Lena Hildeberg: Digital Workplace initiatives need to be seen as an ongoing agile process, not as a project!

In our third speakers' interview we are happy to present the answers of Lena Hildeberg, Head of Communications (Internal Communications & Digital Workplace) at Bonnier Broadcasting. Lena is a well-respected expert that worked in different communications and editing positions in various Swedish media companies. In her position at Bonnier, one of the largest commercial TV companies in Scandinavia, she has worked on a prize winning intranet, where the staff members themselves are given power over the content, taking advantage of the core value of self leadership in the corporate culture.

At IOM SUMMIT she will share her lesson-learned from this project - emphasizing that the development of a digital workplace is an ongoing agile process - not a project, which starts and ends - and led by the objective of seeing the employee experience as a whole. In our interview she already outlines some of her learnings.

(1) Lena - you are going to talk at our IOM SUMMIT in Cologne - about your lessons learned from establishing a Digital Workplace at Bonnier Broadcasting. What are the three hashtags that we can mark your talk with?

#EX #change #bestofbreed

(2) Can you give us a very brief summary of the objectives and approach that guided your project?

We see the development of our digital workplace as an ongoing agile process, not as a project with a start and end. This, and to see the whole employee experience – the culture and values, the digital workplace and the physical workplace – as something that needs to be developed simultanously over time has been the most important success factor for us.

(3) The Digital Workplace at Bonnier Broadcasting is part of an Employee Experience approach. What has been the idea of this?

Both the right culture, based on self leadership, responsibility and trust, the right physical environment and the digital tools need to be in place to ensure that the colleagues are productive and can deliver at their best. Hence you need to develop and work in all three areas over time.

(4) What are the special challenges for the Digital Workplace strategy in this context - in order to support the Employee Experience objectives?

In many ways the same issues that everyone working with workplace development meet – getting enough resources, choosing the right technology, change management et cetera. But a special trick here is to get all the areas in the organisation that need to collaborate to the same table over time: HR, comms, facility and IT. The latter can sometimes be a bit tricky to convince to take part, share and get out of the tech driver’s seat. All those functions need to be in the driver’s seat together.

(6) What have been your key learnings from the project?

Tackle your project in a cross functional and agile way, and always choose the right tool for the right purpose, not necessarily a big ”mother ship” like the O365 tools. And if you don’t have the right corporate culture of self leadership, trust, collaboration and constant change you might get in trouble. It all starts there.

(7) What are your topics and expectations that you will pack into your “bags” when coming to IOM SUMMIT?

For me it’s mainly to check out a new interesting event in this field, apart from doing my own presentation. I have been to many intranet and digtial workplace events in Scandinavia and a few in other european cities. This will be my first IOM Summit and the first visit to Köln, and I look forward to meeting and conneting with new people.

Thank you for your answers!

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