A snapshot from a fully booked event at the Danish Society of Engineers on Kalvebod Brygge in Copenhagen, where IDA Working Environment (Danish Occupational Safety and Health Professionals) had invited leading speakers and an inquisitive audience to engage in dialogue and reflection in room 101.
The heading was ‘New forms of organization and management: What do they mean for the working environment?’
Following a brief introduction to the day’s programme by the chair of IDA Working Environment, Mads Kristoffer Lund, there were three fascinating presentations followed by Q&A sessions:
(1) ‘Servant leadership – a path to more co-led workplaces?’ by Christian Groes, anthropologist and PhD,
(2) ‘Experiences of creating a co-led organization from within’ by Jesper Svarre Rasmussen, Head of Co-Leadership at Clever, and
(3) ‘Experiences of supporting co-leadership and similar approaches – from the outside’ by IDA Working Life.
Three topics, each of which – and all of which together – are important to bear in mind when new and perhaps different demands are being placed on both the leadership and co-leadership in large as well as small organizations . For example, I learnt:
(1) that the servant leader lifts the organization from the bottom up (servant leadership),
(2) that there must be at least 80% support among employees to establish co-led organizations and workplaces (there isn’t necessarily room for everyone), and
(3) that co-led organizations must be particularly mindful that expectations between leaders and employees are aligned, that the change processes are not underestimated, and that all the prerequisites for co-leadership are in place.
All in all, an interesting afternoon in excellent company, with delicious refreshments and phenomenal facilitation.
– I look forward to following the further development and spread of co-leadership in organizations both large and small.
solveig einarsson/november 2025