If you had been watching the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship this spring, you – along with millions of other spectators – would have witnessed a totally unexpected victory. Finland, against all odds, succeeded to win the championship. Almost every ice hockey pundit had seen the Finnish team as the clear underdog of the games, since they were lacking any superstars or NHL players. But oh, how the experts were wrong! Beating one team after another, the Finnish team managed to eventually raise the championship trophy in Bratislava’s Ondrej Nepela Arena.
How did they do it? The Finnish national team succeeded thanks to a motivating and engaging coach and by working together for a common goal. Based on their values – trust, teamwork, appreciation, respect – it was possible to build a unified group, where individual skills remained in second place, and the strengths of a team emerged.
The same tactics also hold true in the business world. Although here the challenge is to play across national and continental borders instead of in the arena.
At Citec, we have carefully reviewed our latest Vibe employee engagement survey. The response rate of the study was the highest ever; 85.2 per cent, which indicates that Citecians are interested in sharing their views and willing to influence our operations. Teamwork and front-line management received very positive feedback as well. These results are important, especially in terms of achieving our common goals and further development.
By following the same values, individuals are able to form a team, no matter where in the world they are or which culture they come from.
We have been working with teambuilding for quite some time, and the results are starting to show. Although the cooperation between Europe and India is labelled as difficult in many organisations, we have succeeded well where others have had challenges, by always striving towards improvement. You can read more about our work in India on page 12. This and many other stories prove, that we have several teams that continuously deliver great results with uncompromising collaboration, even though they are often working in different parts of the world – read more about the introduction of our high-end calculation team on page 22 and check out the latest news of our technical documentation team on page 18.
The stories in this magazine show that by following the same values, individuals are able to form a team, no matter where in the world they are or which culture they come from. When working as a team, we – like the Finnish ice hockey team – can also achieve great things and fight the expectations.
Michael Smirnoff
Director, Group Marketing & Communications
Editor-in-chief
