Preparing future leaders to tackle wicked problems

The Change Maker Future Track aims to equip Master's students with the tools to become leaders of sustainable transformation. Handpicked students with a strong interest in sustainability issues and an entrepreneurial mindset has received practical training based on the challenges of external stakeholders while receiving support from coaches within the industry and academia. The "graduation ceremony" was a happy affair, and we have taken a closer look at the challenge "Lindängen" and spoken to Larissa Sophie Römer and Linnea Persson, students of Management and International Strategic Management respectively.

Wicked problems and personal development

The track is built around what Senior Lecturer Stein Kleppestø, academically responsible for the track, calls "wicked problems". A wicked problem is a complex and interconnected issue that is difficult to define, with multiple stakeholders holding different and often conflicting perspectives on the problem and its potential solutions. The point of the Change Maker Future Track is not to solve the challenge, but to significantly improve the challenge owner’s situation and, above all, give the students the tools and personal development to equip them for the wicked problems they will encounter in their professional life.

The track has served as a bootcamp, and participating student Larissa Sophie Römer says, "When I applied, I didn't know what to expect, but the challenge we got was a great experience. I learned a lot about teamwork and I spoke to many people that I would not have met otherwise, which I think was key for my personal and professional growth. We were always encouraged to try things out, even when we were uncertain of the outcome. I think this was a relatively new experience for many of us. The challenges we faced were complex and it was great to have a safe space to experiment. This mindset of daring to fail made us creative, and I will keep it in mind when dealing with wicked problems in the future."

Fellow teammate in the challenge Linnea Persson chimes in, "I can only agree with what Larissa said. The challenge was so complex, and we were unsure of how to start. However, we followed Stein's 'Fail fast, fail forward' approach and simply started working on it. Another eye opener for me was that when working with an NGO, the 'lingo' is different. They're not business people; they're people-people."

Larissa Sophie Römer, Ertugrul Melekoglu, Dorina Crivat, Anna-Karin Wickström (Stena Fastigheter), Linnea Persson, Ayesha Khalid, Martina Oxling (Project Manager Sustainable Future Hub) at the graduation ceremony. Also working on the projekt but not in the picture was Ambra Boilini and Dyah Raras.

The challenge in Lindängen

This challenge was part of an already ongoing project by Stena Fastigheter in Lindängen, where the real estate company works with several NGOs to promote the neighborhood's development into a community. The team joined in several events during the months of the project which culminated in a photo exhibition. The exhibition took inspiration from the account 'Humans of New York', where regular people are interviewed and encouraged to tell their life story. Larissa says, "It was so interesting hearing all the stories from people’s lives, and hopefully, someone from the communications team can keep the project going and do more portraits."

Stena Fastigheter themselves were very pleased with the exhibition. Linnea says, "We hope that they will use the photo exhibition in their main office, and it might go on tour after that. It's really cool to hear that people are interested in what we did and feeling like what we did might actually have made a small difference."

Lessons learned

As the student’s personal growth is at the forefront of the challenges, we asked what they will bring with them from the experience, to which Linnea says, "Communication is always going to be a big part of any catalytic leadership, and it was also good to gain insights on how NGOs work." Larissa nods and agrees, "We also relied heavily on teamwork, where, of course, communication is key. Our diverse team had many differences in culture, schedule and values, but we made it work, which I think will be a good experience to bring to any profession."

Linnea concludes that "The biggest learnings really happened inside the team and ourselves. Having teammates to speak to and share the experience with was very valuable."

Initiative by students leads to partnership

Challenge owner Anna-Karin Wickström, responsible for social sustainability at Stena Fastigheter says:
"The students' participation through the Change Maker Future Track has been absolutely crucial as they were tasked with launching a completely new initiative. A direct effect of the project is that we are in the process of signing a cooperation agreement with an organisation that will be tasked with making use of the contacts among the tenants that the students have created. The plan is for tenants, with the support of Stena and the partner organisation, to design activities in one of our courtyards."