Helsinki-based EEX Oy (Entrepreneurship Exchange) is a growth company with a mission to make the world a more entrepreneurial place. EEX offers change makers in large companies the experience of learning directly from ambitious start-up entrepreneurs: How does an entrepreneur deal with tough decisions? How do entrepreneurs take on new sustainable markets and opportunities? Similarly, a leader will be able to offer his or her expertise to help the entrepreneur. The EEX Journey programme works with a dedicated Advisory Board for a year, with a colourful mix of expertise from different sectors and companies.

Creating new things through collaboration

For us, 'Collaborate for Growth' is at the heart of everything we do and that's how we started to play. We believe that it is through collaboration that new things and growth are created. For us, it's paramount that everyone in the organisation knows each other, knows each other's strengths and roles, and knows how to capitalise on this. In a small and fast-growing team, there needs to be a strong level of trust so that everyone can contribute fully and openly to the common goal.

The simulation took you out of the work context

Our team is now at the stage where everyone has taken on a new role. A perfect moment for a simulation! The simulation took us out of our work context and in a human way: for a moment we were not colleagues but travelling companions at Oktoberfest. The playfulness and gameplay helped, and we reached a mentally relaxed level where we could act intuitively without a job role.

All in all, the simulation was an invigorating experience that sucked us in and gave us ideas that we will continue to reflect on and work on. How do we as a team take risks? On what basis do we make decisions? Both of these are hugely important issues for our scaling up, and we gained good, even strategic, insights from the discussions in the simulation. It's hard to imagine how else we could have come up with the same insights in such a short time.

The team has a strong development attitude

The simulation also showed that the whole team has a really strong development attitude! It was great to see how we all want to constantly improve what we do to a new level. Many of the discussions echoed the need to improve in our own areas of strength and to become aware of areas for development. Creativity is one of our key strengths. So we set out to see how we could make even better use of its potential.

A cohesive team is always based on effective communication and clear roles

As a communications professional, I firmly believe that the most important thing is the openness and volume of internal dialogue. Everyone knows not only their own role, but also the role of others. The organisation and teams need discussions outside the work context about how things are done, not just what is done. SmoothTeam is a great tool for that! 

The crown has also been seen in our year: we transformed a previously entirely physical learning experience into a virtual one and succeeded in having a global service. But the big transformation journey has not been without its challenges, and the team's ability has been measured by how well we can create something new and difficult - something no one has done before. 

I can recommend SmoothTeam to communities who want to become power teams

I can warmly recommend SmoothTeam to any community with the ambition to become a power team. In our work, we see Advisory Board teams working with ambitious goals and tough strategic decisions all the time, and we help them do it ourselves. They demand a lot from the team - especially when the organisation is still in a growth phase. Knowing each other and being able to help, support and encourage as the situation demands is vital to team productivity. 

Gold rushes born from simulation

The best part of the simulation was the situation created by the excellent facilitator and the inspiring content, which effortlessly created a common understanding of how our team works together. And then there were the little golden chips - the insights that emerged during the simulation from the joint discussions and that have already been taken into the team's everyday life.

Elisa Kitunen
Country Manager, EEX Oy