An expertise in sales and performance management, Torben Stigaard has great insights into the working of a plethora of companies – from small start-ups to large corporate groups. A staunch believer of cross-selling, his professional expertise includes developing sale, campaigns and skill-enhancing activities based on eos- and customer satisfaction reports. He is the Managing Director of Plandisc, the world’s first digital circular calendar. He speaks on an array of topics in an interview. Excerpts:

Conception of Plandisc

A Plandisc circular calendar is an ideal easy, sharable and interactive tool to visualize organizational flow and to generate transparency to break down the siloes that can hinder any organization. Says Torben, “Morten, who is a partner in Plandisc, needed a digital and flexible tool to map the rhythm of the school year for his job in the education sector. He wanted a tool that facilitated collaboration, editing and allowed to gather all files and information in one place.” Often planning takes place on multiple platforms, which makes it difficult to get a good overview, so it was important to make a planning tool that can contain it all and display it in a way that makes sense to the viewer and to make the processes and rhythms clear thus Plandisc was born.

Strategizing Plandisc

“With remote working becoming a part of almost any organization, it is important to make sure that plans are aligned, and we stay in sync regardless of location. We must also pay close attention to the demand for flexibility and be ready to make changes when the unexpected happens.”

The Plandisc Tools

Plandisc’s tools ensure that rings are shared and combined to keep track of projects, classes, assignments etc. to avoid overlap and make sure that the workload for both teachers and students are evenly distributed throughout the school year. This situation creates the optimal conditions for learning. “In addition, updating the plan and repeating elements of it is easily done, which is practical as the education institutions often have classes, parts of the syllabus and projects they need to repeat in every school year.”

Leadership traits

Torben underlines the importance of mapping the rhythm of business. He feels that it is pivotal to get a good overview of the same that helps in planning and detecting your needs and goals in a much easier way. “Collaboration is important to me and working in the same rhythm and towards the same goals is essential, to get a smooth process.” As an organized and very focused individual, this technology enthusiast believes in creating value. “Therefore, I am very passionate about our product as I see how organizations really benefit from the circular approach to planning.”

The innovator, the risk taker

The demand for innovation today requires taking chances, as innovation isn’t found if you only go down the safe roads. “Testing new ideas is the only way to detect what the clients want, and failed attempts are a natural part of that process. The most important knowledge you get along the way, often comes from the failures, so accept them and take whatever you learned from them with you as you move forward.”

It is important to follow the rapid tempo digital development while keeping in mind that the product should be intuitive and easy to use. “But above all, always listen to the feedback from the customers, that is the only way to ensure that your product keeps matching their needs, to give your ideas a try. If they are always kept in the brain-storming phase you won’t know if they work, so test them as much as you can and learn from the ones that fail, suggests Torben.

“Our aim is for plandisc to be a worldwide tool, that organizations use for mapping their rhythm of business in order to achieve synergies, break down siloes and avoid overlapping activities” he signs off.