Fiskars Group
Values Discovery
Fiskars Group’s purpose is to make the everyday extraordinary. To translate this promise into everyday actions, they made a decision to revisit their values in 2019. Not to change anything about who they were, but to rediscover and recommit to what they stood for. I shared the responsibility for planning and facilitating the process.
The main focus was on on understanding the impact the values would have, and we needed to adopt an approach that would transcend organisational, geographical and cultural boundaries. And most importantly, we set out to find authentic, meaningful values that show up in concrete ways in the everyday work of employees, whatever their role.
Fiskars Group’s purpose is to make the everyday extraordinary. To translate this promise into everyday actions, they made a decision to revisit their values in 2019. Not to change anything about who they were, but to rediscover and recommit to what they stood for. I shared the responsibility for planning and facilitating the process.
The main focus was on on understanding the impact the values would have, and we needed to adopt an approach that would transcend organisational, geographical and cultural boundaries. And most importantly, we set out to find authentic, meaningful values that show up in concrete ways in the everyday work of employees, whatever their role.
Mining for insights
Mining for insights
To get started with a strong understanding of the landscape and ethos, we collected and analysed qualitative and quantitative data by conducting interviews and analysing a large pool of employee survey answers. We synthesised these into in-depth insights and combined them with larger insights from a study on megatrends affecting the industry, and brought it all together in a printed presentation of our findings and conclusions.
This report was distributed among Fiskars Group’s leaders and managers. 90 of them attended a two- day workshop we designed to collect further insights and ideas. While the actual values were to come from the wider set of workers across the group, it was important to get management buy-in at an early stage and begin the process of socialising the upcoming new values into everyday work.
To get started with a strong understanding of the landscape and ethos, we collected and analysed qualitative and quantitative data by conducting interviews and analysing a large pool of employee survey answers. We synthesised these into in-depth insights and combined them with larger insights from a study on megatrends affecting the industry, and brought it all together in a printed presentation of our findings and conclusions.
This report was distributed among Fiskars Group’s leaders and managers. 90 of them attended a two- day workshop we designed to collect further insights and ideas. While the actual values were to come from the wider set of workers across the group, it was important to get management buy-in at an early stage and begin the process of socialising the upcoming new values into everyday work.
Co-creating the values
Co-creating the values
We needed to find and crystallise authentic values from the fabric of the group’s everyday, rather than consulting something that might sound good on the outside but have little connection to the people. To achieve this with such a diverse group of brands and locations, we created a task force of 13 employees from 8 different countries, covering different brands, roles and contexts across the group.
We held a series of workshops with the Connectors to work the collected insights into tangible things that resonated with the real people. We used the group’s internal channels to share the work as we went along and collect immediate feedback.
The connectors also went out into different units at their locations and ran short validation sessions and collected feedback face to face to make sure we weren’t only relying on those who are likely to use digital channels.
Through structured workshop sessions and validation activities, the team fine tuned and condensed the short list into three core values.
We helped them define examples of the kind of behaviors that reflect the essence and spirit of the values. They presented these to their teams as a starting point for conversation and gathered feedback and ideas for iterations.
We needed to find and crystallise authentic values from the fabric of the group’s everyday, rather than consulting something that might sound good on the outside but have little connection to the people. To achieve this with such a diverse group of brands and locations, we created a task force of 13 employees from 8 different countries, covering different brands, roles and contexts across the group.
We held a series of workshops with the Connectors to work the collected insights into tangible things that resonated with the real people. We used the group’s internal channels to share the work as we went along and collect immediate feedback. The connectors also went out into different units at their locations and ran short validation sessions and collected feedback face to face to make sure we weren’t only relying on those who are likely to use digital channels.
Through structured workshop sessions and validation activities, the team fine tuned and condensed the short list into three core values.
We helped them define examples of the kind of behaviors that reflect the essence and spirit of the values. They presented these to their teams as a starting point for conversation and gathered feedback and ideas for iterations.
Socialising the values
Socialising the values
The values were brought to life with stories and concrete actions to create momentum with quick outcomes. One of these was “team meeting in a box” – a toolkit for a conversation anyone can easily run with any team to further explore and elaborate on the meaning of the values both as individual behaviors as well as collectively. We made sure to weave in the message that the values may be shared, but the ways in which they can best be lived and realised can be expanded on to fit their unique setting within the whole group.
We also drafted a roadmap to embed the values into performance management processes, recruitment and onboarding approaches. This process had began from the very start with including the right decision makers and teams in the conversation. Our collaboration with the Fiskars Group Leadership Team carried through the whole project, but we had a shared understanding that their role was to enable to Connectors to do the job and help us connect with the right people and teams.
The values were brought to life with stories and concrete actions to create momentum with quick outcomes. One of these was “team meeting in a box” – a toolkit for a conversation anyone can easily run with any team to further explore and elaborate on the meaning of the values both as individual behaviors as well as collectively. We made sure to weave in the message that the values may be shared, but the ways in which they can best be lived and realised can be expanded on to fit their unique setting within the whole group.
We also drafted a roadmap to embed the values into performance management processes, recruitment and onboarding approaches. This process had began from the very start with including the right decision makers and teams in the conversation. Our collaboration with the Fiskars Group Leadership Team carried through the whole project, but we had a shared understanding that their role was to enable to Connectors to do the job and help us connect with the right people and teams.
IMPACT
From the people, to the people
The values were introduced to the company in a series of events on June 13th, 2019, hosted by the Value Connectors and local leader and volunteers. During just one day, starting in Australia and ending in the US, over 60 events took place across 30 countries.
As the values were launched, there was a strong consensus already behind them – people had witnessed the journey themselves. In Fiskars Group’s annual employee survey held only two months later, a staggering 81% were aware of and responded positively to the new values.
The values are firmly embedded into Fiskars Group’s performance management processes, recruitment and onboarding approaches. As a next step, Fiskars Group began defining what values-based leadership means in practice for them, adapting many of the same methods that were used in the values discovery journey.
IMPACT
From the people, to the people
The values were introduced to the company in a series of events on June 13th, 2019, hosted by the Value Connectors and local leader and volunteers. During just one day, starting in Australia and ending in the US, over 60 events took place across 30 countries.
As the values were launched, there was a strong consensus already behind them – people had witnessed the journey themselves. In Fiskars Group’s annual employee survey held only two months later, a staggering 81% were aware of and responded positively to the new values.
The values are firmly embedded into Fiskars Group’s performance management processes, recruitment and onboarding approaches. As a next step, Fiskars Group began defining what values-based leadership means in practice for them, adapting many of the same methods that were used in the values discovery journey.