shared these lessons with others. All of my roles at BMW have been a gift and I’m lucky to have made such important discoveries here.
Q: What advice would you give to women pursuing a career in your field?
A: The world can be hard; unforgiving, unflattering and sometimes, all around not nice. It’s the same world for everyone however, and how you choose to approach it is up to you. Will you react or respond? Will you choose to shift your perspective around a situation or become a victim to your circumstances? It’s your choice. The moment you find yourself in the blame game is actually the moment the game is over – and you lost. Decide how you want to show up, then show up. Know that nothing is happening ‘to you,’ it’s just happening. The best advice I can give is, when you hit that roadblock – and you certainly will – accept it, own it, shift your perspective around it, and then get busy changing it. You’ve got this.
Q: What inspires you in the workplace and why?
A: Ah-ha moments. There is nothing more amazing than experiencing a person who has an ah-ha moment and just ‘gets it’ through something we’ve created; it’s spectacular. Facilitating an experience where I get to see this first hand . . . well, it’s magic.