Arvid Olason-Darmell … on getting fixated

He changes jobs all the time – without changing his job. He just follows his engagement and geeky book head. “My managers see the creativity of their employees”.

It’s in the genes. Or they have beaten it into me. No, Arvid Olason-Darmell does not mean that his parents mistreated him. Quite the opposite. They gave him his curiosity, the drive to always want to learn more. When they retired they didn’t just give up and sit in a leather armchair. They started at the senior university. They started doing genealogical research and attending seminars.

“The hunger for knowledge benefits me in my professional life. You want to become an expert. You want to be confident that you know what you are doing. I was a teacher before I started at Swedol, so the fact that I now also work with training comes naturally,” he says.

Training yes. It says ‘Store Salesperson’ on Arvid’s business card. It has done so for 16 years. Nevertheless, he has never categorised himself as a salesperson. He says that he isn’t an expert in sales, but rather in care and knowledge – which lead to sales. For a few years, he has also divided his time between the store in Gävle and training – and yes, really everything else he happens to get fixated on.

“Space, vinyl records, board games, writers, Jeeves. When I get fixated on something, I’m all-in. It’s gratifying to be able to fully commit to something and extremely rewarding to feel like you’re learning. I will never stop learning.”

Jeeves is Alligo’s business system. When Arvid started at Swedol in 2008, he was thrown into it like a baby bird being pushed out of its nest. It was just a case of flapping. There was no handbook for this at the time and Swedol was not the large organisation it is today.

Ten years with Jeeves later, Arvid had taught himself so much that his store manager asked him to help create training materials about the system. Could he become its ambassador and teach Jeeves’ secrets to employees throughout the Nordics?

“My knowledge comes from wanting to understand and do the right thing. I’m a geek with a good book head. Although it is about technology, I have no personal interest in IT. What I know are soft values in IT and I describe how you make a sale in the system. I have a good language and an understanding of it, can explain and know how to achieve what the user wants to achieve. I am also a store representative for Jeeves and make suggestions on how we can develop and improve the system,” he says, adding:

“It’s great fun. I have realised that I like training even more than I thought.”

Arvid Olason-Darmell tends to move sideways in his career. He says that “it’s a lot more fun” than the usual career path of becoming a manager. Which is why he has also remained for 16 years. The projects he is involved in do have their own project manager, but he gets to be his own boss. He appreciates the freedom of being able to set his own frameworks and objectives. He gets that as a part-time loan to ERP Support.

“I would get tired if the work was completely monotonous. We are such a large organisation that you have the opportunity to do what you are passionate about.” »Here there is a place for all types of commitment«

“Alligo has always taken care of me, with managers who see the creativity of the employees. It can also mean that you are the best at what you do, not everyone needs to rotate. The store environment is always changing. Our customers’ needs are always different.”

Here there is a place for all types of commitment