Increased affinity in fast-growing companies

... through core values that the employees themselves have defined.

Surgical Science is a training company with a simulation technology that enables surgeons to practise surgeries in a virtual environment. In recent years, the company has completed several acquisitions, increasing the number of employees from around 60 to over 200. Surgical Science lacked a set of values, which it wanted to develop as support for the company's employees around the world.

Together with a working group, consisting of employees from three continents, Solberg helped to develop their values. Solberg led two workshops over Zoom, the first of which was devoted to identifying words and values that participants associate with the company. The second was partly about summarising the values in different themes, and partly about collecting stories and descriptions of what these themes mean for employees at work.

Next Solberg worked on these themes and developed a proposal for values that the company's global management team then adopted. Solberg designed the company's Code of Conduct, which includes values, and developed a proposal for how the values could be launched in the organisation.

The work provided an increased understanding of the similarities and challenges that exist in the different parts of the company, and resulted in a Book of Values where the values are defined in the employees' own words.