Fluido group

Last year’s employee survey made it very clear that our company’s strategy was unclear to our employees. We had developed the strategy and prepared the documents and materials, but we had not managed to communicate it properly. We had not distilled it clearly for our employees. In our work as a provider of business digitalisation services, the most important measure is the client experience: the benefit our work brings to the client. That is another reason why everyone needs to understand the strategy. We wanted our executive team to be able to focus on what our company really wants to do.

Jarkko had introduced Rokmind’s services and coaching to me over the years. When the employee survey brought the issue into focus, I knew that Rokmind had suitable coaching to offer us.

Anne’s coaching helped us understand that a company’s strategy is a framework for action and a story, rather than a to-do list. We began to consider the five or so things we wanted to highlight in our strategy. We developed our ‘Strategic Cornerstones’, setting out the five key areas we would focus on. These cornerstones are also easy to return to if we start to lose focus. Naturally, everything is grounded in our company’s values, which run through the strategy. We are a strongly values-led company, and we focus on putting our values into practice every day.

So far, the most tangible benefit of the coaching in our daily work has been that, for the first time, setting employees’ individual objectives using KPIs — key performance indicators — has been quite straightforward. Those objectives are based on our five strategic choices. Everyone now knows their individual objectives, and every team knows what it needs to focus on. Since the coaching, we have been able to communicate more precisely to employees what we are focusing on, which part of the strategy a decision relates to and why we exist. Now that the objectives are clear, everyone is working towards the same goal.

Our executive team of eight people, representing several nationalities, took part in the coaching. It was delivered in two parts during our strategy days last summer. Anne’s style was relaxed and helped us reach our own insights, and she brought in examples from other companies.

Anne did not need to know the details of our business. We explained what we do and what matters in our sector. Anne got us to focus on business planning. Crucially, she clearly understood the challenges an executive team can face and the change we wanted to bring about.

Guiding an executive team made up of strong specialists in their own fields is probably quite difficult when, so to speak, everyone already knows their stuff. There can be a sense of ‘don’t come here and tell us what to do’. Anne stayed in tune with us and clearly understood all the questions and doubts that came up. We particularly appreciated how quickly she brought us back to the topic when we started to go off on tangents. That focus on what mattered resonated strongly with everyone.

Anne was not there to tell us how things should be done: we had to do all that work ourselves. She skilfully facilitated the process of turning ideas into something concrete. And that work continues. Strategy work is never finished. We cannot say, ‘now we have mastered this’, but it feels good to have clear strategic choices that we are sticking to.

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