Article series on Konecranes' strategy:
In 2023, Konecranes published a renewed strategy for the coming years, driven to answer global calls for businesses to contribute positively to a more resilient and sustainable economy. Enhancing our winning culture has been identified as one of the key enablers in this renewed strategy.
Engaged employees are the foundation of Konecranes’ success. We want to foster an environment where people excel, enjoy their work, feel respected and trusted, and are provided with challenging and interesting responsibilities together with extensive career advancement possibilities.
In today's competitive business landscape, pursuing excellence is a necessity. Our approach is to build a culture where goal-oriented teamwork leads to success. We strive for continuous improvement across all our operations, which we believe will ensure that we stay the top performer in our field. We emphasize several key areas: keeping the focus on customers, operating sustainably and effectively, behaving ethically, and always prioritizing safety. These are principles that guide every decision we make. Our aim is to run a sustainable, successful, profit generating business, which reflects our collective efforts and the valuable services we provide.
Promoting continuous learning and leadership skills
Our people strategy aims to ensure that we have the needed resources and skillsets for the future and that our employees are motivated as well as able to meet business requirements. For us, investing in the continuous development of our employees means encouraging them to seek learning opportunities, and providing tools and methods that support efficient learning.
Our talent management is driven through a cohesive and interrelated process of
- development discussions,
- talent identification,
- succession planning, and
- talent development.
The process adapts to business needs, and brings on-board the experiences of employees, managers, business leaders and identified talents – facilitating individual development as well as career development.
Talent blooms in an environment where leadership development is nurtured. We place a great deal of emphasis on having capable and inclusive managers who form the bedrock of our engaging culture. We constantly develop our learning offering to support our leaders in the changing environments they operate in, recently renewing the Konecranes Leader and Konecranes Manager programs, for example.
Recognizing the potential of digital technology, we have invested in expanding our online learning environment, partnering with industry leaders like LinkedIn Learning to enhance accessibility and ease of learning. We also harness technology in our people processes through automation, aimed at reducing errors and providing timely analytics to boost continuous improvement.
Collaboration and inclusivity define the Konecranes culture
A collaborative mindset combined with a commitment to inclusivity is a defining factor for work at Konecranes. We’re creating a culture where working together comes naturally and we inspire and support each other to be the best we can be.
A diverse and inclusive workplace is a key ingredient in this. We firmly believe that a workforce representing the communities where we operate can best serve our customers and enhance innovation. In 2023 for example, we focused on further embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into our talent and recruitment processes. Diversity has been emphasized in our successor planning, alongside fast track programs for under-represented groups. We have also been recognized for the progress made in this area.
Another key area is the focus on employee health and wellbeing. We continue to invest in resources and employee benefits aimed at maintaining a harmonious work-life balance. We have initiated many new learning solutions and support models on a global level to support employees through different changes and challenges. These initiatives provide help to deal with stress management, well-being and resilience.
Emphasis on strategic hiring and building internal capabilities
Workforce planning and talent acquisition at Konecranes place a distinct emphasis on long-term, strategic hiring rather than ad-hoc replacements. We take a forward-looking approach in talent acquisition based on projected business needs. We don’t just seek the market for future skills but focus on carefully building internal capabilities. We perform comprehensive competence and needs' analysis to ascertain future skills shortfalls and ensure we upskill our current employees.
Programs dedicated to this include our sales training portfolio, project management excellence program, and technical trainings tailored for individual Business Areas based on their specific requirements.
Company-wide process to renew our values
In 2023, close to 8,000 Konecranes employees took part in a collaborative process to renew the company's values after nearly 30 years. The new values were defined through a process of online brainstorming and dozens of global workshops. The values summarize what we expect from ourselves and others; they guide our behaviors and support our future success.
- Putting customers first - We build trusted customer relationships and deliver solutions that work every day.
- Doing the right thing - We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards and take ownership of our actions.
- Driving for better - We never stop moving, learning and improving. We are inspired and driven to always find a better way.
- Winning together - We are a diverse, global team - all contributing to our shared success. We are more than the sum of our parts - working together, winning together and always supporting each other.
Culture lies at the heart of a successful company
The initiatives and efforts geared towards building a winning culture at Konecranes are designed to create a harmonious blend of excellence, engagement, and enablement. We remain committed in our vision of being a preferred employer, driven by a strong culture that nurtures talent, champions inclusivity, drives operational efficiency, and fosters a nurturing, healthy work environment.
It is this winning culture that propels our ambition to become the world leader in material handling solutions creating value for everyone.
Learn more about our strategy, and read the other articles in this series:
