Case Study - SEB Merchant Bank

“A knowledge revolution has begun at SEB Merchant Banking following the successful use of the OPC Process^®. It helped us create a complete understanding of the core values in every corner of the business”, said Anna Collin, Marketing Manager at SEB Merchant Bank.

By attending one of the 53 light hearted and inspirational Core Values Workshops, the 3,000 managers and staff around the globe have begun translating the bank’s newly declared Core Values into daily working life and are pooling ideas and experiences to make the Core Values a reality for everyone.

Anna Collin, who created the Core Value workshops with the help of OPC, said “the process had the desired effect of anchoring the core values into daily working life, with the added bonus of developing fresh avenues of thought and improved co-operation and bonding amongst employees.”

“The process was very successful because everyone felt totally involved. We were able to reach all of our employees with the same message in a short period of time”, she said.

The OPC Process® stimulates discussion and gave management and staff lasting insights into many aspects of the SEB Core Values through open discussion. The activities which prompted serious discussion and encouraged deeper thought were never the less light hearted and fun.

Around 60 people attended each event, hosted by two internal workshop leaders, organised into table groups each with their own “Table Box”, the revolutionary blend of learning and communication tools developed by OPC.

Each table group became a self directed team, kept on track by an OPC Storyboard^® which provided the learning agenda for the event, leading them through a variety of absorbing discussions, learning activities, thought provoking exercises and interesting tasks. Everything was written in the SEB corporate style and imagery to support and compliment the overall message.

Anna applauded the fun element of the workshops to help establish long term recall of the important messages and create a sense personal ownership of the Core Values. “The structure of the OPC events makes it impossible for individuals to sit on the sidelines”, she added.

The creators of the OPC Process^® believe implementation of core messages often fail in large organisations because employees have not been involved in the message origination and are subsequently not given a means to develop any sense of message ownership. Such poor engagement tends to lead people to misinterpret the essential message or water it down. It is important they say that everyone has a chance of expressing their opinions, debate and calibrate with their peers and have their voice heard. The OPC Process^® helps create an environment where combined discussions are held at all levels and every voice counts; it is designed to stimulate thinking and acts as an essential sounding board to bring key messages to life.

Anna confirmed that it was important to have workshop uniformity and that the One-Day-Ready-to-Go training for the thirty workshop leaders was essential to the whole OPC Process^® so they can run the interactive sessions ensuring the process is grounded in reality and to facilitate the Keep-The-Ball-Rolling post event activities. “Part of the success comes from having identical workshops lead by our own people from across the organisation with a complete mix of participants drawn from every level and function. It was important not to have a different process for different levels of management. It was important that it was the same for everyone”, she added.

Two unique features of the OPC process are the “Have-Your-Say” and the “Keep-the-ball-rolling” elements. The Have-Your-Say system is a feedback Loop that enables the thoughts expressed by each of the tables groups, and in SEB’s case there were well over 400 table groups, to be recorded, collected and collated very simply and accurately. The creators designed this element of the OPC Process to be a powerful and insightful tool, turning the condensed wisdom of the whole organization into a document for continuous improvement.

The patented section called 'Keep-The-Ball-Rolling' ensures post event activities and discussions happen, connecting the workshop participants with new highly relevant behaviours designed to accomplish the overall objectives of the initiative. The “Keep-The-Ball-Rolling” element provides the organisation with the means to sustain ownership, energy and commitment long after the workshops

“As a result of the workshops we discovered that people within the different business areas did not know enough about what their colleagues in various departments do”, Anna Collin said.

Consequently SEB Merchant Banking has been working with OPC to create a second series of OPC workshops to deepen the knowledge of the working practices throughout the organisation. “Everyone will now work towards a new knowledge ‘licence’ showing they have a basic understanding of the many aspects of our banking business. It is expected that the resulting co-operation between the departments and greater knowledge amongst the employees will improve work flow, boost the business and enhance our customer relations through better service.” Anna Collin concluded.