25 years of projects

THE GROWTH MINDSET with 25 years of experience

How it started

There is quite an interesting story about the early days of Prohoc Oy. We are living the second half of 1996 and the season for hockey club Vaasan Sport has just started.The young team is eager to put up theirbest performance, but the club is strugglingfinancially. Someone throws an ideato establish a company where players andother salaried people from the club couldwork during the days. This could be a way tosave the club from a bankruptcy and enablethe young players to pursue their dreams.There’s alignment with the local bigindustrial names ABB and Wärtsilä amongothers and this setup is seen as a good way to outsource some non-core activities butalso show some support for a good cause. So starts cooperation regarding project informationservices and some other supportservices. A lot has happened after that, buttoday when Prohoc group turns 25 years,the grounding values and services are stillthere. Helping people to reach their fullpotential and serving customers in a closepartnership.

How it’s going

Today after 25 years in business, Prohocis a group of companies serving projectdriven industry and manufacturing industryin Finland and abroad with a team of over200 professionals. We work with greatcompanies which are all industry leadersin their respective domains. 80% of ourrevenues come from the so-called strategiccustomers and we are happy that we havebeen able to expand all our key customeraccounts lately which is a proof of trustfrom our customers. And we are honoredthat all the main customers from 25 yearsback are still our very important friends.As we are now on a scale-up strategy, wehave been expanding our customer servicecapabilities and developing key customeraccounts in new business areas.

Scaling-up and how

We are here to make a dent in the industrialservices world by bringing the bestemployee value in the industry. Our missionis to help our people and our customers toreach their full potential. We are helpingindustrial blue-chip customers to drivesustainability and growth with our projectand industrial partner services. Our goalis to be the best community for peopleworking in the industrial services segment and the most valued partner for our chosencustomers. We are a platform of prosperityand innovation, helping people andcompanies to reach their full potential. Ourultimate objectives are to be a communityof 500 prohocians with highest eNPS and NPS figures in our industry by end of 2024.

We are diversifying into new business segments, where EV battery segment is one of the new areas. We are happy to be part of the first mega factory being currently built in Sweden. Core of our strategy lies in the way we work together as a team and how we build our company’s culture. We treat each other with respect and live our values each day. We are a Just Cause -driven team that always puts the team’s success first.

We have done a significant change to our management model during the last 12 months when we have left the traditional hierarchical management model and began leading operations through two value creation processes, customer value and employee value. Strategy is executed through round tables and transparent communication, which is being seeing as a major competitive edge ensuring good maneuverability and pace of development.

6We build and steer according to our Leading Indicators, ie. the best employee experience and the best customer value. Our people will take care of our business once we are facing the moment of truth – bringing value to our customers.

ANNOUNCING NEW GROUP CEO Ilkka Palola

Prohoc Oy appoints Ilkka Palola as the CEO of Prohoc Group starting on 1 July 2021.Matti Manner will become Chairman of the Board of Prohoc Group.

Currently Ilkka holds the position of Chief Human Resources Officer and has previously been responsible for Prohoc’s information services business as Head of the Business Unit. Ilkka has a vast experience in the industry, working in sales, key account management and as a senior consultant within the same business segment.

As Ilkka becomes the CEO of Prohoc Group, the former CEO Matti Manner will take over the role of Group's Executive Chairman of the Board. In his role as CEO, Ilkka will enable Prohoc’s team to successfully execute strategy by ensuring a good everyday life, living according to group’s values, and staying on the right path towards the group’s vision. Besides running the Board of Directors, as Executive Chairman, Matti Manner will focus on running the group's growth program and working with customers and sales & business development teams.

You have worked for Prohoc for years and have seen the organization evolve. What are your thoughts about leading Prohoc forward as the new CEO? "One of our values is “We are passionate, brave and humble”. I think this describes well my thoughts and feelings today. During the past years, Prohoc has evolved a lot and I think we are ready for a stepping up to the next level. We have been – and we need to be – passionate about everyday professionalism, doing even the smallest things and tasks as well as we can.

Making our future growth possible requires hard work and ability to change. We need to be brave enough to challenge the way we work and to adapt to customer needs.

I feel privileged and humble to continue the legacy of great family-company culture. Prohoc has always had people – Customers, employees, and partners – in focus. I cannot imagine any other company I would rather work for."

What does Prohoc’s mission and vision mean to you? "I think that every company needs to have a just cause, a purpose to exist. We are in a service business in technology domain, where machines, robotics, automation, and technology are maybe too often taking over the headlines.

I strongly believe that even the hardware engineering world is about the people: Our Customers are the ones behind the innovations, our supervisors are leading the complex construction works at site and our assemblers and coordinators give their expertise to deliver high quality products and processes.

My purpose for being is to lead everyday actions and our team so that we have the best community for our employees, and we are the most valued partner for our Customers."

How would you describe your way to lead? "As leaders we must create a community where all employees feel safe and find their work meaningful.

I like to see myself as a coach, who helps employees improve on their strengths and abilities by giving them new tasks to try out and offering them guidance and constructive feedback. I value hard work, diplomacy, teamwork, and good planning, and I hope these are also seen as part of my way to manage the company."

The employee wellbeing is one of Prohoc’s most important KPIs. How is the well-being of employees maintained during the growth? "This is one of my favourite topics. I think employee wellbeing does not require any superpowers but rather many everyday actions. It is a combination of good, open company culture, where people share joys and sorrows and care about each other, good everyday leadership, and empowering people with skills in self-leadership.

We are all unique, so what works for me, does not necessary work for someone else. I feel that it is important to learn and lead wellbeing on personal level, not just as teams or business units. A high company wellbeing rate of 4.5/5 does not help or comfort the person who is experiencing burn-out or difficult stress.

Each of us must play our part in creating the wellbeing at work. We need to make every encounter matter and – if needed – ask for help. I think this is also something, where we are already quite good at. Especially during the ongoing growth period we need to keep going and doing these everyday wellbeing routines: asking our people how they are doing, listen, where they want to succeed and ask how we can help them."