On 17.01.2022 the HR of FLIP Solutions decided to have a different kind of paja, in other words, a movie paja. I believe that this is a fun way to learn and it should be encouraged more often. From documentaries, series, and even entertainment movies, we can learn different lessons and analyze situations from multiple perspectives. The chosen movie was a documentary about Nokia, named The Rise And Fall Of Nokia.

The paja plan was to watch the movie and then have a dialogue and reflection about it. The problem of this paja was that, unfortunately, there was not enough time to really discuss the movie at the end. Everyone seemed quite interested in the movie and I came up with a file so some form of opinion exchange could happen in an interactive way, where people would see everyone’s answers and would be able to leave comments. Those were the questions:

1. What did you like the most about the movie? Why?
2. Have you learned anything from the movie? What?
3. Can you relate some of the topics of the movie to our team? Explain. 
4. Which leadership/company style mentioned in the movie is your preferred? Why?
5. What do you think Nokia could have done differently?
6. Feel free to reflect and comment on each other’s answers.

My answers:

1. It was the first Finnish movie I have ever watched, so that was definitely a plus. The best thing for me was getting to know more about Nokia and seeing how Finns developed technologies that I had no idea about. This was nice because it is some kind of immersion in Finnish working culture that makes me admire it more.

2. I learned that when we work on something we WANT and LIKE to work with, work gets more enjoyable and people get more creative. It is clear in the movie how Nokia had a nice work environment for its employees in the Humane management they had at the beginning of the company. It seemed like the fear of trying new things for the company did not exist, so they were able to be innovative and successful. Also, that Leadership matters A LOT and it can dictate the future of a company.

3. The movie showed me the importance of communication and how miscommunication affects a company, does not really matter if it is the size of Flip Solutions or Nokia. I hope we can keep working together when it comes to improving our business knowledge, general communication within the company, so that we are not afraid to speak our minds and have opportunities to have new and innovative ideas without judgment. Of course, I feel like it is also important for our team to grow our business world knowledge to make our projects bigger, and that we would think more detail about all the aspects of a company when it comes to production, marketing, work style, and leadership. Hopefully, we will develop a leadership style this semester that will increase not only our well-being, but our financial situation too.

4. The Humane leadership style is the one I appreciate the most. It relates to me a lot since I am very emphatic. Something I really like in Finland is the work-life balance and I think this kind of company/leadership style preservers that. That is also part of my experience in Finnish companies and in Proakatemia, and that is one of the reasons why Finland is considered one of the best places in the world to live. A company that wants to grow WITH the employees and not at their expense (or at least they do not make it seem that way), creates a nice environment and psychological safety, which are extremely crucial factors to me.

5. Something that stood up for me was the part where one employee, some kind of leader, was interviewed about the low incomes most of the employees had. This means that the employees were not satisfied in that matter, and many of them were waiting for a certain percentage of bonuses that only a few people would get. This is a frustrating factor for anyone who works in a multimillion company. Also, I recall one of the biggest executives of Nokia saying that at some point they just stopped innovating and were just launching small different things to keep investors, etc happy. I think that at this point the trust between the company and the employees was so broken that the inspiration to do major projects was also gone.

Overall, this paja was a good experience that I would like to repeat but, of course, with the improvement in time management so the most important part, the dialogue and ideas exchange, could happen effectively. I also see it as very positive for the team to be able to make different dynamics that lead to learning. The fun atmosphere makes things easier and sometimes that’s exactly what the team needs.

Written by Luiza de Oliveira Vago.