At the beginning of 2019, OP began a journey of change towards a more agile, self-managed operating model that is based on autonomous teams. In Development & Technologies (D&T), this has meant the creation of shared agile principles and practices, in addition to the agile development methods that have been used already for some time. It has also involved further improving our management models and supporting our self-managed teams.
During the journey of change, OP has three strategic priorities: improving employee experience, improving customer experience and operational efficiency. Bringing these priorities into life in a lean, self-managed organisation is supported by the four Principles of Good Leadership that guide supervisors as well as specialists who are in charge of managing their own work:
- “I’ll show the way”
- “I’ll make success possible”
- “I’ll encourage learning”
- “I’ll ensure results.”
It’s not just people in management positions who should embrace the Principles of Good Leadership. Specialists working as team members in autonomous teams can also apply them when managing their own work. This article describes what “ll show the way” means in D&T and as an active way of working, both for supervisors and employees.
For a supervisor, showing the way means dialogue, providing cues to the meaningfulness of work and challenging the target level
“In showing the way, the key is that the team and each team member understand how their own work relates to OP Financial Group’s targets and priorities. An autonomous team is then able to select the targets and success indicators for its own work,” says Risto Koistinen, Tribe Lead of Information Management.
“With my teams, we regularly discuss together whether the selected targets are still valid, how well we have succeeded and whether any targets should be modified. My job is to spar team members and make them analyse whether our targets actually lead to the desired impact in customer value,” he continues.
Besides reaching business targets, showing the way means challenging practices and improving them further.
“My leadership has been successful if the team finds more efficient new ways to achieve the set targets. I have extremely talented and skilled people in my teams, and challenging them generates amazing insights and solutions,” Risto says.
For Risto, adopting fully agile practices has meant an interesting challenge, learning path and personal growth, although he has been a supervisor for years.
“Implementing the new Principles of Good Leadership has been rewarding for me, but it has required efforts. We’ve moved from traditional management into a system where team members are considered the best experts in choosing their targets and practices. In showing the way, the key elements are dialogue, providing cues to the meaningfulness of work and challenging the target level,” Risto summarises.
Communicating the company’s big picture confirms the right way for teams
Taru Väre, a Product Owner in Risto’s tribe, says that employee experience has clearly improved after the adoption of self-managed practices.
“The new corporate culture gives teams more space and influencing opportunities and a feeling that employees are trusted. It gives me more freedom, but I also know that I’ll get support if I’m unsure about something,” Taru says.
For Taru, showing the way as a leadership principle means that the tribe lead will give their full support to help the employee or team find the right way. The teams also get a good view of OP Financial Group’s big picture: the strategy, direction, targets and priorities.
“As a subordinate, I definitely want to be involved in taking the decisions that concern our everyday work. Clear communication of OP Financial Group’s major targets and priorities creates a good basis for us to decide how our team can help reach the targets. Planning our targets together as a team increases our commitment to the work and the targets set by us. A good view of the big picture removes some uncertainties, because we can be sure that we’re doing meaningful things in the direction the company is headed,” Taru says.
How is the success of leadership principles and improved employee experience measured?
One of OP’s strategic priorities is to improve employee experience by developing corporate and leadership culture. That’s why OP has defined ways to measure the success of the applied leadership principles.
“We regularly conduct success surveys in tribes. Once a quarter, the tribe survey asks OP’s in-house and leased employees how well we have succeeded. Setting targets is one of the topics covered by the survey,” Risto says.
“In January we changed the target setting practice with teams and already in the following tribe survey in March the score for target setting improved notably,” Risto mentions giving an example of the direct impacts of applying the leadership principles. “We supervisors follow tribe survey results closely, to see where we’ve succeeded and what should be improved.”
Another measurement method is the employee satisfaction survey for OP’s in-house employees. It’s results are also scrutinised to find out how our actions should be developed to improve employee experience. Anna-Mari Valkila, Head of HR, Development & Technologies, says that practices have indeed been developed, modified and updated based on feedback. Development has then had direct effects on employee experience.
“It’s all about continuous improvement, like OP’s journey of change in general. The employee satisfaction surveys ask whether the new operating model is better than the old one. The vast majority has responded that the new ways are much better. We’ve received plenty of positive feedback about the changes,” Anna-Mari says.