Customer testimonials

Executive coaching customers

”I have found the coaching process surprisingly positive both professionally and personally. Nonna Babitzin has been my coach during the past months. She is insightful, intelligent and professional. She has been able to help me see underlying issues I have been dealing with, and has provided open and confidential coaching help for me. Nonna’s coaching approach is persistent, and yet sensitive. This has worked well for me. This process has helped me to prioritize both professional and personal issues, and has helped me to dig deeper into my priorities. In addition, the coaching process has given some structure and accountability to my work. Overall, the coaching has been an important part of development for me during a period of transition in my life. I think the coaching process is particularly useful for anyone facing period of significant transitions professionally or personally. I recommend both the coaching process and Nonna for anyone considering leadership coaching.”
— Heikki Rinne, CEO, Halton Group Ltd, (USA)

“Nonna trained our leadershipteam and as a consequence, I got interested in learning more through individual coaching. We started the coaching process in a situation where both our unit and my department were planning and executing significant changes. With Nonna’s help, the pain points of the change process and the root causes were opened and I found ways that supported not only the change, but also provided additional resources for me personally to deal with the challenging situation. As a result of our coaching I also achieved a better overall balance with myself and my leadership. Nonna won’t let anyone off easy and does not settle for formal solution patterns, and that is exactly the greatest thing about Nonna’s coaching. I can warmly recommend Nonna as a coach.”

— Maarit Waskilampi-Kuikka, CIO, ICT ja tuotantotekniikka, YLE (Finland)

“We give Nonna Babitzin our best recommendations after a very successful coaching of our manager. The results are remarkable and we have received so many useful tools for the future development of our manager as well. Nonna is excellent at reading people. She understands how to tailor the coaching to fit the individual person she’s working with and has a remarkable skill to support self reflection and self development”

— Anja Pajor, CEO, Dubberman (Denmark)

“Leadership requires great skills. Not to mention developing from good to outstanding leader, which requires both skills and will. Also suitable personal attributes and tough management experience as well as true and daily will to develop in leadership skills and as a leader, is needed. It is good to regularly pause and evaluate own accomplishments and oneself as a leader. Good self-knowledge is not enough on it’s own. A professional and experienced coach, personal mentor, can open new doors for you, that you never noticed before or even knew existed. Nonna is priceless in this work. She is the map and the compass at the same time. I warmly recommend Nonna to You – leader, who wants to strengthen your leadership skills and take the crucial step ahead in self-development and on your career.”

— Jari Partanen, Pääsihteeri, Keskustan eduskuntaryhmä, Suomen eduskunta (Finland)

“I started a coaching process with Nonna in a phase, where were facing a significant change. The whole nature of the business changed significantly and organisation size multiplied. In the changing business I was facing new and often even unexpected situations, that I had never faced before. Nonna got me thinking about my practises in this whole new business environment. She supported me to clarify the needed steps and to set concrete targets. Nonna was able to challenge me and dig up the thought patterns, that I had never thought about, before starting this coaching process. As a result of the coaching process my leadership style changed for significantly better. The impact is visible also in significant improvement in UPM’s Employee Engagement Surveys results, where subordinates can anonymously comment on the strategy, leaders and direct managers. Nonna is a extremely professional coach, I warmly recommend her for any executive wanting to grow as a leader.”

— Petri Kukkonen, Vice President, Biofuels, UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“I have worked closely with Nonna Babitzin as my coach, supporting me on my business leadership and personal resources guidance. Nonna has worked as my coach very successfully and gotten me to actively work on my ingrained perceptions and patterns and enabled my growth to a better leader and human being. I have experienced Nonna’s coaching approach to be very professional and successful in producing results. The return on investment, both from a personal and company’s point of view, has been significant on my personal development and on successful business actualization. I am truly grateful for Nonna’s contribution in enabling my development and success! I warmly recommend Nonna Babitzin as a executive coach and a leadership trainer, to any leader wanting to reach their potential.”

— Jyrki Oksala, Vice President, Application Platform Services, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“Nonna asked the right questions and pushed me to change my behavior – I think I’m more top of my life now!”

— Jouni Toijala, Director, Head of Nokia Europe, Middle East and Africa 3rd Party Developer Organization, Nokia UK ltd. (United Kingdom)

“Coaching opened brand new methods for my leadership development. Process challenged me to evaluate my leadership from a new perspective, face the truth and challenge myself to develop more and more in the daily leadership situations. For me this coaching was a gateway to a new kind of evaluation of my leadership and continuous development. I got new tools especially to challenging interaction situations, cooperation development, manager-subbordinate communication and daily routines (discipline, time management, managing with the information overflow) Nonna’s way of guiding my thinking with right kind of questions started a process in me, that led me to find the crucial development areas in my leadership and I started to understand how to deal with them and how to, step by step, turn these development areas to strengths. I grew as a person and believe it is visible both in the professional and personal life. My journey has just started, but with the learnings form this coaching, I know how I want to do this journey. Coaching effect thoughts, emotions and behaviour. I am glad I also got more tools to support the growth of my manager subbordinates in this process. That is the only way to build the exceptional leadership and strong leadership culture into our organisation, that does not mind the windy weather. I warmly recommend the coaching process to anyone, who are willing to play full out, 100%, as a person and a leader. For anyone, who want to find a deeper level to leadership and the values of their own leadership. For me this process strengthened my thought of leadership as a calling. I recommend coaching also for leader, who need guidance in a challenging life situation. My challenging situation, both in my personal and professional life, could have lead to exhaustion without this coaching process. Now I got help and support on both areas, that kept me head above water even in the most challenging situations. I am grateful for Nonna for this!”

— Tuulikki Parkkonen, ‎Head of Unit, Claims Customer Service, Fennia (Finland)

“Nonna acted as my coach. She helped me with impacting and influencing skills with good results. I`ve got added value to my work from this coaching. As a result my ability to be more proactive and trusted business partner has increased a lot. I recommend Nonna for coaching.”

— Mikko Mäki-Tuuri, Director, HR, UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“Nonna challenged me in the right way and took me out of my comfort zone – this way I was able to get to the real core of the problem truly and fast. I got a lot of depth and new dimensions to my thinking, but also concrete and instantly applicable tools to speed up my transformation journey. I can warmly recommend Nonna for demanding personal change challenges and leadership related problem sparring – you will not get an easy journey, but this makes the reward even more valuable!”

— Mika Kivimäki, Senior Vice President, Tuotekehitysjohtaja, OP-Pohjola (Finland)

“The root causes of challenges discussed in coaching became obvious and the big picture became clearer. Coaching effected holistically thoughts, actions and results. Trough prioritisation and balance, despite the strong work orientation, I was able to get big effect with little changes in my private life as well and therefor got more power to work. I got a clear clarification about the significance of choice in my thinking. There are no excuses anymore. I believe I am able to get to better results easier. I recommend Nonna especially to those wanting to develop from great to even greater. Wanting to pause for a moment and get new thoughts as well as confirmation to previous learnings. After 15 years in demanding managerial- and project assignments and after seeing plenty I can honesty say, that Nonna is truly brilliant at what she does. Working with her is a great investment.”

— Joel Siikanen, Head of Manufacturing, Suunto Oy (Finland)

“I’ve never been professionally coached before. I feel that I’ve found something completely new for my leadership. Being coached, I feel like Alice in Wonderland; looking at all the possibilities available for me and all the new things and experiences I can provide for my people. I feel privileged as Nonna walked with me the first 5 steps in the Wonderland.”

— Matti Vesala, Tieto Oyj, Vice President, Telecom, Media & Entertainment and Energy & Utilities Finland & Baltics (Finland)

“At its best coaching feels like casual discussion but where professional coach, like Nonna, can lead the discussion in a right way; keeping in mind the objective of the coaching. During the discussion you start to realize how different things are connected and you come up with new perspectives on how to solve the issues in a totally new way. In our coaching sessions Nonna has been able to create an atmosphere that encourages new ways of thinking and approaching day to day leadership challenges. You invent the solutions yourself but a professional coach helps you connect the dots and put more structure and perspective to your thinking process. I can warmly recommend Nonna for anyone in a challenging leadership position and wanting to expand his/hers thinking pattern and finding new perspectives.”

— Vesa Rantala, Country manager, Tieto (India)

“Coaching process was efficient, personal and successful growth period for me. As a end result I found a clear way of acting when facing difficult issues. My behaviour in difficult encounters and problem situations improved dramatically. I learned a new way of avoiding micromanagement and giving more responsibility to my direct reports. I have consciously moved to more tactical and strategic leadership and am now aiming to avoid intervening in the operative issues. Also my meeting practises improved with sharpness and clarity. There was also a excellent written material that worked as a base for the coaching process. One important thing about the impact of the coaching was the observations of my colleagues on my changed behaviour towards more positive and constructive direction. I really had internalised the learnings and implemented them => change was visible for others. The best training of my entire career. I warmly recommend similar personal coaching for anyone in a leadership position, who face difficult situations in their work or need to increase the efficiency of their daily leadership.”

— Matti Nordberg, Director, Seikku Sawmill, UPM-kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“I recommend coaching, since it helps the clarify your own thinking and problems in the middle of all the hurry. Everyone should be offered the opportunity to get business coaching at least bi-yearly!”

— Anu Koskimäki, Director, Baltic Department Stores, Stockmann Oyj (Latvia)

“I was extremely satisfied in my coaching process. Nonna was easy to talk to and coaching clarified my thoughts and created new perspective to business leadership. Nonna is quite demanding coach, and did not give in, but demanded me to change my thinking and to produce results. I exceeded my targets with coaching and definitely recommend Nonna to experienced leaders, who have the will to renew and clarify own thinking.”

— Jyri Pohja, Managing Director, Ibas Kroll Ontrack Oy (Finland)

“I have had the pleasure to have Nonna as a coach. During the process I have come to realize many new possibilities, techniques and ways of working in order to communicate, evaluate alternatives, reach targets and develop myself professionally as well as personally. Nonna is very insightfult and professional coach, she has deep knowledge on leadership. Yet her guidance is subtle and gives plenty of room for individual learning and comprehension. I came to understand my own potential and was able to define concrete steps for the future. The profit from the coaching has been great compared to the investment, both for me individually and for our business. Coaching discussions have been pleasurable, Nonna has always kept focus and been determined to support me to achieve my targets. I truly recommend Nonna and her work for anybody, especially for someone in need for stopping and taking a good look around. Coaching provides a great chance for development, getting structure for thoughts and new points of view.”

— Heli Laumola, Development manager, Biofuels, UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“Coaching was encouraging questioning oneself, so that I started really thinking… I truly enjoyed it through and through! Coaching helped me both personally and was very beneficial for the company. Coaching made me re-think about my constraints, assumptions, capabilities and change the way of addressing and using these to make life simpler. This process helped me get out of the comfort zone and venture into newer areas.”

— Arnavaaz Khan, Manager, Global Delivery Excellence, Tieto (India)

“Coaching is a great help for us knowledge workers, who daily struggle in the crossfire of heavy pressure. Companies should invest in executive coaching along other trainings and work welfare.”

— Mika Vihervuori, CEO, Anvia Plc (Finland)

“Being coached by Nonna has been a great experience. In her positive and determined way, Nonna has challenged my own thoughts, always grasping the key points relevant for me. I have really enjoyed being coached by Nonna and finding new perspectives on different professional topics. I feel my thinking and focus management have improved significantly during this coaching process.”

— Kristiina Hämäläinen, Manager, Pulp, UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“Do you know what you are really capable of? Coaching process helped me to stop and look at thing from a new perspective. Coaching helped me to prioritize and clarify my own focus, both professionally and personally, clarifying the connection between the two lives as well. This process also strengthened my trust in my own potential and capabilities. With Nonna’s help, coaching process was the engine, that gave space to organize and clarify things and gave courage to bravely see further into the bigger picture. Concrete path was created, from ideas to actions, that was easy to follow with implementation. Nonna is a very professional coach, and he approach crates deep trust. Nonna’s own experience as a leader and her sensitivity, brought a valuable flavor to my coaching process. The benefits of coaching are very diverse, and the return on investment was exponential. During my process I was able to clarify my work focus and my productiveness and motivation at work has increase tremendously. I was recommended to get coaching from Nonna, with these words: ”she is one of the best and I warmly recommend her”. Now, based on my own experience with Nonna, it is so easy to agree. When you are ready to find out what you are really capable of, give Nonna a call!”

— Jussi Jalasjoki, Director, Business and Sales development, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“Coaching has truly supported my growth both professionally and personally. Every time after coaching session with Nonna, I have felt myself so strong and focused. I even stopped smoking, after doing so for over 10 years. And it was not even difficult. In these coaching session I’ve been able to put things in order of importance, focus on the important things, and I have stopped to do “everything at the same time”. Nonna has really pushed me to work on my head in these sessions, and sometimes it was hard, but still so rewarding. I feel that I now have more courage to express myself, make decisions and produce results. Now I stop almost every day to think about my own thoughts and behaviour as a leader. I am grateful for the growth as a leader and gladly recommend Nonna as a coach for any leader wanting to flourish.”

— Minna Halmetoja, Manager, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“I have found Nonna’s coaching extremely valuable for me for many reasons. I have understood the barriers that have been holding me back. Her emotional intelligence, honesty and trust have been key factors to help me to understand my strengths but also development areas as a leader. I have better understanding of my behavior, dreams and career opportunities in general. I’m confident that her coaching supported my growth as a leader and prepared me for the future. I would gladly recommend Nonna, she can help you to see and understand what really is important to you and how to reach your goals through real actions. Thank you Nonna!”

— Nina Kähönen, Customer Director, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“In my opinion coaching suits situations where the coach is facing new challenges. The need has to be big enough and initiated within. For me the transtition from specialist role to manager role was clearly this kind of a change. As a end result of every coaching session I began to make concrete changes in my daily work. For example I have improved my actions in the way I communicate with my subordinates especially about the difficult topics. Due to this coaching I was able to avoid few clear pitfalls. If has been interesting who so practical tricks have been found to seemingly abstract problems. The best parts of the coaching were related to the neutrality – coaching was a opportunity to reflect on work related challenges from “what do I think about this” viewpoint. Coaching sessions offered a relieve channel for thoughts, that were not yet necessarily very concrete nor clearly expressed. I liked Mikko especially due to the way he got to the understanding of the core point extremely fast. At the end of each session, Mikko’s way of discussing what was I going to do next combined this discussion with practise and future action. This practise partly formed my thinking already during the discussion: is this piece of information useful for me and if it is, where and how.”

— Matti Vuorinen, Manager, Energy, UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“Thank you Nonna for what you have achieved. Thanks to your coaching, I have managed to get out of a vicious circle. Having you by my side, gently holding my head out of the water, and helping me to take the first step out of it. It took me some months before I wrote this text, because I wanted to see if what we had done together would survive the time, and I am really happy to share that not only it did survive, but it continues even after this rather long period.”

— Nathalie Kuhn, Sales manager, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

”I was at a crossroad of my career, not being able to decide what to do, until I met Nonna. With the help of her coaching and support, I was able to figure out what I want and find my way forward. I am very grateful for the all work Nonna has done for me. I warmly recommend her!”

— Tiina Mustalahti, Manager, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“During my coaching process I was able to clarify what I personally want and I got courage to work with my feelings in a new way. Nonna carefully shook, into the surface, deep knowledge about myself. Coaching revealed my strengths and I found new qualities of myself. Visualization exercises and task assigned between the coaching sessions assured the successful realization of the targets set. My whole coaching journey was filled with trust, emotional intelligence and determination. Coaching helped me to clarify my targets and achieve them. Due to this coaching process I feel more determined about myself.”

— Minna Virtanen, Project Director, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“Best part of the coaching process was Mikko’s listening skills and the ability to create a positive atmosphere and the ability to open new perspectives to topics. My perspective changed and become more unrestricted during the coaching process. I consider others in the team more and this has gotten positive attention within the team – also the team has become more active thought my actions.”

— Juha Kortessalmi, Senior Portfolio Manager, Energy, UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland)

“Nonna has been my coach as new leader for past 6 months and I have found the process truly rewarding on both professional and personal level. During Nonna´s coaching I have developed as a leader through self reflection and grown as a person. She has made me question my old ways of thinking, find my own way of leading and the results on my team and business are great. Overall, her coaching has helped me a lot during this transition. Her approach to coaching is tough and caring at the same time and that suited me very well. I can warmly recommend Nonna to for anyone on a journey to better, modern leadership.”
— Suvi Reinikkala, Marketing Director, Altia Oyj (Finland)

NOWENA® participants

“NOWENA has been a crucial step, beginning to a process, with a target of being my own self in every situation. Only this way I can unleash my full potential. NOWENA helps me to live the rest of my life happier and to produce more joy to my loved ones. I also got a lot of information and skills to my leadership.”

— Mika Vihervuori, CEO, Anvia Plc (Finland)

“Nowena brought me a huge expansion of perspective on professional leadership and implementation of new methods. My life management improved in its entirety and my self-knowledge and -awareness grew tremendously. I recommend Nowena for leaders who have a genuine desire to go on a big growth journey, courage to expose themselves to themselves and others. This is not a “-ism course”, there is no fast and easy road. Nowena is a holistic leadership, self- and life management growth journey. My advice for a Nowena beginner is: Dare to start this big journey without holding yourself back. The more open and honest you are, the more you gain. Cheer and encourage your group. Jump in and enjoy!”

— Maarit Waskilampi-Kuikka, CIO, Espoon kaupunki (Finland)

“I had years of experience as a leader, had gone through long training programs and numerous seminars and yet something was missing. There was plenty of knowledge and experience but still missing the final step in how to turn that into action. This was the starting point of my Nowena journey, that still continues now after our program has ended. The difference to previous is certainty – I know how to develop further and have clarity on my leadership philosophy. Nowena helped me to find my own voice in leadership and in life. I can now listen to my inner and decise how to conver earlier unused knowledge into behavior of a leader. What more could you ask for from a development program? I warmly recommend Nowena for leaders who feel they have “seen it all, experienced it all” – Nowena is a deep peek to your self that opens totally new perspectives. I am proud to say I am the voice, I am a Nowena® Leader.”

— Marketta Koivusalo, Head of Sales Process development, ABB Oy (Finland)

“Nowena ment deepening the theme of leadership to a level I did not know existed. The extent and depth of the topics made the journey exceptional. I recommend Nowena for leaders, who genuinely want leadership to become their mission in life. If you are starting your Nowena journey, play full or not at all, and seize the opportunity to reflect with another Nowena traveller between the modules.”

— Mikko Leino, Vice President, Vaasan Oy (Finland)

“For me, Nowena was about growing as a human being, increased awareness, journey through the whole scale of leadership and reinforcing the path forward in my life. I warmly recommend Nowena to every leader, who wants to develop as a person and as a leader. Nowena is unique due to its content, the scale of emotions it creates with an exceptional personal impact. When starting the Nowena journey, jump in with curiosity, with an open mind and without any prejudices. Be prepared to challenge your previous beliefs and ‘knowledge’.”

— Carl Slätis, Toimitusjohtaja, Tilakeskus-liikelaitos, Espoon kaupunki (Finland)

“Nowena has been the most important and most influential leadership training I have ever participated in. It forced me to really reflect on my self as a human. During my Nowena journey I was also confronted with my weaknesses as a leader, which enabled me to step up to the next level. Common leadership trainings, which I have attended several, do not provide much new. Nowena gave me more than all the previous leadership trainings combined. The quality of thinking of leadership is just exceptional in Nowena. We focused a lot in how we confront each other, that bases on our self knowledge and understanding the underlying thoughts and beliefs behind our actions. I recommend Nowena for experienced leaders, who have already attended all kinds of leadership training a long the years and who feel, that there is not much new to get. I believe it is necessary to have a long experience as a leader, to take this incredible journey!”

— Anu Koskimäki, Toimitusjohtaja, M.A.S.I company Oy (Finland)

“The journey to the core of me has brought perspective and clarity into who I am and what I am like as a leader. I have challenged long standing way of working, found new leadership energy and identity. During the year long journey with exceptional people in the same leadership phase has given the coaching substance and created live long friendships. I recommend Nowena to experienced leaders, who are ready to challenge their leadership and rise to the next level.”

— Jani Jääskeläinen, Senior Director, Avanade (Finland)

“Nowena opened a door the another dimension of leadership. The kind of leadership, that is based on genuine understanding of the person themselves and what influences us. Nonna has a exceptional ability and passion to get people to build awareness and insight from their own baseline. I recommend to a leader who is ready to meet themself and wants to make your own and your companies dreams come true.”

— Hannu Rahnasto, Vice President, Fazer Food services Oy (Finland)

“The year revealed several thinking patterns in my mind, that I was not aware of. These thinking patterns were preventing me from growing as a leader. Nowena does not let the participant off easy, the development is sometimes painful. The spirit in Nowena-team is exceptional, I have never experience anything like it. I recommend Nowena to a experienced leader, who has passion to grow to a new level. Tips for Nowena beginner: Leave your ego at home and just let go – it won’t kill you. Be honest, above all, to yourself. Arranging the time is sometimes difficult, always still prioritize Nowena-days.”

— Paula Stelander, HR director, Eniram (Finland)

“Nowena journey meant change. I went looking for meaning, what do I want, what does that require? Am I brave enough? The journey lead to great changes in my career. Would I have done them without Nowena, perhaps or not. The main thing is that it happened. Nowena brought permanent and visible change in me and in my life. Exceptional about the journey was shared contribution and openness. I recommend Nowena to the kind of leader, who want to be better. Not a fancier “tittle” but person and life.”

— Sakari Viitanen, Toimitusjohtaja, Fleet Innovation (Finland)

“Nowena has been a amazing jouney to myself, whre I am now and where I want to be in the future, how do I keep growing as a leader. Nowena has provided a amazing group of people. Together we have reflected on life and learned from each others experiences how we can raise the level of leadership to meaningful. Nowena is not a traditional learning environment, learning happens through reflection, implementing leadership in practice and playing full out every second. The members of the team are exceptional persons and leaders. The seminar trip to London was a “once in a lifetime experience.” I recommend Nowena to leaders in demanding positions, who have the will and interest to develop further and release their full potential.”

— Jaana Suvanto, Vice President, ABB Oy (Finland)

“Nowena meant inner growth, journey to myself and finding my own strengths and leadership identity. Nowena was a year long magnificent journey to the heart of leadership with congenial group of people. We went bravely deep in our discussions, learning, finding awareness and insight together and supporting each other. I recommend Nowena to experienced leaders, who are interested in developing both as a person and as a leader.

— Johanna Panula, Toimitusjohtaja, Novo Nordisk Oy (Finland)

“Before my participation in NOWENA group coaching I had a saying: “Good things happen to good people”. After NOWENA I had to revise my view and change the saying to: “Good people make good things happen”. NOWENA was the first step for me – or rather a giant leap – on my long journey towards better leadership. I could have not gotten a better guide for this journey. Nonna’s experience, toolkit, commitment and mots of all her amazing attitude and remodeling make her, without a doubt, the best leadership trainer, I have ever met. What changed during and after NOWENA? Several things: Team, my position in the organization and above all, my way of working and performing. Concrete results are visible in employee satisfaction results, where my personal leadership index increased 30% and the leadership index of my leadership team increased 12% in one year. NOWENA truly and inevitably impacts not only the leader participating, but also the people around you, both at work and in your private life. So if you want to develop as a leader, and you are ready to play full out and tackle the constraints preventing you from reaching your targets, NOWENA is the right step for you. There are no invincible obstacles, ones you learn to look close enough into the mirror.”

— Mikko Lampinen, Head of Public Custom Solutions, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“I am a fact-oriented engineer by nature and I have always been very sceptic about all “softy softy” trainings. Still this Nowena training exeeded my expectations clearly. We did not go through nice principles, but the most crucial things, that totally changes my own way of leading and living in general. I can recommend this to anyone, who really wants to start leading people instead of just reading about fancy leadership principles. In my life, these teachings have transformed into real actions.”

— Jussi Ahtikari, CTO, Virta Oy (Finland)

“During my NOWENA coaching I became more aware of my own behavior and energy level effect on my team, the significance of coaching approach in leadership, impact of presence and my own strengths as a leader. I believe this is beneficial already in the short term, but especially in the long term. For the people I lead, for myself and for the whole company.”

— Jyrki Vainionpää, COO, Vapo Oy (Finland)

“If you have been invited/accepted to be in the NOWENA group coaching, think before you decide to take the journey, are you really willing to commit and put your self in fully? The journey is “rough” , but will help you to grow as a person and as a leader. The basis is, that you have already lead different kinds of people on different organizational levels. You have also familiar with management and leadership theories and had the chance to test them in practice. You should also have a passion for learning. For me, NOWENA gave a toolset for handling leadership challenges and unleashing the potential in personnel. Now I know better how to seach and find the parth with different people, to implement the strategy. In this group I found peer support in dealing with acute leadership challenges and got an opportunity to build relationships with leaders in different positions. During this journey I got to know myself a lot better, I understood my strengths and learned to accept my weaknesses. I also got an opportunity to stop and think of a possible new direction for my professional and personal life. If you decide to start this journey, you will definitely not be disappointed.”

— Pekka Nevamaa, Senior Customer Executive, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“The NOWENA coaching lead by Nonna and the time invested, has enabled my own leadership reflection and self reflection in a really profound way. I am now even more ready for different leadership challenges and believe my team will achieve our targets more successfully than previously.”

— Petri Ketola, Country manager, Avanade Finland (Finland)

“NOWENA provides a excellent opportunity to learn to understand your own role in the “game”. The training creates a “game book” for the leader, where you have very good tools to read and guide the game, tools that leader needs to guide their teams to outstanding performance. Being group coached with colleagues from different business areas and levels in the organization, provided a great discussion forum, enabled experience sharing and excellent sparring. NOWENA helps you to understand others behavior, how you should react or respond and how your own behavior influences others. The down to earth approach help you to absorb and understand things fast. This NOWENA journey requires commitment and attendance, in order to get the full benefit and end results – the learning. Warmly recommend!”

— Kaj Dahlström, Head of HR operations Finland, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“Mahtawa opportunity to learn from different persons experience and knowledge. My own strengths and weaknesses were clarified and perceptions reaffirmed. I got practical tools for my leadership toolkit. The learning environment (premises, different way of covering the topics and methods) were brilliant. Home assignments supplemented the training really well. For the new NOWENA travelers: The more you give, the more you get!”

— Rauno Hammarberg, CSO, VR group (Finland)

“Dare to venture, take time to know yourself and trust the group to coach you. You will certainly find new strengths from within, that will carry you through out your whole life. I surely did! :)”

— Heli Partanen, Head of Consumer services, Telia Oyj (Finland)

“Along NOWENA coaching I am more in peace with myself. I recognize my own strengths and weaknesses clearer and am able to confider them in my leadership.”

— Jukka Iivonen, Toimitusjohtaja, TDC hosting Oy (Finland)

“NOWENA was a sanctuary on my lifelong journey of leadership. It was an opportunity to stop and look deeply into myself, my heart and into my soul. It was (and is) a fellowship where I opened my heart to the trusted people around me and where I gave and got support during the most intensive learning experience ever. I was carefully but firmly guided by our dedicated coach, Nonna, on my way of defining my dreams and finding out the core elements of my leadership. Being the most abstract topic to study, leadership has turned into the most practical changes in my personal life and in my work as a leader. Learnings and changes that will not fade away but will be within my heart for the rest of my journey.”

— Matti Vesala, Vice President, Telecom, Media & Entertainment and Energy & Utilities Finland & Baltics, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“For me, personally and as a leader in Tieto, NOWENA was a wonderful experience, that made me realize that leadership, both self-leadership and leadership of an organization, is more complex than I had ever thought. Before participating in NOWENA group coaching, I had acted, more than 10 years, in several leadership positions, in global organizations. I believed I had seen a lot of different leadership; in Finland, Sweden, Poland, Czech republic, India, China etc. Nonna, with her rock solid professionalism, was able to bring totally new dimensions to leadership. It is now a lot easier to predict different behavior and lead more effectively. For me personally, this journey was mind expanding and at times also very emotional. NOWENA journey built confidence in my self belief and in my own leadership capabilities. Thank you Nonna!”

— Jari Pirkola, Head of Unified Communication & Collaboration, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“Global business economics revolves around increasingly faster. In order for the company to stay in the game, organization and practices need to constantly improve. This, is return requires a lot from company executives. You need to have the ability to lead network based organizations, continuously changing situations, new teams and personalities, often from multiple cultures. In order to succeed, a leader needs to have a strong self-leadership skills, find their own voice and have the courage to be openly yourself. Great leadership is created by combination of multiple skills. NOWENA answers this challenge, and provides leaders of today all the most important tools and understanding to be a amazing leader. NOWENA group coaching helped me in a little over a year to internalize knowledge and skills, that would have required approximately ten years to learn on the job. For me NOWENA was a “fast forward” journey!”

— Katarina Engblom, Vice President, Global Customer Executive, Avanade (Finland)

“NOWENA offered a untraditional and refreshing way of developing and thinking about own leadership. How leadership is visible in the organisation and how strongly my own personality effects in different situations. The brilliant thoughts, experience and discussions of my classmates were fruitful.”

— Aija Räikkönen, Laskutuspäällikkö, ISS palvelut Oy (Finland)

“NOWENA group coaching provides a opportunity for growth as a leader, with a peer group. You learn to know yourself both in others eyes and in your own eyes. NOWENA creates the leaders of the future, that are able to lift the organizational leadership quality into a whole new level and achieve goals in a whole new magnitude. NOWENA enable the growth of leaders, who find their way though personal growth, hard and soft values, continuous learning and humane approach. Thank you Nonna for fantastic journey!”

— Pasi Salonen, Head of Continuous Services, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“NOWENA was a unconventional, inspirational and interesting exploration journey on leadership and especially personal leadership development. The best part of the training was innovative content, personally challenging exercises and brilliant group of energetic leaders from different industries and different companies. In addition the year long period of monthly meetings were an excellent personal opportunity to pause in the middle of all hustle and reflect on self development and the continuous improvement of the leadership in the whole company.”

— Tuomas Qvick, Director, Halton Oy (Finland)

“Great leadership is needed, in order to achieve great results. During NOWENA you learn, in a very practical way, all relevant about great leadership. How to cope as a leader, how to motivate, how to cooperate with different type of people, what, among other thing, is good decision making and most importantly, what are the influences behind all these. During NOWENA journey you recognize what you want out of life and leadership and what are the things, that will get you to your destination and what is hindering you. My own presence, energy and quality of decision making changed on my journey. And at the same time I befriended with colleagues who contemplate same topics.”

— Ari Hirvonen, Head of Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Transformation Consulting, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“NOWENA has been a journey, where the balance of my life and the importance of wellbeing has clarified. Achieving consistent top results as a leader, can only be achieved though self-leadership.”

— Mika Häkkinen, Vice President, End User Services, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

“During the year long journey of Nowena, I become better aware of what affects my actions and thoughts. I nowadays recognise easier my own strengths and weaknesses, and am able to develop myself and utilize my strengths. The most important has been learning to understand how to “guide” my emotions, even though I do need to admit there is still work to do on this field. I also feel better balances and more satisfied with my life. Over all, amazing or even Mahtawa journey.”
— Mika Tuohimetsä, Customer Executive, Tieto Oyj (Finland)

Groupcoachings processes

“Leadership team was built, structures had been finalized and ways of working agreed. Still something was missing. That something was common, deeper vision of leaders role and exceptional leadership and the power it has in releasing energy in the whole organization. Nonna guided our leadership to a new level and clarified our vision of leadership in a warm and determined way. The effects on our thinking and daily leadership was evident surprisingly fast and the whole organization got totally new power from this change. Without any hesitation, I can recommend Nonna’s coaching to everyone wanting to live though exceptional leadership.”

— Mikko Leino, Head of Supply Chain Management, Suunto Oy (Finland)

“Our leadershipteam went though significant changes is the beginning of the year. We needed a way to initiate the cooperation effectively. Nonna helped us and got us working together with and effective and determined way and simultaneously each of us developed in our own leadership. This leadership team group coaching was very successful and I can recommend Nonna’s coaching to all change situations.”

— Janne Yli-Äyhö, Johtaja, Tuotannot, YLE (Finland)

“In the sales team leader training we addressed management and leadership changes from solution selling perspective. The training got us to unify our understanding of customer care and solution selling in a way that the new thinking is visible in the whole organisation. We have come back to the training themes often in the discussions between area- and sales leaders. The training elements are visible in the everyday management and leadership. For example area- and sales leaders now aim braver to ambitious results with the means of solution selling.”

— Jyrki Vainionpää, COO, Vapo Oy (Finland)

”We started in a situation, where we had decided to invest in even more market oriented and customer focused way of working. As a consequence of this decision a new Business Line Manager-role was established at Suunto to drive business development. With group coaching we wanted, not only to clarify the new role but also to internalise new tools for business development, people leadership and how to influence widely. The development program was diverse and additionally to group coaching included benchmark visits as well as project- and reading assignments. During the year long coaching the team formed a great spirit of supporting each other, that Nonna actively created. In my opinion the participants got new ideas and especially self-confidence in leadership during this program. One completely new product, now succesfully on the market, was created during this program as one of the projects. I recommend Nonna to individuals and teams, who want to take accountability of business development and further develop own leadership.”

— Petra Rosvall, HR manager, Suunto Oy (Finland)

“Nonna’s way of coaching and challenging our thinking is exceptional. She truly helped our management team members develop their leadership and improve our team work. We were able to build strong trust and our co-operation deepened significantly in a surprisingly short time. We created a common language and leadership principles. Our thinking of leading people got new meaning. I can warmly recommend Nonna for anyone interested in challenging leadership and themselves. The results are created by investing in people, and the well-being of people and nourishing their growth is the most important task of a leader!”

— Tuukka Farin, Head of Strategic Sourcing & Supply Chain Development, Vaisala Oyj (Finland)

“I had a situation where I needed to manage a challenging organizational change in a short timeframe with my leadership team. With the help of a tailor-made coaching program of Nonna, we were able to land the change exactly according to the plan, despite some unforeseen extra external challenges. I warmly recommend Nonna when you need a fast-forward in leadership development.”

— Katarina Engblom, Vice President, TeliaSonera (Finland)

“In order to assure the Fennia claims reorganising and reach of related goals, we wanted to invest in leadership development. The change was not only with the structure of the organisation, but the aim was to unify the operating models, create a common ambition and lift the leadership to a new level, so that Fennia claims has the ability to produce the best customer experience in the field. The group coaching led by Nonna was holistic and impressive. The meaningful discussions and exercises during the participatory coaching, transformed the managers of our claim function into leaders. Participants become a unified team during this coaching, a team that wanted and dared to solve both easy and difficult challenges together. Remarkable achievement was the trust formed among the participants and thereby the development of collaboration across organisational boundaries. During this group coaching, we created a unified leadership model into our organisation, where managers focus on leading people with a coaching approach. I can warmly recommend Nonna and similar leadership group coaching to any organisation, wanting to develop their ability to lead while facing change.”

— Vesa-Matti Kultanen, Johtaja, Fennia (Finland)

“Our leadershipteam was new and half of the members had recently started in the company. We all had a different understanding of leadership teams role, way of working and leadership. With Nonna’s help we first clarified our story and mission and what they really mean. This was done together with the board of directors and extended leadership team. Feedback for Nonna was amazing. Her firm and at the same time gentle way to approach even the tough topics was constructive and open. She got everyone actively involved. After this we continued with leadership team coaching and created new definitions and ways of working for us with the support of Nonna. Our leadership is now consistent, directional and daily. We will definitely use Nonna’s expertise in the future as well and I can sincerely recommend her to all kinds of coaching related to leadership.”

— Ann Wahlroos-Jaakkola, CEO, Picnic Yhtiöt Oy (Finland)

“Leadership team was built, structures had been finalized and ways of working agreed. Still something was missing. That something was common, deeper vision of leaders role and exceptional leadership and the power it has in releasing energy in the whole organization. Nonna guided our leadership to a new level and clarified our vision of leadership in a warm and determined way. The effects on our thinking and daily leadership was evident surprisingly fast and the whole organization got totally new power from this change. Without any hesitation, I can recommend Nonna’s coaching to everyone wanting to live though exceptional leadership.”

— Mikko Leino, Head of Supply Chain Management, Suunto Oy (Finland)

“The group coaching process covered the most significant leadership areas: business strategy implementation and ensuring successful performance of the team. Nonna brings her own extensive experience though practical examples that help the attendees to understand big pictures. There was a lot of interactivity in the coaching, which supported the widening of perspective and created beneficial discussion between the attendees and the coach. The attendees were extremely satisfied in the effectiveness of the group coaching!”

— Kirsi Nyberg, Director, HR & Business Support, Halton (Finland)

“About 15 months ago we formed the Leadership Team and we started the leadership coaching journey together that has truly changed our thinking and united us. Even though a couple of persons joined the team along the way we have been able to form a great level of trust and collaboration within the team. Nonna has been true partner for us all during that journey. She has given mentoring and coaching and really challenged us. We are thankful for her support. I feel now that we have a strong team that will achieve amazing results in the future. We now have the right leadership mindset and toolset to nurture the growth of our people! The last months we have practiced coaching which will be the vital part of our new leadership style. We have learnt a lot during that short time and our people are eager to practice and learn more. They are seeing already now the benefits of coaching approach. I recommend Nonna for leaders and leadership teams that want to develop themselves and that way make the company and business successful.”

— Tuukka Farin, Head of Sourcing and Supply Chain Development, Vaisala (Finland)

Speaker audiences

“Nonna is no doubt one of the best, if not the best, leader, coach, speaker and performer. She has amazing skills in all areas. I also really love the way she take examples of her own life and other areas and that way makes things even more understandable. You can really see, that she loves what she is doing. Nonna is truly just amazing!”

“Nonna is no doubt one of the best, if not the best, leader, coach, speaker and performer. She has amazing skills in all areas. I also really love the way she take examples of her own life and other areas and that way makes things even more understandable. You can really see, that she loves what she is doing. Nonna is truly just amazing!”

“Excellent energy and sense of “precense” to the audience. The scope and content of presentation was well organized and easy to follow.”

“Very clear and concrete presentation. Good examples and tips about books, movies etc. Nonna is excellent to describe the theory in practical level. Made me think matters both in the office and at home.”

“The Aalto university lecture was truly brilliant. Lecturing style was of course very different and engaging, but the topic itself also got me thinking about leadership more. And really, I left the auditorium filled with energy!”

“Nonna is very good at coaching us. Excellent skills, human approach.”

“Nonna was very good, enthusiastic and motivating.”

“Very clear performance and impressive examples.”

“Thanks for a very rewarding and well done presentation, it was the right level and great content. I was both touched and affected today. I learned a lot and got many new ideas and thoughts. I am proud to work for this company and especially work with a leader like you. Continue being who you are as a leader it makes you excellent.”

“Thank you for your inspiring session last Friday about leadership. When I listen to you I get happy. You give me the feeling “This is what I want”. Not so many persons have this effect on me but you have. Thank you.”

“Many thanks for coming to speak as a guest speaker today. The participants all found your session stimulating and thought provoking. I hear a great many speakers and you are right up there with the few “outstanding” ones. Really appreciate you giving us your time.”

“Thank you Nonna for a great training session today! It was really unbelievable how you were able to hold the intensity of the training over livemeeting. Perhaps part of the power was exactly that, that there were no materials, so everyone had to concentrate to the actual topic. And it worked. I have never experienced anything like that. It was nice to notice that there are several things I have already done well. Now things got structure and clarity.”

“Last lecture was really amazing! The lecturer and her style of lecturing was really good. I was 100% engaged to the lecture. She was also very inspiring.”

“Nonna really gave me many things to think about.”

“I have never seen you “live”, but I have been told you are really charismatic performer, especially live. Thank you so much for the thought provoking leadership virtual session. Even though it was a virtual meeting you somehow brilliantly were able to pass everything though virtual space, unbelievable performance!! English is not one of my strong areas, but you speak so clearly, it is pleasant and easy to listen.”

“Clear and understandable presentation. Excellent and spirit raising exercises.”

“Great job,once again, you really touched the audience and by simple way, made delivery leaders to share fears and hopes. Great job!”

“Thank you Nonna once again for an inspiring training session. I enjoy your way of boosting leadership.”

“Extremely good, efficient and inspirational way of delivering this topic. Leads to deep understanding. :)”

“Up till now I have seen plenty of presentations about our company strategy, but this was the first time I got a deep understanding of it.”