Discovering the Intersection of Human Behavior and Business!
“I yearned for more tangible tools to effectively nurture leadership qualities.” With these words, Johanna Karlström embarked on a journey that would ultimately lead to the founding of her company, The Island Coach. Raised on the tranquil Åland Islands, surrounded by the maritime industry, she developed an early fascination with human behavior within organizations.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science, her entrepreneurial spirit took flight. Johanna launched a venture blending her passion for psychology and nature by operating a farm that used equine interactions to promote emotional intelligence and personal growth.
“Witnessing the profound impact of those human-horse connections was deeply fulfilling,” Johanna reflects. “But the relentless demands of entrepreneurship and motherhood forced me to re-evaluate my path.”
That introspection led her back to the maritime sector, where she tackled loss prevention and recognized the correlation between organizational culture and risk for incidents. Earning a master’s in psychology and studying business economics further stoked her determination to equip leaders with social and emotional competence. “The human element is so often overlooked when developing leadership skills,” she states. “I knew unleashing emotions like empathy and self-awareness was key to driving organizational success.”
The pivotal moment came when Johanna enrolled in Lars-Eric Uneståhl’s coaching program, unlocking a toolbox of techniques to nurture those missions-critical qualities. It was the catalyst for founding The Island Coach. “My upbringing in the maritime world deeply influenced my perspective,” Johanna explains. “This industry’s challenges demand emotional resilience and strong interpersonal skills. With coaching, we equip leaders to excel in those areas.”
Through highly personalized services, The Island Coach helps executives build genuine self-confidence, embrace growth mindsets, and cultivate their emotional and social competence. Johanna’s background affords a unique understanding of the complexities leaders face.
“My programs fuse progressive coaching methodologies with profound respect for organizational culture,” she says. “By nurturing the human elements of leadership, we can drive meaningful growth for individuals and their organizations.” With an approach steeped in psychology, entrepreneurism, and her island upbringing, Johanna is charting a bold new course for leadership development through The Island Coach.
The Island Coach Inception Story
The genesis of The Island Coach marks the commencement of a voyage dedicated to nurturing emotional and social intelligence—a cornerstone of success in today’s business world.
Driven by a relentless pursuit of growth and empowerment, this journey began with a transformative coaching course led by Lars-Eric and Elene Uneståhl in Örebro, Sweden. Amidst Johanna Karlström’s academic pursuits, this course transcended conventional education, exploring core values and challenging limiting beliefs. Further exploration in Thailand provided deep insights into psychology and mental training, opening the profound impact of coaching firsthand.
Inspired to share these revelations, The Island Coach emerged, offering tailored programs integrating coaching, behavioral science, and psychology. With a focus on emotional and social intelligence, these programs resonate deeply with companies aiming to foster resilient and empathetic leaders.
At its core, The Island Coach embodies a dedication to nurturing emotional and social intelligence in the leadership of burgeoning businesses. Partnering with companies that prioritize a strong culture while acknowledging the indispensable role of socially and emotionally intelligent leaders, The Island Coach continues to pave the way for sustainable success and growth in the dynamic business landscape.
Furthermore, through flexible and seamless online coaching, seamlessly integrated into the daily rhythms of business, The Island Coach ensures accessibility and convenience without compromising effectiveness.
Early Experiences as a Journalist
Looking back at her days as a fledgling journalist for Häst é Bäst magazine, which translates to “Horses are best,” it’s like peering into the archives of Johanna’s youthful entrepreneurial escapades. Picture a pint-sized version of her, with a love for horses and an overactive imagination, boldly venturing into the publishing world. Crafting her own horse magazine was akin to embarking on a passion of hers—complete with misspellings, grammatical errors, and a hefty dose of childhood charm.
Naturally, she roped in her unsuspecting family as her first subscribers, convincing them to part with their hard-earned pocket money for a copy. It was a hilarious mix of enthusiasm and naiveté, but everyone must start somewhere, right? Little did she know that this quirky little magazine would sow the seeds for a lifetime of entrepreneurial exploits. This was her first experience creating with passion, adapting to her target group, marketing, and realizing the importance of adding value to people.
Transition from Running a Horse Farm to Pursuing a Career
Johanna’s transition from running a horse farm to the marine insurance sector stemmed from a desire for a more balanced life. Realizing she was becoming a parent who couldn’t find five minutes to sit down and play with her kids, she made the difficult decision to shift focus. After selling the horses and relocating, she pursued a master’s in psychology, seeking a career where she could apply her behavioral science expertise.
Spotting a job ad in loss prevention for a marine insurance company, Johanna was drawn to the challenge of project management in preventing damages. Despite skepticism from others who said this role was for captains and machine engineers, she applied and ultimately landed the role.
Working in the maritime industry, Johanna is inspired by its resilience and rapid evolution, mainly its focus on safety and sustainability. This journey has taught her valuable lessons about leadership, culture, and the symbiosis between positive culture and success.
Background in Behavioral Science
Drawing from her background in behavioral science and psychology, Johanna deeply informs her approach as a loss prevention executive in shipping. Her passion for helping people and businesses thrive has always been central to her career. She swiftly recognized the vital role of human factors in safety and performance, understanding that human error, constituting 90% of accidents, underscored the need to address the human factor. Leveraging insights from behavioral science, she prioritizes understanding human behavior and cultivating positive cultures, with leadership at the forefront.
Johanna spearheaded numerous projects with shipping companies to enhance a positive safety culture, recognizing its pivotal role in long-term success. Examples include forums where companies openly share lessons from near-misses and accidents. Additionally, she collaborated with other industries, such as aviation, to share inventions and lessons.
Later in her career, Johanna discovered coaching as an effective tool to enhance company culture, contributing to safer operations.
Establishing The Island Coach
Johanna’s journey to establishing The Island Coach began with a childhood interest in how people impact their surroundings due to their social and emotional competence. Fascinated by mental training’s potential for performance enhancement, she pursued certification as an ICC coach. Starting hobby coaching during maternity leave, she found a profound purpose in fostering leadership growth.
Finally, she formalized The Island Coach, focusing on social and emotional competence in leadership. Through collaborative efforts, a comprehensive coaching program tailored to enhance leadership skills emerged. Today, Johanna works with companies already invested in positive cultures, leveraging their efforts to prioritize social and emotional competence in leadership.
Integrating Academic Knowledge in Business Economics
Combining her background in behavioral science, psychology, and business economics, Johanna offers a holistic approach to coaching individuals in business. While her academic knowledge in business economics provides a foundational understanding of organizational structures and models, her expertise in coaching focuses on the human aspect of business performance. She leverages insights from behavioral science to comprehend motivation and creativity, which are crucial for individual and organizational success.
Recognizing the limitations of traditional economic models in addressing human needs and long-term sustainability, she encourages reevaluating business frameworks. Through coaching blended with interdisciplinary knowledge in business and psychology, she empowers individuals to make informed decisions, stay motivated, and adapt during challenging times, fostering resilience and creativity in business environments.
Ultimately, Johanna believes there is an intrinsic connection between human well-being and business effectiveness, facilitating personal and professional growth.
Experience as a Certified Coach
Johanna’s certification as a coach under the famous psychologist and father of mental training Lars-Eric Uneståhl significantly enhanced her ability to cultivate a positive safety culture within shipping companies. Initially, she sought practical tools to address safety culture at various organizational levels. While strategies existed for top decision-makers, she found a gap in effectively empowering frontline leaders to foster a safety culture.
Upon discovering Uneståhl’s coaching method, which incorporates mental training, Johanna gained a powerful tool to fill this gap. This approach, grounded in research and emphasizing social and emotional competence, proved transformative. As a coach, she felt more equipped to train leaders in enhancing their emotional intelligence, communication, and motivation skills.
Consequently, leaders could authentically influence the safety culture within their teams, integrating it into their leadership approach. This approach facilitated a more organic and sustainable safety culture, transcending mere compliance and becoming embedded in the organizational fabric. Thus, Johanna’s experience as a certified coach empowered her to guide leaders in effectively implementing and nurturing a safety culture within companies, fostering lasting improvements.
Strategies to Help Individuals Understand Their Worth
Johanna emphasizes self-esteem to help individuals transcend mere professional achievements. Understanding one’s intrinsic value is vital, as it influences both personal and professional roles. For instance, high self-esteem enables leaders to delegate effectively, nurturing trust and collaboration within teams.
Conversely, low self-esteem may manifest as micromanagement and defensiveness, hindering team morale and productivity. Through self-reflection and questioning limiting beliefs, individuals can cultivate genuine self-worth. Mental training techniques, such as mindfulness and meditation, complement this process, fostering resilience and emotional intelligence.
In coaching sessions, Johanna guides individuals to recognize their inherent value beyond external validations, empowering them to direct challenges confidently and authentically. By elevating self-esteem, leaders not only enhance their own performance but also create a positive organizational culture conducive to growth and innovation.
Balancing Roles as a Business Professional, Coach, and Mother
Johanna shares that balancing her roles as a business professional, coach, and mother of three requires constant prioritization. She often asks herself, “What do I truly value?” and asserts that her children always come first, with spending quality time with them being non-negotiable.
As an entrepreneur, she thrives on creativity and enjoys supporting others’ growth. She has learned that the principles of effective leadership and business also apply to life, emphasizing that improving social and emotional competence enhances overall well-being. To manage her workload effectively, Johanna delegated tasks she didn’t enjoy or excel at to those who found them more joyful. Though it’s not always easy, she believes focusing on what truly matters and minimizing secondary priorities is key.
Through this juggling act, she has discovered the importance of balance and the value of saying no to things that don’t align with her core values and goals.
Exclusive Insights in Behavioral Science
Drawing from her diverse background in behavioral science, psychology, business, and coaching, Johanna offers insights to empower individuals for sustainable results in their personal and professional lives.
While academic knowledge provides valuable frameworks and research, Johanna emphasizes that her most profound insights come from lived experiences. Her lifelong interest in understanding the symbiosis between people and business has driven her journey.
Motherhood, Johanna shares, taught her about resilience beyond mere responsibilities—it’s about persevering even when the urge to flee is strong. Entrepreneurship emphasizes that motivation and creativity are nurtured, not stumbled upon by chance. Transitioning into a new industry underscored the importance of pursuing goals outside one’s comfort zone, as true success and growth often lie in reaching goals you can’t understand how to achieve when you start.
These diverse experiences have shaped Johanna’s approach, blending academic rigor with real-world wisdom and ensuring she provides comprehensive support to individuals seeking sustainable growth and success.
Aspirations for The Island Coach
Johanna’s aspirations for The Island Coach closely align with her vision of making coaching accessible and impactful, particularly for companies committed to fostering a positive company culture. Focusing on online, flexible solutions, she aims to provide convenient avenues for leaders to develop their social and emotional competence.
By building trust with leaders and offering tailored coaching programs, Johanna aims to empower them to excel at leading their teams. She believes that investing in leaders’ social and emotional competence enhances their ability to lead effectively and contributes to fostering a positive company culture.
Through this approach, Johanna envisions making a meaningful impact by helping companies flourish and creating environments where individuals thrive professionally and personally. It’s about building solid foundations of trust, competence, and collaboration that elevate leaders and their teams to new heights of success.
