Bracing for Significant Changes

Coor Service Management delivers services in both hard and soft facility management to customers in Sweden and throughout Northern and Eastern Europe. The company established a new division, Coor Property. The property management sector could provide growth by operating, maintaining and managing energy properties.

Establishing the new division required structural changes that focused on rethinking leadership, management, documentation, knowledge sharing and performance optimization.

Coor Property knew the new division would only be successful if its employees embraced
all the changes it required. The project team partnered with Human Univerz, a Danish change management firm and Prosci partner, to apply the Prosci change management methodology and Appreciation at Work resources to the new division.

Coor Property scoped the project (the new division) from a change management perspective to make the new division a success. They defined five areas of focus.

Strengthening employer brand

Branding of Coor Property became a crucial part of the change process. In cooperation with a communications bureau, the project team established an employer branding process to increase visibility and communication to attract the right employees and to better engage with current and potential customers.

Co-determination and communication

One of the project goals was to create an attractive workplace where employees were excited about the work they did and empowered to develop new competencies as part of their jobs. The new division accomplished this by giving employees more influence on their working life.

Conscious, proactive leadership

The team brought a particular focus to conscious leadership by proactively working with Prosci
change management best practices research. They used storytelling about the change and the Prosci ADKAR^® Model as effective tools to focus on individuals and involve all employees in the change journey.

Concrete initiatives for Appreciation at Work

Coor Property adopted rewards that were right for the culture, such as words of affirmation, quality time and tangible gifts. They knew it was important that employees feel valued and appreciated, and express appreciation in ways that are meaningful to colleagues.   

Change management activities

With ambitious growth targets, they examined the working processes of more than 120 employees and subsequently implemented changes such as the following:

• Introducing time recording
• Focusing on time scheduling and follow-up
• Optimizing the annual cycle of work
• Setting KPIs based on previously defined key financial and performance figures
• Introducing targets and criteria for continual communication and dialogue with customers
• Registering and documenting all parts of the project
• Strengthening the brand
• Participation and clear communication
• Conscious, proactive change leadership
• Concrete initiatives for Appreciation at Work

Results

Within two years, the company considered Coor Property to be an inspiring and visionary division. Many crucial aspects of the organization improved, including finances, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.

By effectively applying change management, the company achieved its objectives and more:

• Successfully launched the Coor Property division on time, especially due to communication and dialogue through the project
• Gained attention in the market that quickly led to $250 million contract
• Improved finance operations 40%, employee satisfaction 17%, and customer satisfaction 5%
• Employee performance improved—the division only had one termination in 12 months.

While the new division has been a success, it also generates added value for the whole Coor Facility Management business, bringing the Coor Group into a new league in facility management. This contributes to strengthening the other divisions and the collected profile of the group in the market.