CASE 03 · CORTEVA
Customer Service Stabilization
& Business Readiness
Leading Customer Service across two distinct business models while rebuilding capability, preparing for critical sales seasons and maintaining business continuity through major organizational and regulatory change.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A stabilization mandate that changed within the first week.
I joined Corteva to stabilize the Polish Customer Service organization, rebuild capability across Crop Protection and Seeds and prepare both businesses for their upcoming sales seasons.
The Crop Protection team had been newly rebuilt, while Seeds had also experienced significant team change. Capability had to be developed while maintaining operational delivery and preparing for the most business-critical period of the year.
Within my first week, the planned separation of the business was announced. The mandate expanded from stabilization into leading Customer Service through seasonal readiness, organizational change, commercial alignment and KSeF transformation.
OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
Two businesses. Different commercial models.
Overlapping seasons.
One Customer Service organization supported two businesses with different sales models, customer interfaces, processes and seasonal demand patterns.
Seeds
GTM Model · Sales-Driven · High-Volume · Highly SeasonalCustomer Service operated as an execution partner to Sales within the Seeds GTM model. Sales owned the external customer relationship, while Customer Service enabled execution across orders, product allocations, deliveries, invoicing, consignment and rebates.
Corn orders were collected from late October / November through February / March, with deliveries running from January through March / April.
Crop Protection
Sales via Distributors · Direct Distributor Service · Sales SupportCrop Protection sales were executed through distributors. Customer Service worked directly with distributors while supporting Sales across orders, product availability, deliveries, invoicing, returns and commercial processes.
The main commercial peak ran from February through March / April, concentrating a significant share of annual business into a short execution window.
SEASONAL COMPLEXITY
Different commercial cycles. One critical operating window.
From February onward, Seeds order intake, allocation and delivery execution overlapped with the main Crop Protection peak.
February–April was the critical execution window: intensive Seeds order, allocation and delivery activity coincided with the main Crop Protection sales peak.
THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
Stabilize today. Build capability for tomorrow.
People
Rebuild capability while maintaining business-critical delivery.
Business
Prepare two operations for different but overlapping seasonal peaks.
Organization
Lead through separation and an evolving Customer Service operating model.
Transformation
Deliver KSeF and digital readiness without disrupting operations.
MY ROLE
Leading Customer Service through complexity and change.
As Customer Service Leader Poland and a member of the Poland Leadership Team and CEE Customer Service Leadership Team, I led Customer Service across Crop Protection and Seeds, with accountability for people, operational performance, business continuity and readiness for change.
My role was not to lead the corporate separation. It was to ensure that Customer Service remained stable, capable and business-ready while structures, processes and systems changed around it.
TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY
From stabilization to business readiness.
Understand the operation.
Assessed capability, ownership, capacity, operational risks and critical cross-functional dependencies.
Create control.
Strengthened responsibilities, operating routines, process ownership and backup while protecting daily execution.
Accelerate capability.
Built knowledge, accountability and resilience through structured onboarding, ownership and backup coverage.
Build seasonal readiness.
Connected team capacity with commercial demand, order execution, product allocation and peak-season priorities.
Strengthen commercial partnership.
Improved the operating interface between Customer Service execution and Sales priorities across both businesses.
Navigate organizational change.
Maintained clarity, focus and continuity while the future structure and reporting model continued to evolve.
Deliver regulatory readiness.
Translated KSeF requirements into processes, business testing, user readiness and operational go-live.
Strengthen governance.
Reinforced ownership, controls, visibility, escalation and operational resilience.
CUSTOMER SERVICE × SALES
Different commercial models required different partnerships.
The objective was to create the right interface between commercial priorities and operational execution — not one standard model for both businesses.
Seeds
GTM · Customer Service as Sales execution partnerSales owned the external relationship; Customer Service translated commercial priorities into operational execution.
Crop Protection
Sales via Distributors · Direct Customer ServiceCustomer Service directly supported distributors while partnering with Sales around customer priorities and execution.
LEADING THROUGH UNCERTAINTY
The organization was changing. Customer Service still had to deliver.
The announced business separation changed the future Customer Service structure and moved the function toward stronger local Country leadership.
My priority was to keep the team focused on customers, business priorities and execution while preparing the function for an evolving operating model.
KSEF / E-INVOICING
Turning regulatory change into operational readiness.
Led Customer Service readiness by translating regulatory and system change into practical processes, testing, people readiness and go-live execution.
Process
Translate requirements into operational Customer Service processes.
Testing
Coordinate end-to-end business scenarios and close operational gaps.
Alignment
Connect Customer Service, Finance, IT and business stakeholders.
People
Prepare users for new processes and ways of working.
Customers
Support operational transition and customer communication.
Go-Live
Protect continuity through implementation and transition.
OPERATIONAL GOVERNANCE
Building control beyond individual knowledge.
Ownership
Clear accountability for critical activities.
Controls
Stronger discipline around key OTC processes.
Visibility
Regular review of workload, risks and priorities.
Escalation
Clear routes for business-critical issues.
Backup
Stronger coverage and reduced dependency on individuals.
OPERATIONAL SCALE
Business-critical Customer Service across two commercial models.
High-volume seasonal execution, product allocation, distributor service, Sales support and OTC operations across Seeds GTM and Crop Protection sales via distributors.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Stability. Readiness. Stronger execution.
Stabilized Customer Service
Rebuilt capability and operating discipline across Crop Protection and Seeds.
Protected Business Continuity
Maintained execution through team and organizational change.
Built Seasonal Readiness
Prepared two operations for different and overlapping commercial cycles.
Strengthened Sales Partnership
Improved alignment between commercial priorities and CS execution.
Strengthened Governance
Increased ownership, process discipline, visibility and resilience.
Delivered Transformation Readiness
Prepared Customer Service for KSeF and new digital processes.
LEADERSHIP SIGNATURE
Building stability, capability and business readiness while the organization itself was being redefined.
The mandate evolved from team stabilization into leading Customer Service through seasonal business pressure, organizational uncertainty, commercial alignment and regulatory transformation — while keeping execution on track.
FROM STABILIZATION TO BUSINESS READINESS