The time is flying and I haven’t written a blog post for quite some time now. I am now at the end of my first two week at my assignment in Amsterdam. I am going to be here for two months working for a department called Project Governance and Improvements and that is pretty much what it is, how to governance project and also work with continues improvements. This is a new department and it is going to be the support for all Vattenfalls big projects like building a wind farm or an R&D project. My task is to look at parts of our project model and optimise part of the process.

On our last seminar week we talked a lot about culture awareness, we had a lot of interesting discussions about how we experience our own culture and from that sees others. How is to come to Sweden and work? Think of it, have you had colleagues coming from other countries or maybe an exchange student came to your class when you studied? How did you greet them welcome? How do you think he or she experienced it?

This is a very interesting question to look in to and I am trying to think of how I react and behave when I am here in Amsterdam. My first impression of the Dutch people is that they are very friendly and honestly curios to get to know me and my culture. While walking out of the office yesterday I got yet another confirmation of the openness here. I meet some of the national trainess that I only meet ones when they where in Stockholm, they where going for a beer and invited me to join. I hade a great night and meet many new people and also made some contacts that can be really useful for my project here. We hade quite a few drinks and no dinner (eating is sheeting the say here) only the tradional Dutch snack Bitteballen, it is mixed meat that are fried and you dip it in muster, really good actually. So I didn’t get the relaxing evening with a lot of sleep that I hade planed, but I had a really great night instead so much better!

Anders, är en småstadsgrabb som växt upp i Norrtälje, där dagarna ägnades åt sport, sport och återigen sport. Fotboll, bandy, handboll och friidrott var i stort sett på agendan var och varannan dag.

Efter det att skolan var klar, tog han med sig sin resväska för att styra skutan vidare mot Vaxholm för värnplikt och därefter studier vid Uppsala Universitet. I Uppsala blev det fem år, med studier, återigen fotboll, såklart. Men det som betytt mest, under dessa fem år har definitivt varit de utlandsäventyr jag varit med om, efter en tids studier, bestämde jag mig för att fylla på väskan med erfarenhet, först hamnade jag därför i London, vilket var jättekul. Så kul att jag ville spinna vidare på konceptet att få erfarenhet kombinerat med utlandsvistelse, därför hamnade jag i både USA och Korea/Japan. Innan jag var redo för det den här bloggen kommer att handla om, nämligen mitt traineeprogram vid L’Oréal…

Kort bakgrund, under nästa inlägg kommer jag att berätta mer om vad jag gjort vid L’Oréal de senaste 8 månaderna. Steg 1 är faktiskt redan avslutat och i måndags började jag på en helt annan division, och en helt annan värld…
More to come in short…

I’ve heard from older trainees that have been in Czech Republic that they have had too little to do at work while being here. Maybe it is just the culture or they really want us to enjoy Prague instead of feeling pressed because of work. The same thing has happened to me. Last few weeks I have felt that I’m about to finish my projects soon, which I also told my boss. This however made me end up with a new office…

Or maybe not just one office, rather a whole city full of offices. Because when I told my boss that it was boring to have too few things on my daily agenda, he thought that I just needed new inspiration, a change of working environment. So instead of any new projects he told me to find I nice café that I could work in. Since I run my own projects without any connection to the daily work of any of my colleagues he thought that I should take the chance to find inspiration somewhere else than in the Scania office.

So here I am, at café Louvre with a Summer Ice Tea in my hand. Maybe my boss was right, sitting eight hours a day in front of the same computer isn’t the optimal solution when you need to be creative (but isn’t that just what I have to do when starting my “real” working life?). Of course I can’t say no when I get this chance so if you need any advice on cosy cafés with free WIFI in Prague, please contact me J

The part with not getting any new projects was not 100% true. I was actually invited to take part in the release and maintenance of Scania Czech Republic on Facebook. That is a project that really needs creativity. I read a lot of blogs and different advice on the Internet of how to use Facebook for marketing and communication. Most of them agreed that the language has to be very informal and friendly and you really can’t sell anything directly on the page. The fans have to feel that the company has a real personality and is interested in listening to the customers. Still, the hardest issue in the beginning is to reach the fans and involve them in creating the page. My colleague that is responsible for the page wants to have 80 000 fans within one year. That seems way too optimistic to me, but we will see who has to buy a nice dinner in June next year (I have put a note in my Outlook so I wont forget to check).

Now I will order a strawberry pancake… Good that I was out running yesterday!

About two weeks ago I was at a seminar week in Copenhagen together with the other trainees. The first day we talked about communication and did a intressting exercise about communication in big and hierarchical companies. We talked about what is hard with communication in big companies and what is important to do to be able to succeed.

The two upcoming days we talked about cultural differences. We talked among other things about similarities and differences in the many cultures within Vattenfall and how it is important to be aware and be able to use our differences in a positive and constructive way. I especially liked the exercise were all of us presented the culture of the country that we grow up in.

Another thing I really appreciated was the study visit to Lillgrund wind power park. I learned a lot more about wind power and it was quite cool to be in a boat surrounded by almost 50 wind power plants.

Här kommer ett fototungt inlägg för en gångs skull! Igår torsdag var det dags för det årligt återkommande loppet Scaniamilen. Det är ett stort jippo med massor av folk. I vimlet syntes såklart mängder av medarbetare från olika avdelningar av Scania Södertälje, men även koncernkollegor från andra delar av världen: Jag hörde både spanska och holländska vid inskrivningen. Vissa avdelningar hade tryckt upp egna tröjor med olika klatschiga slogans. Överlag jättecharmigt, haha 🙂

Bild från startområdet. MYCKET folk!

Ytterligare "område"

Tävlingen är öppen för allmänheten, men de pröjsar en slant för att vara med. Det var lite gymnasieskolor, andra företag och några konsulter som deltog. Flera av mina traineekollegor sprang förresten på mycket bra tider, extra plus i kanten till Linda L som knep en 7e plats i damernas 10 km! Det är bra att vi ungdomar håller igång och tar hand om våra kroppar, det finns risk för att man sitter många timmar i kontorsstolen framöver… Ribban ligger oavsett ganska högt till nästa år, jag tror de traineer som var utomlands denna gång är mycket revanschsugna!

Jag i min numera ganska vanliga "jag blir inte bra på bild!"-min/pose 🙂

Till min ”prestation” då: Jag har under våren förberett mig genom att börja med s.k. barfotalöpning. Jag införskaffade ett par Vibram Fivefingers och satte igång att bygga upp styrkan i mina vader och fotvalv i februari. I början orkade jag knappt 1500 m, men allt eftersom våren gick kunde jag springa  längre och längre sträckor! Uppbyggnaden nådde alltså kulmen igår med mitt första 10 km – pass, som jag sprang på 51.34. Jag är jättenöjd med tiden med tanke på att jag har börjat med en för mig helt ny typ av löpning och byggt upp från grunden. Spåret hade kanske lite väl många stenar (3-4cm stora) i mitt tycke, och fotsulorna är  lite ömma idag. Ungefär som en jättebrutal fotmassage kanske man kan säga, hähä 🙂

Tack till min kollega micke för den här fina bilden på mig ute i spåret. Tittar man på minerna ser man att det ÄR roligare att springa "barfota"

I really don’t know where to start… I have already been in Prague for more than four weeks and all the impressions from the town, work and colleagues are getting mixed in my head. Before I left Sweden I was scared and worried about this period abroad but now I just love it. There are of course times when I feel lonely, uncomfortable and left out since I don’t know the language. These moments are however definitely compensated with hundreds of positive things.

The city – According to Wikipedia Prague has been the political, cultural and economic centre of Europe and particularly central Europe for the over 1100 years of its existence. So you can imagine that there are plenty of historical buildings worth seeing. The Old Town has a charm that no modern city could ever get with all cobblestone streets which network is such a mess that it is not even worth using a map. It is easier just to walk in the direction that you think is correct. And you should definitely not be wearing shoes with sharp heels.

It is also really easy to keep your cost of living down (if you’re not a spender like me…). The food prices are sometimes even hard to grasp, in the cafeteria at Scania you buy a complete meal for less than 20 SEK. You should also drink beer instead of any other beverage since most of the time it is even cheaper than water… The price of 0.5 l beer is less than 15 SEK even in the more touristy parts of town. The big drawback is of course that it is easy to focus on food and beer instead of exercising.  

My work – I have three different projects that I’m currently working on. I probably shouldn’t go into details but roughly I will try to find the factors that make customers buy Scania in Czech Republic and which marketing channels that should be used to communicate these factors. In the third project I will make a landscape assessment of all IT-systems that contain some customer information and try to figure out how and if these systems should be connected to the CRM-system (Customer Relationship Management). What information could be important for the salesmen and workshop to have easy access to when meeting the customers?

It is fun to have my own project since I can plan and run them exactly as I want, but it is also rather lonely since I don’t have anyone to discuss with. My colleagues run their own projects and my boss who initiated the projects are only here twice a month. Czech Republic belongs to the Scania CER region together with Slovakia and Hungary, and to be close to all employees my boss has his office in Slovakia. On the bad side this means that I can’t have discussions with my boss on daily basis but on the good side it also means that my colleagues are pretty relaxed in office. It’s entertaining to see how many people are real “ögontjänare”…

My biggest challenge in the country and especially at work is the language. There is no problem to talk English with my colleagues in the marketing department and with most of the managers but beyond that it is harder. It is highly frustrating that I can’t communicate with the salesmen and customers since their knowledge is really important for my projects. Before going to Czech Republic I was convinced that I would try to learn Czech but when arriving here everyone just laughed at me and told me that was waste of time since it is such a difficult language. After reading the following I can understand what they mean: “Every noun is either feminine, masculine inanimate, masculine animate or neuter. There are four different forms of feminine, four of neuter and two each of masculine animate and inanimate, and each form has a different ending, depending on its declensions: twelve different noun types, each declined seven different ways. That’s eighty-four altogether, and double that number because that’s only singular and every noun is either singular or plural.  So there are one hundred and sixty-eight forms a noun can take” (from Me, Myself & Prague by Rachel Weiss). And then we have the adjectives and verbs… So no, I will stick to the corporate language English and use interpreter when talking to salesmen and customers.

The people – Before going to Czech Republic I heard that staff in shops and restaurants are still stuck in communist culture and don’t make any bigger efforts to serve their customers. This might be true to some extent but I really don’t have any problems with this, as long as you make an effort and start with “Dobrý den” they are even prepared to speak English J  I also heard that Czech people are hard to get to know, a statement which I really don’t believe to be true. I have already been on a spring festival together with one colleague, been invited to relatives of another colleague and discussed marriage and communism with a third. I think that’s the best “get-to-know-progress” in any of my trainee periods so far.

I have also noticed some habits and cultural characteristics which I think are amusing. For example it is hard to find toilet paper without any color, smell or other add on, people don’t turn the lights on in the office (they rather sit in the dark, I still don’t understand why), women have to walk one step ahead of men and absolutely first through the door and all door locks requires the key to be turned two complete turns before the door is locked. All families should have at least one dog (even if they live in a small apartment in the middle of Prague) and it is perfectly normal to make out in public as if you were in your bedroom…

Oh, this became a very long text… Finally I want to say congratulations to those who have been employed as this year’s Scania trainees! I think you have a very nice year to come.

Vad är utbildning egentligen? Är ett jobb en utbildning? Var drar du gränsen mellan utbildning och erfarenhet? Behövs en sådan gräns?

Vissa människor gillar inte utbildning. De tycker inte om att gå på kurser och de hade helst sluppit högskolan helt. ”Jag vill jobba istället, kurser är slöseri med tid” kan de säga. De kanske tycker det är tråkigt att gå på kurs.

Jag tycker om att utbilda mig, fast det visste du redan 🙂 Grundskola, gymnasium, värnplikt, högskola, trainee. Allt en enda lång rad av kurser och seminarier, har det något slutmål? Jag vet inte riktigt, men på senare tid har jag börjat undra om det är någon bra idé att sluta utbilda sig, att tro att ”jo men när jag är 30, då ska jag BARA jobba, inte gå på kurser” är en bra målbild. Resten av världen väntar nog inte på mig då heller, utan det gäller att följa med och utbilda sig vidare för att inte stagnera. Arbetsätt, teknik och människor byts ut hela tiden och det finns inget som säger att jag kan fortsätta göra likadant som jag alltid gjort. Bäst att fortsätta lärandet med andra ord. Men visst, vi behöver inte kalla det kurser. Jag har till exempel ganska svaga minnen av vissa ämnen på universitetet (pga så kallad ytinlärning), men vad är det som hindrar mig ifrån att ta upp “Optimeringslära” och förkovra mig? Inget/Jag själv!

Att säga att ett traineeprogram blandar utbildning och arbete är ganska vanligt i företagens marknadsföring. Är det en lögn? Jag räknade lite på det, och de senaste 3 månaderna har jag lagt 25 % av tiden på ren utbildning, kurser. Utöver det tillkommer en massa ”dold” utbildning i form erfarenhet/lärande i arbete, där jag tycker mig ha snappat upp väldigt mycket.  Lägger vi dessa erfarenheter till utbildningstiden tror jag vi landar på betydligt mer än 25 %!

Arbete OCH utbildning, utbildning som är direkt relaterad till det du jobbar med. Svårslaget? Sök trainee då… 🙂

Första försök på en begreppsmodell - verksamhetsutveckingskurs

Phew, a short post.

Back from the road. Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel, but just like ice cream there is a limit where it starts to wear on you:

Stockholm-Amsterdam-Brussels-Stockholm-Umeå-Örnsköldsvik-Kittelfjäll-Stockholm-Ringhals-Trollhättan-Stockholm-Lindvallen-Stockholm-Umeå-Stockholm, with a maximum of 3 nights in one place.

Highs: energy politics in Brussels with visits to the parliament and the commission, climbing a 110m wind plant, passing through to the reactive side at a nuclear plant, vaca in the Swedish mountains, working at a sunny ski-event in Lindvallen.

Lows: repacking, shortage of sleep, my car breaking down on the way to the car dealership (two words you don’t want to hear from your mechanic: “motor salad”), speeding ticket (the expensive kind).

Now I’m back at the office in Stockholm trying to play catch up with my regular duties; not the most pleasant feeling I must conclude. As mentioned, a short post this time. Now when I’m back in Sthlm my blog frequency will hopefully increase. If not, then I’m officially a terrible blogger.

Some pics from the last few weeks:

Parlaiment and dinner in Brussels

Stroll in Brussels and vacation in Swedish mountains (Kittelfjäll)

Plague or cholera? (wind plant)

Have a great weekend!

/Marcus

Efter en ganska välbehövlig påskledighet har min nuvarande period verkligen börjat ta fart. Jag har massor med träffar med ”verksamheten” inplanerade, där jag snabbt ska försöka skapa mig en bild av hur de arbetar med artikelrevision. Med artikelrevision menar jag att till exempel mäta ett tillverkat kugghjuls dimensioner så att det motsvarar de dimensioner det ska ha enligt ritning. Kvalitetsarbete helt enkelt. Eller ja, enkelt och enkelt. En växellåda med ett feldimensionerat kugghjul kan ju vara helt livsfarligt. Och dyrt både för oss och kunden! 🙂

Det roligaste med att jobba med IT är att man på köpet får förståelse för så mycket annat. Jag kan ju knappast rekommendera ett IT-system framför något annat om jag inte vet vad det ska vara till för. Vilken arbetsprocess ska systemet stödja? Vilka kringsystem finns? Hurdana är människorna som jobbar i den här miljön? Det är verkligen givande! Och jag märker ju också att IT finns lite överallt, så utan jobb lär jag aldrig bli, haha. Det är dock lite läskigt att driva uppdrag av den här typen på egen hand, då jag ännu är ganska novis. Att lyssna på kunniga människor med lång erfarenhet prata om sina områden och samtidigt försöka vara kritisk och aktiv i mitt arbete är en utmaning! Men det är roligt och jag tror jag utvecklas mycket.

Läskigt men lärorikt och utmanande, summa summarum.

I helgen blir det traditionellt valborgsfirande i Uppsala. Kanske ses vi i vimlet?

I have during the last weeks been travelling around in Europe learning about Vattenfalls business in Amsterdam, Brussels and Sweden.

My trainee colleagues and I started up in Amsterdam attending a seminar about personal development and strategic leadership. The first step is naturally to understand yourself, your values and behaviour in order to be able to understand and lead others. In preparation we had been asked to complete a questionnaire about how we would react in various situations. A similar form was distributed to our work colleagues, family members and close friends – the answers resulted in a personal report, describing our characteristics and capabilities. I found the material interesting and useful. Naturally, it’s important to be aware of how other people see you and whether it’s in line with your own opinion and expectations.

We had also time to bike and enjoy a charming Amsterdam! I have previous working experiences in Amsterdam, which is one of my favourite cities.  It’s artistic, beautiful and fun and the Dutch are easy to get along with.

After gaining new insights about the Benelux operations, the tour continued to Brussels and a seminar about “Energy is politics”.  The political agenda is more or less determining the market conditions for the energy business. We visited the European Parliament, Commission and discussed energy politics with our colleagues at Vattenfall European Affairs.

I am personally interested in the development of Smart Grids, which is key to the future efficient and low-carbon electricity market and a necessary precondition to achieve the European energy targets. I got an introduction to a number of European initiatives driving research, development and demonstration programs in order to accelerate and coordinate the deployment of Smart Grids in Europe. Very interesting and I gained valuable insights.

The final day of the journey was all about renewable energy and took place on the west cost of Sweden. We learned much about the technology behind ocean wave energy and visited a factory of one of the pioneers in this industry. Wave power has potential, but is highly dependent on an EU directive.

Wind power on the other hand is already a huge industry. Sweden has around 1700 windmills, and we had the opportunity to climb one of them!

Please let me know if you have any questions about the trainee program or the energy business.