Allier Gruppen: Developing both people and organisation through employee conversations
Eirin Eriksen Horvei
October 14, 2026
– Management has enormous influence on employees' well-being, motivation and ability to solve their tasks, says Bjørn Eirik Bøe, organisational adviser at Motivati.
– For example, it can be challenging when strong professionals or founders suddenly become responsible for staff without any form of support in the role. Most managers need tools to look after their human resources and to gain the necessary insight at an individual level, he explains.
It turns out that managers who actively tackle the challenges are in a much stronger position.
– Done the right way, it leads to fewer misunderstandings, conflicts and sick leave, and less turnover. Being an active manager who takes employees seriously is demonstrably both preventive and profitable – in both small and large companies, says Bøe.
In Bergen, Lene Bergmann has led the communications agency Mannheimer for six years. It is a small, well-respected company working with communications advice, content production and media handling for clients all over the country.
– We work closely together, in an editorial team where relationships are also close. That is why it is incredibly important that employee appraisals become more than a chat over coffee, she says.
– The past year has been tough. Results have been fine, but there has undeniably been a lot of stop-start during the pandemic, both with clients and with life in the home office.
More recently, Mannheimer has become part of the Mantel group, and together the services cover all aspects of strategic communication, design and brand development.
Lene Bergmann has been part of all the changes in the company she helped start. When they merged with another company last year, both cultures and business strategies had to be brought together.
– The merger required us to get to know new colleagues quickly. In both camps, we were aware that merging two different cultures could be challenging, she says.
In this process, they picked up Motivati, a recognised, research-based leadership tool for small and medium-sized businesses. The company has developed the Motivati method for employee appraisals and organisational development.
– We realised that we lacked a formalised tool for employee appraisals, and a professional system that could shape how we should work strategically to develop the organisation further, says Bergmann.
– At Mannheimer, we have agreed on who we are, what position we want to take and where we want to go.
Bjørn Eirik Bøe at Motivati has a master's degree in work and organisational psychology, specialising in leadership. He works with a number of companies undergoing change and finds that if a company is to succeed in getting everyone to pull in the same direction, systematic follow-up and good communication are required.
– As a manager, you should have great respect for growth and change processes, and take into account challenges related to the human factors. People like stability and predictability, and dislike abrupt change and uncertainty – some more than others, says Bjørn Eirik Bøe.
– It must be clear to everyone why the changes are being made, which is especially important for key people with formal and informal power in the organisation. You want them on your side, not as opponents of the process, he adds.
The consequences of not doing this properly can be dramatic.
In 2017, the leadership development firm Hay Group (now Korn Ferry) compiled data from 500,000 leaders from all over the world to find out how much leadership behaviour affects the working environment and how this in turn shapes financial results.
The findings of the meta-study showed that the leader accounts for 70 percent of the influence on the organisational climate, while the impact of the organisational climate on financial results is between 24 and 30 percent.
– Time is often in short supply for a manager, but the survey shows that it is incredibly costly not to prioritise taking the time, says Bøe at Motivati.
At Mannheimer in Bergen, Lene Bergmann was a little apprehensive about introducing a new tool. That worry quickly evaporated.
– How wrong you can be. Motivati is easy to work with for both managers and employees, and we get a much clearer picture of the organisation.
The experienced communicator feels that the tool creates a foundation of security, not least with the major changes that have followed in the wake of the pandemic. She has no doubt that crises, change and growth challenge the culture – and the leadership.
– Previously, I relied mostly on my own intuition and experience, but the Motivati method picks up on more elements and challenges us to think in new ways. It is invaluable help for me as a manager.
