“To obtain a
working method that
actually works!”

Mikael Victor is the CFO at the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union (HRF). He has a wide-ranging role, with responsibility for everything related to finance and facility management, office services, reception and cleaning. In an interview, he talks about the course he attended with Effektiv Nu.

What challenges were you facing before you attended the course?

“For me, it was mainly the fact that I had an enormous number of e-mails and meetings to deal with,” Mikael explains. “Keeping control over all the matters and questions that kept rolling in was a challenge. Another challenge was gaining a good overview of my calendar and achieving better control of my time.”

What did you think of the course?

“Excellent! I’m really satisfied! The setup was good, as it was individual and tailored to my needs. Another advantage was that we could sit in my office, in my day-to-day working environment. The fact that it was so personal was extremely valuable to me. I got on well with the course leader, which inspired confidence and increased my desire to learn. Fatih was incredibly patient, educationally minded and committed! He’s easy to like.

“During the course I experienced plenty of aha moments regarding how to use the tool more optimally. I felt digitally literate, but I still got a lot out of the course, more than I was expecting. The training as a whole lifted me from where I was, which is exactly what you want after taking a course. To obtain a working method that actually works! Everyone should receive this training as a foundation to help them when they move into the world of work.”

What effects have you seen?

“The thing that has made the most difference is learning Outlook and the task manager tool. I used to think it was just strange, but now I use it every day. For my part, it has meant that I don’t lose any questions anymore. I keep track of what needs to be done and have it planned in my task list, which means that I also have everything in one place. When I receive a large influx of e-mails and tasks, I can now rely on the method and get a good overview pretty quickly. I have generally become better at timing my tasks and allocating them to different points in time, i.e. spreading out my tasks over the working weeks and distributing my time better.

“Another great benefit was learning to look at my calendar in a slightly more structured way and viewing myself as a resource when planning my days.

“It’s also been very rewarding and useful for me to learn more about OneNote, the digital notebook. This has many excellent features built in, which make it very user-friendly. I use it both for my individual work duties as well as in relation to teamwork and in collaboration with my colleagues. We have started using OneNote more as a collaborative platform internally following the course, and this has made it easier to carry out joint work.”

How are you moving forward after the course?

“I now want to learn even more, because the course has sparked a craving for this. I am trying to get my colleagues to use this way of working as well, when I notice they have a need for it.”

When Mikael is asked if he would recommend Effektiv Nu’s course to other companies, he replies:

“Absolutely. I already have, actually! I am more inclined to recommend the version I attended, obviously, because I don’t know what form the training takes in groups. But in general, I can state that anyone who has large numbers of e-mails and many documents to handle should go.”