WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE?
Sweco works with three target areas, where a clearer culture contributes to the work:

1. Committed employees: Cultural work should contribute to increased motivation, continuous learning, leadership and reduced staff turnover
2. Increased customer focus: There is always a difference between how a company itself thinks customers perceive it, and how customers do. A common culture helps to reduce the difference and ensures that customers, regardless of which consultant from Sweco they meet, recognize themselves and feel safe.
3. Efficiency: To increase the company’s competitiveness, cultural work links to constantly improving the efficiency of the business.

WHAT WAS THE SOLUTION?
The work group went through steering documents, processes and presentations of various kinds. The aim was to identify patterns and recurring behaviors, values ​​and personal characteristics – Sweco’s soul in short.

Gradually, the most important words and concepts associated with Sweco crystallized. As each individual employee is involved in shaping the culture, the work group created an educational model based on a self-perspective, with the values, characteristics and behaviors deemed to be most important to Sweco’s employees. This resulted in Sweco’s “Culture Map”.

The group further worked on developing both a design of the culture map and an implementation plan for how all employees would be involved in together living and developing the culture. An example of how, is the 16 group exercises that were developed as support for the group managers to lead and conduct conversations about business-critical issues in their groups. The group exercises were adapted to be able to be carried out at a regular work meeting, both physically and digitally.

The culture map was introduced step by step throughout the organization through the 700 managers who have been assigned to drive the cultural work forward among the approximately 6 000 consultants in the company.

WHAT WAS THE RESULT?
The investment in cultural work:

• gave a clear picture of Sweco’s culture, what unites the employees and what distinguishes Sweco from its competitors.
• clarified which values, characteristics and behaviors Sweco wants to reinforce.
• provided an educational framework and a tool to help employees navigate everyday life.
• gave Sweco tools to communicate and interact with each other in new ways, with focus on culture, customers and activities.
• started a process towards a collective behavioral shift – towards a more united Sweco.

Sweco plans and designs the sustainable communities and cities of the future. Sweco is the leading consulting company in technology and architecture in Europe. In Sweden, Sweco offers a wide range of services in architecture, construction, installation, infrastructure, water & environment, project management, energy systems, IT for community development and industry.