Welado’s CEO Matti Tervonen’s job is to make sure that the company moves in the right direction, and that everything done within the company is done with good sense and in good spirit. Matti’s day-to-day work mostly consists of ensuring Welado’s future and tracking the company finances, although you can also catch him developing Welado’s services or penning the quality sections for bid documents on occasion.
How did you develop your expertise?
I studied electrical and mechanical engineering and that education has been a good basis. Over the course of my career I’ve gotten to do all kinds of things with smart, nice people, and I feel that my actual skills have been acquired on the job.
I was supposed to work in paper manufacturing, and I did have a summer internship at a paper factory in Kajaani. It wasn’t a good time for the mechanical forest industry. My graduation from vocational university in 2005 came at a good time and through some coincidences ended up working at Proxion. There I played many roles, like project engineer, project manager, team executive, unit executive, and finally CEO. I was able to have many different responsibilities and roles in construction management, supervision, design, and safety device implementation.
I’ve worked as Welado’s CEO since we got started in the summer of 2017. I see my wide range of experience as a positive thing, because that’s how I know what kind of work our experts do. My career has advanced more through coincidences than through planning, but each step was taken because I was curious and interested in the things I was doing.
What makes the work enjoyable for you?
Infrastructure construction means building a society, which is meaningful and motivating in itself. For example, working with railway systems is especially enjoyable to me, because a functioning railway network enables the safe and energy efficient movement of people and goods.
I find all of our projects to hold societal importance, and every one of us does very meaningful work. Of course, with societal importance comes great responsibility, which means we have a duty to adhere to set processes and practices. That’s how we ensure the agreed upon quality to the client.
Your biggest successes? Is there something in your career that your especially proud of?
At the risk of sounding cliché, the biggest feelings of success come from seeing people grow. It’s rewarding to see others succeed. When you’ve recruited a young trainee who learns fast, works hard, and acts with expertise, watching that development feels like a personal success.
The other recruiting supervisors and I have the responsibility of keeping the cycle going and making sure that there are always new experts entering the field. My job is also to make sure that these future experts, and everyone at Welado, want to work for us.
What ensures the best quality at Welado?
Team work, collaboration, adhering to processes, interest in your own work and others’, and clear and open communication. Even a serious matter can be handled with a light heart. Solutions are always there when there’s the enthusiasm and will to find them.
What does being an artisan mean to you, and how is it visible to the client in practice?
Our work requires expertise, which in some ways is the handicraft of today. Even though we are doing work for society as a whole, at the same time there is one client, who is an individual and a person. Our work needs to provide that person with a good customer experience.
What kind of colleagues do you have at Welado?
By now we are talking about a team of 200, which includes smart people with the right values. I’ve known some of the people at Welado for decades, and some are newer acquaintances. Daring people who have enough interest to develop the business we are in. A great group of flourishing, competent people. I am proud and glad of every person that works at Welado.
What inspired Welado’s values?
In 2017 there were enough of us like-minded people pondering our values, that we began to wonder if there was a different way to do this work. Could we make do without the management by perkele attitude? Could we get even more done if things were done differently: if we put the welfare and comfort of the employee first, led by coaching, and openly and honestly told everything to our employees, and those outside the company?
Now it’s clear that these soft values have worked out. Even though we’re serious about what we do, I think I can say that clenched teeth aren’t often necessary. If someone wants to be a career junkie and live for their work, that’s fine. It’s just as ok to want to spend time on your family and your hobbies, and work for us on the side. These aren’t mutually exclusive options: there is room for all kinds of people and ways of doing things at Welado.
In what ways do you want to develop on your Welado path?
With modern work life and the requirements it sets on your abilities, and the upheavals caused by the coronavirus, I’ve never felt more inadequate than I do now. I want to grow as an expert and a person, and of course develop my leadership skills. At Welado we develop together, and we learn from each other all the time. It’s important to preserve a certain daring to step outside your comfort zone, and a childish, curious attitude for each new day.
What would you like to improve upon within our field?
I want to, along with others in the field, develop practices, especially construction management practices; the utilisation of technology; and the development of people’s skills.
I want to do my part in enabling these developments and gaining and sharing the knowledge of the best practices, whether they’re found within the company or on client projects.
It’s also important to respond positively to change. If something has always been done the same way, it’s only healthy to shake things up and ask if another way would be more sensible, or even just worth trying. Not everything has to be stirred up; continuity is also important. It’s challenging to find a balance between things worth changing up and things worth preserving, which is why we need a functioning combo of experienced veterans and fresh eyes to look at things.