The Swedish Medical Association is the union and professional organization for medical doctors and medical students in Sweden, representing around 80 percent of the country’s physicians with more than 59,000 members.
Its mission spans key dimensions of the medical profession: safeguarding employment conditions, upholding professional ethics, strengthening the working environment, and contributing to patient safety and high-quality care. This mandate extends beyond advocacy and negotiation. It also includes a long-term responsibility for leadership development, competence building, and professional maturity among physicians in a wide range of roles.
Over several years, Nordic School of Management has had the privilege of collaborating with the Swedish Medical Association on precisely these matters. Here, Joakim Samuelsson, engagement lead from NSM, reflects on how the collaboration began and what has become foundational over time.
How did the collaboration begin?
It started from a very concrete need. The Swedish Medical Association was preparing to run digital workshops where groups of highly educated participants needed to quickly establish both trust and openness in conversation. One of their colleagues had previously worked with us during a development initiative at Södersjukhuset and believed that our way of facilitating dialogue could work well in this context too.
In situations like these, it is not enough to be “good at content.” What really matters is creating structures where people feel safe enough to think aloud, share experiences, and sometimes express uncertainty — despite strong professional identities. That is where our experience in dialogue facilitation became an important starting point.
How has the scope of the assignments evolve?
As the collaboration deepened, NSM began contributing to several parts of the Association’s trade union leadership education. The target groups have included elected union representatives, local and regional leaders, board members, and physicians in leadership positions.
A recurring theme has been to design learning environments where participants’ own experiences are not treated as something peripheral, but as a central resource in the learning process. Many participants are more accustomed to education formats focused primarily on listening and note-taking. Here, they encounter a different approach — one that allows multiple perspectives to coexist and invites complex questions to be explored together. This has often been met with what I would describe as a kind of “pleasant surprise”.
Which leadership questions have been most central?
Much of the work has focused on how leadership is actually practiced in everyday professional life. Leading and communicating change. Taking responsibility within complex processes. Understanding one’s role in relation to the profession, the organization, and the union mandate.
We have also worked extensively with questions of collective intelligence and team effectiveness — how groups can become wiser together rather than getting stuck in silos or silence. In healthcare, where physicians often operate at the intersection of multiple loyalties, these perspectives become particularly important.
How did the strategic collaboration around Lipus Utbildning take shape?
After several years of collaboration, we were invited to explore the conditions for developing a more outward-facing education initiative. The Swedish Medical Association wanted to establish a solid foundation for expanding its engagement in leadership and management education and needed a robust decision-making basis.
Our role was to contribute analysis and structure. The work included:
- a broad needs and market analysis of leadership and management education for physicians in Sweden, across both the public and private sectors
- more than 40 interviews with physicians, nurses, academics, and senior managers in various regions
- development of a business concept and strategy for long-term growth
- an analysis of Lipus’ prerequisites for establishing and operating a subsidiary focused on education
This work created a shared understanding of both the current situation and future direction, making it possible to take well-grounded decisions moving forward.
A partnership that has grown over time
The collaboration between the Swedish Medical Association and NSM has grown step by step — from dialogue facilitation in digital workshops to a long-term partnership encompassing leadership education and strategic development.
What has remained constant throughout the journey is a shared respect for the complexity of the medical profession and a belief that leadership development is most effective when learning, reflection, and practical experience are brought together.
Impact — what the client says
Anna Ingmanson, Director General, Swedish Medical Association:
“NSM has contributed perspectives that have clearly deepened our education in leadership. By combining structure with reflection, they have helped us create learning environments where participants truly make use of their collective experience — something that has an impact far beyond the training sessions themselves.”
“In the work leading up to the launch of Lipus Utbildning, NSM has been an important strategic partner. They have really helped us articulate how, as an association, we can take greater responsibility for leadership and management development in areas where the medical profession has specific needs.”