"Every manager should be able to do this, regardless of whether they are new or experienced. It's like having a driver's license for management."
This is how Wicky Skareløkke describes the SLII courses she organizes at Danfoss Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning Controls (RAC), where she is Global HR Business Partner. In collaboration with other Global HR Business Partners, she carries out teaching and training of managers in Denmark, Poland, Mexico, India and China. The group of 2400 employees all have personnel, team or project responsibility.
Wicky Skareløkke believes SLII is relevant for all of them, regardless of experience or management level:
"SLII skills are about the basic understanding that you as a manager must be able to diagnose the management approach required in a specific situation and match your management style flexibly to the employee's needs."
Read the SLII-interview with Wicky Skareløkke in danish
Danfoss’ HR Director has found that it works especially well when she mixes workshop participants across functions, countries, ages and management levels.
"Even experienced managers say that the time spent on learning SLII is well worth it. Obviously, everyone is very busy, and then you just tend to use your default style. That's why we deliberately break with the mindset that 'oh yes, he or she has a lot of experience, so they'll sort this out, no problem'.
It is not enough to assume that experience means that you can manage every new situation that arises. Therefore, experienced managers are also given the opportunity to participate in SLII workshops.
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SLII® is one of the world's most widely used and recognized management tools and was developed by the American leadership development company Blanchard in the 1970s.
SLII provides both the manager and the employee with a common management language and a practical framework for working together on a specific task. SLII recognises that people have different backgrounds, strengths and preferences which will influence how they can and want to carry out a task – and therefore they have different needs from management to support them.
With USLII skills, the manager can set clear and concrete goals for a task, diagnose the employee's level of development in relation to the task and match their management style to the employee's management needs in the specific situation. The manager is thus able to provide exactly the support and instruction that is needed in the situation. This results in a positive experience for the employee, as they have a manager who can adapt their management approach to the employee's needs and who has clear expectations for how the employee should successfully carry out the task.
SLII teaching and training is carried out regularly in the Danfoss RAC division together with CfL, primarily as virtual courses where participants come from Danfoss' five different geographical locations. In fact, it is the time zones that determine who you are likely to meet in SLII workshops. Participants attend a three-hour workshop every day for three days. They also prepare and work on a number of exercises between the modules.
"I wasn't sure if it could be done, but it works very well, and I've received very positive feedback," says Wicky Skareløkke.
SLII covers managers' need for a practical management tool, and most recently, the HR Director has been asked to create an informal online forum for former SLII participants. This gives them the opportunity to exchange experiences and be able to discuss their own cases with fellow managers.
"It is also important to keep up your knowledge of diagnosing an employee’s level of development and hone your ability to match your management style with their needs, so it becomes natural management practice," she says. She therefore sees managers’ interest in wanting a network forum like this as a clear indication that they find SLII valuable.
Although Wicky Skareløkke finds that online workshops in English work well, she prefers face-to-face teaching in the local language whenever possible. Being able to get training and material in their own language is always very helpful for participants. SLII is also an internationally known management concept.
"We had a lot of participants in Mexico, so CfL helped us find a certified local instructor," she says.
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It's easy to forget that people come from vastly different backgrounds and may require very different management styles to be able to carry out the many different tasks they work with. SLII is a great help in creating awareness of collaboration across cultures.
In an international working environment, there is naturally a lot of focus on cultural differences. SLII is part of Danfoss' suite of management training tools, which also includes a personal behaviour profile and a culture analysis.
Wicky Skareløkke believes that even though there are cultural differences between countries, it’s important to remember that personal differences are just as important. Participants therefore benefit greatly from the SLII test, as it gives them valuable insight into their own preferred management style.
"No one likes to be pigeon-holed and told 'you're from X or Y country, so your leadership style is probably instructive S1 management,'" she says.
That’s how SLII contributes to giving managers at RAC a more complete and nuanced picture of both their own management approach and the company's international working environment.
This does not, however, prevent HR partners from also working with cultural trends. SLII provides the language to create awareness of management needs. In Denmark, for example, newcomers from other countries wonder why managers do not say more clearly and precisely what they expect from employees. This creates uncertainty because managers can be perceived as being vague.
"I myself need to be good at fine-tuning my management style in my work with local HR colleagues around the world. " It's easy to forget that people come from vastly different backgrounds and may require very different management styles to be able to carry out the many different tasks they work with,” says Skareløkke.
SLII is a great help in creating awareness of collaboration across cultures.
Because SLII has consistently been such a comprehensive part of RAC’s management development programme for many years, the HR Director is keen to take it even further. Her goal is to have training involve participants' managers to a much greater extent, both before and after classes. The idea is to connect participants' new skills with tangible improvements in the business.
An example of this could be projects that are completed on time because participants work more effectively and efficiently as a result of good project management when SLII-trained managers understand how to apply the SLII principles.
HR Director and Global HR Business Partner for Supply Chain in Danfoss Climate Solutions – Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Controls (RAC). She holds a master’s degree in organizational culture and has over 20 years of global HR experience with Danfoss. She is a certified SLII user and instructor.
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