Sanna’s Eighth Week

Now, after eight weeks it is good to collect my learnings (so far) together. And now I need to make an effort and think – what are really my biggest learnings during this project and staying in Sao Luis, Brazil?

The big four

• Perseverance – if you have it you can achieve a lot. So many times during my life, my studies and with this project I have had the feeling that I’m not really in the mood for this and I want to give up. Have I never done it, gave up? The answer is now, I haven’t never given up. I’m grateful that I have that feature of perseverance. I’m not sure is it something that you born with or can you train it. Even I don’t have enough patience, I still have perseverance.

• You can always find new point of views to focus on. Do I have enough patience, when I can improve that? Can I improve our atmosphere, when? How my actions influence others?

• It is not easy to work with people who are from different backgrounds, countries and cultures. In this kind of huge project should have focused the first week (at least) to really get to know each other, really get to know our skills and weaknesses, build the trust and built the teams and really use people skills. That is something I learned, always remember focus on that so you can get the best results – I can use this learning for my future coaching and leading.

• Remember to appreciate, always. When I travel I always appreciate Finland more and more – the education, infrastructure, nature and safety. Still I need to remember to appreciate different countries, cultures and backgrounds. It is not always easy but we need that skill if we are going to travel and see the world. You can’t be too arrogant.

-Sanna