An autumn greeting to our alumni!

Winter is almost upon us and the academic year is in full swing. We’ve arranged a few alumni events already this fall and rest assured that there are more to come! One example was a great Arcada Master School event where we welcomed Anssi Tuulenmäki as one of the keynote speakers. Next up on the schedule is that we’re inviting all engineering students and alumni to a breakfast event with Ework on 16.11.2017 (External link)!

Another event that offered plenty of food for thought was an alumni evening for engineers two weeks ago, where we got to listen to consultant and entrepreneur Björn Stenholm. One interesting topic he raised was how we co-operation and the “emotional bank account” we all have. In all of our relations, both private and at work, we’re affected by how we act and react. Are we reacting or proactive at work, Stenholm asked? If we are the reacting kind of people, we often say things like “This doesn’t work…”, or “Why are they always…”, instead of being more proactive and say “How do we solve this in the best way?”, or “What else do we need to know than what was said here today?” When we are reacting at work, we get easily upset or angry, and might say things we later regret. We rather blame others and won’t take responsibility for our own work. Instead you should stay calm, take responsibility for your work and make sure to complete your tasks. When you focus on things that you can actually affect you will gain new insights, learn new things, get new experiences and build trust among your co-workers. This behaviour has a much greater chance of leading to more influence and increase your possibilities to affect others. The more pro-active you are in your working environment the easier your relations at work will be. Focus, make decisions and invest your energy in the right things, is Stenholm’s advice.

We all have an emotional bank account with a trust capital. Surely, you’d like to come across as a trustworthy co-worker? But what kind of colleague or partner are you? If you’re disloyal, talk behind your colleagues’ backs, blame others or are disrespectful, your trust capital will decrease. Acting like this will probably make you feel worse at work. But if you’re understanding, friendly and keep your promises – say thank you, excuse me and smile – you will continuously increase your deposits of trust capital and enjoy good relations at work. We can all contribute to a good atmosphere and how well we work together in teams depends on our own behaviours. We can always become better communicators, negotiators and colleagues by developing ourselves.

These alumni events inspire in so many ways – it was a great evening with good discussions!

Hope to see you at our alumni events during this academic year as well.

/Mia
Alumni relations coordinator