Photo from First Time Leading Program 2025. Johan Dromberg, Madeleine Melin, Joakim Steen, Isak Sterndahlen, Nils Axelsson, Ulrica Emanuelsson, Kateryna Kukurudza, Markus Bromander, Åsa Lindqvist, Erik Axelsson, David Torgilsman och David Petri Ingmarsson.
The initiative is led by Bas Teepe, Chief Leadership Officer within Herenco. For Bas, developing people, and leadership in particular, is one of the Group’s most important future issues.
Herenco Academy was born out of a strong desire to make use of the strength, experience, and potential that already exist within the organization and bring it together in a shared platform for learning and development. To succeed in our growth journey, we need not only more competent leaders, but leaders who grow, are challenged, and reach their full potential.
Previously, leadership development often took place in a more isolated way, without a shared structure or common language. New managers quickly took on significant responsibility, while the need for reflection, exchange of experience, and support in team development became increasingly clear.
This is not about adding more knowledge, but about pausing and reflecting on how one leads people and teams in practice.
Within Herenco, leadership is seen as something that is exercised in everyday work. It is about responsibility, presence, and long term perspective rather than titles. Through an internal academy, development can be directly connected to Herenco’s values and way of working, with a focus on real situations, dialogue, and practical application.
We are not building the academy for one year. We are building it for the next generation of leaders in Herenco.
During 2025, Herenco Academy became an opportunity for participants to pause and reflect on their leadership in the midst of everyday pace.
Erik Axelsson works as Operations and Improvement Manager at Emballator Växjö, with responsibility for both daily operations and long term development. During the program, recognition became an important insight.
The most challenging part for me has been balancing operational demands with long term improvement work. During the program I realized how similar leaders’ challenges are, regardless of company.
For Erik, the academy has led to concrete changes in his way of working.
I have started asking more open questions in dialogues and have become clearer in setting expectations. It has made a big difference in collaboration.
Andreas Hjalmarsson is today Chief Financial Officer at Emballator Lagan and a member of the company’s management team, a role he assumed while participating in the High Potential Program through Herenco Academy. For Andreas, the program became a way to develop his leadership in line with increased responsibility.
Before the course, I did not have much concrete experience of leadership in practice. The academy gave me the opportunity to increase my self awareness, develop my competences, and reflect on what leadership means in everyday work.
Meeting other leaders within the Group is something Andreas highlights as particularly valuable.
Discussing shared challenges and sharing experiences with others made a big difference. You quickly realize that you are not alone.
The effects are also visible from a management perspective. Jimmy Persson, Business Area Manager for Flooring and manager of two of the participants, sees clear changes.
What a journey Kateryna, Markus, and Sophie have made. Today they lead based on our values and vision, with stronger self leadership and a clearer holistic perspective when driving both the business and change.
It is precisely this type of everyday behavioral change that Herenco Academy aims for. The focus is on strengthening leaders in their actual roles, so that development becomes visible in relationships, decisions, and results.
A central part of Herenco Academy is the meeting between leaders from different parts of the Group. When experiences are shared across company boundaries, new perspectives are created, understanding increases, and a stronger sense of context develops.
For many participants, the network has become one of the greatest benefits, as it creates security and reduces the feeling of standing alone in leadership.
Herenco Academy is a living initiative that continues to develop in line with the organization, the business, and the people within it. By building on existing initiatives and developing new forms of learning and team development, long term conditions are created for continued organic growth.
Bas Teepe sees the academy as a key element in Herenco’s decentralized model.
When responsibility and decisions are close to the business, leadership becomes decisive. Herenco Academy is a way for us to ensure in the long term that our leaders have both the courage and the ability to take that responsibility and continue to develop together with their teams and our business.
The experiences from 2025 now form a stable foundation for how Herenco Academy continues to develop going forward. In the end, it is not structures or programs that create results, but leaders who every day choose to grow in their role.
