ADAM KRZANOWSKI

Chairman of the Board and Co-founder of Nowy Styl

Currently people that manage companies, more frequently turn their focus on their organization having a broader social context and undertaking initiatives relating to social responsibility of their business. What actions in this respect is your company taking, how are they realized and what does responsible leadership mean to you?

Social responsibility means a lot to our company. We believe in the concept of responsible business and we support it in our daily actions or operations. In the range of our most important fields we outline our goals, on which we give detailed reports in the cyclically published Report on Sustainable Growth.

The roots of Nowy Styl are in the Carpathian region – that is where most of our workforce comes from and where our factories are located. We are one of the biggest employers in the region, that is why we want to set the standards in respect to safety and growth of our employees.

We also understand social responsibility as taking care of the wellbeing of our employees. It is important to us that our people work in healthy, safe and ergonomic conditions. Our factories are some of the most modern and safe places to work in Poland.

Nowy Styl is also a part of the local community. We realize many initiatives which aim to solve many of its problems. Operating in the Carpathia region we take advantage of the present natural resources, which is why we focus our support  strategy and our involvement mainly here. We assist local schools, daycares, cultural hubs or even the volunteer firefighters. Since the year 2000 we have held the annual Charity Ball for kids from the local orphanages. In our last event we invited over 1100 people from about 40 Carpathian institutions to participate. As part of the Charity Ball we giveaway gifts that fit a particular person’s needs. We also support young talents as part of the Children’s Technical University in Jaslo or the Young Arts Festival in Krosno – apart from the financial support of the event, we were able to set up a special chill out zone for artists.

Responsible leadership to me means building a strong and ethical enterprise, which supports the growth of its employees and of course local communities. It is also being aware that our operation affects the natural environment. Which is why considering the future generations we attempt to limit or completely neutralize its effect.

More and more investors, financial institutions choose organizations that function with ESG protocols as their business partners. Do you think this is right? In what manner does the company you manage go outside of the business as usual model? What does it do for the climate, local communities, diversity and what would you like to implement in the near future?

I definitely think it is a wise move when considering the selection process of the organizations which function with respect to ESG requirements. It is natural that we want to work with business partners that share our values and operate with respect to accepted norms and regulations. Nowy Styl is a company that puts a lot of focus on being a responsible member of the local and global communities. In 2012 we joined the United Nations Global Compact initiative, which sets the international standards in responsibility in business. Also, since 2012 we have been reporting our accomplishments in the bi-annual CSR report. It is a widespread publication, which points out what we as an organization are doing for the climate, employees and local communities. The CSR report is quite frequently a pass into realizing office projects for global corporations. Our clients expect us to be involved in social happenings and transparency of our operations. For this reason we give our report to an independent, outside assessment, one conducted by Deloitte.

In the hour of global warming and climate change we put a lot of focus on reducing our CO2 emissions, not only during our production processes and product transportation. We expect that our business partners and suppliers will also be enticed to take the same approach in their operations. In 2021 we organized a contest for our suppliers called Supplier Sustainability Award, in which we hoped to convince our suppliers to share with us some of their responsible practices in the range of product recycling, CO2 emissions reduction during transport or energy saving solutions. Through the contest we wanted to show that we value outstanding actions regarding CSR by our key suppliers, and at the same time encourage them to take part in new initiatives related to helping to protect the environment and work with local communities.

Each company creates their own corporate policy, which contains values seen by clients from the outside. Are clients more willing to select a specific company, since it does something good, something which the client identifies with, or does the decision depend mainly on the price? What is your opinion, what trends have you noticed, are you changing anything in that respect?

Currently pricing is no longer the dominating factor amongst companies when deciding on purchases. Our clients more frequently ask about how our products can support sustainable growth. It is important to them for example whether we work with respect towards the natural environment and human rights, whether our products are socially acceptable and whether they are recyclable.

Rising awareness in the range of sustainable growth leads to development of higher quality, more sustainable products. In the year 2021 we implemented a system for ecodesigning accordingly with the ISO 14406 standards. Key thing for us is an all encompassing consideration about the product, such as considering environmental aspects during its entire life cycle.

Along with the rise in curiosity with our company’s environmentally responsible products, we observe the market for the negative phenomenon of greenwashing – creating a false impression that a given company and their products are environmentally friendly. Certificates and management systems give our clients certainty that products offered by Nowy Styl are in fact manufactured with consideration for environmental aspects and are really dependable.

Growth of values and ethical codes in many organizations may be an attest to a rising awareness in this respect. Many managers declare that it focuses on ethics as the central point of its operations. Is complying with rules of fair play in managing a guarantee of stable growth in a company?

Nowy Styl has been on the market for 30 years. When we started operations, we were a small company of 7. Today there are a few thousand in a few countries around the world. From the beginning we obeyed fair play rules, although dynamic growth of the organization demanded for us to implement new norms and to standardize work at Nowy Styl. Building relations outside of the company we always try to lean on values such as: ambition, humility, fairness and tolerance. This is the foundation for our operations.

Ethics have always been an important part of our operations, even a requirement in everyday actions. This approach is documented within our organizations Ethical Code. This is the result of many years of business practice and managing a company. The experience we have garnered has taught us how important it is to grow and develop one’s own morality, in a matter where you work for the safety and wellbeing of employees, and at the same time warn them about unethical behaviors. The ethical code is a summarization of everything we have learned up to this point, but it is also a way for us to look into the future and set goals – for which we are striving. Rules of the code apply to all employees at Nowy Styl, without exception, whether it is function, rank or position.

The world needs smart and quality leaders that want to positively affect their environment. Was there ever a time where you started looking for a deeper sense of your work, ability to do something good for your community or country? What were you able to realize?

It is hard to pinpoint a particular moment, because from the beginning of Nowy Styl, our employees have always been our priority. It is for them that we create our products and for them we realize projects. Through our solutions, knowledge and experience, we want our employees to work in the most comfortable and sanitary conditions.

We live in the hour of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seeded uncertainty and cut the mark of not only our industry but in everyday life. Setting the health and comfort of the people at the center, we have to react accordingly to these types of changes. This approach gives our work deeper meaning. We study new office phenomena and develop our product offer tailored to the needs of the modern worker.

The effort that we put into the multilayered operations in respect to CSR is visible and appreciated. The crowning moment of our many years of operations has been the Platinum Medal EcoVadis award – one of the leading auditors for CSR. This is the highest possible result and appreciation for many years of conducted actions in the range of environmentally, sustainable chain of supply or business ethics. This is also confirmation that we manage these processes efficiently and we can guarantee a high level of safety whilst working together.

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The company offers their clients comprehensive solutions and expert services for the optimal interior space and audiotrial arrangement. He has presented solutions and knowledge about office arrangements at the Office Inspiration Centre in Krakow and in 28 showrooms in London, Paris, Warsaw and Berlin. Thanks to thought out acquisitions, Nowy Styl has broadened its competences, fitting passenger terminals and healthcare facilities. Last year the company sold 1,7 billion zloty in furniture, from which a whopping 90% of the orders came from abroad.

Last Updated on December 12, 2022 by Valeriia Honcharuk