From Sweden to Bengaluru – living the change journey

By Maria EbbessonAs a young woman I took the leap to move from my home village on the island of Gotland in Sweden into a totally new town to start my engineering education. That first day, in Gothenburg, on the Swedish west coast, I had to figure out the basics; how to pay on the tram and where to find the gathering location for all the new students.Never did I imagine that I, many years later, would start a career at Volvo Group which would take me and my family to many countries around the globe – from the US to China and now to India.Change always sounds inspiring in hindsight and most of us are inspired by the experiences of other people – but living through that same change can be uncomfortable, frustrating and even lonely. I’ve had moments when I questioned whether I had made the right decision – especially when my family and I were adapting to new environments. But those moments also built resilience.I started recognising patterns in every transition. The initial phase has its mix of feelings: excitement, expectation, but also butterflies for the unknown to come. Then a phase of doubt, hesitation, frustration over setbacks and misunderstandings, and then gradually growing understanding, acceptance and appreciation for the new that has come. Knowing these emotions were part of the process helped me support not only myself but also my family and my teams.I’ve learned that most people don’t resist change – they resist uncertainty, and they often don’t voice the real concerns. And as leaders, our role is to bring clarity and compassion during that uncertainty but also confidence. Confidence that even if the future doesn’t look the same as today, we’ll come out wiser, more resilient and a bit humbler in the end. Change will always be part of the journey, but so will personal growth, if we allow ourselves to embrace it fully. Leading global teams has shown me that diversity isn’t just about representation – it’s about learning to see through someone else’s lens. I’ve been in meetings where my direct Swedish style felt too blunt, and others where my same Swedish style with inclusiveness and careful phrasing was read as indecisive. Every time, I had to recalibrate – not to fit in, nor to fundamentally change, but to communicate better.It’s humbling to realise that leadership doesn’t look the same everywhere. What remains constant, though, is intent: the desire to connect, to build trust, do something better and to move forward together.Many of our engineering teams go through similar changes when working together on a global basis. We all have our company history, culture, personal and professional background that shape who we are and how we behave. Sometimes, many things that we take for granted get challenged by a team having different experiences and ways of working. In my experience, as a team, it requires a lot of dedication and commitment to build common ground; but with clear objectives, building new relations, creating a platform of understanding and persistence, opportunities will start to arise. In the end, the two teams will achieve more just because they have a larger spread of experience, competence and best practices to pull from.Global assignments have taught me that leadership is less about having a uniform way of working and more about weaving together our differences into something stronger.Looking back at my younger self, moving to the big city with all its opportunities and hurdles, I might simply tell myself – there’s a whole lot of change awaiting you, but you’re going to relish all of it, and fully embrace change for your own growth and that of others.