How to become a better project leader

As a brand manager at Lilleborg you are often the project leader in a number of various projects. The projects differ from each other regarding budget, time-plan, basic conditions and objectives but most often they conclude with either a relaunch of a current product or the launch of a new and exciting innovation in the marketplace. Since project leading constitutes a significant role in the brand manager’s job description, all Young Professionals at Lilleborg are obliged to participate in a very interesting and useful project-leader course.

The course is held by a qualified and well-educated project leader with a lot of “real-life”-knowledge and experience. During the two days, traditional project leader-theory was mixed with work shops and group assignments. The newly found knowledge was applied on real Orkla-projects, which made it much more relevant and useful.

Below you see Michel Esnault lecture valuable project-leader theory, theory that later on is applied on a real Orkla-project and presented by Ståle, in front of his team.

Do you want to work at Orkla?

Due to some internal organizational changes, we are fortunate to welcome no less than 5 new employees at Lilleborg, see picture below. It has been a while since Lilleborg employed so many new talents at the same time and this morning I took the opportunity to meet them and discuss some interesting and relevant job-related topics.

First of all, I was curious why they all had applied for a job at Orkla. Very quickly I found out that of all advantages, the following were the ones commonly highlighted by the new employees;
- It is very interesting and developing to work in a company that most often own the entire value chain.
- Orkla is perceived as one of the best brand building companies in Norway, which is extremely attractive if you want to work within Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).
- Orkla focus on developing people and creating value which means that as an employee you will be able to attend a number of educational courses, academies etc to develop yourself and your skills.
- Orkla offers innumerable possibilities and carreer paths for all employees.
- You get a great amount of individual responsibility early in your career and you often work closely in teams.

Then, I wanted to know what it was like to apply for a job at Orkla. The new employees told me that the whole process had been quite straight forward and well communicated. If Orkla find your application interesting you will be contacted and then conduct a number of interviews, a test and a business case. You get the needed information well in advance and it is recommended to spend some time on useful and necessary preparations. It is advised to be prepared to answer a number of frequently asked interview questions and to have a basic understanding of how to solve various business cases. Most important of all is to “be you” and to be honest, say the new employees in agreement. Further, if you are uncertain what to wear at the interview, business casual is always a safe choice and it is often better to be over-dressed than too casual.

In the picture you see 4 out of the 5 new young professionals at Lilleborg: Øyvind, Silje, Caroline, Silje.

The Orkla Brand Academy, module 2

Last week it was time for the second module at Orkla Brand Academy at Låven in Sarpsborg. The topics for the week were “Consumer Insight and Market Research”. The week was split in two where the first part focused on “Consumer Insight” and the processes from identifying opportunity areas, brainstorm ideas, conduct consumer research, from gathered data formulate insights, create concepts and finally to present them in a adequate way, supported by mood pictures and symbols. To work closely in groups and to do all the steps interactively all through the entire module was a great way to strengthen and secure newly attained skills.
The last part of the module consisted of an interactive game called Microlaunch where we should decide the best possible mixture of various market research techniques to secure a successful launch of a new product. Critical key learnings considering market research were achieved throughout the game and it was a lot of fun playing it.

A social event took place the last evening and it was nice to be outdoors and compete in sport activities for a change after a long week indoors with a lot of food and snacks.

A visit to the printing office in Trondheim

When working as a brand manager you have a quite complex job-description which is reflected in the wide diversity of working tasks you have to conduct. To have a great amount of individual responsibility and to work in an organization that makes it possible for you to be involved in all parts of the supply chain is extremely rewarding. Not only do I get experience and develop skills within the marketing "field", I learn a lot about production, logistics and packaging as well.

A couple of weeks ago me and the “packaging expert” from the Solidox project group, went to our printing office in Trondheim to confirm a new art work. The printing making process had to be checked and so the first copies of the final art work for the new Solidox variant for kids, Solidox Ice Age 3. When confirming the art work and final print there are many parameters to control and I am very glad that I had great assistance from my experienced co-worker from Lilleborg, see pictures below.

Rhetoric-course 15-16 June 2009

Rhetoric is one of the arts of using language as a means to persuade. To move audiences to action with arguments is as relevant today as it was for the ancient greeks 2 000 years ago.

To learn how to write a good speech and to use arguments to move audiences in the “right” direction is very relevant for me as a brand manager, where I frequently need to persuade people in my sorrounding. These newfound skills will be applied in everyday life as well as in more professional settings, whenever I feel the need for some “persuading” ;)

In a couple of days it is time for 4 weeks of vacation, I wish you all a nice summer!

Lago di Maggiore, Italy

Since Lilleborg and Unilever collaborate within some business segments (toothpaste for example), I have to be updated on the latest R&D from Unilever to be able to take advantage of this cooperation. As a mean to achieve and attain these benefits I “had” J to go to the annual RBT-meeting. The meeting was located in the north of Italy, at the very beautiful Maggiore Lake. The meeting was well organised and the location was fantastic. To have a meeting at a luxurious resort, with great food and a spa is something I definitely can get used to ;)

I learnt a lot during the two days the conference lasted and I definitely gained some relevant insights in addition to the useful and interesting update of Unilever’s innovation funnel. But it was not all work and no play…The last night of the conference we had a fun and challenging teambuilding activity, a sailing race on Italy’s second biggest lake. My team did not win (we blame the skipper :) ) but it was nice to get to know my “global co-workers” in a more relaxed

and informal setting while enjoying the stunning view of the alps.

Orkla Brand Academy 30/3-3/4 2009

All brand managers in Orkla get the opportunity to attend the famous and prestigious Orkla Brand Academy. The academy consists of 4 modules, each focusing on specific marketing tasks. A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to attend the first module that covers branding, segmentation and positioning.

For 5 days we had interesting seminars, lectures and workshops led by prominent professors and consultants from abroad and marketing experts from Orkla. Each seminar was followed by a workshop where the newly acquired knowledge was put to test and later presented in plenary sessions.

Examples of topics covered in this module are; Orkla guide to positioning, how to position your brand, how to get the best possible brand stamps, when to conduct brand extensions and line extensions, the emergence of eco-marketing etc.

We were approx. 30 Orkla employees from all over the world that attended the module at Borregard Mansion in Sarpsborg, Norway. The stay at the mansion was fun, exiting and extremely useful for my position as a brand manager. It was rewarding to meet interesting people, solve various challenges and to eat and drink well. The final evening we played bowling and had some beer and pizza, which was a nice way to relax after a quite demanding week. We will all meet in September again to participate in the second module that focuses on consumer insight, which will be so much fun! :)