A year after Tarita Qveflander was promoted to Senior Director, Head of Strategic Sourcing and Direct Procurement at Sobi, a global biopharmaceutical company, she was told that she needed to “tweak” the way she was leading her team.
Born in Finland and raised in Sweden, Qveflander joined Sobi, which develops and commercializes medicines for rare diseases, in 2021 after almost two decades of experience in pharmaceutical operations, supply, chain, and procurement. Her promotion to lead a team of six responsible for developing efficient sourcing processes, enabled her to combine her background in biotechnology with her negotiation expertise, but she was struggling to delegate and free up time to focus on strategy. After reflecting on her superiors’ feedback, Qveflander, who had already taken leadership courses, decided that this time, she wanted an immersive learning experience that would allow her to “dig deeper” into who she was as a leader.
Qveflander had heard about IMD programs from former participants, and a search on the website led her to Mobilizing People. A conversation with IMD’s Executive Development Services convinced her to sign up.
“The program combines theory with actually working on yourself and that’s what really got me hooked – I was fascinated,” she explained. “Sometimes, when you scratch the surface, you see one thing, but when you go deeper, you see other things.”
Peer exchanges and practical tools
To prepare for Mobilizing People, Qveflander had to gather 360-degree feedback, complete a personality assessment, and reflect on her personal and professional journey. When the nine-day program started on IMD’s campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, she found herself with people from very diverse backgrounds whose contribution to her learning experience was to be “essential”.
“Both at work and in my personal life, I’m a very private person. I don’t open up that easily,” she admitted. “But on this program, it just happened naturally, which was very surprising for me – I didn’t expect that. Everyone was willing to immerse themselves and we learned a lot from each other.”
The first three days on campus with IMD faculty and coaches were devoted to learning leadership concepts and tools, and experiencing group dynamics. Qveflander quickly realized that feedback her employer had given her with regard to delegation was accurate.
“I thought I was delegating properly but I might have missed a few steps,” she said wryly. A 12-step delegation process she learned on Mobilizing People has been a go-to tool for her ever since.
Leading from the back
The Swiss Alps provided the backdrop for the second part of the program, during which Qveflander said she really felt herself evolve through the group exercises in challenging leadership situations, feedback, and reflection.
“We were isolated in the mountains, so we were forced to look within,” she said. “I had no contact with my family, and I didn’t check the news or work emails. It was a total disconnect that made me really focus on where I was.”
Qveflander had always believed that leaders needed to be in the spotlight. By taking part in the exercises, she understood that she was more comfortable “leading from the back” and that it served her well. Her group highlighted that she was an “excellent observer”, whose capacity to listen allowed her to ask the right questions to help others move forward.
A pivotal moment in her learning experience came late one evening in the Alps, when all the participants were working on an assignment.
“Everyone was tired, and I decided to step in and support the team in finding the energy to finish the task,” Qveflander remembers. “I was pushing them from the back, asking them what they wanted to work on, allocating, prioritizing, and delegating.”
Leading her weary co-participants to finish the task on time is still a source of pride for her and was an opportunity to combine her leadership strengths with her new learnings.
Putting leadership lessons into practice
Qveflander left the program determined to be “a catalyzer”, to “inspire others to do better”. Soon after, she had a first chance to turn that mindset into action when she was moderating and coordinating a two-day event for the 200 employees in Sobi’s technical operations department. The delegation tool she had learned on Mobilizing People proved invaluable.
“I was able to work with the speakers instead of focusing on small details,” she said. This event also enabled her to establish herself as someone to whom people in the department who weren’t her direct reports could come to with ideas and comments.
“I don’t think that would have been possible if I hadn’t done Mobilizing People,” she reflected. “Now, I feel I can guide people in the right direction, coach them. There’s a ripple effect throughout the different functions within TechOps, so I’m having a bigger impact within the company.”
Team impact, lasting connections, and a new path
Qveflander’s own team noticed a shift in her leadership style after the program. “Although I was always a caring team leader, I’m more open now and I think they feel more relaxed,” she said. “They see I’m not holding everything back, that I’m sharing more, and that means they also share more. We have a different level of transparency.”
Her enhanced delegation skills have changed the team’s daily workflow and given her time to focus on strategic tasks. She’s also now prepared to help her direct reports develop by asking them to take on negotiations she once would have handled herself, while coaching them through the process.
Two years after Mobilizing People, Qveflander remains closely connected to her group through monthly online meetings to exchange experiences and challenges.
“It’s just amazing to see how we’ve all evolved in different ways,” she said. “Mobilizing People is a journey I really wouldn’t want to be without, privately or professionally. It enabled me to be comfortable in my own skin and let my authenticity come out and shine.”
She has continued to build on the natural skills her group highlighted and now envisions becoming a coach when she retires. To prepare, she has enrolled for the IMD Executive Coaching Certificate.
“I really believe in giving back to society,” she said. “I saw the impact Mobilizing People had and think that immersing myself in the coaching program will be extremely valuable for my future growth.”
