Elomatic is a Finnish engineering and consulting company that focuses on solutions improving the well-being of people and the environment, employing approximately 1,300 professionals. Vice President of Automation & Electrification, Juha Liitola, leads a team of about 80 experts responsible for Elomatic’s industrial electrical and automation design.
“Leadership is primarily a service profession,” Liitola emphasizes. “My job is to create the conditions for my team to succeed in their work. The best part of my daily work is seeing my team members succeed and knowing I played a part in enabling that.”
“My work at Elomatic is very fulfilling. In a project-based company, you get to work on a variety of tasks and continuously learn new things. It’s also important to me that our work has meaning: we’re heavily involved in green transition projects that promote the well-being of people and the planet and help society prepare for the future.”
Liitola has deepened his leadership skills through Aalto EE’s Global Leader program.
“I decided to bring up the idea of further training with my supervisor when we began the process of updating Elomatic’s strategy. I have a very technical background – I’m an automation engineer. I felt it would be valuable to strengthen my leadership skills to better support our strategy work,” Liitola explains.
The Global Leader program is a significant investment of both time and money, but you certainly get a lot of value in return."
“My supervisor took note and promised to find a suitable training program for me. When they followed up with our HR director, they recommended the Global Leader program. It included exactly the elements I wanted to develop in my skill set.”
Liitola describes the program as a rewarding and beneficial experience.
“The Global Leader program is a significant investment of both time and money, but you certainly get a lot of value in return. It was clear that the bar was set very high in terms of every quality criteria. For example, the instructors were outstanding.”
“The other participants were a pleasant surprise. The program attracted highly motivated professionals and networking with them was very rewarding. During the in-class days, you could always count on having fascinating discussions with great people.”
A broader perspective on strategy work
Liitola says he gained valuable insights for his work from every module. For him, the most beneficial parts of the program were the Global Strategy module and the elective Business Model Development.
“Global Strategy was excellent overall. The content was exactly what I had hoped to gain from the program to support Elomatic’s strategy renewal work,” Liitola says.
“The module provided great ideas for our strategy renewal process and significantly broadened my understanding of what strategy work entails. We covered many topics I hadn’t previously associated with the realm of strategy. I gained valuable tips on how to scan and monitor our business landscape to anticipate changes well in advance.”
“Business Model Development was another standout experience. Our design business at Elomatic largely consists of work-based services. This module sparked many new ideas about alternative revenue models we could explore. The discussions with other participants about business models were particularly rewarding – brainstorming together was not only beneficial but also genuinely enjoyable,” Liitola remarks.
Liitola points out that each module provided more than just the core content.
“In addition to engaging content, we received concrete tools and often ready-made frameworks, for example, from the field of artificial intelligence. In several modules, we heard fresh examples of AI’s potential in various business-related tasks, such as strategy work. Often these examples gave me interesting ideas to apply to my everyday work.”
In strategy work, the skills I acquired were immediately useful, but naturally, the influence of such an extensive training program also extends to many other aspects of my daily work."
“Each instructor also had different, highly effective facilitation methods. Some even used several interesting methods within a single in-class day. While learning new things, you also picked up facilitation techniques to add to your own toolbox. It was an excellent bonus,” Liitola remarks.
Actionable insights for leading
Liitola has used the lessons learned from the Global Leader program in a versatile way in his work.
“In strategy work, the skills I acquired were immediately useful, but naturally, the influence of such an extensive training program also extends to many other aspects of my daily work. One of the most visible effects on my team is probably that I’ve made a deliberate effort to coach my team members more,” he mentions.
“Change management insights I picked up have also been highly useful, as we recently carried out a sizeable organizational reform. Thanks to the Global Leader training, I was able to anticipate and prepare for the changes within my team, and I was also able to communicate the latest, up-to-date information to our organization about what we need to consider as we embark on implementing a fairly substantial change within the company.”
According to Liitola, the insights he gained from Aalto EE will continue to be beneficial moving forward.
“I gained excellent tools, for instance for developing my team’s skills and anticipating future skill needs,” he says.
Sparking a passion for learning
Liitola has attended numerous shorter courses throughout his career, but Global Leader was the first wide-ranging training program he pursued alongside work.
“Before starting the training, I was even a bit nervous about what goal-oriented studying at Aalto EE would be like. I have a demanding job and there is much more to my life than work and career. I am nearing 50, and my children and their hobbies are extremely important to me. I wondered how I could make time for it all,” he explains.
“It was a pleasure to realize that studying alongside work went quite smoothly. Of course, coordinating schedules required careful planning, and during the in-class days, my inbox filled up with tasks to catch up on – but in the end, studying was a nice break from my usual hectic routine. I live and work in Turku, and I commuted to Helsinki for the in-class sessions. It was rewarding to regularly have the opportunity to learn new things in a fresh environment.”
The exceptional training experience inspired Liitola to consider pursuing additional studies.
“The experience gave me the confidence to genuinely contemplate further studies. The Global Leader program, for example, covers about a third of an EMBA. It was motivating to realize that I was able to successfully complete it alongside work and family life. It sparked a new passion for learning.”
Liitola has one key piece of advice for those considering the Global Leader program:
“I understand that this isn’t feasible for everyone – for example, if you’re studying while looking for a new job – but if you're balancing studies with work, try to link every pre-assignment to your job and employer, even if it feels challenging at first.”
“The pre-assignments are easier to complete when you reflect on things from your familiar work environment. Additionally, in the take-home assignments after each module, you further refine the ideas you came up with in the pre-assignments. While working on the take-home assignments, I often realized I had created a nearly finished plan that we could use at Elomatic.”
Liitola affirms that he warmly recommends the Global Leader program.
“Global Leader was a very positive experience. I gained updated insights into leadership aligned with today’s trends and valuable tools for strategy work.”
“It’s also worth noting that training boosts work motivation. Thanks to my Global Leader training, my employer gained an even more motivated leader for our organization,” Liitola notes.