Leadership Compass

Guiding leaders and employees in developing leadership

Four principles of leadership

In If’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-work (DEI), If’s leaders have many responsibilities. One of the most important tasks is building trust and culture, to ensure that If is a good workplace for all employees, no matter who they are. In order to guide leadership contributions in If, we have developed the Leadership Compass.

The Leadership Compass is inspired by If’s purpose and core values. The target group is If’s leaders at all levels, but use of the compass is also encouraged for all employees who want to develop their own personal leadership.

The compass consists of 4 principles:

Principle 1: Make it all about people
Principle 2: Empower through direction
Principle 3: Enhance collaboration
Principle 4: Take an outside-in perspective

Ilona Raibikienė, Vilnius, Lithuania

The compass is used by new and old leaders alike. Ilona Raibikienė is based in Vilnius, Lithuania, and has worked at If for 21 years, now as Head of Actuary and Data Modelling. She welcomes new employees with curiosity to create a safe space, and uses the compass to inspire increased and improved collaboration:

– I always start by giving the newcomer a proper introduction. It’s important not only to have professional support provided by a mentor, but also to take time to learn to create relationships with trust. People are not products, and we should be curious about them and curious about establishing relationships that create energy – this helps to unite forces, enabling us to achieve things together. Nobody loses from a collaboration; we can only win, says Ilona Raibikienė.

Ilona points out the advantages that a safe space facilitates:

– We dare to discuss disagreements, failures and misunderstandings in one form or another. Regular feedback discussions ensure that disagreements don’t let us grow into becoming isolated islands. I always approach with initial trust, thinking that others are open to different angles, she states.

Fabian Miiro, NET Developer

This year, new .NET trainees have been welcomed to If by .NET Developer Fabian Miiro. Fabian have been at If since 2019 – based in the Bergshamra office in Sweden. They have been part of the trainee programme from the start, this year as a leader, and they greatly emphasize encouraging If’s fresh faces to bring their new perspectives and ideas:

– I noticed that one of the biggest aspects of this is to make sure that people know that their perspective matters. That’s why we held sessions with our trainees from their first week at If, where the whole purpose was to find a clear way to impact the way we worked.

Fabian Miiro photo. — Fabian Miiro, NET Developer, Stockholm

When trainees see that their ideas have been seen and heard, and that we do something about it, a lot more ideas begin to take form, Fabian Miiro say.

Fabian have also made knowledge-sharing a major priority in the trainee programme:

– My job is to not take up space. As a new leader, it has been important for me to make space for our new trainees. Sometimes I plant the seed and the team comes up with how they want to solve this. I believe that everyone has knowledge to share, as long as we listen, they conclude.

The Leadership Compass is a leadership tool that is intended to focus attention on the key aspects of leadership, and to help in reflections on what leadership means and how we can use leadership to contribute to the future of If.

The Leadership Compass consists of written guidelines that are available to both leaders and employees through the intranet. The guidelines discuss and provide examples of behaviour and culture by means of four main principles and invitations to reflection.