The Challenge: With a goal to become the employer of choice, this organization felt that improving the leadership skills was the way to achieve results.

The Solution: A global management development curriculum was developed to offer diverse programs for different levels of leadership and was rolled out in different languages.

The Results: A consistent global learning solution for new Nokia managers and team leaders was created. In addition, cost savings have resulted from minimized travel and more effective use of resources.

As the competition for talent intensifies in the rapidly growing Mobile Information Society, maintaining and improving the nature of working environments is becoming increasingly important. In a knowledge intensive industry, success relies on attracting, developing, and retaining the most talented people.

Nokia—a global company whose strategic intent is to lead in creating the Mobile Information Society by combining mobility and the internet—is regarded as a pioneer in mobile telephony and ranked as the world’s leading mobile phone supplier, as well as a top supplier of mobile and fixed telecom networks and services. There, “Connecting People” is not just a slogan, it’s their business.

Mindful of the fact that it is the individual contributors who generate results, Nokia’s goal is to be the employer of choice for the world’s most talented people.

Despite its growing size, the spirit at Nokia remains that of an independent, innovative, and creative start-up. The company aims to maintain this culture no matter how large it may become. Nokia leaders believe that the best way to achieve this is less through traditional management and more through leadership.

The process begins with imparting the company’s values to everyone in the organization: a drive to achieve customer satisfaction, respect for the individual, willingness to achieve, and a belief in continuous learning. It is also about encouraging sharing—shared information and shared responsibility— and openness to each other and to new ideas. As a result, Nokia is judged by Fortune magazine as one of the “Best 100 Companies to Work For.”

At Nokia they believe in using the technology they create to encourage a more innovative way of working. Nokia’s annual report emphasizes this by stating “Our corporate network reaches into all corners of the organization, supporting open and frequent communication and promoting a mobile, flexible, and socially strong networked culture. Because of our emphasis on leadership rather than traditional management, we do not have to see everyone sitting at a desk to know that they are working.”

In reaching for its goals, Nokia created a Global Management Development curriculum that offers diverse programs for different levels of leadership experience. The Ken Blanchard Companies^® worked closely with Nokia, customizing Situational Leadership II^® (SLII^®) and Building High Performing Teams to the “Nokia way.” These are part of two modules that give new managers and managers with short-term experience the first shot of the leadership picture at Nokia.

The first module—rolled out by Blanchard in over 17 countries—offers participants useful leadership tools to help them succeed in their organizational roles. During the sessions, SLII is introduced and put into practice. The participants also benefit from a Leadership Action Profile assessment (LAP), which provides powerful feedback as to how their current leadership style is perceived by their colleagues.

The second module, which is introduced three to four months later, develops an understanding of leadership within the context of a team structure. This component uses the full power of Blanchard’s Building High Performing Teams program to boost the ability of people to work together to sustain optimal organizational performance while developing individual potential.

The net effect has been that Nokia was able to develop a successful curriculum that is culturally adapted and translated wherever needed to support Nokia’s global markets, which spans over 130 countries. “Working with Nokia has been an exhilarating and rewarding experience,” says Youssef Arraki, consultant with the Blanchard International Group.

“This is a company where change and speed is a way of life,” continues Arraki. “To give you a glimpse of this, Nokia’s 1999 operating profits were up 57 percent to $3.6 billion, and their sales increased by 48 percent to $18.3 billion!

The dedication and quality of the Nokia HRD Team has been key to our success when working at Nokia. Blanchard also assembled a high-level team that includes leading authors, assessment specialists, a project manager, and US and international trainers from eight different countries facilitating programs in more than 17 countries!”

“Our work with Nokia is ongoing and we have several new interventions underway. As always with Blanchard’s interventions, training is never conducted as an event, instead there is a strong emphasis on training for business impact.

We are also exploring some exciting work to support a distance learning intranet-based platform, and follow-up coaching,” said Arraki who has flown to Helsinki over seven times in the last two years.