At Trimble Forestry, six experienced European Sales Leaders have continued to develop how they work, lead and create impact through a practical leadership development journey over the past seven months.
The company provides innovative digital solutions across the forestry value chain, from forest operations and logistics to mill production and process optimisation.
During the final review of the development process, the participants described some of their key learnings in their own, very practical terms.
One of the key mindset questions was:
“What can I do?”
Even when the business environment is complex, there is usually something we can influence and move forward ourselves.
Another participant spoke about “planting seeds for the future” – looking beyond the first transaction and thinking about the larger potential of a customer relationship.
Another participant put it this way:
“Don’t be too tough on yourself.”
This was about recognising progress while balancing different priorities and responsibilities, even when not everything develops at the same speed.
Further improvements included planning days and weeks intentionally, using focus blocks and clear daily priorities, strengthening collaboration and delegation, and managing personal energy consciously through movement, recovery and good routines.
The LMI development process provided a common framework around priorities, High Payoff Activities, communication and collaboration. The journey was delivered in cooperation with LMI Finland, with individual goals and one-to-one coaching by Ludger Marekwia connecting the framework to real customer situations, delegation, internal collaboration and strategic account thinking.
Perttu Aunola, Head of Revenue at Trimble Forestry and manager of the participating sales leaders, also highlighted the importance of passion, ownership, energy and the ambition to think bigger. His support from the beginning, including helping shape the goals and giving the team the opportunity and space to develop, was an important part of the process.
A big thank you to Hermann Schröder, Hamish Bruce, Mikko Kerkelä, Teemu Möykkylä, Matti Häkkinen and Kristian Niklasson for their openness, commitment and willingness to challenge established habits despite the experience they already brought to the process.
We look forward to seeing what further customer impact and business results these changes create over the coming months.
