Electrolux cooperated with IMD Business School (Switzerland) to design and implement a high-impact executive education programme for the next generation’s company leaders.

The company trained top leaders from across regions and sectors in the programme that IMD Business School tailored to the needs of Electrolux. The goal was for participants to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to implement a new strategy across Electrolux and to foster collaboration across sectors, supporting the drive towards a globally integrated company. Pia Hovland, VP Talen Management at Electrolux, highlights:

“This is the programme that will enable our leaders to execute strategy through people.”

Electrolux believes that sustainable and profitable growth requires the right leaders who know how to lead business, but also how to lead people. The company is committed to developing their employees, line managers and the senior level of the organisation.

IMD professor Howard Yu explains that the IMD approach provided a “transformational experience for people with high executive potential and served as a booster to accelerate participants’ careers within the company.”

The programme was divided into two modules. The first explained the basics of both leading people and business. Then it gives people the opportunity to practise by solving an individual challenge. In the second module, however, participants are led to an advanced topic. They learn in a safe environment and receive support from the IMD faculty.

Kajsa Blixth, VP Marketing Small Domestic Appliances EMEA, Sweden, highlights that the next generation of Electrolux leaders should learn to concentrate on context, rather than on content. What matters most is “In what context we put things and how they will come together.”

The approach of IMD faculty was to teach leadership through experiential learning. Electrolux executive talents were taken to new situations where they had to tackle various types of challenges in teams. In this way, individual personalities and characters are exposed to more tension in different contexts. This enables participants to have a full understanding of how they act when under pressure.

Simon Bradford, Electrolux VP Design Major Appliances EMEA, Sweden summarises the take-aways from the programme:

“Being in another environment triggers a lot of new ideas. Challenges provide us with new tools that we can deploy in our organisations.”