Team 15 Combines Strength of Bonnier Publishing

Working across boundaries is a great idea, but not always so easy to achieve. So when Richard Johnson became CEO of Bonnier Publishing in 2009, one of the challenges he faced was breaking down corporate and geopgraphic barriers within the different companies within the group. One idea that he came up with became a reality in February 2010, when he created Team 15.

"Team 15 is a selection of employees from the approximately 200 employees within Bonnier Publishing to join a team where their careers can be fast tracked through the group and their training basically becomes a partnership between the individual company they work for and Bonnier Publishing," says Johnson.

The 15 came from a selection across all five companies - Autumn Publishing and Templar Publishing in the U.K., Five Mile Press and Weldon Owen Proprietary in Australia and Piccolia in France. And the original 15 have been joined by three additional members.

"As our companies are spread out across the world, it brings Bonnier Publishing more together as a group and a team, which was a fundamental culture change I was looking for when I was made CEO last year," he says.  The members of the team were not necessarily senior, he says, but they had to be ambitious and stand out in some way.

"Team 15 allows much more cross-group cooperation and communication," Johnson says. "It's not just the bosses who talk to each other now, it's Team 15 members who spread the word about the group and about Bonnier."

A Team 15 conference was held in July and the group is working on a book idea. "They had to pick a leader and develop a publishing idea as a project," says Johnson. "If I like the result, we will publish it early next year and I will pay each of the members a small royalty as a reward."  

The team members are pleased so far: "Team 15 has gone well so far as it has brought together a selected group of people who can pull their ideas and work together on given projects as a team," says Sarah May, supply chain coordinator at Autumn Publishing in Chichester.

It's too early to say how well Team 15 is working, Johnson says, as it is turning out to be a two-year experiment. "But it has started well and we will be bringing more employees into the Team as we grow," he says. "It's not closed, other employees are aware of Team 15 and will be able to apply in the next round."

For Maria Curman, CEO of Bonnier Books under which Bonnier Publishing sits, the project is full of promise. "This is a way of taking care of the development and creativity of our rising stars," Curman says. "It's an investment in our publishing future. It's exciting and fascinating to follow the Team 15 project."