CaseStudy /

Strategically integrated professional development solutions that link directly with the company’s long-term strategy, innovation, and organic growth plans.

Strategic Competence Development

01/ The Client The Jotun Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of paints, coatings, and powder coatings. The company has branches in 72 countries and employs 8,600 people.

“The way they wanted to train our sales people was the way they were selling themselves, so we really liked the fact that they walked the talk.”

Hilde BettumCompetence Management DirectorJotun

02/ The ChallengeFor most of its 86-year existence Jotun was a traditional paint company. From its Norwegian base it developed and delivered paint and protective coatings throughout Scandinavia and Europe. From the early 1960s the company began to expand geographically, opening up new opportunities, primarily in emerging markets.

A business driver behind Jotun’s success has been the focus on organic growth. Jotun had a strong people-oriented culture and a heritage of research, patents, and sales capability that competitors envied. As the company expanded globally the leadership team realized that their main competitive advantage was the skill, knowledge, and mindset (culture) of its employees and the relationships with its customers and suppliers.

With the company constantly growing, competence development was now seen as inextricably linked to the company’s strategic and tactical needs. The company now had hundreds of new managers based around the world along with a large global sales force for each of their four divisions. In 2009 Jotun decided that it was time to upgrade and upscale their various competence development initiatives, in particular the Leadership and Sales Academies, to match their growth aspirations and strategic goals.

03/ The SolutionJotun strongly believes in “hiring for attitude and training for skills” but it knows that the best development plans will fail if employees fail to implement them. Experience has shown Jotun’s management that learning occurs best when employees take responsibility for their own development. The company has to provide world class competence development solutions and provide an environment where the individual is coached by his or her manager after the excitement of the training room has finished. Based on this unique blend of coaching and consulting, rogenSi was engaged to design and deliver two specific solutions: the first a Leadership Academy focused on professional leadership and management development; the second a Sales Academy targeting both Sales Management and Sales Representatives designed to transform the company’s global sales capability.

Hilde Bettum, Competence Management Director at Jotun says, “We chose rogenSi for a number of reasons. They were situated where we needed them to be, we liked the fact that everything they do is based on research and the culture within rogenSi is very similar to Jotun. They matched our creative and energetic style: when the DNA of your training provider matches that of our company the learning outcomes have even more impact.”

Morten Fon, President and CEO of Jotun highlights, “rogenSi and the people representing the company ‘felt right’ for us in Jotun. At an early stage they showed interest in our culture and our way of doing business. It seemed to us that rogenSi would go the extra mile for Jotun.”

The Jotun Management Academy has four solution components, all targeted at different demographics and depths of management/leadership experience: a 1 week accelerated Leadership Programme designed to “upskill” the most senior leaders in the company; an annual 3 x 5 day Leadership Academy aimed at 24 delegates chosen by the Jotun Board; a core Management Skills programme (for those who have direct reports); and a tailored Management programme designed specifically for those managers working within a virtual matrix environment (who may not have teams or direct reports). Topics include people leadership, task leadership, and high performance teams (The Jotun Leadership Framework) and the agenda consists of a variety of training methods including 360 feedback, financial simulations, 1:1 executive coaching, case study group work, and an outdoor leadership experience.

The Jotun Sales Academy has two solution components and is heavily based on the reality and research behind Jotun’s sales strategy: a Sales Management programme designed to help achieve sales results through others; and a Sales Professional development solution featuring rogenSi’s Extraordinary Performer formula which targets sales skills, motivation, and mental resilience.

Jotun was impressed by the way rogenSi communicated with its team, and by its flexibility. Bettum says, “rogenSi operate quickly: they can turn around and make things happen quickly, and we need that.” Another stand-out quality that rogenSi demonstrated was the way its training philosophy is embodied by the consultants. Bettum comments, “The way they wanted to train our sales people was the way they were selling themselves, so we really liked the fact that they walked the talk.”

All solution components were designed and delivered in partnership with Jotun’s Competence Development team and are offered across all 72 countries in which Jotun operates. This level of partnership is unique and crucial for successful skills transfer and knowledge application. rogenSi worked very closely with Jotun to create a blend of training content from both companies. Jotun was anxious to retain some of its company-specific modules but wanted rogenSi to refresh and invigorate the programme with their own design and research-based materials. Bettum explains, “Our management training level 2 and 3 is a great combination of our models and rogenSi’s models. 60%-70% of the content is from rogenSi, but they had no problems in learning our modules and incorporating them into the training courses as well. You will not find that kind of flexibility everywhere.”

“rogenSi and the people representing the company “felt right” for us in Jotun. At an eary stage they showed interest in our culture and our way of doing business. It seemed to us that rogenSi would go the extra mile for Jotun”

Morten FonPresident & CEOJotun

04/ AchievementsAs a result of this training and consultancy project:• Hundreds of managers trained in essential leadership, management, and commercial skills that support Jotun’s growth strategy• A refresh of the legacy of people development and the importance it plays in Jotun’s organic strategy• Hundreds of professionally developed sales managers and team members (Penguins), who are aligned to the strategy, have transformed their sales capability and embedded a mindset of peak performance under pressure

Fon says, “Jotun has developed new competence programmes, together with rogenSi and they have become an integrated part of our competence development efforts. We have smaller entities around the world and it is key for us to deliver the same training globally. In this way Jotun can continue to develop as one company regardless of where it is. rogenSi has made this possible. rogenSi has been clever in understanding our culture and our values, and this has been an important factor in our success together.”

05/ The LegacyJotun takes competency development seriously because they see it as an untapped source of competitive advantage. The development solutions that have been designed and delivered by rogenSi are seen as innovative, flexible, and critical to the growth of the company. The combination of research-based, accelerated-learning models, energetic delivery, and infusion of Jotun’s own unique “Penguin” culture has had a great impact. Bettum explains, “The Jotun Academy is one of the reasons people stay with the company; because they meet people across regions, across the world and they get to talk and learn together. rogenSi understands this in addition to providing us with all the models that we need for Jotun to grow.”

The feedback from participants on both academies has been extremely positive. Jotun and rogenSi are currently working on competency measures for the programmes going forward but these are at an early stage. Bettum comments, “We have no specific measures other than it works!”

Jotun has already realized its goal of converting intellectual capital (the knowledge its employees bring and generate while working) into structural capital (new benefits and solutions to improve the competence of its employees), and then into financial capital (through innovation and organic leadership). But most importantly, Jotun continues to develop new approaches and improvements because they know that resting on past accomplishments is the surest way to lose the future. As Bettum states, “I like the way that rogenSi take people seriously, no matter who they talk to. The rogenSi trainers we use are part of our family. They know exactly what we need, and when we need it.”

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