Creating focus and actionable objectives for Kivra

When ambitions are high, knowing what matters most becomes even more critical. Kivra managed to shift from multiple parallel initiatives to a shared focus, resulting in higher engagement and clear business outcomes.

It’s more fun to work at a company where everyone is aligned on the direction forward

Henrik Lönnevi, CEO
Kivra

Client story:
Kivra

We met Henrik Lönnevi, CEO at Kivra, to have a conversation about his experiences working with performance management together with The Information Company. He shared insights from both his current role as well as from his time at Telia and Tele2.

The Challenge

Lack of focus

Kivra is an organization with strong drive, where all employees are eager to move forward and make a difference. When guided in the right way, this is a tremendous strength. However, the organization lacked a shared understanding of “where are we going and how well are we performing?”. As a result, there was no shortage of ambition or activity, but efforts were not aligned.

This led to unclear priorities, different areas of focus across departments and initiatives that became broad rather than concentrated. Activity levels were high, but because everyone were not pulling in the same direction, the organization was not fully leveraging its potential to drive development and create impact in the most strategically important areas.

At its core, the challenge was a lack of focus and an answer to the question “what is most important?”.

The project began with a current state analysis to build a shared understanding of how steering and follow-up were working to identify future needs. Analysis included both a mapping of all steering and follow-up components and how they were connected (or not), as well as in-depth interviews with every member of the management team. The needs identified in the analysis resulted in a clear steering model. Establishing a shared understanding within the management team regarding which steering components the organization should have going forward, the performance period and organizational level for each component, and exactly how they should be linked, created the right preconditions for developing both a strategy and a performance management that truly translated the company’s most important priorities into action.

Once the steering model had been established and approved by the management team, we worked together to develop a more concrete long-term goal and strategy, as well as focused one-year objectives. This created a very clear short-term focus while ensuring a strong connection to, and alignment with, the strategy and long-term goal.

By clarifying for the entire organization what was most important in the short term, while ensuring alignment with the long-term goal, it became easier for employees to continuously make decisions that supported the company’s desired direction. In addition, the ambitions and priorities of different departments became more aligned, as everyone were making decisions based on the same shared objectives.

The Solution

A clear focus

The Result

Focus creates impact!

Everyone gained a clear understanding of where the organization was headed. As a natural consequence, this created significant positive effects, both externally and through increased employee engagement.