TeliaSonera Business School -
Extend your network

In May the 34 participants of the TeliaSonera Business School completed their programme. Three of the participants unanimously agreed that the most beneficial part of the programme was meeting people from other parts of the organisation and extending their networks.

Since October last year the participants of the TeliaSonera Business School (TSBS) competence development programme have had six workshops with a number of first-rate lecturers. Strategic business project team assignments taken from the real-life TeliaSonera world tied the whole learning process together. Results of the assignments were reported back to TeliaSonera top management representatives in the closing workshop. The participants represent different competence areas as well as countries within TeliaSonera.

Anders Igel participated on the closing workshop by having an open dialogue where he answered a series of questions from the participants on a number of issues: how to build one tight group, business growth and the focused service portfolio. During the dinner Mr. Igel visited each table and spent some time with most of the participants.

“TSBS can be seen as a way of developing strategic business skills and personal learning. The participants made the whole learning process work extremely well. The next programme will start in November. Extensive feedback from the programme shows that it is fundamentally solid but some changes will be made. For example, workshops will start to rotate between different countries” says Lea Lillkåll from TeliaSonera Finland, who was in charge of the programme.

Three statements from the participants:

Sören Krogh Nielsen, Director, Product Management within Telia Networks Danmark:

"The best thing was clearly meeting colleagues from other parts of the organisation and expanding our networks. The speakers were real a treat. They were among the best in the world in their fields. I probably haven’t learnt anything new but I have been updated. Through the other participants, I’ve gained a more complete picture of the group. I have the same job but I will look at it with new eyes now and take advantage of the new knowledge I’ve gained through the network. I have a solid foundation for the future."

Lene Vesterlund, co-project manager within the Surfport project at Marketing, Products and Services in the Head Office:

"The best thing was meeting the people from other countries and understanding their cultures and how the organisation works there. Through the many discussions we’ve had, I’ve gained an insight in how different people think and act. I normally work together with people from Norway, Denmark, Finland and Lithuania, in addition to Sweden but here it was different. There were incredibly good teachers that also know other industries. It was really helpful to see how other industries have dealt with the same challenges we are facing, such as in the airline industry."

Grigoriy Beltchenko, technical director at TeliaSonera International Carrier in Russia:

"The most interesting aspect for me was meeting new people. Meetings with top managers were of great use to me, because they shared their experience, knowledge, and vision with us. Having two higher technical educations and a Ph.D. in technology I was interested in learning more about other issues. The programme widened my horizons, and I came into contact with many new thoughts, ideas, and approaches that really contributed to broadening the scope of my knowledge considerably. I do hope that my TeliaSonera Business School course will help me in my career. In terms of career change I am open to promotion from my current position, but this would depend on many other factors, over which I have no control."