The values discovery journey – unveiling what matters most for Fiskars Group

In January 2019, 13 Fiskars Group employees – our Values Connectors – were presented with an important task. Working together with our over 7,000 employees in 30 countries, the Values Connectors would lead the Fiskars Group values discovery journey that would help us recommit to the core values that connect and guide us today and in the future.

Creating change

We decided to adopt an approach that would transcend organizational, geographical and cultural boundaries and bring us closer together. To lead the work, we put out a call for volunteers. ‘Would you like to help make Fiskars Group a more extraordinary place to work?’.

Out of the many applications, 13 people from 8 countries representing different teams and units were invited to form a group that would be called the Values Connectors. The Values Connectors spoke the languages our teams speak, knew first-hand about the work they do, and were happy to share and discuss the different viewpoints and experiences with each other. Rather than receiving centralized, company-driven guidelines, but they were asked to talk candidly with each other and with their teams back home.

Three of our Value Connectors, Essi, Laurie, Jaew, and their ten soon-to-be collaborators were excited to be selected. Essi Hämäläinen, who joined Fiskars Group as a seasonal employee and worked her way up to Store Manager in Finland, embraced the challenge right away. ‘After hearing what the project really was about — the Values Discovery Journey — there wasn’t any other answer than absolutely yes’.

Growing with compassion

By joining this project, the Values Connectors committed to an extraordinary task: reaching out to a vast number of employees via different channels and exploring the everyday values demonstrated most by our people.

Key Account Manager Laurie White took this aim to heart. ‘I felt the responsibility of sharing the thoughts of my US colleagues in the purest most truthful form. My journey became a part of that story’, Laurie admits.

Within just a couple weeks, thousands of new voices were integrated into the project. Worldwide Fiskars Group professionals shared what mattered most in their work lives and how it could enable future growth, in a way that respects the company’s heritage.

Celebrating the everyday

Over the course of six intense months, the Values Connectors worked with big numbers and in-depth qualitative insights, condensing the insights first into value candidates.

Instead of asking for people to vote for their personal favorites, everyone had to assess the impact a specific value would have on themselves, their team, the entire Fiskars Group - and the people who use and love our brands.

In the final workshop of the Value Connectors, the group reinforced its connections through the intense process of finalizing the three core values. ‘We laughed, we cried, we worked together’, tells New Product Development and Laboratory Manager Nanthaporn Bangsri, known as Jaew. ‘We spent only 4–5 days together, but it's like we were friends for many years’.

Jaew’s collaborators sincerely agreed.  ‘Being a part of this project and working with every single person was an honor’, Laurie concludes. ‘It was humbling to be trusted with a project that would ultimately help Fiskars Group become even stronger’.

Creating change, celebrating the everyday and growing with compassion — these are the values discovered by our team, values Fiskars Group is proud to uphold.

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