Liselotte, you have had the opportunity to work with HR in many different organizations; what drives and motivates you in your career choices?
My biggest driving force is to be in a company where I have the mandate and opportunity to run my function. The culture needs to be characterized by curiosity and humility, that is the most important thing! I choose leadership that harmonizes with me. DENSIQ and our owner Latour AB offer this to the highest degree.
Customer focus, sustainability and a forward-thinking spirit permeate our culture at DENSIQ. Decisions must be made where the business is. At the same time, we want to create efficiency and competence transfer between all parts of the company, so it is a fine balancing act in our strategy.
You and your colleagues at DENSIQ are working to build and shape a group of companies with operations in many countries. An important part is to shape a common corporate culture; how do you think and act in this work?
We have an offensive growth agenda; through acquisitions, we can offer a complete solution within our industry and we have a good position in the market. Our corporate culture is crucial to how we succeed.
Maturity level, the size of the countries and business, and cultural aspects govern the structure we choose to lead the company from. How we should be perceived internally and externally is also an important tool. We have developed guiding principles with concrete behaviors linked to them, for example, that we challenge ourselves by admitting mistakes and that we do what we said we would do. To drive the culture work, a unified and strong leadership is also required. Specifically, we work with:

Apply structured communication and do it over time. We have spent time within the company defining how, when, in what forum and why we should communicate. Keep drumming.
Don't assume - Dare to ask! Everyone has a responsibility to find out what applies.
Time, patience and endurance - driving a culture work takes time! What we are working on now will probably not fully permeate the organization until three years from now.
Steer through goals, processes and performance, not results. Results and performance are often linked (but sometimes you can perform “to the extreme” in the specific situation you are in, but the result may still be lacking).

You have been active in several “traditionally male industries”; what advice and tips can you share from working to develop corporate cultures in homogeneous structures?
I personally believe that heterogeneous groups that find their common denominator will always be most successful. That being said, it is not easy! I both belong to a homogeneous professional group (HR) and have worked in homogeneous structures in the workplaces, which has given many interesting reflections on my own prejudices and biases. However, I really want to emphasize that the right competence always comes first.

Create an awareness in the organization you operate in and start by reflecting on the language. It is common to refer to a manager or salesperson as he and to a payroll administrator as she.
“Don't value!”, but talk openly about structures in the workplace, it will start a change. The history and tradition a company brings with it is beautiful and is there for a reason. But is it still so and what do we need to do to continue to develop?
Dare to be the one who “puts a damper” on the atmosphere by being “so to speak the party killer”. The reward will be respect, trust and grounded, fine conversations. You may be saying what no one else dares to say.
Think about the jargon. Joy is important, but feel sometimes; does everyone think it's fun, are some perhaps more “on the joke table” than others, etc.? Do a social review. Joke at your own expense, it's always the funniest.