Cover photo: Lars Svorse and Magnus Jonason/LOVAK, Paul Choi/Paul&Mark. Photo taken by: Vittra & Friends
My name is Lars Svorse, and I am working as a senior consultant and partner in a Swedish consulting firm LOVAK. I have a long experience of leadership from the army and private sector. I started my consulting career in 1994 and I am also a certified SmoothTeam facilitator. I believe good dialogue is an elementary part of leadership. I also like to challenge the way people think and make everyone feel they belong.
LOVAK is the official partner of SmoothTeam in Sweden. We help all kinds of companies develop their company culture. This covers the whole company, including management training, management teams and staff groups. We have also worked extensively with universities and high schools, as well as with a number of Korean companies.
Swedish and Finnish working cultures are different
Even though Sweden and Finland are neighbors, there are differences in the working culture. I find it easier to run dialogue with Swedish companies. We are more used to talking, and Swedes are probably a bit more extroverted.
There is a saying “respect is Swedish way of making decisions”. It may take some time but everybody is included. Inclusion is very important for us, but decisions are not made by consensus.
Lack of dialogue and trust is very common
Modern companies have a variety of problems. Some examples are a bad culture of giving feedback, sub optimization and lacking skills in conflict handling. It’s also very common to get annoyed by differences in the group, instead of seeing them as possibilities. Lack of dialogue and trust is the root cause behind all of them – and often lack of leadership as well.
SmoothTeam leads to important dialogue
LOVAK’s connection recommended us to check out SmoothTeam. We did, and we liked it immediately. SmoothTeam simulations are a brilliant example of gamification: they are easy to participate in and simple to use.
SmoothTeam opens up the most important thing in all kinds of organizations: dialogue.
The participants also laugh and have a good time, even though they are having serious dialogue.
Simulations help to uncover hidden talents and improvement areas in the team. Understanding each other’s strengths is essential for a team to work efficiently.
It’s not only a matter of what they discuss in the simulation, but also how they discuss it. Sometimes I have noticed as a simulation facilitator, that people are not saying the problem directly. The trust created by the simulation makes it possible to raise the topic.
Customers love SmoothTeam
I have used SmoothTeam in all kinds of environments: from top management teams in global enterprises to working groups in smaller companies. Customers have given us very positive feedback. Simulations made them talk about the right things in the right way, and opened up new possibilities in the team.
SmoothTeam is an easy and fun way to open up a group and create a good start for a process in the group. You get dialogue started and get to know one another better.
I recommend SmoothTeam for all teams working together and having a common assignment. At any level of a company.
Lars Svorse