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Making Work Visible to Close the Alignment Gap

Client: Novonesis A/S

A global leadership team across Denmark, France, US and China met regularly to align on strategy and priorities. The ambition was clear: make collaboration work better across teams without adding more to already full calendars.

In discussions, alignment was often reached. But when work moved forward, projects unfolded differently across teams. Assumptions were not surfaced, roles were defined late, and direction shifted based on local interpretation and stakeholder input. What was agreed in the room did not translate into how work was actually carried out.

Solution:

The work was structured across multiple sessions during the year, each building on the previous one and tied to the leadership team’s ongoing work.

In the first workshop, the focus was on current collaboration patterns. Using real project examples, the team mapped how work had unfolded across teams. This made it visible who got involved, when teams were formed, and how direction shifted during execution, both within the leadership team and in the teams they were leading.

In a later session, the focus shifted to the team’s strategic priorities for the year. Based on these, the team worked with a storyboard exercise. Each group created a visual version of how the work should unfold. When presented side by side, the versions showed different assumptions about roles, priorities, and outcomes within the same strategic direction.

Across the sessions, these situations were used to define small, concrete experiments connected to ongoing projects. Leaders took ownership of specific changes, tested them in their own teams, and brought back examples to review and adjust in the following sessions.

Outcome:

  • Core teams defined at the start of new projects instead of during execution
  • Leaders selected which projects required cross-functional coordination
  • Leadership team members took ownership of specific experiments
  • Differences in project direction identified earlier through visual alignment work

Testimonial:

The workshop made both our differences and our shared ambitions visible. It gave us a clearer view of how we collaborate and how we involve each other in the work. The follow-up material was thorough and useful — and your energy, toolbox and creativity is impressive!

Gaëlle Lettier Buchhorn, Director