Succeeding in new communities

Mobilize people and create innovative and sustainable solutions.

The problems in public as well as private are becoming more and more complex. Most companies, public organizations, volunteers, etc., are realizing that they have to work with others to find the solutions. There is almost a disruption in the way we work together across the board. The way we've done it so far is not enough. But how do we disrupt the way we collaborate to solve complex problems and realize potentials—in our organizations and in society as a whole? In this article you will find both the tools and a very concrete example for inspiration. It is in the concrete examples and in actions that the way must be paved.

“It's easier to act our way into a new way of thinking, than to think our way into a new way of acting” -- Jerry Stern

When we talk about disruption, we often talk about a fundamental change in a market, industry or technology where something new, more efficient and meaningful is produced. It helps to set a new standard and it is difficult to return to the old one again. But one of the “technologies” that has remained unchanged for many years is bureaucracy and the way we lead and collaborate to solve complex problems and challenges — but there are breakdowns along the way.

People support what they are helping to create

Everyone wants to get on the bandwagon of innovation, innovation and disruption — but few have the courage and the will to put themselves, their performance, their service, their product, their organization — even their existence at stake before it may be too late. The modern organization made every effort to act independently and not to put itself in a position where it needed outside help — it was a declaration of failure if needed — but now the rules of the game have completely changed. We must dare to challenge what our organizations and the people around them are capable of to a much greater extent than is the case today.
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People support what they help create, which calls for completely new and co-creative approaches, where it is about bringing people together on a “burning desire” and not just the “burning platform”. It's about daring to challenge conventions, everyday unconscious assumptions, patterns and mental models to discover new possibilities and potentials. We must dare to challenge the way we have gone about development and problem solving with completely new eyes. The old silos live well in public, private and in our mindset. The habits, routines and ways of working that have helped us a long way have now become chains that are difficult to get rid of.

Increase bandwidth and look at challenges and potentials

One of the biggest barriers to succeeding is individual and organizational closeness. One of the most important keys to opening up your organization is therefore straightforward. The act of looking at reality through the eye of the citizen, customer, user or patient and trying to understand what they are experiencing and what are their challenges. It's not new, and it's been talked about for many years -- but the gap between rhetoric and reality remains huge -- one thing is to be able to say the right words about customer focus, user involvement, the citizen at the center and co-creation, which is a hot concept now -- another thing is to make it happen in practice, and actually be able to translate the insights and knowledge gained into involving and co-creative processes and the relationships that build into something constructive, productive and useful.
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Something new is taking shape in the way we work together, across private, public and voluntary organisations and civil society. We are seeing more and more people in this day and age who see the vital need to open up their organisations and let the outside world in completely new ways than we have seen in the past. It's not the different stakeholders that are interesting. It is not what each of them brings with them that is interesting. It's not about you or them. It's about what they can do together about the challenge or ambition around which they come together — that's what's interesting.
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We find again and again that when many different perspectives are involved and activated in identifying the challenges and in finding common solutions to the challenges, a commitment and an energy arises. Trust is built between people in equal and committed cooperation. But what really moves is a shared experience of progress on a meaningful problem or challenge that cannot be solved by individual actors alone. The key word here is prospered. We can have enough as many good and spacious co-creating processes, but whose output and effect are not an experience of prospered In the case of the original problem or the initial challenge, over time it will create the exact opposite: distrust, de-motivation and cynicism.
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We are going to see in the next few years many more organisations breaking up the hierarchies and boundaries of what their organisation is and who is part of it. Complex issues call for new ways of organizing — and new ways of collaborating and thinking. Leading and managing will take on new forms while the gaze on value, impact, output will be strengthened — those who contribute value will have a natural place regardless of where they come from and who they are.
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An experimental and practical approach that helps to reduce complexity by specifying concrete solutions creates a tremendous energy, desire for action and power of realization — that is why the new insights, knowledge, services and products must be tested in practice and in reality as soon as possible. It is increasingly necessary to work both investigatively and co-creatively in iterative circles rather than linear trajectories.

The magic lies in the action!

It's just a matter of getting started by inviting the outside world and opening up the dialogue, about the issues you are experiencing in your organization and those we are experiencing in society as a whole — there is no one who has a monopoly on the serving dish — everyone can come up for a dance.
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Here is the story of how different actors in this case a large private company and a municipality joined forces to solve a fundamental societal problem that neither of them individually had the solution to, and which created value on many different bottom lines.

ISS and Kalundborg Municipality join forces to solve the challenges

There is value on many different bottom lines when private and public organizations join forces to solve crucial problems. ISS and Jobcenter Kalundborg have produced significant results in cooperation on integration and job creation. The formal cooperation entitled Close to the labour market provides concrete results on the economic and human bottom line of the ISS. And Kalundborg Jobcentre gets help to solve their task of getting people outside the labour market into jobs or education. Perhaps your company has an undiscovered potential to create value on multiple bottom lines while doing good in society.
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It started as a dialogue at Marienborg, where Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen had invited top leaders, mayors, etc. to come up with ideas to solve the challenge of integration and job creation. A conversation between ISS's CEO and Kalundborg Municipality Mayor (and KL Chairman) Martin Damm led to a very concrete collaboration on helping refugees into jobs. Based on existing cooperation between ISS and the municipality regarding cleaning, as well as ISS' extensive business network, Close to the labour market launched. The aim was to create jobs, training or internships for the unemployed.
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This sounds like a good case, but what is it that causes a private company to enter into a binding cooperation of this type with a municipality? Rya Terney (Head of Division at ISS Job Development) and Simon Sami Dalsø (Head of Public Sales) from ISS highlight three reasons why ISS is engaging in this type of cross-sector collaboration.
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1. Recruitment: ISS is in an industry where it can generally be difficult to recruit enough employees. For more than 20 years, ISS has collaborated with job centres to help vulnerable unemployed people — including refugees — enter the labour market, thereby also increasing its own recruitment base.
2. Social responsibility: Humans are essential for the ISS to deliver its services, which is why humans are a key focal point for the ISS. This applies both internally and in relation to societal challenges. Therefore, the company has a strong HR and CSR set-up, where, among other things, targeted and structured work is done to help vulnerable unemployed people into employment. Part of the effort includes a network of more than 1000 companies, where ISS can make the contact if they themselves do not have a suitable offer for a job-seeking citizen.
3. Business: For ISS, social responsibility and running a healthy business go hand in hand. When ISS cooperates with a municipality to help unemployed people in employment, the company receives payment for each citizen who is helped further. ISS currently cooperates with 32 job centres in Denmark.

And what makes the municipality, and in this case Jobcenter Kalundborg, cooperate with the private sector? Labour Market Manager Jens Folman emphasises that the agreement with ISS is based on already signed contracts for cleaning and so on. And in light of that, it was natural to look for the possibility of using the cooperation to achieve some of the effects on which Jobcenter Kalundborg and the municipality as a whole are measured. Thus, bone-hard power measures have been established on parameters such as:
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• Getting vacancies in jobs
• Getting unemployed in education
• Establishing the so-called IGUs (IGU stands for Integrations-Undergraduate Education) and is an opportunity for companies to hire refugees on special terms with the requirement that they simultaneously complete training. An IGU can trigger a bonus to the company of up to 40,000, - kr.)
• Getting unemployed in wage subsidies in companies
• Creating internships

Cooperation is evaluated and measured, among other things, on these parameters. According to Jens Folman, ISS contributes to the municipality achieving better results than they would otherwise. If ISS does not provide jobs, internships or anything else, they can pass on the contact to the more than 100 companies they have in the network.
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Jens Folman also presented Kalundborg and the rest of Denmark with a challenge when he was one of the first to set a specific target of 50 IGUs, which Jobcentre Kalundborg will establish during the three-year pilot period. Of the total, a commitment to establish 12 IGUs has now been written into the contract with ISS. The hand on the hob and the willingness to take the lead can also boost things in a public context.
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It is clear that there is a mutual value creation in cooperation. And value creation extends beyond business and municipality, and into a larger societal agenda. As described by Simon Sami Dalsø: “Together with the municipality we solve a societal problem that no one can solve alone”.
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Since the Marienborg Summit, ISS has had 250 refugees in courses similar to those in Kalundborg. 139 people have completed the courses. 46 per cent have joined jobs or are in training (Source: ISS). The government's target was set at 50 per cent. So I guess it can almost be considered a success.

Do you want to get started too? Answers to 5 crucial questions

• What challenges can your organization not solve on its own?
• Who can help explore the challenge and find and co-create solutions?
• How can others be motivated to participate in problem solving?
• How can a platform/arena be established that brings together all relevant parties and enables co-creation?
• Are there other initiatives and/or groupings that it would be interesting to associate with, ally with or be challenged by?
• Do you want to join the co-creation movement — and solve society's major challenges?