Coming together to share best practice

The fourth industrial revolution is here, and the conditions for continued success are changing at a dizzying speed. To make the right decisions and convert challenges into opportunities, it is a good idea to turn to those who have already taken the first step. That was the point of departure for Digitalisation Day, which brought together around 100 group colleagues in Stockholm in September 2016. The agenda included visions from external experts, as well as important experiences from several subsidiaries. One overriding message was not to suffer from digital stress, but to start projects allowing plenty of time to think through the various options and solutions.

Digitalisation Day was one of many examples of how new knowledge is spread throughout the group so that it can then take flight in each individual company. “Being a part of Axel Johnson International is essentially being handed the key to an enormous competence cluster,” says Martin Malmvik, CEO, and President of Axel Johnson International. “In addition to our tailor-made training programmes, we meet up in different contexts, and bridge markets and business areas to share experiences and discuss new ideas, exploiting the benefits of being a group and working together, bringing us new challenges.”

Seeing and nurturing individual talent

“Spending quality time on recruitment is important, but more important is to ensure that people are growing once in employment. It’s about feeling ownership and being in control of one’s own destiny. I’m very passionate about holding on to our people, since I know it’s good for the organisation – staff retention being one of our KPIs,” says Kevin Smith, Managing Director at Certex UK.

According to Kevin, Axel Johnson International’s strong values as regards sustainability and long-term thinking mean that acquired companies are encouraged to preserve their entrepreneurial spirit, make their own decisions and make things happen – and also to continuously develop their people. Kevin likes to use Axel Johson International Business School to inspire his employees and develop their knowledge, and also talks abut the satisfaction of discovering talent and developing it within the organisation.

Training at our own business school

Axel Johnson International Business School gives our people an opportunity to extend their skills and develop their full potential. The programme comprises several tailor-made professional courses focusing on career development, such as Personal Leadership, Profitability and Business Understanding, Contract Law and Insurance, and Structured Storytelling.