Written by Marte Semb Aasmundsen
Gro Hatleskog is Executive Vice President with responsibility for HR, Compliance, Supply Chain and IT in Beerenberg. She has many years of experience as HR Director in the former Vesta Forsikring (now Tryg Forsikring), Nera Telecommunications and Sparebanken Vest. With a long career in HR, Hatleskog shares her experiences with FRONT Leadership.
What is your top priority for HR going forward and how do you approach this?approach this?
I have extensive experience from HR in several industries, and unlike other places where I have had similar responsibilities, HR at Beerenberg is very closely linked to the day-to-day operations of the company. Without well-functioning operational HR work, operational challenges will quickly arise, particularly in relation to staffing the company. It is therefore essential that the operational HR work works and that you are a learning organization. HR plays a key role in realizing the company's strategy, where long-term skills development in both professional and management areas is one of the pillars.
For more than a year now, we have been standing with our feet firmly planted in a pandemic that has hit Beerenberg with full force. Our core business requires a physical presence, and in the first few months in particular, we lost a large part of our turnover as society was more or less shut down. From the summer of last year, activity gradually increased, while we have always faced challenges with travel restrictions and now closed borders. In connection with travel restrictions, HR has also had to work with challenges related to extensive layoffs, salaries, sick leave and, not least, quarantine. The most important thing for us is therefore to get through the corona period as well as possible. This is naturally very demanding for everyone, but at the same time rewarding in the sense that each individual's efforts really matter.
Gro Hatleskog, Executive Vice President with responsibility for HR, Compliance, Supply Chain and IT at Beerenberg.
The long-term measures of a strategic nature, such as the competence initiative, which includes management development at several levels in the organization, have mostly been put on hold, while we are ready to start again as soon as we return to normal. It is challenging to constantly balance the short-term with the long-term when things are "on fire", but we cannot afford to put aside measures that we have stated in the strategy are important for the company. That's why we also take the opportunity to develop planned concepts in the areas of professionalism, management and employee development. This is to do our best to ensure that when Norway reopens, we will have made progress and be ready to implement planned measures that we cannot implement now.
What are your main ambitions for development at your company?
When I started at Beerenberg back in 2008, it was an entrepreneurial company with major growing pains. It has been an adventure, for better or worse, to be part of the journey to where we are today, as an established company in development. My ambition is simply that the company will be an attractive and good workplace for both young and older employees, and that together we will manage to take Beerenberg into the future through the efforts we make and the measures we implement. I'm keen to think holistically, to be a learning organization, and to have a common denominator in everything we do in order to achieve sufficient development power.
In my opinion, Beerenberg has a skilled HR function. We are committed to improvement and development, and I want HR to be perceived as an increasingly qualified and forward-looking partner. Not only in solving operational issues, which in itself can be very demanding in a company like ours, but also in strategic business development, where we can make important contributions. Beerenberg is a staffing-intensive company, and skilled and committed employees are crucial for us to move forward into new areas of focus, including outside oil and gas, which is an important part of the company's strategy.
What have you done to further develop your own skills?
Throughout my professional career, I have moved between different industries and also had the pleasure of working internationally. This has helped me to look at my own field with "new eyes", in addition to getting to know a new organization and industry, each with its own challenges and way of doing things. I've also been open to taking responsibility outside my own area of expertise, and today I'm responsible for several of the company's support functions in addition to HR. Most of the people who report to me are managers with heavy areas of responsibility that I don't have deep professional insight into. It's both exciting and demanding as I lack the professional expertise and therefore have to find other ways to be relevant. And last but not least, I have taken further education. A couple of years ago, I took part of a master's program at NTNU in management. I found it relevant and, not least, inspiring, both in relation to my job and also how I as a person and leader handle everyday life and the great responsibility I manage. For my own part, it has given me some new perspectives, including trying to be more open and aware of seeing things from other angles than my own. And good questions are more important than answers. Working life is much more fun that way, and as a manager I think it's important to always be open to learning and development.
What is the most important experience you have gained in the past year?
I've been through several crises. These include the financial crisis when I worked in banking, and not least the oil crisis, which also hit Beerenberg hard. The corona pandemic is definitely the most pervasive crisis I've been through. The lessons I've learned are quite simple - or obvious - but harder to live by. It's important to think constructively and look ahead, without getting too stressed. Simply make the best of a difficult situation by sticking to what you believe in and working in both short and longer perspectives. It's important to be able to enjoy yourself even if the day doesn't turn out the way you had hoped. At the same time, it is very demanding to live in constant uncertainty - which is important to recognize.
Who impresses you and why?
The simple answer is that many people impress me. Perhaps most of all those who have a cause or idea that they really believe in. People who spend a lot of their free time on something that is important to them, or who dare to invest professionally. Creative people who stand for something, with an open and inclusive way of being, I think they deserve respect.
What question have we not asked you that you would have preferred to be asked in this context?
I've worked for many years and have a long management career behind me with its ups and downs. A management role was never on my wish list, as I came into the workplace as a recent graduate quite unprepared. I was probably offered a management role because I was perceived as a good professional, and therefore had few prerequisites for handling the role. What I would like to say more about is the importance of a manager for the individual and how important the individual's exercise of leadership is for creating good business results and a working environment characterized by development and joy. I think the latter is greatly underestimated, and also that many of us, including myself, have a lot to work on.