Sharing experiences: Cooperation partner Jaana Junell
The Future Leader Initiative was developed in collaboration between Terveystalo and Aalto EE. Aim of the program is to educate healthcare industry leaders, Jaana Junell from Terveystalo says.
“I entered the healthcare industry from the telecommunications field. Right away I noticed that doctors were accustomed to having a doctor as their superior. It is, of course, our wish at Terveystalo to see leaders emerge from the healthcare industry, but this requires the necessary leadership skills to be provided. One needs to understand and acknowledge that being a manager is a very important role. In my opinion, one should really want to be a superior and develop the necessary skills. I hope that doctors understand that in the future their superiors will not be exclusively doctors.
We turned to Aalto EE for expertise in creating customer-orientation and change management, particularly from the perspective of managers in the healthcare sector.
We had peer discussions and tailored the pro- gram with Aalto EE until we found the right balance of strategic level and workshops with a focus on individual development as a leader and sharing of experiences with colleagues.
We did the pilot internally to see how it would go. We had a huge number of applicants! It was wonderful to witness such enthusiasm for managerial work within the healthcare industry, even though the field largely dominated by expertise has not placed too much value on the work of managers. As part of the next phase, we have just started a program for finding external applicants for our managerial positions. We used the program to support recruitment.
The number of motivated applicants and the completion of our own program for doctors made me proud.
The program addresses the transition from ex- pert to leader, and helps people understand what this truly means. Our own excellent executives give speeches in class and convey their experiences.
Internalizing and managing customer-oriented approach, and thoroughly understanding the service experience from a customer’s perspective are also highlighted during the program.
The program is a significant investment for the employer. Our strategic goal is to make Terveystalo the best possible place for skilled workers. This takes dedication towards future experts and expertise, which also involves managerial work and leadership. Superior managerial work supports the entire group of healthcare professionals and improves well-being at work.
The Future Leader initiative has supported us in recruitment and personnel commitment: in Terveystalo you can also be a part of a top leadership program.”
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The Future Leader Initiative
The bold aim of the Future Leader Initiative is to find and develop the next generation of healthcare industry leaders from within Terveystalo.
The four main themes of the program are:
- Strategy and transformation in healthcare
- Leadership and management
- Customer orientation in healthcare
- Growing as a leader
The feedback we got from the participants was an excellent 9.6 (on a scale of 4–10). Key performance indicators were also agreed for each participant with their supervisors, and these, too, are being tracked over time.
While the results from these efforts will mainly become visible during the next few years, some participants have already seen considerable changes in their managerial roles within the company.