"Don't lose contact"

With 1200 leading decision-makers in the Swiss economy, the Swiss Management Society represents an important association. On September 20, 2018, not only certified captains of industry such as Risto Siilasmaa from Nokia, but also illustrious guests from the worlds of fashion, religion and science had their say.

be part of a fallen global brand
Nokia has an eventful history behind it. Around the turn of the millennium, Nokia was the pace-maker in mobile telephony. Nevertheless, the Finnish company missed out on technological leadership. How was it possible to lose contact with consumers and developers in such a way? And how did Risto Siilasmaa, Chairman of the Board of Directors, experience this phase? At the 55th Forum, Siilasmaa explained his Herculean task in Nokia management as follows: "We were looking for ways to create the most successful conditions possible again." Siilasmaa has been chairman of Nokia Corporation since 2012. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2008 and has now written a book (see end of text) on how he experienced the entire crisis.

Connecting people "sincerely
"Connecting people" was Nokia's long-standing slogan until the company lost its world market leadership. For over 150 years, Nokia was a technology leader in products such as cleaning cloths, tyres, televisions, PCs and finally mobile phones. Then not only the image of the world market leader crumbled. Sales fell year after year.

Despite all the negative developments, the Group's management pursued the goal of making Nokia the leading provider of geo-services.

In partnership with Microsoft, Nokia made its map services available on devices with the Windows Phone operating system. In addition, corresponding usage agreements were concluded with Amazon.com. Most recently, Nokia was able to win over the enterprise software group Oracle for its map services, and to raise its reputation again by repositioning itself in a difficult technology environment - so that Google is currently also courting its products.

When Risto Siilasmaa became president of Nokia, the company was losing two billion a year. Siilasmaa: "People were already predicting the date of the bankruptcy". It was not easy for the Nokia boss. However, Nokia is a different company today. Throughout the transformation, an extremely large number of administrative meetings were held. The Nokia president in Zurich:

"Through strong joint working, new trust was created." Nokia now "lives" an "open door policy" and a so-called "open space culture".

How to create personality
"Losing touch", losing contact with staff, is nothing new, explained Wolfgang J. Pfund, Head of Human Resources and Logistics at Suva, in the closing discussion at the 55th Forum of the Swiss Management Association. This inadequacy is only often suppressed: The bosses have "gathered" employees around them and assume that they are in excellent contact or in a good relationship. Pfund: "Today, when you work over long distances, you have to be even more honest with each other. Therein lies a great opportunity.

Participants in the discussion, such as Antoinette Weibel, Professor of Human Resources Management at the University of St. Gallen, and SUVA's Head of Human Resources, agreed that the key theme of "being in relationship" is the topic of an increasingly mobile society. However, it is also important not to lose the culture of communication between all the external and internal appointments.

Although companies such as XING now work with reporting apps, it is important "to argue without hurting each other," explained Thomas Vollmoeller, CEO of XING. The participants motivated the 300 or so managers at the forum to allow their emotions to become tangible and to admit when things aren't going so well. This is another way to remain at "eye level" with your employees. Prof. Dr. Weibel explained: "Companies today tend to slip in the direction of mistrust, because the management strongly believes in (success) figures. But you also lose a lot of money when trust is lacking".

In conclusion, Dr. sc. nat. Lukas Braunschweiler, SMG President 2019, commented on the highly exciting discourse with the following words: "Managers should not only be proactive and get involved. They should also practice decisiveness and listen, be able to engage with others. Consider and hire people who also disagree once in a while.
can and may."