Now we are getting even stronger!

Katarina has a solid business and strategy background from leadership positions in communications and business development at Unilever, Bonniers and KF, among others. With a background as CEO of Identity Works and senior strategist at Springtime and Hallvarsson & Halvarsson, she has extensive experience in the consultancy industry. Katarina joins Involve as Senior Strategist with a main focus on change, leadership and sustainability.

With your experience and expertise in strategy and communications, you have many agencies to work for. What made you choose Involve?

I started working with Involve last spring, just as the corona crisis hit and everything went digital for real. It felt very right even though a lot of things stood still in the initial shock. Even before 2020's rapid shift to teleworking, I saw the excitement of Involve - smart digital solutions and a well-founded communication mindset from education. Interesting and different! The agency also has extensive experience in change management, which is my focus today, and they understand what is important both inside large complex companies and in smaller growth companies when it comes to digital strategy activation. I like the agency's combination of proven digital solutions and innovation and flexibility - especially important now that everything is changing!

 What's your intel? What are the main challenges companies are facing right now?

These are special times and crisis management and rapid transformation are taking place in many places and strategies and maps are being redrawn, dramatically. Internal communication has therefore emerged as a key strategic function in companies. Answers and solutions are needed to the question that keeps managers and owners awake at night - how to activate the power and energy of employees so that strategies become a reality? When the map is new, it is more important than ever to reach out internally so that everyone really understands the objectives and, above all, the action plans that come in the wake of them. HR, Communications and even Sustainability managers need good solutions to make this work even in the longer term, and to find new forms of collaboration. Then, of course, one wonders what the new normal will look like in the workplace when many people are working half remotely?

What change issues do you want to drive together with customers?

Sustainability is absolutely critical for business going forward and the most important strategic challenge for companies in decades, not least because of new compliance requirements and the EU's Green Deal. I hear how many people are hugely committed and want to do something, and the crisis can also create opportunities to change for real, and faster. At the same time, many managers or employees sometimes don't understand at all HOW to put sustainability goals into practice, i.e. what they themselves should or should not do! Sustainability strategies tend to be steeped in jargon, understanding and knowledge need to be strengthened and managers need support, both to interpret the goals and to get a clear grip on their own responsibility in the work. Personally, I think internal sustainability communication is hugely important and see how Involve's offering can really make a difference here.

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