TELENOR CASE: HOW TO CREATE A GLOBAL NETWORK?

When we think of networks, we usually think of dense web of connections between smaller groups of people or of up to 300 Facebook friends. But is it possible to create a network of 30.000 people working across 12 countries worldwide? This is a story of building one such network.

Telenor had owned companies across Nordics, Central Eastern Europe and Asia. As it grew bigger and wider, there were lesser and lesser collaboration across group members, and it affected value creation. People behind JOIN21 played a vital role in the creation of Way of Work (WoW) Program, global project to connect across borders and get all business units onto one collaboration and productivity platform. By the end of our Network Leadership process, Telenor had:

CONNECTED EXPERTS ACROSS GROUPS

INCREASED REVENUE WORLDWIDE

INCREASED AGILITY AND INNOVATION

CREATED HAPPIER WORK CULTURE

We needed to understand the value of expert communities, link our own values to company processes and digital ways of work across borders. JOIN21 helped us better connect, put knowledge in motion globally and measure progress and impact of working cross-functionally. - Bjørn Magnus Kopperud, EVP People and Organization, Telenor group

STEP BY STEP

CHALLENGE

After looking at the group as a network, it was clear that the people in the business units were not collaborating well, nor did the business units across borders. It was clear that Telenor needed to connect experts globally or it would lose competitiveness. The idea of a global way of working was born.

post-gallery



DISCOVERY

Based on data from internal communication, structure and surveys and Network Leadership analysis, we detected 3 key issues:

 

  • Different business units were not working together, even though they shared similar goals and challenges.
  • Group units did not reach out to the business units, but remained isolated.
  • A few individuals were very central, serving as a middle-man between groups of people who did not communicate directly and slowing down productivity and communication.

All these showed lots of potential of shared knowledge, information and experience go to waste, simply because people among units were not connected.

 



SOLUTION

The solution was to benefit from the expertise globally, to share practices across boundaries and to help managers help workers utilize networks. In other words, solution was creating Way of Work global program, through which:

 

  • We presented the results in a company-wide workshop where everyone got to see their organization as a network rather than a hierarchy. This sparked openness to change.
  • We developed ‘Way of Work’ program to build connections between people, leaders, dealers and departments.
  • We implemented collaboration platform to improve knowledge flow, and engaged those central people to make the launch successful.
  • We connected all employees based on knowledge and work compatibility, creating few expert communities across departments.

 

post-gallery



RESULTS

BASIS FOR GLOBAL GROWTH

Telenor gained tools to really go steady while going global, releasing potential of competence across the world.

HIGH MOTIVATION

We sparked huge appetite to work across divisions and borders, super-motivated communities across functions, teams, projects, and countries.

INCREASED VALUE

We increased value from projects, since every unit learned from the experience of the other.

STRONG RELATIONSHIPS

We created strong, long-lasting relationship with partners and customers.

Who Digitalizes the Leaders?

Learn More
GET IN TOUCH

We like starting smart and small. Let’s find a pilot in your organization! Contact us and we will do the rest.