Ordinary people acieve extraordinary results
Leading experts value Vain & Partners’ work
Our people took part in Vain & Partners sales seminar and it was fabulous. Everyone came back starry-eyed and with lots of new ideas.
Vain & Partners will help you to set the direction on that road and will let your own energy work for you about the existence of which you may not even be aware of yet.”
Ritta Roosaar, Sales Manager, A&G Toitlustuse AS
Only the boldest will survive Only the boldest will survive in today’s economic downturn and arise stronger than before. Their future success will be based on their courage to question their existing business model, willingness to radically review and redesign their ways of doing business and, of course, passionately improving the quality of their human capital. International expansion might not seem to be the best idea in the prevailing economic climate. We have seen industries hurt by the disappearance of purchasing power, high inflation and galloping salary costs. A lot of companies have reduced or are thinking of cutting their marketing, training and development budgets, trying to keep hold of their historical business models. Vain & Partners has been helping customers to solve their sales and management related problems and increasing the value of their human capital since 1997. We have grown from a small firm with few employees to a leading PanBaltic sales and management training and consultancy company. Our organic growth has been based on our customers, both businesswise as well as geographically, on training their people and adding value to their businesses in almost every East-European country. Our international work has grown to the extent that we have decided to set up our first foreign subsidiaries. Vain & Partners’ Latvian subsidiary will open in the fall of 2008. A Lithuanian subsidiary will follow in the 1st half of 2009. Navigation through the stormy seas of change has never been easy. Unknown territories, hidden underwater rocks, aggressive enemies, discouraged crew – any one of them can rip the confidence in the selected course and speed of change. Having a team of experienced change pilots onboard will ensure the course is right, the ride is smooth and the value of your change investments is maximised. Vain & Partners has a reputation of helping their customers in achieving extraordinary results. The time for a real change is now! Invite us to be your pilots! Loit Linnupõld CEO
Helma Purvinska, Parex Banka Personnel development manager
A frog wants to get out of the pond Of course one cannot jump over one’s shadow and the vision of the future cannot disappear into open space. However, if you are a large company in the Estonian or Baltic context, employing more than twenty or thirty people, then why should the state border be the border of your business operations as well? The other counterargument – what growth are we talking about in times of economic recession – belongs to the repertoire of victim mentality. Executives cannot personally affect economic trends, but they can concentrate on their business. And if the recession takes its part of business turnover, isn’t it time to reconsider your goals, in order to be able to make more money during the upcoming growth period and be less affected by the next downward trend?
Raimo Ülavere consultant
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et’s call him Anders. Anders was a frog. Let’s say he was a small leaf frog. Just like hundreds of his kind, Anders lived in the countryside, in a pond behind a schoolhouse. Sometimes some of his fellow pond-dwellers mysteriously disappeared (the school teaches zoology among other things), but generally life in the pond was peaceful and there was enough mud for everyone. One day Anders got an urge to go somewhere else, to discover and explore other ponds. His friends laughed at his plans and Anders felt very ashamed. After a couple of years he died. The pond dried up. Sad story. No punch-line either.
Be ambitious When I surfed the web sites of Estonian companies, the following picture emerged: of the companies listed in the Äripäev TOP 100 only 25% have set a goal of becoming the largest in their respective fields, and the best in the Baltic/Nordic countries. However, there’s no mention of Europe, let alone the world. And we’re talking about the créme de la créme of Estonian economy. Lack of ambition results in poor growth. And what happens when there’s no growth? In other words it’s just a matter of time, before a company, at least in this form, ceases to exist. Each company, each organisation is like a person, who wants to grow. In a more general sense a company is no more than an abstract formation for the purposes of organising a group of people and enabling them to grow together.
Generally the main reason for leaving a company is the manager. Or so they say. Is the reason really always that simple? Isn’t the real reason, the so-called reason behind the reason, that people don’t see any more possibilities for growth. Yes, the manager’s primary job is to help the employee see and use his/her potential. If the company’s ambition is non-existent, then why should an ordinary middle manager suddenly rave about setting high goals? „Try to put up with it for a little longer. I plan to leave soon myself,” would be a more positive message in these circumstances.
Have vision I really like ex-decathlon athlete Erki Nool. As an athlete, and as an Olympic champion. As his contemporary I know some people who on suitable moments, at the end of some formal event, have reminded others that they once beat him. Nool, however, was very different from his
schoolmates in one aspect – he had ambition. And it wasn’t modest. This ambition released his potential and resulted in Olympic victory. There are not enough people like Erki Nool in Baltic businesses. There are too few managers who would dare to grab a pen and paper and gather their key people around them and write together: „In On their death beds 10
people don’t regret what they did, but the things they didn’t do.
years our company will be the largest in the Baltic and Nordic countries... the most successful company in Europe... the best in the world...“ The future visions of many Baltic companies (if they have them at all) still linger on improving the quality of their services or customer relations. Does this vision of the future induce people to make a greater effort or join these companies?
Stand out However, you shouldn’t doubt or have any illusions. People will laugh, if the goal you have set yourself exhibits any signs of ambition. The largest in the world, the best in Europe, ha-ha-ha... You can be certain that you are on the right track! Because you stand out from the crowd, and your ambition will generate followers. And you will never be bored. On their death beds people don’t regret what they did, but the things they didn’t do. Setting new and ambitious goals may seem a little difficult and achieving these goals seems impossible? Maybe. Take a piece of paper and put down nine dots in a square, three in each row. Now connect the dots with four continuous lines. And then with three lines, two lines? How about one? See, it wasn’t that hard, was it?
Smart leaders make businesses thrive At Vain & Partners we know that leadership cannot be taught, but it can be learned
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conomic, technological, social and environmental factors compel organisations to look for ways of increasing productivity, improving quality, maximizing profits and finding new opportunities in a competitive market. In this dynamic world, a successful organisation is one that is effectively managed. When managed smartly, the result is a setting where workers earn a lot, managers receive prizes and captains of industry build business empires. The 21st century management term
is teamwork. Team working is essential in all organisations. Whether you are a work team, a management team, a project team or a committee, it is vital that the team works effectively from the start. Quality teamwork, at any level, requires good leadership. But what does it take to become a leader who can truly motivate and inspire? The key is a leadership style that empowers and motivates team members. A leader can develop the strengths of team members to enable them to fulfil their potential, a leader can recognise the levels of team development and identify action to improve work processes, a true leader continually seeks to develop the skills of team members for the benefit of the team as
a whole, a leader is master in creating an open and positive working climate that is achievement oriented. At Vain & Partners we know that leadership cannot be taught, but it can be learned. We can help our clients to create a thriving environment which enables the development of great leaders. We have the tools to empower your team leaders with the skills to create synergy and develop high performance, generating maximum commitment to organisational and team goals. Vain & Partner Management School has a considerable experience in advising how to set up team purpose, structures, processes and dynamics, we can help teams that have lost their way, run into turbulence, or
Vain & Partners Management School: •Coaching for Influence •Development of a Winning Team •Leadership of a Winning Team www.vain.lv www.vain.lt www.vain.ee
simply want to move on. We can help you to understand how to motivate workforce toward a mutually desired cause, creating an atmosphere where individuals from diverse interests are encouraged to work together in pursuit of common mission.