Meet Denisa Tothova: Production Manager at Lantmännen Unibake Norway

I grew up in Slovakia. My family was poor, and I didn’t have many childhood dreams. I do remember that I imagined becoming a doctor or veterinarian. My biggest concern was to find a job, so I could start helping my mother financially. As a young woman, I got a nice job as a manager for a big company in Slovakia, but then I fell in love with my husband who is from Kosovo. We moved to Kosovo and lived there for a couple of years but because of the political turbulence, we moved to Norway in 2006 where my husband had friends.

The first years in Norway were tough – experiencing a new culture, a new language and so on. I took cleaning jobs because you don’t need to speak Norwegian when you clean. At some point, I saw a job opening at Lantmännen Unibake. I applied but didn’t hear anything, so I called them to let them know that I was very interested. The next day I came by for an interview and eventually got the job. It was a new beginning for me.

I started as an operator at the packaging machines and later advanced to Team Manager. I attended courses in leadership and learned a lot from my mentors. It wasn’t easy to make the transition from colleague to leader, but everybody can see that I love my job, and that I’m doing my best.

When I became Team Manager, my leadership style was very tough. That was how my managers had behaved in Slovakia, so that was what I knew. My team members in the packaging department in Norway were very open. They told me not be so hard on them, not to crack down on mistakes and so on. I also asked for advice from my superiors and took more leadership courses. That helped. It is human to make mistakes, breakdowns in production happen, we experience challenges in the warehouse etc. But we fix it together as a team. Today, I have a different approach that is more in line with the core values of Lantmännen Unibake. Openness, having a holistic view, inspire people to take responsibility… It works. Today, when my team rate me as a leader, my scores are very high. I’m happy about that.

I’m looking for a certain type of employee when we recruit new people. Employees must be eager to learn all the time because chances are that you will have to move around in different departments when you work at Lantmännen Unibake. You will not just do one thing at the same station over and over again. You must be open to take on new challenges and adapt.

In January 2024, I advanced from Team Manager to Production Manager. In March, representatives from the BRC Global Standard came unannounced to do an audit. To comply with the standard requires a team effort from all of us, but a lot of the business processes are my responsibility, so I was very nervous when the auditors arrived. The audit lasted three days. We ended up with the highest score possible. That’s probably my biggest success in the 11 years I have been in the company.

When I got the offer to be Production Manager, I didn’t know if I was ready to take that step. My brother in Slovakia said: You have proved yourself, and you have received good

support from your leaders so far, so why do you want to stop now? Take a risk. He was right, and I’m glad he pushed me.

The thing that has surprised me most about myself is how far I have managed to go in my life after starting all over in a new country learning a new language, adapting to a new culture. When I moved to Norway, I felt like I was nobody because I had to start from zero. I didn’t think that I would have the strength to overcome such challenges, but I have found out that I’m good in difficult situations. I don’t give up but always find a solution. I’m proud of that – as a person and as a leader.