After three years of working as a Business Development Manager for Essity, Andreas Normén felt like he needed a different perspective. Then he joined a peer group at EGN.
A year ago, Andreas Normén received a recommendation from his manager, who was a member of a peer group at EGN and thought Andreas could find it useful. The recommendation came at just the right time.
“I felt that after having worked as a BDM for three years, it was time to also look outside Essity to get input on how other industries tackled similar opportunities and challenges we were looking at.”
Normén already had positive experiences sitting in a room with like-minded people with whom he shared opportunities and problems. So, joining EGN was an easy decision.
“The fact that it’s based on their own personal learnings, I think that’s what makes it so powerful.”
Exchanging experiences
In Normén’s role as a Business Development Manager, it’s all about using innovation to future-proof your organization. It’s a job that is both diverse and requires creativity. Having an opportunity to exchange ideas with peers helps him lift this responsibility.
“The big thing for me is that personal exchange with people and ideas. I always come back quite energized after these meetings and look forward to the next one.”
Many of the challenges and opportunities the members of Normén’s group face are very similar. For instance, the question of KPIs is something that concerns all of them.
“I work a lot with KPIs. How should they look, and how should we define them? Having examples from other businesses through my peer group, from people who have been working on this before, gives some good insights that shortcut the journey a little bit internally.”
Of course, it is not only KPIs that are being discussed in Normén’s peer group. The agenda varies based on the current challenges.
“We have been through different topics, and you can always take out your own personal learnings from these. It’s not always that we come up with one solution that would just work for everybody. But I think the fact that you share these ideas and opportunities together gives you a slightly different angle to look at your problems or opportunities.”
Owning the topic
Recently, Andreas Normén was the host at one of the group meetings. That meant he had the opportunity to raise a debate of his own choosing, addressing something from his own work that he wanted sparring on.
“I opened a discussion where we talked about different KPIs, and that was quite interesting. We came up with some good ideas on how I could address it on my end. You also get an opportunity to introduce your company and your job, and that’s always fun because you get some instant reactions from people.”
While the official debates are the backbone of the group, Normén points out a bonus perk that he himself is very fond of.
“Talking about the topic on the agenda is great, but there is also an important part of the unofficial agenda as well. Networking, small talk, and the like give you unexpected inputs that can be super valuable.”
