The Nordic leadership model

What is the Nordic leadership model?

The Nordic leadership model is the way leadership is commonly practised in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. It is best understood as a shared set of habits: a short distance between leader and employee, a high degree of trust, and the expectation that people are involved before decisions are made.

It grew out of the wider Nordic model of society, with close cooperation between employers, employees and unions. In Norway, Sweden and Denmark, employees in larger companies even have a legal right to elect representatives to the board. Leadership in the region has been shaped by that tradition of involvement.

Five features you will meet in a Nordic workplace

• Short distance to the top. Titles matter little. The chief executive is called by her first name, and a junior employee can disagree with her in a meeting. In Geert Hofstede's research on national culture, the Nordic countries score among the lowest in the world on power distance.
• Trust before control. Leaders delegate early and check late. People are expected to plan and manage their own work.
• Involvement. Decisions are discussed widely before they are made, and those affected expect to be heard.
• Consensus. The aim is a decision everyone can live with. Open conflict is avoided where possible.
• Balance. Working hours and family time are respected. Long evenings in the office earn little admiration.

Why Nordic leadership works

When it works, the model gives you something many organisations struggle to buy: people who take responsibility without being told. Bad news travels upwards quickly, because it is safe to bring it. And decisions, once made, meet little resistance, because people helped shape them.

This is the kind of leadership I describe in my book Leading GenZ, where Jens Stoltenberg and the Nordic leadership model are among the examples. Younger employees in particular expect to be involved and to understand why. The Nordic model meets them there.

Where the Nordic leadership model fails

The model has a weak spot that rarely makes it into the brochure. Consensus is a strength right up to the moment it becomes a hiding place.

I have worked with leaders, leadership teams and boards for 30 years, and the pattern is familiar. The meeting ends in agreement, and the decision is reopened in the corridor the next morning. The leader who should say no says maybe. Responsibility is shared so widely that nobody owns it. And because everyone is entitled to be heard, the slowest voice sets the pace.

At the centre of it is a leader who wants to be liked. In a culture built on equality and harmony, the person who makes the unpopular call feels exposed. So the call is postponed. Then postponed again.

That is where my work starts. I help leaders keep the trust and the involvement, and still make the decision and stand by it when somebody is unhappy.

Leading Nordic teams from abroad

If you own or lead a Nordic company from another country, a few things are worth knowing.

• Expect to be questioned. Disagreement in a meeting is a sign of engagement. Loyalty is shown in how people carry out the decision afterwards.
• Explain why. An instruction without a reason will be followed slowly, if at all.
• Give room. Detailed control is read as distrust, and it costs you your best people first.
• Be clear about who decides. Involvement does not give everyone a vote. Say early whether you are asking for input or making the decision yourself.