You are the CEO of one of Veoneer's (formerly Autoliv) business units, how has the Corona pandemic affected your business?
Of course, this has affected the entire automotive industry and most car manufacturers have had their production closed for a period, which of course leads to lower sales for us. However, as we have our production and our customers spread out globally, we have, despite the tough situation in the world, had parts running all the time. Our development projects have also been running at full speed. Here, most of our employees have been working from home, and we have actually seen some teams become more efficient during this period than before. Today, we are up and running with most things again and several car manufacturers have, despite the situation, had good sales in May.


In what way have you had to change your leadership now in Corona times?
My teams are spread out globally so we have always used a lot of digital tools. The big difference now is that we have a lot more digital events such as afterwork, coffee breaks, "virtual" F2F where we use video and mimic a "real" F2F as much as possible - assignments to all participants to prepare before and present to build stronger teams, mix full group and half group sessions and "gofika" of course! I also believe that close communication is key in these times. I do a lot of walk-and-talks with my coworkers even if we are in different countries and walking in different directions.
I also think that as a leader you need to spend more time on the well-being and routines of your employees when everyone works at home and you easily get stuck in front of the computer and work all the time. I have given my employees tasks like exercising every day - a simple home workout or walk during the day. We also use video calls so they actually have to get out of their pajamas and comb their hair a little, etc. :-)


What tips and advice do you have for other leaders when it comes to keeping employees motivated and cohesive when everyone is working remotely?
Much more is required of the leader when it comes to leading remotely. You have to actively ensure that everyone is involved and feels involved, and you get less help from the other participants than if you are in the same room and the social factor partly solves itself. One tip that I often use is to throw out questions or comments in digital meetings that also include saying one of the participants' names. For example, it could be things like "...what you and I Hanna talked about last week..." or "...you with Filip..." etc. This means that all participants must be engaged in the meeting and be prepared in all situations. Then I think the most important thing to motivate employees is the same whether it is at a distance or not, and that is to see and listen and show your genuine commitment and honest interest in what they want, feel, and think in all situations. We are all human beings and it is quite simple needs we humans have to feel good!