EXPLORING THE GOLDEN MINDS - HOW DIVERSITY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO INCREASED INNOVATION POWER AND BETTER RESULTS

To discover and take advantage of new opportunities, it is important to dare to break patterns, challenge oneself, listen to others who think differently and see that value can come from many different directions. This means that successful businesses need a variety of different perspectives. But it is not enough to recruit with diversity as a starting point. It is also important to be able to highlight the different perspectives that diversity offers, although it sometimes might take a longer time and involve some degree of conflict.

“A good way to do this is through facilitation, where the leader acts as a catalyst rather than an expert and ensures that everyone’s perspective emerges. Facilitation is extra beneficial when it comes to issues where no single individual can have the solution to the problem by herself or himself and can be used for a particular topic as well as for the group process itself”, says Maria Holmberg, Head of People & Innovation, Stena Fastigheter and program manager for the module.

A decisive factor for everyone’s perspective to really emerge is that there is a psychological security in the group. During the training, discussions are held about how to create such psychological security in groups back home.

“This means that you need to create a permissive environment where everyone dares to ask questions, express their opinions and have the opportunity to make mistakes. In such an environment you get creative people who can and want to contribute”, Maria Holmberg points out.

In addition to theoretical parts, several practical elements are included in the education. Among other things, the participants have the opportunity to try to facilitate, experience the benefits and challenges of diversity and try different types of group compositions. Before the course itself, all participants also do a Disc test. This provides a good basis for being able to make different types of group divisions that show how different results can be depending on whether the group is composed of people who are similar or different to each other.

“A big advantage with these exercises is that you really get a “safe zone” with no performance requirements, where you can be open, fearless and curious about how you can try to achieve the best results and at the same time develop yourself and your leadership”, says Maria Holmberg.

Register for the modules at the R4A website: r4a.stena.life

The new leadership program Ready 4 Anything develops Stena’s future leaders

Leaders at Stena are responsible for developing their employees, the business and themselves, which requires new skills as the outside world changes. The new Leadership Program Ready 4 Anything (R4A) is another step along the path towards positioning Stena’s leaders to capture the opportunities of the future. The program is divided into six modules, which are given on an ongoing basis and which are aimed at all leaders within Stena.

5 VOICES FROM EXPLORING THE GOLDEN MINDS, MAY 21-22

Hannes Pinkenburg, Product Owner SAILS, Transformation, Stena Line

What did you like most about this
education?

”I really appreciate the whole journey with these educational programs, that highlight the ongoing transformation and open up for changes and how you can manage them.  Here, you get the opportunity to challenge yourself and learn in a safe environment, in a way that you cannot do otherwise. These two days have both provided inspiration, critical reflection in a positive way and several new ideas on how to best take advantage of the potential that diversity means.”

Eva-Lotta Vinskär, Marketing and Sales Manager Stena Bygg, Stena Fastigheter

What concrete parts of the education do you consider most valuable for your daily work?

“We have had many interesting exercises and discussions that have given us the opportunity to reflect on how groups and the different roles in the group work. We have also been given tools for recruitment and how to facilitate a group so that everyone’s opinions will be expressed. I think these trainings are a great initiative by Stena and very valuable to the company and the challenges we face. Each module is an important piece of the whole puzzle.”

Antje Pahlow, Business Analyst, Stena Line, Region Germany

What will you bring back home from this day?

”The education has both highlighted important aspects of diversity and given the opportunity to reflect upon your own behavior. The discussions and exercises on how to facilitate a group and thus find solutions to complex problems were very useful. Getting the opportunity to think about how to recruit in a way that creates diversity has also been very good. If you are not aware of the issue, it is easy to primarily choose people who are similar to yourself.”

Marcus Dahlinder, Business Controller, Stena AB

What do you think has been most valuable about attending the education?

”I am driven by the networking and find it extremely valuable to establish contacts with others within Stena. It’s both about to be able to share each other’s experiences on the spot and to help each other in different situations afterwards. One concrete thing I will bring back is what’s important when facilitating a group and how you can do to get a good result. The training also included a personality test. In addition to the personal reflection that it entails, it became a useful starting point for creating groups with a mix that challenged us in different ways.”

Petra Ihrskog, Strategic HR Business Partner, SKF 

How come you participated in the education and what was the best thing about it?

”Stena is seen as a pioneer when it comes to the entire Ready 4 Anything concept and we want to benchmark to learn more. This applies to this education that deals with diversity, as well as other parts of the program. I liked the mix of theory and practice, especially that there were so many practical exercises and an opportunity to reflect on them together. An inspiring mix of people, high energy and an open climate also contributed to a very rewarding education.”

Don’t miss out! 

Modules in Ready 4 Anything that you can sign up for right now

• Exploring the Golden Minds: 27-28 November 2019
• Gain or Drain: 5 February 2020, 26 March 2020, 6 May 2020,
  3 September 2020, 25 November 2020
• Envisioning the Future: 28 January-3 February 2020,
  24 March-21 April 2020, 5 May-4 June 2020,
  25 August-2 September 2020, 6 October-3 November 2020,
  17 November-15 December 2020.