Marketplaces Finland shapes PEAK® way of working

ActioGlobal® and Schibsted Marketplaces Finland partner to introduce PEAK® as an evolving way of working that continuously refines the way SMF translates strategy into priorities, empowers self-organized teams, synchronizes around outcomes and enables servant leadership.

Jussi Lystimäki
CEO, Nordic Marketplaces Finland at Schibsted

David Gill
CPO Nordic Marketplaces Finland at Schibsted

To get started, can you please tell our audience what Schibsted does?

Schibsted is one of the largest consumer services companies in the Nordics

with our news destinations, marketplaces and other loved digital services. We are responsible for the Finnish business, operating leading marketplaces for general merchandise, mobility, real estate and jobs under the brands Tori & Oikotie. We empower Finnish people to make smarter decisions whether looking for a new home, a career move, buying a car or then making their money reach further for their hobbies for example.

Another “What”: What was it that attracted you to our PEAK® Way of Working and to bring it to life in Schibsted Marketplaces Finland?

We are firm believers of the power and impact of learning organizations. Of inspiring and empowering teams with a strong company purpose, user centricity and high paced learning culture.

Through previous collaborations with ActioGlobal® we had seen how

PEAK® gave minimal and moldable structure while keeping true to agile principles.

When setting up the new Finnish organization, joining 20+ cross-functional teams onto a shared journey, PEAK® and ActioGlobal®´s coaching seemed like a very suitable solution to the needs of the leadership team.

From your point of view, what is the most important feature of PEAK®?

It offers leadership teams to drive strategic priorities and clear focus based on value creating outcomes, the OKRs. There is a clear and frequent process to align and re-align teams to drive growth across the company especially in a dynamic and changing market. It gives a structured way to learn and apply agile principles in the organization, not only in Product and Tech.

The methodology helps ace the proven team leadership and product development best practices in a context that can create most value and growth for the company. And staying true to its agile roots, PEAK® has a healthy emphasis on continuous iteration: the journey has a well-structured starting point, but as time goes the organization will learn to iterate on their unique PEAK® implementation (ideally to the point when it goes from being “PEAK®” to “our way of doing things”).

When you pass this two year journey in review, what was the most significant moment?

The most significant moments have been to see our teams grow and master the full cycle of PEAK®, which then results in growth outcomes we might not have dared to imagine before.

It is a lot about seeing them share learnings and impactful solutions that better serve the needs of our users and customers. Following their growth trajectory and the positive impact it has on both their own motivation and our business makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Tell us, what personal learnings and experiences do you take from this transformation?

A WAY TO GROW IN TODAY’S WORLD

As the world and markets around us will just become more dynamic, disruptive and volatile, this kind of methodology and philosophy helps a company to navigate and master a change and growth across the organization.

THE POWER OF CONSISTENCY AND ITERATION

A successful transformation requires patience and iteration. First things go slowly forward, maybe a bit backwards, until it truly accelerates. Then you need to change gears to drive it faster.

LEADERS LIVE THE WAY OF WORKING

Leaders on all levels of the organization must be supported to understand, buy-in and champion the agile values and ways of working. You cannot delegate this, you have to live this yourself.

AGILE VALUES OVER FRAMEWORKS

The agile mindset and leadership philosophy to support it is 10x more important than the specific frameworks and tools.

We wonder whether your understanding of Leadership has changed while climbing the PEAK®?

It has cemented our previous belief that good leadership is one of empowerment: to provide

01.

engaging and clear strategy and vision to our people;

02.

to coach and unblock them to take ownership and define their path to make success happen;

03.

to embrace and create the psychological safety to handle uncertainty, experimentation and continuous learning.

Without this definition and expectation of leadership in an organization, a successful agile transformation is impossible. These are coming from a Servant Leadership mindset combined with agile ways to lead.

And your understanding of execution?

Smart people with the ability to focus plus engaging, visible and aligned goals = magic can happen

Everyone who has undergone and successfully completed such a huge challenge like PEAK® at Schibsted Marketplaces Finland is usually asked: Would you do it again? Well - would you?

Most definitely.

But since the environment has changed so much, we must make sure to not blindly apply tactics and processes of the past: we must shape the journey to our particular context and needs.

PEAK® had a perfect timing partly due to merging 3 companies together and have one common way to lead and work together,

but also that

the remote work during Covid forced us to build a fully transparent system, practical tools and processes to run the company fully remote.

Those two drivers really pushed us to go...

all-in with PEAK®

We shape the future of work.
In the real world, not in PowerPoint.

New business challenges, unprecedented business perspectives.

Let's talk!

If you desire to shape the future, through Agility, Digitalization and High Performance then let´s make it come true – together.