Skanska USA aligns on common goals and values

Business challenges

Skanska USA (Skanska) was seeking to align on common goals and values around safety in the workplace. Operating as a collection of separate companies rather than one cohesive entity, Skanska faced a difficult endeavor. The challenge was to unify and align a group of disjointed companies on a shared purpose around workplace safety.

Client goals

• Integrate the individual companies that form Skanska USA
• Align the company on a shared goal around workplace safety
• Advance beyond status quo in terms of safety in the workplace

How JMJ helped

JMJ helped the individual companies that form Skanska to align on shared and meaningful goals and values around a workplace in which no one is injured. At the onset of the engagement, safety was viewed as a policing activity reserved for select leaders rather than the responsibility of everyone in the company. JMJ helped Skanska understand that every person is accountable for safety, regardless of title or position.

Skanska also generally regarded safety as simply a set of rules. Through work with JMJ, the firm embraced a new attitude toward safety—safety is about genuine care and concern for the each other.

Skanska responded positively to JMJ’s process; noting that it is practical, easily adaptable and one that each person can use to make a difference.

Results

• Accelerated and created a unified and aligned organization
• Introduced a more authentic, caring way for people to treat and relate to each other
• Injected excitement and enthusiasm about safety into the company
• Improved Skanska’s relationships with subcontractors and unions

Skanska took a quantum leap in getting everyone on board in terms of embracing and promoting workplace safety. The former mentality of ‘us and them’ within the individual organizations was replaced with a greater sense of unity and an emphasis on developing relationships and caring for people. One example of Skanska’s transformation is its involvement in National Safety Day; the company and its projects engage in the day with genuine pride around safety initiatives.

Skanska’s relationships with subcontractors and unions also have improved and continued to advance, as the company routinely reinforces its commitment to safety in the workplace. The labor leaders and business agents who attended Skanska’s safety orientation were impressed by the firm’s genuine concern for the safety of their union workers.