High-quality leadership training

OKEA believes culture and leadership are crucial to achieving ambitious goals. They therefore chose to offer leadership development to their employees through the Leadership Program from Execu. Bente Nordeide is Vice President People & Organisation. Among other things, she is responsible for the provision of competencies to the company's managers and management talents.

- We know that leaders are never fully developed and that we have to constantly train to get better, says Bente. - Therefore, it is important that managers are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and that they get up-to-date knowledge about what is new in the professional field.

- Our experience is that the Leadership Program covers relevant areas of management and has skilled experts who give the program a seal of quality. It is also valuable to network and gain input from other participants who can help support and further develop how we work with management within the company.

Suitable for both experienced and aspiring managers

Ragnhild Nautnes works as a Senior Production Chemist and is one of the talents OKEA chose to offer the Leadership Program to. With a background as a civil engineer, she already had expertise in project management but wanted insight into larger parts of the management profession.

- I was curious to learn more about relationship building and psychological factors, says Ragnhild. - On a daily basis I coordinate work tasks for a number of people, and I think it was exciting to learn more about management. The program provided a good overview of topics that are interesting and important to know about as a leader.

- I particularly liked the continuity of the Leadership Program. We learned something new every week and got the work done well on it. The lecturers were interesting and it was easy to navigate the learning platform.

The leadership program has many good references from past participants and OKEA is no exception. Participants believe the program provides a good introduction to management and a foundation for creating good management culture throughout the company. Which modules you find most interesting naturally depends on your background and area of interest; at OKEA, special emphasis is placed on self-management, emotional management and coaching management.

- I am particularly pleased with the focus on change management and how to understand oneself as a leader and how to influence others, says Bente. - There were many exciting modules that gave good breadth to what leadership is, and it is important that you set aside sufficient time to reflect on the substance and put it into the system to get good results.

- The leadership program provides good prerequisites for developing the individual and we have subsequently worked to take care of the whole internally by setting clear expectations for managers. In other words, the program is an important pillar to support the self-development of managers that we can further put in the context of our internal processes to ensure high-performing managers and good leadership structure.

Valuable for Employers and Employees

- Employers can benefit greatly from sending managers on the Leadership Program, as the program creates an awareness around the importance of culture and relationship building, Ragnhild believes. - It makes it easier to collaborate across departments and know how to see and support each other. I particularly liked the topics that dealt with psychology and how to help improve psychological safety in a workplace.

- I would advise other HR managers to work together with their managers and continue development internally, says Bente. - The knowledge and impulses from the program lend themselves well to structuring development processes in the company such as employee conversations in which one can hold each other accountable and continue the development also in the aftermath.