How we work, our approach and our customers
The world is changing
Organizations and leaders are facing tough challenges and huge opportunities at the same time. The world is VUCA – vulnerable, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The world is affected by megatrends, e.g. the digital age and a new set of demands from employees. This gives us the obligation and possibility to shape our future – and be part of creating a better world. Organizations that have purposeful direction and distributed leadership, and that are innovative, agile, and can adapt and respond to this are more likely to succeed. They outperform their peers, attract and retain the talent, have healthier cultures, and improved financials. But, what are the new demands for leadership? How can you organize and motivate your team? What is expected from you as manager?
Today’s problems are just too big to ignore
The “Global Grand Challenges” are very well described by Singularity University: Learning. Water. Space. Health. Prosperity. Environment. Food. Energy. Security. Disaster Resilience. Governance. Shelter. The 17 Sustainable Goals as described by the UN are fully in line with this. We work to support goal number 8, “Decent work and economic growth“. We envision a world, where these global problems are solved through technology and global collaboration. This requires radical new approaches to direction, leadership, innovation, and company culture.
In a fast-changing world, ‘best practice’ is not enough
Leaders and organizations are facing tough challenges and huge opportunities at the same time.
The world is affected by megatrends, e.g. huge development in technology and society, and a new set of demands from employees. This gives us the obligation and possibility to shape our future – and be part of creating a better world.
Organizations who have a purposeful direction and distributed leadership, and are more innovative, agile, and can adapt and respond to this are more likely to succeed. They outperform their peers, attract and retain the talent, have healthier cultures, improved financials, and stay relevant to both employees and the customers.
But, what are the new demands for leadership? How can you organize and motivate your team? What is expected from you as manager?
Who we work with
We
work with customers in the Finance, Energy, Engineering, IT, and Professional Services arenas.
Typically it’s multinational corporate organizations with a Danish headquarter, but we also work with small scale-up organizations, who want to take the transformation to future of work to the edge.
Selected customers are Arla, BEC, BESTSELLER, Bolius, COWI, Danske Bank, DR, DJØF, DSB, Finansforbundet, IDA, Lederne, Maersk Line, NNIT, Novo Nordisk, Nykredit, ProActive, Pingala, Red Barnet (Save the Children), SimCorp, SKAT, V2C, and Ørsted – and many others.
Your organization should be a place, where people want to show up!
Yes, it’s as simple as that: work should be nice. And great. And awesome. If it’s not, you should change it. Why choose to be in something, that leaves you unhappy? A great organization comes from a few clear things: Your are trusted, safe, and supported Your work has to be meaningful and purpose-driven. You need engagement and relationships. You must create value and results for the employees, for customers, and for society. You as the CEO has to take lead to make it happen. You are the role model. You go first.
How we work
Our approach to how we collaborate with our customers is deeply infused in us.
- We focus more on leadership, than on HR.
- We work more as advisers, than as consultants
- We focus on solving problems, than on delivering products.
Our collaboration with customers tend to be long-lasting and personal, which we really like. We listen a lot to the organization, and normally we create strong bonds of trust with the employees.
We focus on the challenge and situation, and – agilely and in sprints – co-create and design the activities with you. We approach the challenge in a broad sense, and on all managerial levels: Top management, middle management, and front-line.
We spend time with the leadership team, with the full organization, and with the individual leaders in dialogue. We want to get to know you, and to create the way forward with you. Following that, we execute the tactical and operational activities in sprints, always inspecting and adapting the approach, pace, and presence to the need.
Typically we plan for 100 days at a time and execute in sprints of 2 weeks, where-after we evaluate both deliverables and collaboration, and decide the content of the next sprint. In the first 100 day-sprint we’ll focus on setting the scene, describing the business challenge, getting to know each other and the organization. We conduct workshops to map out challenges, possibilities, expectations, and strengths, both for the individual leaders, the teams, and the organization. The approach will be part inspiration, part exploration, part probing, but with a clear and mutually agreed goal.
We strive to create value – and we measure it.
Documented results
- Less sick-days (documented via HR data)
- Higher happiness-rating (documented via weekly and annual survey)
- Higher retention (documented via HR data)
- Faster innovation cycles (documented via qualitative interviews)
- Lower hierarchies and tighter network (documented via Organizational Network Analysis)
Problems, we’ve solved
The typical challenges circle around grasping the future of work and leadership, covering and approaching:
Business agility, digital leadership, leading digitalization, embracing gig workers, staying relevant to the market, staying relevant to talent, collaboration internally and across borders, merging business units, employee experience, employee engagement.
- Transformations to future-of-work
- Paradigm shifts
- Redesigning the mindset
- 1-to-1 top management mentoring
- Training programs for leadership teams
- Designing a purpose-driven approach to all activities in the organizations
- Organizational Change Management
- Agile/Scrum training, also for leaders
- Tactical execution support
- Rolling out internal social media (Slack and Yammer)
- Cultural description and development
- Working with Holacracy as an inspiration for redesigning organizational roles and structures
- Hackathons for all employees
- Using software for leadership support (weekly pulse measurement)
- Organizational Network Analysis
- Internal communication strategies
- Innovation workshops
- Business Modelling – and tactical roadmaps
- Mapping the value with The Value Game
- … And more
Management advisory
On C-level, focusing on strategy, leadership, innovation, and culture in the light of Future Of Work.
Leadership in future of work
Benchmarking your company and personal profile. Designing your way forward. Are you ready for the Future of Work?
Leadership Programs
From A to Z, both business case, design, launch, practical implementation, training, and hand-over.
Organizational transformations
and change management, employee engagement, finding the role models, and making sure it sticks.
Public speaking
and inspirational talks, at summits, seminars, kick-offs or projects.
Mentoring
Personal mentor engagements, fitted especially to your needs.
Training courses
For leaders and management teams, both Leading Business, Leading Leaders, and Leading Others.
Organizational Network Analysis
Mapping the informal real network, finding strengths and weaknesses in your organization.
Vi har haft fornøjelsen af at arbejde med sammen med Erik Østergaard fra Bloch&Østergaard det seneste år i forbindelse med en stor transformationsproces. Erik har bidraget med nye værktøjer, herunder konkret hvorledes de anvendes. Erik har været en god sparringspartner undervejs, bl.a. om hvorledes vi har skulle korrigere vores planer. Endelig har Erik kunne bidrage med konkret erfaring i at arbejde på tværs af landegrænser og etablering af et Project Management Office. Det har været en stor fordel at have Erik som en ekstra ressource til at drive processen fremad. Erik’s positive holdning og meget praktiske tilgang, har betydet at vi har haft en god transformationsproces. Alt i alt har vi været meget tilfredse med en ydelse Erik har leveret til os, og jeg kan varmt anbefale Bloch&Østergaard.
I torsdags var jeg så heldig, at jeg havde en gæsteforelæsning på UCN af Erik Korsvik Østergaard – en meget inspirerende herre, der satte en hel del tanker i gang hos mig. Jeg blev så betaget af hans formidlingsevne og er stadig blæst fuldstændig bagover af hans fantastiske oplæg. Skal man frygte den digitalisering der har taget os alle med storm? Jeg spurgte Erik – “Hvis der er så meget fart over samfundet, kan det så betale sig, at man allerede i 9.klasse skal bestemme sig for, hvad man skal resten af livet?” (Jeg er selv mor til 3 piger og har da frygtet deres fremtid.) Man skal ikke længere vide hvad man skal lave resten af sit liv. Som Erik formidlede på absolut bedste vis – man skal inddele sit liv i episoder og sige “hvad vil jeg i næste episode af mit liv?” – Det er da så rigtigt. Episoder… Jeg vil i min næste episode skabe en fremtid i den finansielle sektor (bank og realkreditbranchen) og være med til at skrive digital historie.
Working with and learning from Erik has been a fantastic journey. With a fresh mind, constructive feedback and always a positive attitude, he helps people embrace changes and get management to understand the need for happy and curious employees. My development was supported by Erik’s experience and ideas, and can honestly say that he carries a big responsibility in my improvements as a leader. I would not hesitate using and recommending Erik to others, he’s personality, bright mind and experience creates the full package.
Being a part of Eriks mentoring program has significantly helped me identify and reach my goals. I believe that Erik’s approach to purpose driven leadership combined with his ability to observe and to challenge any given situation has helped me in reaching a higher potential.
In this video Erik talks about how leaders focus on WHAT they do instead of HOW they do it.
The video is by the organization Lederne and their initiative AgendaSætterne.
In this video Puk explains some of the key points when you are looking at change as an organizational capability.
The video was made by Erhvervsbyen.dk at a gathering of HR professionals.
Bloch&Østergaard ApS