Some of our employees meet regularly at our offices in Zug and Helsinki, Switzerland. We also have people from Australia, America, Spain and other countries.

In day-to-day operations, all meetings of the management team are held remotely. Until now, we have met together about once a year. This time, due to the interest rate pandemic, not everyone was able to make it to Switzerland, but some participated remotely. As part of the event, a SmoothTeam simulation was carried out.

Knowing your team members is at the heart of working effectively

We have very little time together each year, and we want to spend it on the most important things. I thought beforehand about how we could get the best out of an event that involves people from all over the world, partly remotely. I got help with the planning from Piritta van der Beek of Grape People. She said that in a group that meets very rarely, teamwork is really important and I decided to carve out a part of the four days for that.

The most useful thing for teamwork would be for people to get to know each other better. Piritta recommended SmoothTeam for this purpose. It would help us learn things about ourselves and other team members that would contribute to our workshop days and future work. 

Even the sceptics got excited

The four-day project consisted of two days, each of which I had the honour of facilitating the simulations. For the first part we chose the simulation Team Strengths and for the second one Entrepreneurial Leadership. 

With one group we went through our lessons together as a team after the simulation, with the other we just played the simulation. Both methods worked, and the group that played the simulation alone also felt they had learned a lot about working together.

Feedback from both workshops was positive. Many people said directly how great it was to get to know people better straight away. A few also mentioned that they had been very sceptical beforehand about whether it was worth wasting time on something like this. Afterwards, they said they saw the value in the structured conversations SmoothTeam created, through which we learn about who we are and how we see each other. These insights have made it easier to have conversations with people who were previously difficult to talk to. Now you can see the intentions behind the words and understand how the other person works.

Developing the interaction before developing the process

The SmoothTeam simulation is a great way to kick-start workshops and development projects, for example, and to develop a longer-term team. It can also be used for retrospective purposes, to see what has gone well and where there is room for improvement. For us, the simulation really opened the Pandora's box, especially when we had people who had worked together for a longer and shorter period of time.

I see that before developing the actual work, it is important to look at the team's activities. Most of the challenges are caused by us as people, for example, by simple misunderstandings. These should be addressed first. Processes don't do anything, people do.

The simulation also works well before dealing with difficult or heavy issues. When people get to know each other better, there is a more open line of communication. Simulation also works as part of a SWOT analysis: what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your team.

I recommend to all teams working together

I can recommend the SmoothTeam simulation. I think it works for anyone who works with others. Whether a group has worked together for less or longer, they can learn new things about each other. Simulations can also be used to develop interaction, team dynamics and change situations, for example. In a simulation, people get to know each other and each other's intentions. As individuals develop their interaction skills, teamwork also improves.

Jarmo Suoranta
CEO
TX

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