As mentioned in my first post, this time I’ll try to give you a brief insight in my day to day work. That’s easier said than done, since no days are identical. Luckily! Anyway, here is a snapshot of one of the preceding weeks (a week mainly dedicated to the planning and preparation for the upcoming EBS University in Rotterdam):
Monday
Competence management meeting
One group attending the program “Leadership in Elkem” got the task to, among other things, identify the critical and core competence in the foundry division. This task is quite challenging and complex, especially when considering how widely spread the team members are – living and working from at least three different continents. Due to my educational background, I was invited to sit in at the meeting, mostly for my own learning experience, and for that I’m very grateful. Thank you, Allan!
Tuesday
Staff meeting
Twice a month the HR department has a staff meeting. I participate when I'm in Oslo, even though I’m now involved with the EBS Competence Center. This is because my first trainee period was in this department, and in addition EBS falls under the responsibility of our HR director. In addition, this arena is golden when it comes to keeping updated on what is going on in the organization and of course in terms of keeping in touch with my colleagues in the HR team.
Elkem’s trainee program
Since 1995 89 trainees have been through the Elkem trainee program. Even though the program is very well put together, there is always room for improvement. Continuous improvement is key in the EBS methodology! In addition, Elkem has now become a more focused company (after selling our share of Elkem Aluminium), and market conditions are rapidly changing. Therefore the program needs to be updated to better meet the future demands. My contribution was to map all the former trainees and help the project leader with updating the figures and statistics.
Wednesday
EBS University planning meeting
EBS University is soon coming up, so Hilde (EBS coach) and I spent the whole day preparing and going through all the details to make sure everything will run as smoothly as possible. EBS University is an Elkem internal training program, with focus on the EBS methodology (closely related to the Toyota Production System), and practical training. For the first time we now focus on logistics, sales and market, and I’m excited to see the outcome!
Thursday and Friday
EBS University follow-up
Am I on top of things?? With all the nitty gritty details, it’s easy to overlook something and I’m certainly feeling the pressure since I’m a rookie in this game compared to my fellow EBS coaches. Thankfully I have their support and experience to rely on!
I can honestly say I’ve never written as many e-mails as I did this week. I swear I could see smoke coming out of my computer. No wonder really, when communicating with 34 participants all over the world, 3 EBS coaches, the printing works in Trondheim, the hotel in Rotterdam, the guest lecturers, and the secretary-executive at Elkem Rotterdam. But thankfully, at the end of the week things are definitely coming together, and I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone. Multitasking was definitely key this week. And lists, well arranged lists!
I’m just back at the office now after spending 6 exciting days in Rotterdam and I’ll tell (and show) you all about that next time. Take care!
Today’s word of wisdom:”Sometimes you have to do things you do not dare, for otherwise you are not a man, just a little turd.”
(Loosely translated from Astrid Lindgren - Brødrene Løvehjerte)
