“A very high academic standard”

What is your role at Danderyd Hospital?

“For the past five and half years, I’ve been the Operations Manager for an operating area comprising anesthesiology, intensive care, clinics, and sterile technology. Which means I’m responsible for around 420 of the hospital’s employees. I’m part of the hospital’s management team and am, essentially, a managers’ manager, with ten or so people reporting directly to me.”

What led you to take the course Management Development Program for the Health Care Sector?

“It was something I’d, personally, asked to do because I’d heard good things about the program from other people who’d done it. And after a few years in my role, I felt the need to continue my development as a manager. I’d already taken local courses at the hospital and in the health care sector, but what I wanted now was to progress and clothe myself in new insights into and knowledge of the world in which I operate.”

What’s your opinion of the program in general terms?

“It was very professionally led and the guy running the course really knew his stuff. The theories he put forward were, furthermore, confirmed by practical, real-world examples over the course of the program. We had the chance to listen to top-class lecturers from all over Sweden who came from different parts of the health care sector, too, which gave us a variety of approaches to different themes, such as lean and improvement work in general. It was genuinely inspirational and resulted in several lightbulb moments. The program maintains a very high academic standard and gave us, in particular, an awareness in financial terms of how things can be approached in different ways and from different starting points.”

It’s a comprehensive program. What is it about the program, in your opinion, that makes it worth investing that sort of time?

“In some respects, it’s sort of about “academizing” what you do. Understanding your present and your context – when and where you are – is important if you’re going to do a good job as a leader. You need both experience and a good understanding of your current context so that you know what you can influence and how you can steer. The Management Development Program for the Health Care Sector is excellent in this respect. It also gave me a real opportunity to get to know myself and my values and thereby develop as a manager.”

Was there anything about the program that you particularly appreciated?

“The groups comprised managers from different regions and different operating sectors, which can, in some respects, be a bit challenging because your starting points are all so different. But this mix really came into its own when we were working in small groups, solving specific problems and then presenting our solutions. The group members’ different starting points yielded a number of new insights, which made this group work both beneficial and educational.”

Do you have any tips for anyone thinking of doing the program?

“One thing that actually surprised me was that having two Operations Managers from Danderyd Hospital on the course at the same time was a plus. I initially thought it would be a minus, but it was actually good having someone with common frames of reference. Having several people from the same organization doing the course at the same time can actually be a strength and a good thing because you can benefit from what each other brings, both during the course and afterwards.”

“THE PROGRAM MAINTAINS A VERY HIGH ACADEMIC STANDARD AND GAVE US, IN PARTICULAR, AN AWARENESS IN FINANCIAL TERMS OF HOW THINGS CAN BE APPROACHED IN DIFFERENT WAYS AND FROM DIFFERENT STARTING POINTS.”