Leadership Profiles: Johnny Jensen

Leadership 

How would you describe yourself as a leader? 

Johnny Jensen has recently stepped into two new roles, he is the new Managing Director of Etteplan in Denmark, and a new father. 

Johnny describes himself as a positive and approachable leader, an equal to his employees, “I see myself in the eye level of my colleague.” With a positive and optimistic approach to the office environment, Johnny believes in encouraging his colleagues. Before joining Etteplan, Johnny experienced the customer-side, important insight into what he wants his current customers to experience. “I have worked my way up from sales to sales manager, sales director, and now Managing Director. I have an understanding of the experiences of my colleagues. I have a high level of respect for all of them because of this.” 

Johnny is dedicated not only to his family at home, but also his colleagues and customers. 

How does Etteplan support leadership and growth? 

Johnny joined Etteplan through the acquisition of the former Tekpartner in 2021, part of this deal was to allow the team in Denmark to take their time to melt into the larger Etteplan corporation. Independence was important for their journey to become a part of something bigger,  

“Regular weekly meetings with my colleagues have been particularly good support, and a way to keep connected.” 

With over 10,5 years of experience at Tekpartner/Etteplan, Johnny is confident in his abilities, but also looking forward to a continuously growing relationship within Etteplan.  

As for his role, Johnny had the support of his predecessor, as well as a network of colleagues to take a chance – one that has been a challenge worth taking.  

“I had a vision for how I saw us in the future, and they told me to go for it!” 

Culture 

How would you describe the culture at Etteplan? 

Johnny believes that culture is one of the most important parts within a company, “everything is linked to culture, and it is a little bit new for those of us that have joined through an acquisition. We have had our own culture, and we have to work collectively to melt those together.”  

He says that policies and processes can be learned and implemented, but culture is also how we work.  

“There is a difference in how we think, and we see things, we have always had a strong own culture. But a changing culture should be seen as an opportunity rather than a barrier. So far Etteplan has been open, transparent, and helpful – we already feel like part of the family.” 

In what ways do you feel you have an impact on the company culture? 

Johnny has played a key role in establishing the culture, having been there already for over a decade. However, it was difficult to say exactly what has created the culture that they built up over the years.  

“I come in with an optimistic and overall good attitude, my door is always open, I keep my employees happy and make sure they have interesting assignments and the support they need.”  

Now his role has been more about integrating two cultures in Denmark, and having regular meetings and keeping in touch has been the most natural approach.  

Values 

Our values are: Customer oriented, attractive, and proactive. What do they mean to you? 

“It is very important to have the right values, that leads to having good employees and if we have good employees, we have good customers, and then we get the most interesting projects.” 

This most important part is to make sure people are happy, according to Johnny, this affects customer experience – proactive, and customer orientation. At the end of the day, the employees are at the center of the business.  

How do you see this in practice? 

Creating an environment that supports our values has been an important task for Johnny, employees thrive in an environment where they can continue to grow.  

“We also have the need for sharing, where our employees can talk about overall day to day things over coffee or the lunch, but also to exchange the knowledge and the experience between each other.” 

The main point is that Johnny sees everyone as equals, and in order to work by the values, there needs to be healthy relationships and knowledge sharing amongst each other.  

Wildcard: If you could offer one piece of advice about anything, what would it be? 

“I would say take on new challenges and just jump into it. If your heart is in the right place and you have the best intentions, you can do things well – go for trying new things. Surround yourself with people that with back you up and support you.”