Helping customers with agile learning remotely: The Story of our Business Developer Martin Johansson

Hi Martin, what do you do at Learnifier?

I am a Business developer.

And what does it mean daily?

Well, in my role I talk to people in charge of HR and/or learning in big organizations and companies to explore whether our learning platform could help them solve challenges and reach goals that are important to them. At Learnifier we call these “The Jobs to be Done”.

One day I have conversations about learning strategies and the next my job is to help customers create courses and learning journeys in our tool. It is both a strategic and operational role, which I think is great.

"I learned that it is not enough to just create courses, you also need to know how people learn and adapt your learning. You need to design for optimal learning."

And how did you start on this route?

Good question. I started my career as an actor actually, educated at Calle Flygare and Kulturama (Editor’s note: two renowned acting schools in Stockholm, Sweden). I did lots of shows, musicals, theatre. It was great. After a while though, I felt it was a bit of a struggle making ends meet and I also felt I had more potential to do good in the world. I just did not know what at the time.

So, I took some courses, among others a course in entrepreneurship. This led me to work as a Business developer for Connect Sverige – a Swedish network helping entrepreneurs with mentorship, coaching, getting venture capital, etc. – sort of an incubator. It was great to see all the innovation, to see things evolve and to be able to look into the future.

• I headed up their whole education section and worked there for six years. This was really where my interest in business development took off. And one thing I found was how important learning was in creating successful businesses. Then Lin Education "knocked on my door" and I started as a Business developer there.
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• Lin Education was founded in 2008 with a mission to bring together technology and pedagogy to make learning more fun and accessible. Lin offers digital tools and develops its own digital content for schools, companies, and organisations and offers process management and competence development around learning. This was when my interest in learning really blossomed.
  
  I learned that it is not enough to just create courses, you also need to know how people learn and adapt your learning. You need to design for optimal learning.

  After a few years working there, I heard about Learnifier and I felt really compelled to apply as soon as I saw the job ad. And now I am here and loving it.
  
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• I’m a nerd when it comes to learning and I really like the agile way of thinking - both when it comes to producing content. But also how to distribute the learning on the individual and team level. The world around us is changing so rapidly that creating and sharing knowledge needs to be at the centre of every organization. Tech plays a key role in this and here Learnifier comes in – facilitating the creation and distribution of knowledge, both internally and externally.

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What is a day like for you during the pandemic and where do you work (location)?

• I work from my home office in Vinterviken (Editor’s note: A beautiful well-known location in Stockholm).
  I very rarely work somewhere else as I have lots of client meetings.
  Sometimes I work from my boat club if the weather is nice. :)
  
  
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What is your main superpower and how has it helped you during Covid?

• I would say building good relationships with others is crucial now when we are remote.

"Have a plan for what to do when your energy gets low. Is it calling a certain happy colleague? Watching a fun YouTube video? Or something else?"

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• Which are some of the big work challenges you have faced during Corona and have you overcome them? How?
  
  

• As a social and caring person, I miss the “warm talk” you have before and after meetings. As we meet digitally, we usually move on fast to the agenda.
  I also get a lot of energy from meetings with other people: colleagues, customers.
  Working remotely you have to be very proactive and initiate these social meetings.
  Another challenge is that you cannot bounce ideas easily with each other, walk by someone’s desk to get an opinion, etc.

What good aspects have you found working remotely?

• Well, first of all, “Lugn och ro” as we say in Swedish. Meaning a peaceful work environment with few distractions. Working remote also means you can be very effective with your time and other peoples’ time.

What have you learned? Advice for others?

• Try not to sit at the same place all the time – perhaps move from the desk to the sofa or work walking and talking, for example.
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• 2. Have a plan for what to do when your energy gets low. Is it calling a certain happy colleague? Watching a fun YouTube video? Or something else?
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• 3. Try and meet your colleagues physically as well if possible. Hopefully, now that the weather is nice, we can do more of this.

How will your dream work situation be in a few months when Learnifier once again has an office?

• I envision a big amazing creative space, where we can meet, use post-its, legos and other great workshop items, both with customers and internally. A meeting place when we want to meet. The rest of the time I think working from home will be great. A mix of both.

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  About Learnifier

  We are one of the leading Learning Platforms in the Nordics. Since 2012 companies and organizations of all sizes use our digital platform to quickly and easily create and share courses for – among other things – onboarding and training of employees, customers, partners, members and other groups they want to reach with their knowledge. Read more at Learnifier.com

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