Laughter, tears – and self-awareness
SSE Executive Education recently concluded its consortium program International Management Program (IMP). 18 program participants, with a total of 11 nationalities from 3 companies, completed 22 intensive course days with one day for invited guests at the Kämpasten conference center. We asked three of the participants to describe their lessons learned and main take-aways before returning to their workplaces around the world. And their answers were perhaps not what we expected.
Pavel Šustek, Czech Republic
Atlas Copco
Self-discovery. The program’s format will help you understand where you’re good and where you’re less good – what needs to be changed. For example, usually I don’t have a problem with self-confidence. But strengths can also become weaknesses, something that can often create frustration. There have been many great moments here. I have been working for 20 years and have attended many training courses, but this was the best one by far. The style, the pace, the level of difficulty. All these components made the class what is was. The mix of businesses, regions, nationalities, the various job roles the participants had – all this contributed to making it so positive.
Rick Crosby, USA
Sandvik Coromant
The capacity for and the importance of empathy, and a desire to improve. Most of the components in the course have steered me in that direction. In my case, I also realized after the course that things are more about reprogramming how I work as a leader, rather than learning something new. I have made more progress in understanding and being aware of human behaviors. You could say that small moments of clarity are what cropped up all the time during the course.
Roberto San Felipe, Spain
Scania Iberica
That I maybe was not an especially good leader. Self-awareness, simply. I’ve learned where I am and where I can take myself. I thought I was a good leader; people said that to me. But I have realized that I can improve in areas like building teams and driving change. I’m very pleased I joined the program and have gained an understanding of these things. In a way, you could say that it almost has been like going to therapy. There was a lot of focus on feelings. We laughed a lot, but we also cried.
