It's easy to lose sight of the impact that personal development can have beyond the individual concerned.
On Tuesday I delivered a talk to the staff of the West of Sweden Chamber of Commerce in Gothenburg. After the talk I spoke at length with Per Jernow. For the last 10 years Per has been working with the Chamber to bring together senior directors of regional businesses to learn from and support each other.
The West of Sweden Chamber is an impressive organisation. They run a wider range of networking events than most Chambers of Commerce I have come across and, in particular, value highly the power of peer group support. They offer a range of 'Mastermind', or peer learning groups for their members, as well as sessions to bring together young directors with experienced mentors in the area.
Per was described to me as the driving force behind many of these programmes and he demonstrated a passion and a zeal during our conversation that would be hard to match elsewhere. Rather than sit down and chat, he stood in front of a whiteboard and continually turned to it to draw images that supported his point, before turning back and looking to me for signs of agreement and understanding.
Per is clearly passionate about the value the Chamber can bring through these groups, and not just to their participants. He told me that his aim was to work with individual people and turned around to the whiteboard to draw a stickman. I was confused by this, I knew what he meant by people, but I soon found out where he was going.
"We help individual members grow", said Per as he drew a larger stickman to represent the development of his members. "That growth then helps their business grow as well." At this point, Per drew an image of a factory stemming from the successful individual.
This was an important point. During our conversation Per and I had discussed the challenges facing similar groups supporting CEOs and other senior management figures in the current environment. When jobs are being cut, pay is being frozen and pensions are under threat it can be very difficult for a CEO to justify a substantial investment into their own personal self-development. They are concerned that it could be seen as insensitive and a poor use of resources.
However, the ability of the senior management team has a major impact on the success of the companies they lead. When they face new challenges it is better that they have expertise and experience to turn to outside the business than try to find new solutions on their own. And sometimes they need a safe environment in which to share their worries and doubts without affecting the morale of those who work closely with them.
Mastermind groups provide that support and, as a result, can have a significant impact on the success of a business.
Given his role at the Chamber of Commerce, Per's sight naturally extends beyond the success of individual companies. He then drew a further image, branching out of the successful business, to demonstrate the success of the region his organisation represents. For Per, successful businesses lead to a successful region. The Swedish economy is very healthy at the moment, particularly compared to the rest of Europe, and the West of Sweden Chamber want to see the area around Gothenburg benefit from that success. Having successful businesses led by confident, well supported executives will help ensure that happens.
Looking after those executives and ensuring they have the support, advice and mentoring they need is a key part of that success.