JUAL GROUP
SELF-AWARENESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY AS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
At JUAL in Juelsminde, job satisfaction has always been the foundation for all development. Maestro turbocharged well-being and collaboration with a training program in personal leadership and human psychology.
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JUAL has developed since the 1960s from a one-man business to a larger group, market-leading in roof and facade accessories. The approximately 300 employees today, spread across several companies, benefit from the strong values that permeate the organization, where well-being and safety are prioritized as the basis for performance and results.
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Maestro is an innovative training company that sets itself apart from traditional course and consulting firms by focusing on the simultaneous development of both professional, technological, and social skills. With a Maestro program, the ability of employees and leaders to engage in trust-based and well-being-centered collaborations is strengthened, which is crucial for a successful and productive workplace.
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Anders Kjær Jørgensen is the main shareholder and CEO of JUAL Group and represents the second generation in the company. He grew up in a culture where employees are well taken care of, even outside of work hours:
- It's clearly in our DNA. My father motivated young people to work quickly, and there has always been the approach that we should give it our all, but also remember to enjoy ourselves together! Today, I am the director here, and it is extremely important to me that my employees thrive and are informed about what is happening and why we make decisions that may have consequences for them. We are very generous with shared experiences and trips, physical training during work hours, and staff parties. And it's not to make us happy, but to celebrate that we are happy, emphasizes Anders Kjær Jørgensen.
We want people to
choose to be here primarily
because they enjoy it and
embrace our strong and
positive employee culture
Anders Kjær Jørgensen
CEO JUAL
Group
Job satisfaction across differences
In 2018, JUAL GROUP hired Christina Roslyng as an HR partner, but with the somewhat atypical angle that she should not deal with employment conditions and law. Her task is solely to ensure that employees feel comfortable in their everyday lives and trust their colleagues and leaders.
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- I work with disc analyses and personality profiles as the basis for better communication, better collaboration, and thus better performance. There is a big difference in our action patterns depending on whether you are innovative and outgoing or controlled and reserved. All employees therefore had their personality profile mapped, and these are today visually integrated into all our departments, where they are visibly displayed in corridors and offices. This has helped to increase understanding and tolerance towards each other when we visualize our differences in this way," explains Christina Roslyng.
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The increased focus on action patterns and personality types was well received among the employees. This led to a further development of this strategy when JUAL entered into an agreement with Maestro Business for a customized training program. The purpose of the program was to build on the foundation laid by Christina Roslyng, with a further focus on practical understanding of human psychology.
" ..Psychological safety
contributes to development
and is highly
performance-optimizing
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Christina Roslyng
HR-partner
JUAL Group
- In the first instance, we sent all production managers on a 6-day training course at Maestro. Many came back and thought it was very, very inspiring on a deeper human level, and completely different from the usual courses that result in a certificate. They had received the background for human psychology around collaboration, and why some collaborations work better than others. In my work with the staff, this was the next step in increased personal insight," explains Christina Roslyng and continues:
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- Our production managers are technically very competent, and many have advanced from production employee to department manager. But that does not necessarily mean that you are a good personnel manager. So in that way, there was also a need to equip some of our managers for their task. We believe that good leaders create good employees and high well-being. The personal benefit of the course was so significant that management quickly saw value in giving all employees the same insight. We wanted to create a common language and foundation across the entire organization in terms of being able to talk about challenges, collaboration, and personalities.
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That Maestro was chosen as a collaboration partner is partly due to their solid background in the industry:
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- It was crucial that they were industry-savvy and had a background in the industry. They could relate to the everyday life we have, and come with knowledge that is built on a platform of their own experiences. They can put some practice on their theories - and then they are some really nice people, that certainly also means something," says Anders Kjær Jørgensen, and Christina Roslyng adds:
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- They were very much at eye level. And that's how we are probably also as a company: At eye level with each other.
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Psychological Safety as the Foundation for Performance
During the Maestro program, there was a crucial focus on the importance of creating psychological safety and an environment where teams can collaborate and develop without insecurity. This has been a step towards performance and development, where employees not only can thrive but also dare to bring their full potential into play.
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Christina Roslyng, a former national team player and current People&Culture manager for the Women's National Handball Team, actively uses her experience with well-being and motivation as decisive factors for success. She emphasizes the importance of creating psychological safety both in the sports world and in the corporate world:
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- Both in the world of sports and in a company, it is incredibly important to create psychological safety. That you dare to speak your mind and are not afraid of making a fool of yourself and being exposed. This is something that I work on in my job here at JUAL Group and in my work with athletes. Psychological safety contributes to development and is very performance-optimizing. Through the Maestro program, I myself have become much more aware that a leader has a decisive influence on the psychological safety in the department. A leader who, for example, is curious and humble towards questions, wonder, mistakes, or new ideas and is authentic in their belief that everyone has good intentions, increases, in my opinion, the psychological safety. Moreover, it is also very much about cultural leadership. If you want to have a calm department, you yourself must be calm. If you have inner unrest, or you are stressed, it spreads like wildfire, Christina Roslyng concludes.
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The strength of metaphors and illustrations
Maestro often uses illustrations, imagery, and metaphors to create a common understanding of abstract psychological mechanisms. One such metaphor is the example of "Black Dust," which represents negativity, spreading in the form of criticism, complaints, rumors, and conflicts, undermining trust and well-being among colleagues and poisoning the workplace culture. This powerful metaphor helps employees identify and communicate this problem, ultimately leading to a greater effort to combat negativity and promote a positive work environment. And it resonated with JUAL Group.
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- My impression is that we have become more aware of our own contribution to the culture here, and what we can influence or not influence, and therefore not spend energy on. There are certainly some who have had an aha-experience and realized that they have been spreading 'black dust.' And I have not encountered anyone who has not been enthusiastic and felt that we all gained more insight. And that was precisely the purpose: To give everyone the opportunity to become wiser about themselves, each other, and human psychology, explains Christina Roslyng.
Zeb Hvidtfeldt, an employee in the production of the JUAL-Rooftec division, gained a whole new self-awareness from the program:
- I found it exciting already when Christina started making the personality profiles. And now we have an extension of that, which explains why people are the way they are, including myself. What strengths I have, and what I need to practice more. I can definitely feel that we all have started to think more about how we address different types of people, and I also use it in my free time as a soccer coach. Some types you can tease or provoke a little, while others need to be approached differently. I can be one who interrupts or is a bit too assertive sometimes. Now I have become more aware of also letting other people talk once in a while," Zeb Hvidtfeldt says with a smile, and continues:
"... we have all started
to think more about how
to approach different types
of people.
Zeb Hvidtfeldt
Production Worker
JUAL Group
- I am one with a lot of energy, but I think Maestro showed it in a good and inspiring way. The small detours they often made were always parallel to what they were talking about. It gave a better visual understanding of what they meant, so it was not just heavy theory in a long track. And some of those who usually do not say much started to slowly contribute. In general, Maestro just seemed very credible and quickly built trust, which made people listen and understand the message. At our latest morning meeting, for example, there were some who needed to vent something, and it all became a bit too negative. It was immediately commented on by others, who reminded them to spread some positivity as well. What went well yesterday, and what did not go wrong? Then people start to smile and laugh a little, and there was a good atmosphere when we left the meeting.
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Well-being as a competitive parameter
At JUAL Group, traditional well-being measurements are not made as a matter of principle, except for a Work Environment Assessment (APV) every three years.
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- We are very, very little KPI-driven. We do not use resources to measure well-being. We would rather use the resources to create activities that can help create well-being. Every two weeks or every third week, I have a meeting with the different department managers, and every single time well-being is on the agenda. It is much better for the department manager to go out and talk 1:1 with the employees and take the temperature of the well-being. They know the employees best and can sense when something is at stake," explains Christina Roslyng and elaborates:
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- We have many employees with long seniority, and we do not have a very high turnover. People are happy to be here because we offer something special in addition to being a workplace where you get paid to be. We constantly offer some add-on. And there is no doubt that this training program is an attractive add-on because it can also be used outside of working hours. A forklift certificate, for example, you can only use at your work. This is a self-development program, a language you can use as a human being, and which can go far beyond your work. It is precisely such things that make JUAL a good place to be.
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As a director and business owner, Anders Kjær Jørgensen agrees that the program is a competitive parameter on par with salary:
- We do not want to compete on salary. Of course, people should have a good and decent salary. But we want people to primarily choose to be here because they like it and buy into our strong and good employee culture.
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Strength-based leadership
Maestro Business has a unique approach to team development, leadership, and collaboration, characterized by a strength-based approach. A central element in this approach is a conscious focus on promoting change and improvement by building on what the team or organization is already very good at and using it as a lever to achieve even more in the future.
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JUAL Group is a well-run company with a long successful history, which did not need crisis management or a 'burning platform' to react to. The collaboration with JUAL Group is a living example of how Maestro's methods come into action.
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Anders Kjær Jørgensen does not see it as an expense to send employees on a training program with an element of personal development. It is, on the contrary, an investment in the company's most important resources and an investment in the future, which ultimately also benefits the bottom line and shareholders:
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- I can see results, even though they cannot be measured directly in productivity yet. The goal is not really productivity; I measure well-being and job satisfaction. I have talked to many employees who have said that 'this is the best thing I have ever been on.' I have experienced one who went from not liking their manager very much to saying 'I actually have the world's best manager.' And that has changed because they both went through the program and gained greater insight into human psychology and differences. Maestro manages to convey the material in an exciting and meaningful way and often draws things so you understand it. And that creative element in the Maestro program, one must not underestimate.
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Maestro's methods are also highly collaborative. By creating dynamic workspaces, they promote the search for common goals and overlapping ideas, which strengthens the spirit of collaboration between different departments and employee groups.
Anders Kjær Jørgensen noticed, among other things, how Maestro's approach also transformed the management group:
The different department managers used to see each other a bit as competitors and focused mainly on their own departments. Through the training, they have been more closely united in the management group and have become eager to develop their collaboration and make each other better. This is one of the very concrete values we have gained. I am actually a bit positively surprised by how many have said—excuse the expression—'damn, this is good.' Because I have also tried to pay out large bonuses and invited people to Mallorca, and of course, they are also happy about that. But this, this is on the level of enthusiasm.
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More group, less individual – greater job satisfaction
Something that both Anders Kjær Jørgensen and Christina Roslyng emphasize in their description of their collaboration with Maestro is that Maestro has developed the individual within the group and not the individual in isolation, and has anchored a common understanding and a common language across the corporation's employees:
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- I have not become better as an individual leader, but I have become much better together with my management group. I believe that the individual team out in production has become even better because everyone contributes. I could take some kind of leadership education and say that I have become a skilled leader because I have received some tools. But my tools do not work if my team is not with me and we lift together. I have a better collaboration with my board now than I have had before because we have gained a common language,' explains Anders Kjær Jørgensen and concludes:
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- As a leader, I become proud when employees in the cafeteria talk about how exciting it has been, or that someone has been around spreading some positivity. When an employee comes and says: "That there – that is the best thing I have ever tried"… That is actually better than giving them 5 kr. more per hour.
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About JUAL Group A/S
JUAL Group A/S is a Danish pioneer in the production of quality accessories for roofs and facades. Founded in the late 1960s, the company is based in the idyllic town of Juelsminde, but its products and influence extend far beyond Denmark's borders.
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The group employs more than 300 dedicated employees who work tirelessly to produce high-quality products. Their product portfolio includes everything from building profiles to advanced drainage and ventilation systems. Stainless steel roof drains, designed to be watertight directly from the factory, are one of their signature products.
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The company has always had a culture of innovation. A significant example of this is their introduction of roofing felt and roofing foil on products as early as the 1990s, a change that revolutionized the construction industry.
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With the establishment of a factory in Suzhou, China, in 2004, JUAL Group also has a strong international footprint. The company is also the parent company for a number of successful companies, including JUAL, JUAL China, Bygtjek A/S, Perform A/S, and Fixnordic A/S.
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At the companies in the JUAL Group, the customer's needs are always in focus. Their skilled team goes the extra mile to ensure that all customer wishes and requirements are met, whether it concerns custom-made products, logistics solutions, or documentation. This dedication to customer service and quality has built JUAL Group's reputation as a solid and reliable partner in the construction industry.