Lederlab has modules for the difficult conversations and the everyday ones, employees who react to what the manager actually says, a leadership mentor and an analysis after every conversation. Norwegian organisations can use it as it is, or get a leadership lab of their own with their name, colours and cases.
Lederlab is available in Norwegian only. It is built on Norwegian employment law and Norwegian guidance from STAMI, the Labour Inspection Authority and NAV. A version for another country has to be built on that country’s law and guidance, together with a local professional.
Each module has its own employees, its own theory and its own exercises. The modules are grouped into the same three levels the manager finds in the lab.
Illustrative photos. The people shown are models and have no connection to the conversations described.
A training tool, not legal advice. Real cases are handled with HR and a lawyer. The legal content follows Norwegian law.
The content builds on established methods and theories of motivation, change and difficult conversations, including motivational interviewing and self-determination theory, and on guidance from STAMI (the National Institute of Occupational Health in Norway), the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority and NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration). The legal references have been reviewed against the Norwegian statutes.
A pay conversation, a welfare conversation and a dialogue meeting do not ask the same of a manager. That is why the modules are practised in three ways, depending on what makes the conversation difficult. The screenshots are from the Norwegian Lederlab.
The skill has to stick. Little reading, many rounds.
Navigating resistance · Per
The hard part is daring to speak and coping with the reaction, not knowing the theory.
Suspected substance misuse · Tora
The wrong order can have legal consequences.
Sickness absence
Swipe to see all three
Lederlab, in Norwegian · Practice conversation with Lise
The manager types or speaks, and the employee responds to what is actually said. At first Lise says things are fine. When the manager names what she has noticed, Lise says what would help. Along the way the manager can ask for a hint.
The employees are fictional.
Lederlab, in Norwegian · About Tom
Each of the 25 employees has their own story and their own workplace. Before the conversation, the manager is shown what a manager would have seen: Tom has become quieter, is curt in meetings and pauses for a long time before answering.
Lederlab, in Norwegian · Suspected substance misuse, rewriting the opening
The manager is given a line that does not work, and rewrites it. Here it is the opening “Tora, I’m worried that you’ve started drinking”. The task is to say what she has seen and why the conversation is happening, and to invite Tora in.
A coach gives feedback on each attempt.
Lederlab, in Norwegian · Analysis of the conversation with Lise
After the conversation the manager gets an analysis: the overall impression, what she did well, how the conversation developed and how she led it. The leadership mentor has read the conversation and the analysis, and answers questions about what she could do differently next time.
The mentor has its own knowledge base, including Norway’s Inclusive Working Life Agreement 2025–2028.
Lederlab, in Norwegian · Practise your own situation (fictional example)
The manager describes a situation from their own working day, chooses the sector, the level of difficulty and the type of issue, and gets an employee to practise the conversation with.
The form reminds the manager not to enter information about real people.
The lab can have your organisation’s name, logo and colours, and content built around what is difficult for you.
Fictional example · Tindvik kommune · Illustration in Norwegian
Outside Norway, the legal content has to be built on your country’s law and guidance, together with a local professional.
We build it together with HR and your managers. How we build a lab of your own →
Line managers at every level, and HR teams who want to give managers practice in the difficult conversations between leadership courses.
Not as it is. Lederlab is in Norwegian and built on Norwegian employment law and guidance. A version for another country has to be built on that country’s law and guidance, together with a local professional.
We give a quote after a conversation about what you need, whether you want to use Lederlab as it is or have your own.
Yes. The conversations with employees can be held in text or by voice.
Someone from HR who knows your conversations, a few hours for mapping and reading through, and a few managers who test the lab before it goes into use.
No. The employees are fictional and created by AI within frameworks set by professionals. The lab must never be used with information about real employees.
Stian Midtgård is a psychologist working with organisations and leadership, with more than 20 years’ experience of communication skills training for managers and frontline professionals. He built the platform.
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