Leadership development at e-conomic

The challenge

e-conomic, a company on a strong growth path, kept expanding, which meant a steady stream of new middle managers who needed to be developed. They were highly skilled professionals, but had not previously been responsible for people — and the pace of growth left no room to learn it along the way.

The task was therefore to build a programme that gave the new leaders a shared leadership language and practical tools, without taking them out of daily operations for long periods.

At the time of the programme, the company was called e-conomic (e-conomic international A/S). Today it is part of the Visma group under the name Visma e-conomic A/S. We use the historically correct name when describing the work.

Approach and method

The programme was tailored over the autumn and winter, drawing on elements of Cronquist Consult's LeaderShop model.

We began with a kick-off and observation of current leadership behaviour — what the leaders actually did, not what they believed they did. The programme was then designed as hands-on action learning in four modules, combining different learning arenas: outdoor facilities, the office, a hotel and a small theatre.

The four modules

1) Leadership in practice as a residential. 2) Process management with a simulator. 3) Customer Deep Dive in customer orientation. 4) Personal power.

The modules can be extended to include effective finance training for non-financial managers and the particularly demanding 3½-day expedition we call “execution”, delivered together with representatives of the emergency services and the special operations forces.

Implementation between modules

Learning was kept alive between the modules: participants worked in a buddy system, had assignments to complete, took part in coaching and met some of the company's key customers.

Along the way they gathered feedback on their new behaviour from both their employees and the company's own management. That is the mechanism that moves a course from experience to changed behaviour.

What we take with us

New middle managers do not need more theory. They need to try leadership in a situation where it is difficult, and then receive structured feedback from the people they lead.

The programme draws inspiration from the Pathfinder programme and builds on Mads Cronquist's 35 years of leadership experience — including under the most extreme conditions.