Haaga-Helia UAS prepared their strategy with the whole community

"We are currently developing our strategy for 2021-2025, and we have already re-used Fountain Park and their online tool to support our strategy work. Haaga-Helia's experiences of cooperation have been excellent."
“At Haaga-Helia, community and working together is really important. The latest major exercise has been the preparation of a new strategy. We are currently developing a strategy for 2021-2025, and we have already utilized Fountain Park and their online tool to support strategy work. Haaga-Helia’s experiences of co-operation have been excellent, ” says Teemu Kokko, Rector, and CEO of Haaga-Helia, about our joint journey of university development work.
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences used Fountain Park’s strategy dialogue for the second time to carry out strategy work together with its stakeholders. The online strategy dialogue used in the participatory strategy work provided an opportunity for key stakeholders to talk about how the institution should be developed, evaluate the suggestions of other participants, and further refine the ideas they considered most important. The joint reflection was carried out in Finnish and English.
According to Teemu Kokko, Rector and CEO of the University of Applied Sciences, the cooperation has rolled smoothly and easily from start to finish. The strategy dialogue has been simple for both the client and the respondent to understand. Although there is hard research behind the strategy dialogue and approach, it has been drafted in a very pragmatic format. Additional theorizing has been kept to a minimum, allowing a pragmatic approach to be retained. It is easy for the respondent to participate, and Fountain Park analyzes the qualitative material in a professionally easy-to-use format.
The preparation of the strategy inspired – more than 2,000 participations in the strategy dialogue
Within a few weeks, more than 2,000 respondents from Haaga-Helia’s stakeholders shared their thoughts on the future direction of the university and shared their development proposals in support of the best possible Haaga-Helia. The main actions that needed to be changed were identified, and the guidelines for the future were honed.
Haaga-Helia’s current students and alumni were especially enthusiastic about the opportunity offered by the university, and they received a huge amount of material for development activities and the implementation of studies and services. Important comments and diverse perspectives on strategy work were also received from staff representatives and university partners.
Continuous collaboration and involvement yields results
Fountain Park was also a partner of Haaga-Helia during the preparation of the previous strategy. The progress of the culture of working together was reflected, among other things, in the increased number of participants for the last time compared to the strategy dialogue. At that time, there were even surprisingly strong themes related to the value base, the development of which Haaga-Helia lacked. The open reflection included in the inclusive service provided by Fountain Park provides an opportunity to find not only things on the surface but also entities hidden beneath the surface.
“This was the second time we used Fountain Park’s strategy dialogue to support our strategy work. It was great to see that the things that were emphasized in the previous round were not the same as what was emphasized now. I recommend Fountain Park as a partner and I can say on behalf of Haaga-Helia that our cooperation will continue in the future, ”says Kokko.