Profile: Henk van Lieshout, the first non-Norwegian top manager at Herøya
(June 25, 2002) Dutchman Henk van Lieshout is the first non-Norwegian to be appointed to a Hydro top management job at the tradition-rich Herøya site. Amiable and congenial on the surface, he is a man not afraid to take tough decisions.
 Henk van Lieshout |
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When Henk van Lieshout (56) came to Hydro Agri Porsgrunn just over a year ago, his mission was clear: to restructure the organization and regain a leading corporate position for the fertilizer plants there.
Since then there have been dramatic changes. "The new broom has swept clean" by changing the traditional organizational culture on Herøya, by cutting jobs and turning lots of people's long-established work patterns upside down. His efforts have brought protests from different parts of the organization as well as from the unions. Most people have opinions about the new man at the top, but who is he really - and how does he view his own role?
When Henk, as everyone calls him, took charge of Hydro Agri Porsgrunn, he was the first foreign senior vice president of Hydro' s operations there.
" I didn't in fact realize this until after I had started in the job," he explains. " I knew that a number of non-Norwegians worked at Herøya, but I hadn't realized that I would be the first foreign senior vice president."
" Under your leadership Hydro Agri Porsgrunn has undergone substantial changes. Some people think that you do not take sufficient account of the corporate culture we are used to here?"
"I've worked for Hydro since 1985, in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, but I have never experienced such a strong Hydro identity anywhere as I have here in Porsgrunn. There is an obvious reason for this; the company was founded here, and much of Telemark's and Norway's modern development is linked to Hydro. Such a cultural identity is obviously a strength, but it can also be a weakness; one might be led to believe that one's position in the company is so secure that it cannot be affected, a dangerous preconception when coupled with our natural resistance to change.
We can end up opposing the processes that are necessary in order to adjust to reality. I know, with my foreign background, that this is a problem because Agri employees abroad believe that Hydro treats its employees in Norway differently, that it in fact protects them. There have been "major revolutions" abroad, people have been laid-off and plants shut down. In Norway little has happened, despite the fact that results have certainly not been good. This sort of thing sours the atmosphere between plants that are supposed to be pulling in the same direction.
" What was it like to arrive here as a non-Norwegian and make changes to 70 years of traditions and routines?"
 Henk van Lieshout |
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" I think that my coming here and being given responsibility for the turnaround was the best solution. If we had not done anything drastic now, Hydro Agri Porsgrunn's days would have been numbered. It was necessary to implement such great changes that it simply was not advisable to let anyone from Porsgrunn’s own ranks assume responsibility for it. There would have been so many role conflicts that the task would have been made extremely difficult."
"We have reduced the number of employees in Hydro Agri Porsgrunn from 700 to 450 in the course of the year that I have been here, and that is no little operation. In addition, we have taken a number of unusually forceful measures. All of this has been controversial and has provoked some sharp reactions from the employees. It was smart of those who wished to introduce radical changes to ask a foreigner to do the job."
" Are you afraid of being disliked?"
" The toughest turnaround job I have been involved was in Rostock. When Hydro took over the former East German plant, some 2, 000 people worked there and a major reorganization was implemented. When I got there , there were 375 employees and when I left there were 250. Now there are 200. It was a painful process, and I had many a battle with the unions. But when I left Rostock, the whole situation had changed; the unions were writing letters to Hydro asking me to stay longer, and on the day I left they arranged a farewell that brought forth the tears -they put together a souvenir book containing greetings and pictures. They even wrote a poem... "
" On the whole, my stay in Rostock was one of my best foreign postings, and my wife and I still have many good friends there. This contains the answer to your question: when people discover that the drastic remedy is the only medicine that works, and one ends up with more secure jobs and greater competitiveness, then one has to be satisfied. I think this will be the case in Porsgrunn as well. "
" When will you finish the job?"
" When we talk about restructuring and adapting to markets, we are not just referring to a phase we need to go through and then everything will be hunky-dory. Being a global player means changing continuously. There is a difference between the culture I am familiar with from abroad and that which I have met in Norway. Here I find a tendency to get the job finished in order to "rest on one’s laurels". But the world is not like that. Only when we have realized that change and improvement are required constantly and are mentally prepared for this, can we tackle the challenges ahead. As far as Hydro Agri Porsgrunn is concerned, we are now in a more comfortable situation than before, but with lower costs, a historic production record and solid financial results. But the current picture now shows a weak decline from last year. There is absolutely a need to keep on our toes. We must not lose focus."
" Can you say a few words about yourself, Henk."
 Henk van Lieshout |
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" I'm Dutch, 56 years old and am married with three grown-up children who all live in the Netherlands, and I have one grandchild... "
" I studied mechanical engineering in my home town of Eindhoven. It's a similar place to Porsgrunn, as it is the home base of the worldwide Philips group, and most people in Eindhoven have a strong attachment to the company. My entire family have worked at Philips, and my mother could never understand why I could go and work for anybody else!"
"Besides, Eindhoven is also home to the most famous company football team, PSV Eindhoven - my favourite team, naturally. I played football myself for many years until the doctor told me to slow down. Football is great for "breaking the ice" - you meet people everywhere who are interested in the sport. While working for Hydro in Ferrara, Italy, I discovered that if you could talk about football, Formula 1 or cycling, you could get to get to know just about anyone. Sport is a great social integrator, and my interest in football has brought me much pleasure. It's for this reason that I have also had a stock of PSV gift items to give away when the conversation turns to football. But I've also tried to follow football while I've been here; I go to Odd Grenland's matches and watch games on TV. "
" You have travelled a lot for Hydro. Do you have a permanent base in you own country?"
" If you are asking whether we have a house or a flat waiting for us, then the answer is no, but we do have a summer place out by the beach near Sluiskil. And, of course, we have our children and our grandchildren back in Holland."
" There is no point in having a house when you never live in it. My wife also accompanies me and we settle down in the places where we are posted. A foreign posting lasts a minimum of three years and we are very happy with this arrangement. We like to make ourselves familiar with the culture, language and traditions in the countries where we are staying. Besides, we really like to go hiking in the forest and in the country. The Grenland area offers some fantastic opportunities for doing this and we have got to know the district very well. We would also like to avail ourselves of the Hydro holiday cabins and learn more about fishing, for example. We Dutchmen are squeezed together in a small country, so it is quite an experience to come here to the spacious and easily accessible Norwegian outdoors. It has also been easy to get acclimatized to the job and the way of life here. It's a great place to live and work."
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