The management team of the Keskimaa Cooperative Society started developing their cooperation and mutual relationships after realising that the better the team works together, the better the whole organisation works.

Our cooperation already works well, but there is always room for improvement. Humap361’s background thinking and ideology appealed to us from the start, says Kaisamaria Thusberg, HR manager of Keskimaa.

The 361 assessment helped the Keskimaa management team further understand the importance of cooperation. According to Thusberg, the members of the team are no longer alone in their areas of responsibility, but rather turn to their colleagues even in everyday matters.

Together we considered how incomplete we dare to be in the team, and how unfinished the topics can be that we dare to bring for co-preparation. Through the assessment process, we gained a huge understanding of how no-one would shoot down another person’s ideas but instead help them move forward. You do not have to fine-tune your ideas alone – we can develop them further together.

361 ENSURES THAT THE ASSESSMENT IS RESPONSIBLE

Thusberg says that the core of the 361 assessment lies in the fact that there are two assessment subjects instead of one assessed supervisor from the very beginning. Both view the relationship with a sense of responsibility.

361 is a responsible method for developing organisations and partnerships. The impacts are more comprehensive when you participate responsibly and reflect on your own actions at the same time. In fact, only after the start of the process, did I understand how much we need to participate personally. You have to want to join and commit. Perhaps this is some kind of test for the organisation as well, of how committed people are.

It wasn’t child’s play to start the assessment process. When the invitation to the web survey arrived, the management team complained about how much effort it would take to complete. Answering and assessing relationships genuinely took surprisingly long, as the challenging topics had to be thought out and explained in writing. When you managed to get started on completing the assessment, it was inspiring on its own and made you think things differently. The survey was devised well. Even though it was difficult to fill in some parts, such as allegories of our relationship, they brought fun and fruitful aids for discussion, Thusberg recalls.

According to Thusberg, receiving feedback supported the discussions that were held after completing the survey.

At first, people were nervous about the discussions. However, when starting the discussion, they both knew that their relationship would be the focus of the talk, which means that bringing up even more difficult issues would feel like an attack. Our team took
the discussions very responsibly. We were able to address some issues and genuinely discuss the development of our cooperation.

At Keskimaa, the lessons, experiences and ways of discussing from this process have been applied in teams, and mutual cooperation has developed.

With the 361 assessment, we were able to raise our relationships to a new level. Our management team has now come together. We support, encourage, and challenge each other in good spirit. We work better as a group and are no longer so specific about the boundaries of our respective areas. The competence and vision of each team member has been harnessed for shared use.

361 is truly a different and excellent tool. We focused on our management team’s relationships, and the results truly show in our everyday lives.