Illuminating People, Improving Quality
To deliver on the quality that Seagarden has become associated with, one needs people who show up to work wanting to be the best version of themselves.
After all, the Seagarden quality is the sort that keeps improving.
Believing it to be latent in people, this wish of betterment, this natural tendency toward improvements, HR Manager at Seagarden, Bent-Jarle Inermo set out to build a culture that nurture this human propensity.
–I’m here to create a feeling of safety and stability. Research shows that’s what people need to be happy at work, a crucial ingredient for a company looking to continue its growth in markets across the world, he says in the determined way of someone who has witnessed research results come to life in real life.
We all march together
20 years at Hydro, an industry-behemoth of 32 000 employees, that’s his background. While protocols and procedures are still part of Inermo’s job at Seagarden, his heart lies not with the spreadsheets and lists.
–I like to just meet people where they are and try to create a shared understanding of where we’re headed across the organization. We all march together, and I’m the person in the back making sure we’re all headed in the same direction, he says.
He’s contrasting the dynamic in Seagarden with that of Hydro, fittingly using analogies from the sea.
–Hydro was like a big tanker ship, headed on a stable course that you had little influence over. Seagarden on the other hand, is more like a speedboat where everyone can reach the steering.
–While it fills people with joy and meaning knowing that what they do will have an effect on where the company is going, someone needs to add a counterforce to the wheel that soften the turns, over time gently coaxing the boat into its path, he adds.
Quality is stability
To Inermo, a high quality product is one that consistently lives up to expectations.
–When everyone at Seagarden knows where we set the bar, it’s easier for everyone to both make sure we meet the quality expectations of today, and to collectively push the bar higher for the future, he says.
Describing Seagarden as a transparent organization, Inermo is equipped both with an open door policy and the initiative to organize
company-wide events.
–Beach cleanups, wine lottery, pizza nights and charity runs are our most important arenas to build our common understanding. It’s a lot of fun, but it also sheds light on something special about Seagarden, he says.
–Across the organization, we all share the same desire to make things happen, he says.