Christer Brovinius is an experienced change management leader with an international background. Starting at Lindab Group in 1997, his career has led him to roles such as CEO of the machine division, European Division Manager for Air Duct System, and Sales & Marketing Director at Schindler Management. His first interim CEO role was for Soutec Group, where he successfully contributed to selling the company.

In 2015, he came into contact with Nordic Interim, which led to an assignment as CEO Germany for HTC Floor Systems. The company had been in Germany since 2006 and after years of limited growth, they faced a negative development and were losing money. The situation was urgent, and a shutdown of the site was threatening. The solution was to engage an executive interim manager and within two months after the first contact with Nordic Interim, Christer was on board.

“Someone was needed on site to make an analysis of what had to be done. There was also no time for a traditional recruitment process”

Christer Brovinius

Someone was needed on site to make an analysis of what had to be done. There was also no time for a traditional recruitment process”, Christer explains.

Within shortly, he had finished his analysis and his proposal to the board was approved. The mission was primarily focused on finding a new strategy, was it possible to save the company or was a shutdown the best solution? How would he maintain the engagement from the employees? With full mandate, he was expected to either save the company or shut it down within a year and, in order to focus on the mission, he was not engaged in group initiatives.

 “German clients are demanding, in a positive way. We lost almost half of our client base in my first year. My mission was to analyse if we could save the company or if we should shut it down. The key was to regain trust, relocate customer service and warehousing and make some changes of staff”, Christer says.

 Christer and the Board agreed on a strategy for a turnaround and secured a few employees who were crucial for the business and re-hired the Service Manager who had left as they moved the customer services to another location. Together they began the work with increasing the service level and new ways of customer-facing processes. A roadshow let them meet clients face to face and present their strategy and gain renewed trust. There were no problems with the products, but an earlier decision to move the customer services and warehousing to another city had reduced accessibility and service levels. By moving back, they could re-hire lost competence, the dialogue with the clients could be re-established, which resulted in appropriate offers, service and availability. Christer created a strong team delivering fantastic growth. Customers also appreciated the change. Together with the team, he could present a positive result. The expertise and industry knowledge was already in the organization and Christer contributed with change leadership, calmness and execution power.

“The sales numbers turned quickly, and we visited many exhibitions and made in-house events, where we met our clients. We worked hard with leadership issues and motivating our employees. During 2015-2016 we increased sales by 60%. This was so successful that I got the assignment to do a similar carve-out and turnaround in the UK, which also led to positive results”, Christer continues.

After the turnaround in Germany and UK, HTC Floor Systems was acquired by Husqvarna and Christer stayed in order to secure integration, sales and services in Europe. Christer says that he likes to work for Swedish companies because of the leadership style and business culture, allowing involvement to a larger degree than in other European countries.

“In other countries, you are expected to give answers and tasks. In Sweden, we seek consensus and make a joint decision. It took some time for my German colleagues at HTC Floor Systems to understand that I was genuinely interested in their opinions.”

“It is essential to be humble before your assignment and understand that the employees have a lot of knowledge and experience. You must listen and form your own overall picture. Talk to the clients and hear what their needs are. When your co-workers understand that you want to learn and hear their opinion, it creates a sense of ‘us’. Communication and transparency are very important and here it was needed to be clear about the threat of shutting down the business.”