COLLABORATIVE
Our collaborative and inclusive behaviour is fundamental to our business. We work closely with our customers and share knowledge with our colleagues, suppliers and partners across the globe - to the benefit of our customers and our own competitiveness. Our people are our most valued asset and we pride ourselves to attract and develop world class employees. We are ONE KONGSBERG - making the impossible possible by performing together.
An-Magritt Tinlund Ryste believes the company’s most important value is its people.
What does this value mean to you?
It means working together with other people to build good teams based on different personalities and expertise. It also means valuing people's differences, recognising the strengths and weaknesses of each other and having the ability to take advantage of this. It’s about building trust. Once you have put together a team and have the confidence to venture outside your comfort zone and use people who are different from yourself, then you can really achieve some of the very best solutions.
– It’s important to prioritise making time for people around you. This helps develop a sense of identity and clarity in terms of what you are working towards. And it’s particularly important to give feedback and demonstrate that you value the efforts that are being made. It’s OK not to know everything, and it’s OK to show humility in relation to the skills of colleagues. When you have the confidence to believe in your strengths and ask for help in areas where you are less competent, then I believe it’s possible to achieve much more than you can when acting alone and not wishing to share knowledge with others. It is of course in people where much of the value in KONGSBERG lies.
– The autonomy initiative is of course a major joint project based on efforts across the entire KONGSBERG organisation, and we would not be able to achieve our goal of having the world’s first unmanned and zero-emissions container vessel without the expertise contributed by the various units.
– This applies outside the organisation too. You have to show a little humility in relation to areas of expertise where you are weaker, and contribute more in the areas where your strengths lie. No single individual has the answer when it comes to innovation, so I don’t believe we should be afraid of putting forward proposals where we believe we have expertise and to seek cooperation with others if we feel we need to. If we can approach things with an open mind and listen and ask for advice, then I believe that together we can go further faster than if we had to work towards necessary changes alone.
A story relating to this value
– I was relatively young when I took up my first management position. It wasn’t entirely well received by everyone, but it turned out that the most critical person in the group, who happened to be a few years older than me, became my closest advisor over time. This became the person I trusted the most and went to for helpful discussions.
– Having the confidence to admit that I didn’t have all the answers and trusting that those around me were doing their job became an important part of building trust and mutual respect. I also learnt an incredible amount.
– I’ve found that just because someone doesn’t reach their full potential in one setting, assignment or team, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be incredibly valuable in another. You have to make up your own mind about people, regardless of what they have done, contributed or been responsible for before. The best feeling in the world is when you see different personalities start working together as a team and when that team achieves more than it believed was possible.