This week's inspirator is Jenny Hammarberg, CEO at Setterwalls law firm in Gothenburg. Jenny has worked with change management for many years and in various roles and organizations. Read more here and be inspired by some of her experiences.

Jenny, you have extensive experience in change management in various contexts; what is "extra important" when change management is driven in owner-managed organizations?

I work in a business where the partners are active, and we run into each other on a daily basis. It is a strength as there is a strong will and a great commitment to developing and running the business, and decisions are always close at hand. The downside of the same coin is that it adds an extra dimension to consider when you want to develop and change something. And then the foundation is to build trust - for you as a person, for your competence (you know something different) and for your ability to help solve problems or otherwise facilitate the business and take it forward.

Another dimension is to take the time for information, communication, and inclusion. If you are not used to an owner-managed organization, it is easy to think that the board is your primary channel for anchoring ideas and getting decisions through. But here you need to include, communicate, and inform more broadly about the important issues.

Finally, it becomes important not only to work with the "soft" parts such as trust and inclusion but also to clarify expectations, structures, and mandates - and to talk and discuss this on an ongoing basis.

What do you mean by expectations and structure?

Wow, I realize that throughout my career I have been so focused on change and development that it is in my DNA by now. Daring to ask why, questioning old truths, and starting to do new things, testing, and redoing in cases where it was not right from the start. If we talk about different sides of the coin, I can admit that I sometimes have to remind myself to slow down, to let some things mature and let others be. You can't do everything everywhere, then you just create anxiety and disorder.

So, to avoid that, we work with activities on three levels; strategic, tactical, and operational. We set our strategic goals for 3-5 years, and they should not be changed. We work with the tactical activities on an annual basis, and here we can adapt to what happens, both internally and in the market. Think of it just like a football coach who changes the team lineup based on the opposing team's strengths and weaknesses. We work with our tactical activities in the same way. Then we break this down into purely operational tasks, and we distribute these over the year in a quarterly divided roadmap. In this way, we use the structure to prioritize, adjust, and work systematically.

By working like this, we can also clarify the expectations we have of each other and continuously follow up that we are doing the right things and that we are taking steps forward.

What do you think is especially important when it comes to leading a culture-driven service organization?

This is such a big question, and I could write a whole article about it. But if I answer it based on how I see my leadership, I would say - dare to be personal. Talk about what is important and share lessons and mistakes. When I myself look back on my career and even my private life, it is the valleys, the mistakes, and the really tough periods that I have learned the most from, and it is important to convey that and to talk about your experiences. Talk about mistakes, celebrate successes, encourage learning and reflection. It often starts with you as a leader doing it yourself. What you do is what counts. In addition to that, I believe in transparency as far as possible – "tell it like it is" – that is the only way to develop.

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