My role in Init:

I have acted as an integrated part of the Init executive management group from day one and for the following 4 years. As an embedded strategic actor, I have helped management put action behind the organisational intentions and strategic visions.

The challenge:

Init is an PE backed buy-and-build company. Going from small founderled companies to enterprise size “overnight” entails an extraordinary building process of an organisation from scratch.

From building a brand, an organisation and setting the leadership direction, the balance has constantly been to adjust common identity, direction and systems vs. the autonomy that thrives and drives founderled companies.

This has been a constant evaluation, and for each step of the way, I have experienced the impact of the balance set it’s imprint throughout the whole organisation. I have seen how leadership choices and communication drives behaviour.

My contribution:

I have helped establish a common language for their combined commercial offering bringing everyone to the table and finding a balance between corporate and technical heart, and a balance between too wide and too narrow.

I have helped shape the Init identity through brand and organisation principles. I have been a guardian of the fundamental principles to carry them with us and held them up as lens for all future strategic development of the group.

Concrete initiatives:

I guided the brand agency in building the brand, by translating the internal dynamics to a brand they could all see them selves in.

I have gathered stakeholders across the organisation to formulate common standpoints on strategic questions. This means they all see the fairness in the executive decisions and feel heard.

I have facilitated the executive management in designing the organisational principles and provided alternative designs for them to develop.

I have led the biannual leadership seminar from selecting relevant topics, to designing content and framing and facilitating discussions among 70 leaders. This is the manifestation that they all build and shape the Init they are part of. The discussions serve as invaluable insights and set the direction for the whole company and help executive management prioritise and "feel" what's right.

I have updated the Merger Integration playbook to match the actual integration principles, and reflect the platform we have built while driving, and led the integration process across workstreams.

Seen the impact in practice:

I have learned and experienced what works and what doesn’t when building an enterprise size company. From leadership, direction, organisation, identity and strategy, I have been part of the kitchen that prepared it all, not as separate tasks but as a sum of the total.

This is the perspective I bring. I can help navigate the complexity of an organisation and help understand the dynamics of leadership vs behaviour when building or rebuilding an enterprise organisation from scratch or integrating companies post a merger.