A small, entrepreneurial, traditional, nature-loving, bilingual electric company from Jakobstad which has enough energy to power up half the country.
An interview with Jan-Erik Höglund, HR Manager, Oy Herrfors Ab
Starting point
“Herrfors had been growing quickly; our turnover had increased by an estimated 250% in 15 years. Our number of staff had more than doubled. In connection to the latest business merger, we combined two strong company cultures. The company had not held any previous supervisor coaching, so there was demand for one. The different locations did not have a common leadership strategy. On the other hand, we also had many new supervisors with only little or no experience of supervisory work. We also wished to introduce general guidelines and common rules.”
Why did they decide to get coaching from Hälsa?
“The true interest in our company, the will to understand our situation and our future goals. But the primary reason was their great attitude and energetic approach. The price-quality ratio was also great. I have ordered some supervisor coaching events that have been on a whole different level, financially.”
What was done?
- Initial review, four group coaching meetings and two personal coaching appointments, Natural tendencies analysis.
- Themes of the coaching meetings:
- Self-leadership and time management
- A supervisor’s interaction skills
- Leading different types of people
- A supervisor managing change
- Natural tendencies analysis
The key advantage provided by the coaching?
“The new supervisors received great tools for daily leadership work, and we were able to take the first steps towards cohesive Herrfors leadership. A concrete follow-up measure were the supervisor meetings, six of which have now been held within a year. The personal sparring meetings also gave insights to many supervisors as well as concrete well-being and/or development plans.
How was the coaching executed from your perspective as the client?
“Well; all practical things worked well on both sides.”
Feedback from the trainees
“The coaching made us think about our own behaviour and leadership style. The combination of group and individual coaching really worked well!”
“The Natural tendencies analysis was the best! I was pulled out of my comfort zone, which was a good thing.”