In this short essay, I would like to share a part of the thinking process behind applying for the assistant coach position. The essay includes a short reflection on rejection itself, as well as the goals I wanted to accomplish after taking the position and how I managed to fulfil them the other way. Another goal is to share briefly the opportunities that Proakatemia provides for the community.

It has been many months now since the interview for an assistant coach. I certainly thought that I can get to the place, although it didn’t happen. I remember watching the gala online and at the time of the announcement I was so to say disappointed. I slammed the laptop and that was my part there. I was the first business leader of Flip Solutions and took on many other challenges along the way which it’s fair to say I tackled ok. That was next in line. My initial perception was selfish and now I’m happy that I got turned down at that point. It was a humbling experience that I much needed.

Although my opportunities to learn leadership skills from that were not closed. I was still part of the board and I decided to try to support the assistant coaches who were selected and learn from that experience itself as well observe how they work together and learn from that too.

From the current standing point, not being selected was a favour to me. After all, it brought me a little closer to Kolu and Jemina and watching them grow in these positions helped me to understand them a little bit too. Not to mention, I was already busy and had many things going on, adding one more huge responsibility to my plate would be an invitation to trouble.

Nevertheless, I would like to share my application for assistant coach and show that despite not being able to realize my plan there I found another way to utilize my initial ideas via the sustainability business team and active participation in Proakatemia’s board.

I originally applied to Proakatemia because I wanted to find people who think alike and want to make a change. Over the past years, I realized that change takes time, it’s more about the long-term vision that is backed by short-term goals. I strongly believe that I can transfer my enthusiasm towards sustainable teampreneurship to other people in the community through my work as an assistant coach. I received already so much from our community and it motivates me to do more and share that good experience with others.

My vision for Proakatemia’s sustainable entrepreneurship is to bring a competitive advantage for us after graduation. At the moment we use the “Proakatemia student” card very often and that is one reason to do business with us. When we graduate and cannot use that card anymore, we need something else. There is no doubt that sustainable companies have a greater chance of succeeding as it came up from many biggest investing companies. Sustainability should not be seen only as “being green”. There is so much more to it.

It is important to develop Proakatemia’s community further in accordance with Proakatemia’s values, but be aware of the current issues like the pandemic and turbulences due to introduction to a new English-speaking team.

Uskon että yhdessä voimme ratkaista nämä ongelmat ja oppia uusia työskentelytapoja. Mielestäni se on todella tärkeä korostaa, että tässä kohtaa ei kukaan pääsä yksin eteenpäin. Ymmärtäminen yhteisössä on tärkeää. Olen isä ja aviomies. Tiedän mitä vastuu tarkoittaa. Olen asunut suomessa melkein 10 vuotta ja se ei ole ollut aina helppoa, ainakin alussa se oli vaikeaa. Voisin olla katkera monista asioista, mutta haluan nähdä ne oppimistani nopeuttaneina asioina. Tällä hetkellä voin täysin sanoa, että se kannatti. Olen ylpeä, että voin olla osa suomalaista yhteiskuntaa ja se tuntuu paremmalta kuin oma koti. Minusta tuntuu, että se johtuu siitä, että minä sitouduin siihen, se ei vain tapahtunut.

My personal goals in this position are to further develop my leadership skills along with communication, utilizing my previous management education and working life experience. I’ve been looking up to coaches and dreaming about possibilities to get closer to that position. I could not see a better possibility to accelerate my learning. I like to challenge the status quo and I strongly believe that I have the drive to work towards community goals that will fulfil my own goals along the way.

I can back my words up by saying that I am chosen to be Flip Solution’s first Business Leader as well as I was one of three winners in the International Business Challenge. As a team player, I show others that I care about them, but simultaneously I show examples of getting things done and hard work.

Thank you for considering me as a candidate.

For first-year students, this opportunity might seem to be a little blurry. Proakatemia is a place where we can be a little arrogant, in fact, we are encouraged to do so. I see it in a way that arrogance is what we see on the outside, but really it’s the self-confidence that helps us to gain more courage. Courage is needed to take the step forward with new opportunities. There are many that Proakatemia offers, starting from the freedom to handle our office located in Finlayson area, to join the board of Proakatemia, to Tiimimestari training (which by the way should be also offered in English too!), to being head coach assistant, to select among many projects constantly offered to the community.

There are surely many more opportunities that regular business studies don’t offer. I think the biggest opportunity that we have is also the ability to create our own projects like I did create Sustainability Business team to utilize my vision of new entrepreneurship. I don’t want to compare which opportunity is better, but rather emphasize that there is many of them. I managed to accomplish my personal goals with the sustainability business team which I wanted to accomplish as head coach assistant. I got to test my leadership skills and got first-hand experience of how difficult it can be to create the right environment for progressive work. It leaves me with a bitter-sweet feeling as I think I succeeded in some areas and failed in others.

When it comes to the development of Proakatemia’s community it can be seen as a slow start. Although that’s the lesson where I discovered that change takes time. Including sustainability as the third pillar of the Proakatemia’s new strategy that will require teams to integrate sustainability into their strategy and act on is a huge step forward. There is a lot of work still to do, as we need to develop tools to measure it and have clear action points to help the community.

Nevertheless, I’m grateful for the opportunities this community provides and the steps I was able to take in the development of myself and Proakatemia.

Reference: Experience of Proakatemia’s community