Management compass shows the direction in Ixonos
Chief Project Officer Teppo Kuisma from Ixonos looks into management sparring for new insights in his work in major customer sales.
In the photo Teppo Kuisma,
Chief Project Officer, Ixonos
- Business coaching from Balentor differs from others in a way that the participants bring content for the sessions from their own every day work. The method includes the participants and creates positive discussions, instead of going through a model that we would later try to apply.
Besides Kuisma, there were six other chosen managers taking part in the coaching. Common factor for them was that the company saw them as future international top leaders. It was the first time for Ixonos to use customized management coaching.
- The most important mission for coaching is to support the growth of the managers. It takes a very skilful coach to get inside people’s heads to create faith and independent development, says deputy-managing director Kari Liuska.
Sharing knowledge creates new ideas
In the beginning clear business and personal development goals were set for the participants. Different focus areas taken from the management compass were processed once a month in small groups.
- Group work has worked well. Every participant has to prepare with care and fully focus to the situation. One has to be prepared to open one’s own management and leadership, in order for all of us to succeed. At the same time the participants are learning about their colleagues all the time, tells Kuisma.
Some of the issues in the coaching are very personal – This coaching has been able to touch people. Management as a profession takes a lot of self-esteem, and management sparring can be a little rough sometimes. Even though some of the issues have been tough, the atmosphere was not at any point condemning but supporting, and it had a sparring quality in it, says Kuisma.
Top management from the company have been taking part in the sessions by opening the sessions and giving different tasks derived from business. – We felt that it was very important for the top management to take part in this. It glued our every day work and the coaching together.
New models suit every day work
Kuisma says that the tools gained from the coaching are easily implemented into his every day work. – The best thing has been that the models needed not to transform into something that can be used in every day work, because the content already was created directly from the real world. With the help of the coach, theory and practice have been united to create best practices.
The coaching process has just reached its middle point, but Liuska is already happy with the investment. – After the first time, people were still slightly suspicious, but now the sessions are a thing that the participants are eagerly waiting for. It shows that when the content is right, people will see the value in it, Liuska points out.
Kuisma sees the long duration of the coaching very rewarding. – It has been interesting to see the continuum and to reflect it with the development of my own ways of working. I have noticed that I give more feedback and I have strengthened my trust in the management of the strategy process. I have also been able to discuss more efficiently with my colleagues about what kind of company we have and to which direction we want to take it to in the future.
Communication agency Diverstas / Balentor Stakeholder magazine 2009