Visual design thinking consultancy Flatland expands into Swiss market
Flatland, a Dutch consultancy specialising in visual-focused co-creation, has expanded into the Swiss market.
Since its founding more than a decade ago, Flatland has guided executives at organisations including Johnson & Johnson, DHL, Allianz, TU Delft, ING and IKEA through strategy processes, change programmes and innovation initiatives, using visual design thinking as its core methodology.
“Our approach to visual design thinking is well established in the Netherlands. It has been refined across more than 3,000 strategy, change and innovation projects over the past decade, working with both leadership teams and people on the work floor,” says Michelle Geerlings, Country Director of Flatland in Switzerland.
The approach is built on the simple notion that complex change requires shared meaning and a common goal. Establishing both through co-creation helps create buy-in and lasting commitment.
To put this into numbers, McKinsey & Company studied 60 companies in the middle of a transformation and found that, on average, only 2% of employees had genuine ownership of the change. Those that reached 7% or more were twice as likely to outperform their peers. “Alignment is not a soft benefit. It is the difference between a strategy that moves and one that does not,” says Geerlings.
Flatland is typically called in by clients facing strategic transformations or major transitions involving a complex stakeholder landscape. “We help executives craft an inspiring strategy that is visual and moves the needle, or develop a narrative that supports transitions such as shifts in business model, market position, purpose or culture.”
“Such transitions require leadership to develop a coherent response together and maintain a sustained, collective process of sensemaking. They also require line of sight: every person needs to see how their own role connects to the broader direction. Without it, even a strong strategy can stall at the very point where people are expected to act.”
Geerlings notes that visual co-creation is designed precisely for this challenge. “By making strategic questions visible – literally drawing them out across multiple working sessions – leadership teams move faster from abstract discussion to shared direction. The process itself builds ownership. People do not just receive a strategy. They make it, and people support what they help to build.”
Three propositions
The consulting firm has three main areas of focus, all of which are now also available to clients in the Swiss market.
The first is facilitating strategy processes, in which consultants help craft a compelling strategic storyline rooted in vision and mission, design the organisational set-up and roadmap, and build the tools needed to help the organisation execute.
For major change processes, key support includes leadership basecamps, followed by co-creation, reflection and communication, and culminating in dialogue tools and activation across the wider organisation. An innovation process focuses on developing an innovation vision, building a structured innovation process and embedding an innovation culture that outlasts the project itself.
“Across all three offerings, the key ingredients of our approach remain the same: a visual, iterative process rooted in design thinking methodology; early-stage participation and involvement through co-creation and validation sessions; and live visualisation to quickly mirror thoughts, ideas and choices.”
Flatland’s Swiss office is based in Zurich, while its Dutch team operates out of Rotterdam.
