Bengt Lindström was born in 1953 and has worked as an organizational development consultant for decades. He is undoubtedly the most experienced practitioner and instructor of the Four Rooms of Change.
Bengt Lindström established A&L AB (Inc.) with a couple of colleagues in 1991.
From 1985 to 1991, Bengt was a part-owner of the OD consulting firm AB Arbetskonsulter, where he held various management positions and was a member of the board of trustees. Previously, he was employed as an internal OD consultant and pedagogical expert at the Federation of Swedish Farmers. There, he focused on management and business development, especially in production, such as feed milling, grain handling, and machine retailing. At the time, this company group had more than 10,000 employees and was owned by more than 60,000 farmers. Bengt also worked with owner representation, democratic processes, and the development of the board of trustees.
In the 1970s, Bengt worked on pedagogical and training development within the Swedish military defense system.
Recently, Bengt has worked extensively with the public sector, as well as with for-profit and nonprofit organizations, including UNICEF and trade unions. In the late eighties and nineties, Bengt was deeply engaged as an OD consultant with different companies in the energy sector, such as nuclear power plants, electricity and gas distribution, and marketing. For example, he helped a major energy company create an innovative, highly productive, and sustainable management succession planning system.
He has extensive experience as a supportive and confrontational consultant for various positions, including managers, specialists, teachers, board chairmen, and more, as well as internal and external consultants, including project managers of large-scale IS and IT projects.
For over ten years, he has taught Organizational Diagnosis and Consulting Skills in the psychology program at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is also busy with various international projects, particularly in the United States.
His most valued competence, as referred to by clients, is being consultatively present and providing patient support to clients (or client systems) who appreciate a consultant who doesn’t always have the right answer.
Bengt Lindström is one of the owners and CEO of A&L Partners Consulting AB.
Work Experience
- 1991–present: Part-owner, CEO, and General Manager; OD Consultant, A&L Partners Consulting AB
- 1985–1991: OD Consultant; part-owner; and Board of Trustees Member, AB Arbetskonsulter
- 1978–1985: Internal OD Consultant and Training Expert, Farmer’s Cooperation
- 1973–1978: Team Manager; Project Leader; and Pedagogical Expert, Swedish Defense
- 1972–1973: Military Service; Officer Training
- 1971–1972: Guard and Treater, One of Sweden’s Maximum Security Prisons
Examples of Assignments over the last few years
- Management and Leadership Training Programs (mostly long ones) in Large and Small Organizations and on All Levels
- The Leader and the Business: Planning and Implementation of a Career Development Program Aimed at First and Second Line Managers Appointed by Top Management to Work Towards a Top-Level Management Position in the Leading Financial Institution
- Creation and implementation of management succession planning systems in large organizations, including finding, developing, retaining, and phasing out managers and management functions based on organizational values, business uniqueness, and informed estimates of future organizational and customer needs.
- Business analysis and organizational diagnosis.
- Support for management teams, boards, project teams, and work groups.
- Support for the development of different parts of the school system, including kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities, as well as other educational institutions.
- Professional development programs for OD consultants (internal and external), HR consultants, OD consultants, and management development consultants.
- Support for the development and radical change of large, complex systems, often using The Four Rooms of Change, Future Search and Breakpoint conferences as breakthrough tools. Bengt has experience with more than 20 completed Future Search programs.
- Consultation and change support using business mapping and process orientation
- External speaking partner for shorter and longer series of conversations to support employees in making more conscious and informed choices
- Business and management support for organizations in severe crisis when the management system has collapsed or the organization is on the verge of causing substantial environmental damage
Education
University studies focused on behavioral sciences, such as pedagogics, sociology, teaching, training, learning technologies, and psychology. Post-university studies focused on group and organizational psychology, professional consultation, communication, large group psychology and intervention, democracy, and human rights.