by Janus Boye
Chris Hovde is Global People Movement Lead at Telia
“We are stuck in a bad chain of unproductive behaviors”
Coming up on 6 years at Telia in various HR roles, Chris Hovde knows a thing or two about change, culture, productivity and leadership development. Working currently out of his apartment in Oslo as Global People Movement Lead, Chris is now in a global role focusing on building the future leadership and culture of Telia Company.
Previously he has worked on everything from on- and offboarding, employer branding, leadership and development, sustainability, diversity and inclusion. He has a big heart for regenerative workplaces and focuses a lot on healthy work environments, psychological safety and how to live thriving lives. He is a role model for change and a self-proclaimed Urban monk on a mission to create a regenerative world.
Chris is our expert of the month.
Psychological safety is the key
Plenty of research has shown that psychological safety is the single most important factor in teams, notably the widely publicized productivity research at Google. Psychological safety is also the key to reversing that bad chain of unproductive behaviors, Chris mentioned in the opening quote.
An important part of getting this safety in place, is openness about mental health. Something that’s improving, but for many it is still difficult to talk about and act upon while working in teams.
To Chris, psychological safety is also about getting the most out of diversity and unlocking the potential of high performing teams. He has been working closely with the world’s first ever digital team development app to assist teams in becoming more high performing by aligning mission, goals, structures and ways of working. In Telia over 600 teams have been through their team development journeys, with an average performance improvement of 16%.
As Chris said in our recent conversation:
“We are on a very ambitious cultural journey, to make sure our culture is not just fancy words on a wall. Everybody can run a nice concept on a flipchart, but if you ask the people in the company if we live our values every single day, that’s the real test”
Prior to the pandemic, Chris was already quite experienced working remotely. He firmly believes that many things can be done even better remotely, as people can dress how they want, be comfortable, be more open, and more authentic. He’s strongly convinced of the power couple of hybrid and meeting people in person. However, for this to work we need to design physical spaces where people have time for each other. Where they can have those informal talks, smile, hug and have fun. We need to create vibrant offices that people just can’t miss out on. Personally, he goes to the office whenever he has room in his calendar to see, talk to and be present with people.
Everyone dares to call in sick for a day, if they are not feeling well. To Chris, the real test of balance and psychological safety is also that it’s ok to say that you need to skip a couple of meetings in the middle of the day if your head is full or you need to prioritize some deep work. We are all the boss of our balance and productivity. We also need to take charge of the bonanza of too many meetings and keep our own balance in order. Nobody will do that for you.
You need to be able to design your life in a way that is optimal for you. Chris is quick to point out that this is not only an egoistic desire. An appropriate design will give you more energy and this surplus tend to make the time we spend together much more meaningful and valuable.
Measure only what you are willing to act upon
We’ve all heard that famous management saying: What gets measured gets done.
When I spoke to Chris about his recent lessons learned on diversity and inclusion, he paraphrased this by saying we should only measure what you are willing to act upon.
Chris on a panel at the recent Diversify Nordics Summit in Oslo. According to Chris: “The first Nordic conference that understands what diversity is truly about!” The conference will return in September 2023.
Accountability is key for an inclusive workplace and his advice is to pair up business KPIs with diversity and inclusion KPIs so you can track the true business value it creates. To quote Chris:
“Make sure you hold your leaders equally accountable for diversity and inclusion goals, as you would any other business goals.”
He’s also a fan of starting small and creating some success stories. Stories are engagement machines per excellence and the human way to connect.
Don’t just work. Do different things
Besides his work at Telia, Chris also chairs three other companies, runs his own business, and enjoys contributing to relevant conferences. This might sound like Chris is working all the time, but that’s not the case and Chris is quick to say that to him it’s all about not putting too much identity into your work. Or as the famous saying goes: “Don’t put all your apples in one basket”.
As covered by Norwegian daily Aftenposten in 2021, Chris lives in an apartment with 60 plants which is referred to as a jungle, with a kitchen and a bathroom. This also takes time to care for, but Chris finds it deeply meaningful and it helps him get through the seasons. To Chris, regenerative leadership is looking to nature and learning from nature and how it responds to changes in conditions.
Doing different things whether at work, inside your apartment or outside in the community, increases your belief in yourself, your sense of belonging and also helps you connect with your purpose. This is the smart thing to do according to Chris, as it gets you going with productive behaviors.
To find your own uniqueness and authentic self, it all starts with a journey to become a strong leader in your own life. In Telia they call it self leadership. It begins with becoming more self aware, building your self confidence and -esteem and becoming self reliant. Finally, Chris wrapped up our inspiring conversation with a final piece of advice:
“If you want to do big changes in business or in your own life, it always starts with the small steps. Find meaning where you are, in every step and in the journey you have in front of you. Then start to act upon what you say. Then I believe we can move even bigger mountains together!”
Learn more about Chris Hovde
Back in the beginning of the summer, Chris hosted a popular member call, which took a closer look at diversity and inclusion at Telia.
You can naturally also connect with Chris on LinkedIn.