Lena’s management style revolves around well-being
Lena Grenander Hansen has the well-being of her employees close at heart. She is Deputy Head of AML team 1 at Danske Bank and has herself been impacted by the consequences of poor well-being. She became a manager in 2018 to make a difference for well-being, an area in which she refuses to make compromises.
"I feel very strongly about the well-being of both my employees and myself. I’ve become more and more aware of that. Poor well-being can have terrible consequences. I’ve felt that on my own body. Well-being is a management value that I won’t compromise. It was important for me to say this at my last job interview. I will stay true to what I stand for.”
The words come from Lena Grenander Hansen. Her dedication to fostering well-being was a key factor in her transition in March 2020 from Team Leader for seven employees in Danske Bank's SOP department to Deputy Head of Danske Bank's AML team 1 with 15 employees. Some years ago, she had a wake-up call while managing a hectic schedule as a consultant when suddenly she experienced heart trouble.
The diagnosis was stress. It meant that Lena had to reconsider how much of her life the job should be allowed to consume. She chose to reduce her hours and thus went against the department’s prevailing culture at the time where staying until 5 or 6pm was the norm. Despite this, Lena found she was just as productive as her colleagues, if not more productive.
“Even though I only worked 33 hours a week, I got just as as much done as everyone else. I learnt to prioritise my time and be efficient at work, telling myself that just because some colleagues put in a couple of hours more, it doesn’t necessarily mean they accomplish more. Because, at a certain point, the mind is exhausted, and you have nothing left to give.”
Overtime – not necessarily a good thing
Lena's personal experience has made her extremely dedicated to making a positive difference for well-being and is one of the reasons why she decided to become a manager in January 2018. She gives a lot of thought to her role and how, as a leader, she sets the framework for her employees, which they measure themselves against.
“My most important task as a manager is fostering a good working culture and code of behaviour. Overtime isn’t necessarily a good thing to me. It could be a sign that my employees have too much on their plate, that they might be allocating their time inappropriately, or that they lack an overview of their tasks.”
"Of course, there are peak periods when extra hours are necessary. There has to be. But I’d rather see my employees leave on time.”
Thoughtful allocation of tasks
Another key concern for Lena is ensuring that the work performed by her employees, as much as possible, gives them meaning and energy rather than drains them. In her experience, greater motivation and commitment mean better results.
"As a manager, it's nice having talented employees who always manage to solve the problem. But are you giving them the task because you want it solved? Or are you giving them the task because it gives them energy? I’ve thought about this a lot.”
According to Lena, good dialogue is the key to fostering well-being along with good results at the bottom line. She therefore aims to hold one-on-one interviews with her employees as often as they prefer. And it varies greatly from person to person, ranging from once a week to once a month. How open and honest her employees choose to be about their satisfaction with their tasks is also highly individual.
As for satisfaction, Lena makes it a point to dig deeper into her employees' well-being, helping them articulate challenges and possibly coming up with a subsequent plan for their handling. It gives the employees a better gut feeling – and Lena a feeling of having made a difference.
