Leadership principles and our ways of working

At OP Pohjola, motivated people create great customer experiences. Our agile culture, coaching-based leadership and modern ways of working help everyone succeed, grow and feel they belong – wherever they are.

Great employee experience delivers the best customer experience

We want to provide our customers with the best customer experience. The most important key to success on this journey is employee experience – in other words, the mood that our employees are in when they work, meet customers and build the OP Pohjola of the future.

Through our agile working culture, we seek to improve the customer experience, employee experience, and operational efficiency and quality. The creation of customer value, our capacity for renewal, autonomous teams, and continuous improvement and learning are at the core of our agile working culture.

The agile method is founded on four core principles shared by everyone at OP Pohjola. The principles help us to make choices and form the basis for continuous improvement.

  1. The customer is always the focus of our work
  2. We respond quickly and change course when necessary
  3. Autonomous, multi-skilled teams take responsibility
  4. Our way of work is transparent

Leadership principles at OP Pohjola

Leadership focuses on providing guidelines and enabling the success of teams. A coaching leadership approach helps create a safe and inclusive environment that encourages employees to take responsibility and succeed in the intended direction.

All of our employees get to use their strengths and differences to achieve the goals we have set together. Employee wellbeing and improving the employee experience are essential aspects of leadership.

It's not just people in management positions who should embrace the principles of good leadership. Specialists working as team members in autonomous teams can also apply them when managing their own work.

  • I'll show the way

    A leader’s task is to communicate clear targets and expectations to their team and link OP Pohjola’s vision to the team’s actions. Prioritisation of targets gives teams clear and realistic boundaries within which they can work and achieve the set targets implementing our strategy.

  • I’ll make success possible

    Sharing responsibility within teams requires building an atmosphere of trust. Our work is centred around expertise. A leader’s task is to remove any obstacles and enable the success of their team. Capability to manage change, presence and the ability to listen are essential.

  • I'll encourage learning

    The transformation of work requires teams to have more extensive expertise. Learning often happens while working. Active interaction, sharing information and feedback help team members develop their competencies. A leader’s task is to encourage experimenting and learning together.

  • I'll ensure results

    A leader must always remember our mission that obliges us to create value to the customer. A leader monitors the results and reacts to any deviations – always encouraging people towards better results.

Modern working methods and tools

Artificial intelligence and digital, cloud-based tools enable fast, diverse and flexible ways of working. As our working environment becomes more digital, we need to pay even more attention to how we work together.

We want to build a more sustainable working life through modern ways of working and tools, as well as ensuring a smooth working day for each employee in ever changing working life.

We have set artificial intelligence as our strategic priority, and we encourage our employees to make use of it in their daily work.

Hybrid work

We apply a hybrid work model at OP Pohjola: we work in multiple ways from multiple locations and combine remote and in-office work. Teams plan their work together and agree among themselves on the forms, content and timing of their shared meetings. The forms and place of work are primarily guided by customer needs and business goals, and the nature of the job.

OP Pohjola does not have any policy on the number of remote working days that would apply to the entire organisation. Our employees praise the hybrid work model in use. It gives flexibility to daily life and is based on trust.

Go to the OP Pohjola as an employer page‍

Employee benefits and remuneration‍

Our diverse work community‍

Competence development‍