Anna Thelander holds a university degree in business economics and has been engaged in management, marketing, branding, sales, and strategic development throughout her entire career. Most recently, she served as the Marketing and Communications Manager at AMF Fastigheter, one of Sweden’s largest real estate companies. Prior to that, she held positions such as Marketing Director at Tikkurila Sverige AB, Marketing Manager at GS1 Sweden/ECR Sverige, and Sales and Marketing Director at Besthand AB.

Her interest in and desire to further develop her skills in change and transformation processes led her to participate in Leading Strategic Change INSEAD.

“Changes and change management are areas I have worked with in all my leadership roles, and I also find it fun and interesting. I chose to participate because I wanted more knowledge about the methods within the field but also to gain inspiration externally and knowledge about how others handle change processes. Moreover, I was already familiar with INSEAD and knew that the quality of their programs is at a high level”, says Anna Thelander.

Professional and competent instructors
She emphasizes that the program lived up to the high expectations she had.

“The professors were very professional and competent, managing to combine the latest research with practical exercises in an interesting way. During the program, we also conducted a simulation exercise, which was a really good way to test our new knowledge. And the mix of participants, all with extensive experience in leading change processes, was excellent – there were many who had interesting experiences and tips to share”, she says.

According to Anne Thelander, much of the learning from the program was related to an increased awareness of how important the cultural aspect is in a change or transformation process.

“90 percent of the reasons why changes fail is related to internal factors. It could be, for example, unclear strategy, insufficiently defined actions, unclear roles, and poor communication. Therefore, we need to discuss and base our approach on the corporate culture when initiating and leading changes: What culture do we have, what culture do we want, and how does it affect the change work?” These are questions we should ask, she points out, and concludes:

“Changes are constant and something we must live with all the time. But with some new methods and tools in my toolbox, I will undoubtedly become better at planning and especially implementing my next change project.