But with limited time and resources, how do you make all leaders relate to the same leadership capabilities at more or less the same time in a meaningful manner? The recipe for Novozymes consisted of four elements. 

First, make it simple and tangible. Unlocking Leadership was tied closely to existing concepts, making it clear how it is a natural lever for the already known strategy and a leadership-specific extension of the organizational values. 

Second, “toolify” it. “Unlocking Leadership” was translated into a data-driven 360-degree feedback tool, a revised template for the Individual Development Plan, and specific training modules targeting each leadership capability. 

Third, focus on facilitating meaningful conversations between human beings. Not trying to control every single outcome with rigorous supervision but instead giving leaders the means and inspiration to have good, genuine conversations, weaving the thriving and self-awareness of the individual into the needs and development of the organization. And then trusting them to apply the global framework locally how it makes sense to their context and team. 

Over the course of a year, 583 leaders at Novozymes have received 360-degree feedback through “Unlocking Leadership,” with 95 percent receiving in-person feedback on the insights. 82 percent perceived it as meaningful and valuable, and 73 percent anchored specific learnings into development plans. 

“It works, because it is concrete”, Marianne Bie Frydendahl explains. “It tells us what we need to do, using fewer words and leaving little room for confusion, creating a common language for good leadership and a few impactful tools to support it,” Marianne Bie Frydendahl.

And fourth? Humor. Using a bit of irony generates smiles and laughter, fostering a sense of belonging and humanness. “We expect a lot from our leaders. They need to be good people managers, be on top of their function, and navigate the many changes we are making in a competing business landscape, while coping with the uncertainty of an incoming merger. So, when we introduce new global initiatives, we need to be incredibly mindful of balancing the need for unity with respect for the individual context. We are all human, so we decided to create a small sit-com-like film, where we exposed all the worst-practice examples of how not to conduct development conversations to make it more fun and engaging and less corporate,” Marianne Bie Frydendahl.

While Voluntās were responsible for the directing, filming, and editing, the movie consisted of Novozymes staff as actors giving a human touch to an essential topic. 

Scenes, characters, and punchlines were later repurposed as GIFs and images to serve as a reminder to prioritize meaningful conversations. Knowing that in this year’s Meaningfulness at Work report, the lowest scoring item globally was “my leader takes time to ask how I am doing both professionally and personally, and I feel that he/she listens and takes action,” then nothing is more important to improve our sense of meaning and belonging in the workplace than exactly that.