Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

 

The Senior Manager of Communications and Team Excellence plays a pivotal role in driving strategic initiatives that enhance team cohesion, engagement, and performance within the HR Talent organization. This role is central to developing and implementing a comprehensive communication strategy that ensures clear, consistent messaging both within the Talent team and across the broader business. By fostering a strong "one-team" culture rooted in continuous improvement, learning, and collaboration, this leader will elevate team effectiveness and drive impactful talent outcomes. Additionally, the role will establish onboarding processes for new Talent team members, promote a growth mindset, and champion cultural transformation. As an ambassador for HR Talent, the Senior Manager will cultivate strong stakeholder relationships and enable the team’s success in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, reporting directly to the Senior Director of Talent Programs and Engagement.

 

 

 Key Responsibilities:

 

Drive the delivery of the HR Talent team’s communications and team excellence initiatives, including team culture, collaboration, engagement, effectiveness, learning, and Talent new joiner onboarding activities to build a cohesive and high-performing organization. Develop and execute a comprehensive communication strategy, ensuring impactful messaging, clear channels, and alignment with HR Talent’s strategic priorities, in close collaboration with the Senior Director, Talent Programs and Engagement and the HR Strategy and Excellence team Foster a strong "one-team" culture by leading efforts to drive engagement, collaboration, and continuous improvement, enabling a high-performing, resilient team with a growth mindset. Collaborate with HR leadership and business stakeholders globally to identify synergies, enhance transparency, and support the team’s success in a dynamic and fast-paced environment. Provide visibility to senior leadership on the execution of communications, team excellence, and cultural transformation initiatives through regular updates, status reports, and insights. Support decision-making within cross-functional teams by navigating diverse priorities, building consensus, and ensuring pragmatic solutions to complex challenges. Maintain expertise in communications, team culture and team engagement by building internal networks, actively exchanging best practices, and deriving actionable insights from internal adidas initiatives. Serve as a trend-spotter and thought leader, benchmarking against external industry standards to identify and integrate cutting-edge strategies for internal communications, team engagement and culture transformation.

 

Key Relationships:

HR Talent SLT and HR Talent teams HR Strategy and Excellence team HR CoEs Corporate Communications Functional and Market Leads & Head offices

 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

 

Creative, energetic, and globally minded, with strong learning agility and adaptability to fast-paced environments. Skilled at navigating ambiguity and confident in high-exposure interactions with senior management. Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills, adept at fostering trust, accountability, and collaboration across global teams. Strong organizational and prioritization skills to balance strategic and operational responsibilities while driving team performance through effective management of timelines and KPIs. Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with expertise in storytelling, content creation, and delivering compelling presentations. Deep understanding of communication strategies, including messaging, stakeholder engagement, and change management, with the ability to distill complex information into impactful, audience-tailored messages. Situationally aware, demonstrating diplomacy, emotional intelligence, and a deep understanding of strengths and development areas in oneself and others. Strategic thinker with a proven ability to translate ideas into actionable concepts and develop effective communication, engagement, and learning strategies. Capable of breaking down big-picture goals into clear, actionable plans. Experienced in building inclusive, high-performance team cultures that prioritize growth, engagement, and continuous improvement, with a track record of planning impactful events and team-building initiatives. Proven ability to manage multiple initiatives and projects simultaneously with a pragmatic and detail-oriented approach, ensuring timely delivery of objectives. Experienced in mentoring junior team members or interns, supporting their growth and development. Strong “visual eye” for design and branding in presentations and materials, with proficiency in Microsoft Office 365 (especially PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint Online), Adobe Photoshop, and video editing tools. Skilled in measuring the impact of initiatives to drive data-informed improvements, with a passion for fostering learning cultures and professional development.

 

Qualifications

 

Degree with focus on Communication, Business Administration, or related areas or equivalent combination of education and experience  Minimum of 7-8 years of work experience in global-scale company/companies or a global management consulting business with focus on people & culture, organizational or transformation practices Project Management is an advantage PROSCI certified change manager is a plus