Reimagining how people work: A Unilever Case Study

One of the biggest challenges large companies have is staying nimble and agile. At Unilever, we talk a lot about 'Agile Ways of Working' and we are always trying to adapt how we work to make sure we are able to respond quickly, keep making new innovations, and embrace a more entrepreneurial, abundant mindset.

Last year, long before the pandemic was on the horizon, I caught up with our Unilever Benelux Refreshments team who have transformed their way of working from the ground up. It's been inspiring to watch them go from strength to strength, and to see how so many other teams have been keen to emulate them and learn from them.

Agile is more vital than ever

The world has changed in so many ways since we had our conversation. But what strikes me the most listening back, is just how much these agile methodologies have been embraced in this 'new normal'.

I spoke recently of my shock at discovering how few companies seem to have had flexible/home working as an option before the pandemic. Certainly, these businesses will not find it easy to go back to the old ways now that their people have experienced work-from-home (with the caveat that many people still long for an office, especially in countries where multi-generation living is the norm and houses are often filled with family members during the day). Too many people have had the opportunity to manage their own time a little more: why should they go back to rigid working hours and long commutes?

But the changes go beyond home working: project management/team management tools like MS Teams and Slack are more useful than ever; Zoom has been the standout success story, its share price rocketing in a time of economic downturn; and more a more creative, problem-solving attitude has been vital to any team's success. Meanwhile, our Flex Experiences platform has had a baptism of fire, using AI to match the right people with the right project opportunities, creating super-charged teams of the very best Unilever people.

Now, more than ever, we are in an age that must reimagine how we manage our people – and how our people work together to succeed.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE:

Key learnings:

• Go for it. Fully embracing new tools is often the key to a more streamlined workflow. But this takes a steep learning curve, and often results in more work early on while people juggle two systems as they make the switch.
• Staying disciplined is vital. Our team had coaches to keep them on the straight and narrow, ensuring they didn't stray off onto tasks that were not part of their project goals.
• Action changes mindset. Techniques like kanban and agile can have a direct impact on 'abundance' and 'be resourceful' mindsets. Because people are already trying to accomplish tasks within a very set kanban-based system, they have to think creatively about what resources are available to them. This in turn encourages a more entrepreneurial, bootstrapping approach.
• Plan ahead. Your impact is much more likely to match your intention when everything is laid out for you right there upfront at the start of the project. You'll be able to see right away what is and isn't achievable within your time frame and budget.
• Build a movement. Give your project a brand that they can get behind in order to create a movement. Inspire people to make a change with something they can follow and understand.

I hope you will find this case study from our Benelux team as fascinating as I did. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments – especially any questions you might have or ideas for more things we can try.