A long-standing development partnership
Over a number of years, Cronquist Consult has worked with Christiansen & Essenbæk on leadership, leadership-team, organisational, strategy and business development across management levels and target groups – both as longer, coherent development programmes and as standalone courses and interventions.
This case focuses on two extensive, parallel leadership-development programmes: Foundational Leadership for foremen and frontline supervisors, and Advanced Leadership for middle managers. They are two examples from a much broader development partnership.
The challenge
In a contracting business, leaders are rarely hired as leaders. They are appointed because they are highly skilled at the work — and then have to create results through other people, under time pressure and with changing teams.
Leadership development was therefore needed at two levels at the same time: foremen and frontline supervisors close to operations, and salaried managers and middle managers with broader responsibility for processes, business and customers.
Foundational Leadership — foremen and frontline supervisors
A longer development programme for hourly-paid foremen and frontline supervisors, focused on the transition from technical leadership to people leadership. The programme consisted of 8 training modules over approximately 18 months.
- Leadership in Practice and JTI as a shared language.
- Personal leadership.
- Communication.
- Personal impact.
- High Performance Team Leadership.
- Strategic execution under pressure.
- Process leadership.
- Presentation and teaching skills.
Advanced Leadership — salaried managers and middle managers
A programme of 12 training modules over approximately 18 months for salaried staff, senior managers and middle managers. The two groups started at different times, so the overall calendar period for both tracks extended over approximately two years. In addition to the classic leadership disciplines, it covered business, customers and execution.
- 1Teambuilding and Leadership in Practice with JTI2+1 days
- 2Personal Leadership with Strategic Gameplan2 days
- 3Leadership and Communication2 days
- 4Personal Impact1 day
- 5Process Management2 days
- 6Business Model Canvas1 day
- 7Sales and Change Management1 day
- 8Survival Expedition3 days
- 9Presentation and Training Techniques2 days
- 10High Performance Team Leadership (HPTL)3 days
- 11Strategy Execution Under Pressure – OLTC Bosnia4 days
- 12Customer Workshop1 day
How we worked
Both tracks used action learning: participants worked on their own assignments between modules rather than generic textbook cases.
- Action learning based on participants’ own work.
- Buddy work between modules.
- Feedback as a recurring part of the programme.
- Practical assignments between modules.
- 1:1 coaching.
Leadership trained beyond the classroom
The partnership also included intensive four-day OLTC training expeditions in Bosnia, France and Sweden:
- Bosnia — High Performance Team Leadership.
- France — a Mont Ventoux cycling team.
- Sweden — winter survival training in collaboration with WEISS, where Mads Cronquist is also trained.
What the client says
”For the past 6 years we have worked intensively with people development at every level. In very close cooperation with Mads Cronquist we developed a “LeaderShop model” for the competencies that must be mastered in our company. Cronquist Consult created special training modules for all employees, which produced an extremely steep learning curve. A few modules were held abroad — with unusually great success! For our company this cooperation has been “the ultimate lift” from being a mediocre player to playing in the premier league. On that basis we can only give Cronquist Consult our warmest recommendations.”
The breadth of the partnership
The two leadership programmes are part of a broader partnership. Selected examples:
BygOp! — competence development close to practice
A systematic competence-development project involving Christiansen & Essenbæk and Tscherning, with Cronquist Consult responsible for project management. It combined practical competence development, foreman training, AMU vocational training, communication, JTI and action learning – with learning close to the realities of the construction site.
CE Way — values translated into behaviour
“Sådan arbejder vi i C&E” (“How we work at C&E”) was a practice-based action-learning initiative in which the company’s values were translated into concrete behaviour through exercises, reflection and training in collaboration and communication.
Leadership and foreman development
Alongside the longer, coherent leadership-development programmes, the partnership also included standalone foreman courses and standalone Leadership in Practice courses.
Strategy, organisation and business
Leadership-team development, High Performance Team Leadership, strategy development and execution, organisational development and business development.
Teams and Company Days
Team days, teambuilding on the Oslo ferry and teambuilding activities at Company Days and summer parties.
Teaching and knowledge sharing
Teaching and presentation technique, and developing and sharing learning across the organisation.
A development project with national recognition
As project manager for Christiansen & Essenbæk’s multi-year ‘Trivsel – 360 grader’ project, Mads Cronquist wrote ‘Lederens inspirationsguide’ (The Leader’s Inspiration Guide), which shares the project’s methods, experience and results. The project was honoured with both the Danish Working Environment Award and Børsen’s CSR Communication Award – the latter particularly because of the book and the extensive communication of the project’s experience.
Why the two tracks belong together
When both frontline and middle managers are developed in the same company, the organisation gains a shared leadership language across levels. That is what allows a decision made by management to be carried out on site.
The 12-module and 8-module programmes are a historical description of this specific engagement. Cronquist Consult always designs programmes for the individual organisation; it is not a fixed programme format.
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