Kick-off

Extract from original article in NORDEN News Magazine Winter 2006.

What is NORDEN’s direction for the future? What should be our focal point? And how should customers, colleagues and business partners see us, particular in their day-to-day relationship with us? We are seeking the answers to these and other questions through the VMV process of rolling out NORDEN’s vision, mission and values. The kick-off of the project took place in November 2006 in Copenhagen, and the process is now well underway throughout the organisation.

New lines of sight

“In the past few years, the number of NORDEN’s staff has expanded at an enormous rate and many therefore need to get better acquainted with the Company’s foundation and core values. NORDEN’s business has also expanded, and our assignments and challenges are continually changing. And finally, our organisation has changed considerably with the establishment of three new offices around the world since the turn of the millennium - in Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai and Mumbai. An increasing proportion of our business is generated outside Denmark, and we have welcomed many new employees with different cultural backgrounds,” explains Vibeke Schneidermann, HR Manager, who is responsible for the extensive process of rolling out the new VMVs throughout the organisation.

As a result of these changes, we have seen a great need to revise and develop NORDEN’s lines of sight - our vision, mission and values. NORDEN’s managers were occupied with this task throughout the spring and summer of 2006, and the fruit of our efforts is now presented in the form of a new vision, a new mission as well as a new NORDEN core value: Ambition. We will be using the new VMV’s to take NORDEN to the Next Level. They are our guidelines for running our day-to-day business and for where to focus our attention. It is therefore important that everyone takes an active part in our discussions and influence our direction,” she says.

Red, yellow and green behaviour

NORDEN’s new vision, mission and core values were launched in early November 2006 at four cross-organisational kick-off seminars at the Danish Centre for Leadership in Copenhagen, where Carsten Mortensen, CEO; Jens Christensen of the Technical Department; Martin Badsted, Executive Assistant and Søren Huscher of Norient Product Pool presented NORDEN’s and Norient’s new vision, mission and core values and the process of implementing them throughout the organisation.

The seminars included a number of cross-departmental exercises, at which the employees were to discuss the vision, mission and values. Among other things, each employee was to assign red, yellow or green cards for various types of behaviour in everyday situations. What types of behaviour were unacceptable (red), acceptable (yellow) and exceptional (green) in relation to NORDEN’s four core values - flexibility, reliability, empathy and ambition?

At the end of the seminars, the participants enjoyed a piece of VMV cake and a glass of champagne to mark the beginning of the onward process, while the VMV kick-off film, “Taking NORDEN to the Next Level” was screened. 

VMV in our everyday situations

The individual departments have all held workshops in November and December 2006, giving their employees the opportunity to discuss the VMV’s in greater detail and talk about how they interact with everyday tasks and relations in their department. Kick-off seminars and workshops have also been held at NORDEN’s offices abroad. The process is supported by a number of tools and inspirational materials available on the intranet, for instance four films explaining the basis for the VMV process and the thoughts behind NORDEN’s new vision, mission and values.

Read the original article in NORDEN News Magazine (1.92 Mb) .  In Danish (1.92 Mb) .