Case • Nov 1, 2022 2:45:43 PM • Written by: Anette Tandberg
Creative environment, several parallel events and projects, tempo changes, service focus and development is the core and DNA of Företagarna, the Swedish federation of business owners. At the head office in Stockholm, Suzanne Asserholt works as Head of Organization, Events and Regional offices. Since 2019 Suzanne has assigned Go Avni several times, to coach her employees. We have interviewed her to get her perspective on why, and what specific results she sees as an effect of the coaching.
With around 60,000 businesses to support and with the goal to make it easier for them to be successful it takes courage, focus and teamwork and a very dynamic environment to get good results. In the role as head of Företagarnas department Organization, Events and Regional offices, Suzanne Asserholt is part of the management team. Her employees are regional managers, project managers and other employees whose task is to create the best conditions for Sweden's businesses and entrepreneurs to operate and grow in Sweden.
- My employees gain new knowledge and develop their skills continuously, Suzanne Asserholt describes. They attend courses to learn new things, but I realized that courses often don’t contribute to any deeper level of personal development. That insight exactly, was decisive for the choice to hire a coach. A behavior-related development was important, and my experience is that you get that by hiring a good coach.
Go Avni started with a “process coaching” (link to process coaching), which is a clear and structured coaching set up, over a period of about 2 months. A foundation and clear goals were set. After that we continued with a year of coaching once a month.
- The most specific impact I have seen, and it's a huge difference, is that my employees who have been coached are much more structured, more secure and show greater drive and belief in themselves, Suzanne describes. It is not unusual to hear "what question would my coach have asked me now" and suddenly the person has found the answer and the way forward themselves. Coaching contributes with precise and action-oriented results in behavioral development.
- We wanted to find new ways to improve each employees capacity and achieve our organization's goals. Exploring coaching as a method it was natural to contact Go Avni. I knew Anette Tandberg as a very good person, a good leader and coach, and trusted her 100 percent to deliver. If you want excellent and clear results that contributes both to the individual and the organization, hiring a coach in whom you have confidence is unbeatable. My employees have been given tools to use continuously, and that is great.
- The return of investment in the coaching is very clear. We get a lot of positive feedback from other teams and departments, which I can directly relate to the development the coaching has contributed to. I can directly derive greater drive, goal focus and structure as clear effects in the organization and teams thanks to the coaching, Suzanne Asserholt sums up.
