The Client (BSH Home Appliances AB)
The history of BSH spans 50 years of product development and excellence, evolving from the joint venture between Bosch and Siemens in the 60:ies to the large Group it is today in the form of BSH Hausgeräte GmbH. The Nordic subsidiary goes under the name BSH Home Appliances AB, and it is here where I got the opportunity to step into the role of Strategy Business developer in 2021.
Between the period of March and September 2021, I filled in as a Strategy Business Developer for a BSH Nordic Strategy team member on parental leave. As an external consultant, I got the opportunity to get involved in the following projects:
- The creation of a go-to-market strategy
- Implementing Remote Work
Case: Remote Work – getting buy-in and implementing a hybrid workplace
From one day to another, people went from working 100% from an office to 100% from home. The tragedy that is Covid-19 hit the world in the beginning of 2020, devastating lives and livelihoods and fundamentally changed the way we view the workplace.
In the BSH Nordic and Baltic regions, only 5 out of 500 employees worked remotely before 2020. When Covid hit, BSH Nordics swiftly adjusted to a home office work mode, following each countries health guidelines, rules and regulations on lock-downs following the spread of the pandemic. This in effect meant that 100% of the work force suddenly had to work from home with all that entails in terms of IT structure, workplace environment, team spirits and cohesion.
As time progressed, it was evident that the pandemic was not subsiding and that working from home for months had fundamentally changed the way people view their workplace from many different perspectives. A project was created to adapt to a hybrid way of working, the “Remote Work” project.
Following a company wide survey, it was concluded that the majority of employees enjoyed working from home and that it positively affected work efficiency. The survey also showed that for people who worked in teams, remote work had negatively affected team cohesion.
The project conducted workshops with stake holders from different departments, mapping needs and looking at the legal ramifications of implementing a future hybrid work place.
The project was divided into five sub-projects:
- Future Office – adapting offices to a hybrid way of working
- Online Tools – implementing the correct IT structure and framework for Remote Work
- Social Interaction – how to offer social activities and create cohesion with colleagues working remotely
- Remote Leadership – how to help managers lead co-workers remotely
- Legal and guidelines – how to adapt contracts and work place environment, and foresee the unexpected in terms of a new legal landscape when hybrid workplaces become the norm
My role in the Remote Project group
The scope of the project was to gather insights and suggest a framework for testing and implementation. My role was initially to be a co-pilot to the project owner, and later moved to becoming the main project leader from the strategy side in facilitating for the five project teams to reach the project’s goals.
The project groups consisted of employees from various departments working on the project in parallel to their daily tasks, with the Strategy Department supporting by acting as facilitators and coaches.
I helped facilitate workshops and ideation sessions online (using Miro Boards, an online tool for conducting digital workshops). To follow-up and further assist the work groups, I also held weekly coaching and follow-up meetings with them and helped with guidance and structure where needed. As the work was conducted when the pandemic was at its hardest, all meetings and collaboration was done online and to facilitate collaboration and following up on tasks, we used a project management tool as well as the intranet for broader updates on project status.
The insights I and the team gained and our suggestions were synthesized into presentations shared with management and the CEO through Project Review Meetings, and with the whole organization via Town Hall presentations.
Outcome
The organization decided to implement a 50/50 split hybrid work model post-Covid and to adapt physical offices with an Activity Based Workplace with areas adapted for each country office and team needs.
The successful implementation of a Remote Work and hybrid way of working would never have been possible without the great work and efforts from dedicated BSH employees from diverse departments and seniority.
Case: go-to-strategy and implementation
BSH Northern Europe set out on a journey with ambitious goals and a roadmap for embarking into a new business segment.
Key stakeholders in the project included the heads of logistics, marketing and customer service in the Nordic and Baltic region. Key touch-points (locally and globally) where controlling, product owners for different product categories (e.g. SDA/MDA), web analytics, volume planning, external logistic service providers, internal logistics and management.
My role in the go-to-strategy project
I joined the project as a core project member, assisting the project manager with creating the volume and financial models underlying the Business Case for the seven Nordic and Baltic countries where the project will be rolled out from 2022 onwards.
The modelling included getting quality data necessary to properly forecast and model volume, historic financial data and market prices, logistic costs, marketing costs and other key data metrics.
The volume model was dynamic and accommodated the change of several parameters at once to make sure sensitivity analysis and simulations could be conducted. The Business Case included financial and controlling data that were used as basis for giving the “Go ahead” on implementing the project in the Nordic and Baltic region.
My role also involved vetting the Business Case at various stages with key stakeholders such as the CEO, to secure buy-in and that we were on the right track.
Outcome
The Business Case was successfully presented to and accepted by the Group management and headquarters.
Getting a buy-in form the stakeholders and their departments has been key, as well as creating a good financial foundation and assumptions for the new business segment.
This case text will be updated as the project will be announced and rolled out later in 2022.
SERVICES
– Go-to-market strategy
– Remote Work
– Business Development
– Interim consultant