Silta Oy is a HR and management partner in comprehensive outsourcings, operative HR support and improvement of personnel wellbeing. Silta commits itself to develop its' clients service profitability, high quality being the fundamental directive. The company was founded in 2001 and currently employs roughly 270 specialists. Turnover in 2015 was roughly 21 M€ and the largest owner is Sentica Partners Oy. In the end of last year Mr Tatu Tulokas was appointed as the managing director. He is now facing an interesting challenge.
The situation is normally challenging when a new manager starts. Part of staff was already on the change course and some were expecting new changes quickly. This is only natural, and also understandable, as stability is relatively rare in business. “Owners had set certain expectations to the development of business and it required new tools and new way of thinking – new strategy so to speak”, says Tatu Tulokas. The board suggested TRAILMAKER concept to support the strategy work. And after a couple of meetings, Silta decided to start the process with Trailmaker.
“Trailmaker’s support was exactly what we needed in our transition process. The work was fast, practical and concrete. Trailmaker’s concept forced participants, board and operative key personnel, to make choices of what Silta wants to be and wants to do. Sometimes strategy work consists of little bit of everything, and aims to please everybody. This means the required decisions are not made. In Trailmaker’s process there is no room for that, and neither it is a framework for innovation processes”, clarifies Tulokas.
You get what you measure
Engaging key personnel is an important part of Trailmaker’s process. “All can participate and have an impact and nobody can later claim something came as a surprise. It’s all hard everyday work. One can always re-examine the trail, as conscious choices are made during the process”, Tulokas points out. The main owner Sentica participated strategy work with 2 board representatives. “They were totally right. Management makes the decisions while board spars and supports the operative management.”
In the big picture it’s the duty of managing director and the board to look into the future and steer the company forward. Tatu Tulokas has been involved in many strategy processes earlier. “I have seen strenuous and time consuming processes. Trailmaker’s concept is not related to innovating, but to current analysis survey and making crucial and essential choices. The concept is at it’s best when a company wants to make better result and more solid business. Of course making and executing the strategy with TRAILMAKER requires commitment and will to move forward. It is very easy to make up plans, but it requires capability and aptitude to execute them. Also strong will is needed.” Silta Oy is in good speed already. “I can already see the change in our key personnel, despite the process still being at early stage. The journey continues and Trailmaker has a role in Silta also in the future. The participants have given excellent feedback on the process and through participation the challenging beginning has turned out into a big opportunity for the company”, concludes CEO Tatu Tulokas.
TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:
• Concrete common view and commitment
• Identified capability needs
• Visibility
