Insight – Prönö

10 ways for you to find yourself a mentor

catherine — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:46:27 +0000

It’s easier than ever to find platforms and services offering mentoring. But how to select the one that best suits your needs? How do different service providers set up their programs? We’ve listed some of the programs we were able to find, focusing on Finland. After reading this article, we hope to get you one step closer to understanding what mentoring service would be the best match for your unique needs.

How is mentorship offered (short summary)?

Mentoring is often provided in program format and it can last from three months up to a year. Many programs are either free of charge, or require membership to be able to participate or apply. Application process is more or less a standard and program groups are quite small, but there are exceptions as well. Most programs still rely on in-person meetings, but online-only programs already exist.

Mentoring for what?

Whenever looking to purchase any services, you should think about your needs and goals. Try to understand the nature of the mentor, or mentorship journey you’re looking for. Here are some of the typical goals when embarking on a mentorship journey:

Improve your self-confidence
Get an outsider’s point of view on you ongoing challenges
Become the best you can be
Find a new direction for your career
Find “that something” you haven’t found

It is important to notice that coaching and mentoring focus on the individual, “the mentee”, the person who is advised, trained, or counselled by a mentor, and not on the needs of a company. Consulting, Sparring and Advising are generally more used terms in this context.

How do mentoring platforms and services tend to your needs?

We scoured different platforms and services specifically in Finland, so that you could hopefully find the service that is a perfect match. As you can see there is only one program that is available for all and available in Finnish.

1. Suomen Mentorit is a mentorship program tailored for young people under the age of 36 with a degree in higher education. Most of our mentees are aiming to find their first job matching their education. They also hope to widen their professional networks through the mentoring programme. Available in English and Finnish, and in Hybrid format.

How to apply: Not Currently Available. New program is supposed to be announced at the end of 2023.

2. Yrityskummit is a national network of experienced mentors dedicated to helping small businesses through mentorship. They provide structured guidance by creating robust action plans through the Business Mentors Finland association. Yrityskummit has a long 25 year history in running their program.

How to apply: You can fill out an application on the websites and discuss your needs with the local operator before getting paired with a mentor

3.Baabelia connects the finders & seekers in the language services mentoring sphere, a bit more niche market. Baabelia adopts a more hands-on, flexible approach, and anyone with the relevant experience and zeal for mentorship can apply.

How to apply? You can browse their platform, and connect with a mentor directly to discuss your needs.

4. MiB Mothers in business mentoring program that supports mothers in finding employment, navigate career changes, and help their strengths in their professional identity. During each program mentees receive 5-7 virtual meetings with their mentors, and the program is organized twice per year.

How to apply? It’s for members only, and application is twice per year. Mentorship is also available in English.

5. MPS Palvelut is one example of the commercial service providers in the mentoring space. Their indepth Cross-Company mentoring program includes motivational and other analyzes to match you with the perfect mentor. A 9-month mentorship programs cocts 3300€ / mentee, and includes 8-10 meetings with the paired mentor.

How to apply? The program runs only once per year, and the next one is in the spring of 2024.

6. FIKA mentoring program connects immigrants and established professionals in Finland through one-to-one mentoring. Persons needing integration support are paired with mentors and meet three times a month over the course of six months. Anyone with relevant expertise to offer can join as a mentor.

How to apply? Applications for mentee are open twice a year, in January and August. Mentors can apply throughout the year.

7. Nordic Mentoring program is a six month mentorship program offered by the European Youth Parliament to help EYP volunteers find their first job, navigate through the first years of working life, and learn how to set up a business.

How to apply? Mentors need to be EYP alumni, and at least two years of experience to apply. EYP volunteers can apply for the program as mentees and match with compatible mentors.

8. City business units across cities in Finland host mentoring programs in different areas such as integration, personal growth and development, and navigating through working life. You can easily look up active mentoring programs on the city website.

How to apply? Mentors can apply on a voluntary basis, and mentees can send an application. Mentoring spots aren’t always guaranteed, and applications are open for a short period of time.

9. Your Company

Your Company might be running its own program, especially if you are part of a larger corporation. Programs are quite often organized by Human Resource management team, so use Slack, Team or intranet to find the responsible person. If you don’t have a program running in your organization or no access to mentors, you can ask for them to contact Prönö, as we can give your company access to thousands of mentors with less than 33€/month.

10. Prönö

As you can see, Prönö is not the only platform where you can find a mentor, but there are some unique things that separate us from the others, and might make us well-suited for your needs:

This is how Prönö Mentor program works:

Participants can sign up for the program 24/7, throughout the year with a simple monthly fee.
You choose your mentors instead of us assigning you one
You can work with multiple mentors and have an unlimited number of meetings (pending availability)
Mentoring Sessions are held completely online, which means you can access also mentors from around the world
You can get started risk-free and get your money back within 7 days if don’t find any suitable mentors for your needs
You can get purchase access for 3 months for only 149€ with no long-term commitment

How to Apply?

Unlike some of the listed programs, Prönö is available for all professionals regardless of race, gender, location or situation. Our mission is to bring knowledge, inspiration, and innovation to every professional in the World, and mentoring is just one of the services on the list. Click here to read more and start your mentoring journey.

Access the mentoring program

Are you ready to step into the Knowledge Economy?

Ella Seppälä — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 15:19:32 +0000

The knowledge economy is a term used to describe an economy where knowledge and ideas are the primary drivers of growth and innovation, rather than traditional inputs like physical labor and capital. In a knowledge economy, companies and individuals who can create, use, and share knowledge effectively are the ones who succeed.

It’s important to understand that in today’s economy, knowledge is a valuable asset that can drive your company’s growth and competitive advantage. By investing in knowledge creation, sharing, and utilization, your company can tap into new opportunities, drive innovation, and stay ahead of the competition.

Here are some key points to keep in mind when thinking about the knowledge economy:

Knowledge is a key driver of innovation: In the knowledge economy, companies that are able to generate new ideas and bring them to market quickly are the ones that thrive. This requires a culture of innovation and continuous learning, where employees are encouraged to experiment, take risks, and share their ideas.

Collaboration is essential: Collaboration and knowledge sharing are critical to success in the knowledge economy. Companies that are able to break down silos and encourage cross-functional collaboration can tap into the collective knowledge of their employees and create new ideas that drive growth.

Talent is everything: In the knowledge economy, talent is everything. Companies that are able to attract and retain the best and brightest employees have a significant advantage over their competitors. This requires creating a culture of learning and development, where employees are empowered to grow and develop their skills.

Data is king: In the knowledge economy, data is king. Companies that are able to collect, analyze, and utilize data effectively can make better decisions and gain a competitive advantage. This requires investing in data analytics tools and creating a culture that values data-driven decision-making.

By understanding these key points, you can begin to build a strategy for leveraging the knowledge economy to drive growth and innovation in your company.

Prönö helps businesses transition into the knowledge economy. With our network of advisors, mentors, and coaches, we can help companies drive innovation, collaborate, keep employees motivated, and analyze and utilize data to make informed decisions. Our services are designed to foster the growth of businesses, helping them stay competitive in today’s ever-evolving market.

Annual report reveals persistent gender and diversity gaps on Finnish company boards

Ella Seppälä — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 07:01:48 +0000

According to a new study by Prönö, the representation of women on boards of Finnish listed companies is still low, with only 28% of board members being women, a slight increase of 1% from the previous year.

The report also found that the typical board member is a 56-year-old man and that 63% of boards have seen changes in the past year, but the proportion of women has not increased significantly.

In newly listed companies, the representation of women is even lower, at 23%, with 92% of board members being Finnish and an average age of 54 years.

“The diversity of Finnish listed companies’ boards is lacking, as evidenced by the low representation of women on them. According to our recent report, only 28% of board members in these companies are women, and only 7% are female chairpersons. Furthermore, out of the 52 First North listed companies, 11, or one fifth, have no female representation on their boards at all,” stated Helene Auramo, CEO of Prönö and Future Board Member of the Year.

European Parliament Implements Gender Quotas for Listed Company Boards

The European Parliament has recently implemented a directive on gender quotas for boards of listed companies, requiring that the underrepresented gender make up at least 40% of board members. This applies to all companies with more than 250 employees in the EU and gives them a transition period until July 2026. The quotas have already proven effective in countries such as Norway and France, where the proportion of women on boards has increased to 40% and 44%, respectively.

Prönö we can help you to find more diverse board member.
Take the first step towards a more diverse board and book a 15-minutes meeting with Prönö today!

Book a meeting

Diversity in Board Composition: The Importance of Gender, Age, and Professional Background

However, diversity on boards should not be limited to gender. The report also found that 77% of board members of Finnish listed companies are Finnish citizens and that only 9% were born in the 1980s or later.

To build a diverse board, companies should consider their goals for the coming years and the expertise needed to achieve them, and try to include representatives of different genders, ages, and professional backgrounds.

“Diverse expertise is crucial for the success of boards. We should not just focus on gender diversity, but also consider the professional backgrounds, nationalities, and ages of board members. A diverse group is able to examine changes from multiple perspectives and adapt quickly, which is especially important in a rapidly changing world,” said Auramo.

How to find the right diverse candidates to company boards?

“Finding diverse board candidates doesn’t have to be a challenge. At Prönö, we have a platform that connects companies with professionals from a variety of backgrounds who are interested in board and advisory board positions. With over a thousand diverse candidates to choose from, companies can easily find the right fit for their needs. And for professionals looking to join a board or advisory board, our platform is free to use. We encourage everyone to showcase their interest and connect with interesting companies through Prönö,” advises Helene Auramo, CEO of Prönö.

If you’re looking to join a board or advisory position, Prönö offers a free platform to make yourself available to companies seeking diverse talent. Sign up now to become a board member!

Start finding your more diversity to your board:

Prönö is here to help! Here’s how we can find your next board member:
1. We already know which of the 3000+ professionals on Prönö are interested in board positions, and we can reach them with ease.
2. We source potential alternatives.
3. You meet the candidates you want.

Read more about Board Member Search here.

Let us help you find the missing part of your company’s board – start your search today!
Book a meeting with us.

Start your search

Co-creating your business with customer advisors

Ella Seppälä — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:34:17 +0000

Customer advisors are relevant for business because they help to build and maintain strong relationships with customers. By providing high-quality customer service and support, customer advisors can help to create a positive customer experience, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.

In addition, customer advisors can help businesses to co-create with their customers by actively listening to and engaging with customers and gathering valuable feedback. This can help businesses to better understand the needs and preferences of their customers, which can inform product and service development and improve the overall customer experience.

Overall, customer advisors play a crucial role in helping businesses to build and maintain strong relationships with their customers, which can ultimately lead to increased customer loyalty, satisfaction, and profitability.

“Co-creating with customers not only helps us to better understand their needs and preferences, but it also fosters a sense of partnership and collaboration that is essential for long-term business success. By actively engaging with and listening to our customers, we can not only improve the customer experience, but also create products and services that truly meet the needs of our target market.” – Helene Auramo, CEO & Founder of Prönö

Without customers, there is no business.

If you’re looking for customer advisors, Prönö can help.
To learn more, book a meeting with us today.

Find out how Audicin found Customer Advisors who helped them to find their product-market-fit.

Case – Audicin

Case – Audicin Audicin, a SLUSH 100 top and rewarded startup, is building an audio service to improve wellbeing while working. Their solution has already been noticed in the Slush and Female Founder pitching competition. As a brand new startup they wanted to start building

4 steps for leaders to start co-creating with customers

Ella Seppälä — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:27:17 +0000

This article discusses four strategies to involve customer advisors in product development, marketing and culture building. Companies should have meetings with customer advisors to gain feedback on their products and marketing materials. Additionally, regular meetings with customer advisors can help foster a customer-centric culture and lead to co-creation of new ideas and improvements. Prönö platform can be utilized to organize and facilitate these meetings.

Here are a few steps that leaders can take to start co-creating with customers today:

Involve customer advisors in the product development process: Book 1-to-1 meetings with customer advisors.
Utilize customer advisors in your marketing efforts: Ask customer advisors to review your marketing materials such as website and campaign materials and provide feedback in 1-to-1 sessions on Prönö platform. This can help you ensure that your campaigns are effective and resonate with your target audience.
Foster a customer-centric culture: Encourage your team to prioritize customer satisfaction and regularly seek out customer feedback. Prönö can organize monthly or weekly meetings with different customer advisors. This way everyone on the team will learn to think like a customer.
Set aside dedicated time for co-creation: Schedule regular meetings with customer advisors to brainstorm and collaborate on new ideas and improvements.

By taking these steps, leaders can start to build a culture of co-creation and customer-centricity within their organization, which can lead to stronger customer relationships and increased business success.

Do you want to start real conversations with your customers to get feedback and new ideas? Start Are you looking to engage with your customers and gain valuable insights?

Try Prönö! Schedule a 15-minute meeting with us to learn more about our customer advisor search.

CMO: How to co-create marketing with customer advisors

Ella Seppälä — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 13:31:00 +0000

As a marketing leader, it’s important to constantly seek new ways to improve your marketing strategy, and execution and better serve your customers. One way to do this is by integrating customer advisors into your marketing efforts.

Customer advisors are individuals who provide valuable insights and feedback on your products or services. They can be a valuable resource for understanding the needs and preferences of your target audience, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement.

There are a few key steps you can take to effectively integrate customer advisors into your marketing strategy:

Involve customer advisors in the marketing strategy process: Book 1-to-1 sessions with customers on Prönö platform. This can help ensure that your products or service messages are tailored to meet the needs of your target audience.
Utilize customer advisors in your marketing campaigns: Go through your marketing campaign ideas with potential customers to get feedback. This can help you ensure that your campaigns are effective and resonate with your target audience.
If your campaign has diversity and/or sustainability-related themes involved, book a 1-to-1 session with a sustainability and/or diversity advisor to get a second opinion.
Foster a customer-centric culture: Encourage your team to prioritize customer satisfaction and regularly seek out customer feedback with customer advisory sessions. This can help ensure that your marketing efforts are focused on meeting the needs of your customers.

By integrating customer advisors into your marketing strategy, you can gain valuable insights that will help you better serve your customers and improve your marketing efforts.

How to get started with customer advisors with Prönö?

Book a 15 minutes meeting with us.
Or read more about Advisor Search here.

Not just executive advisors

Ella Seppälä — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:39:31 +0000

An advisor or (adviser) is typically a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An advisor’s role is that of a mentor or guide and differs categorically from that of a task-specific consultant. An advisor is typically part of the leadership, whereas consultants fulfill functional roles. (adapted from Wikipedia)

However, the use of advisors in growing and developing one’s business is expanding in our new business environment where professionals from all parts of the world can become advisors of the companies they feel passionate about.

After working with over 3000 advisors, we have identified three main types of advisors that can help you reach your next goal: Executive Advisors, Expert advisors and Customer Advisors.

Executive advisor is the most traditional advisory role. They help company leaders by sharing their opinions and views based on their often-extensive experience in a particular domain or industry. Executive advisors are often part of an advisory board that meets regularly, but the collaboration model between an executive advisor and company leaders can be quite flexible. To become an executive advisor, you should have a strategic understanding of at least one business area and/or the ability to coach business leaders in areas of entrepreneurship. As a leader, you might ask yourself “Do I have an advisor who I can turn to whenever I need advice or who is helping me reach my potential with frequent meetings and agreed upon checkpoints?” If not, you should start looking for an advisor.

Expert advisors are often exceptionally talented in a specific area of business. The number of expert advisors is growing for two big reasons:

Knowledge economy – the best professionals are moving from agencies to freelancing roles.

Insourcing – the looming economic crisis is forcing companies to be smart about their processes and staffing..

Marketing is a good example of a business area in which there is an ever-increasing number of expertise categories like SEO, media, brand building and email marketing, just to name a few. Hiring marketing personnel is a strategic decision for a company, but finding a marketing pro who understands and can execute tasks in all the needed areas of the domain is like trying to find a unicorn in a haystack. The search for an agency that has the needed expertise and can actually deliver what they promise is often hard and costly – and the expertise you need is out the door as soon as you no longer can afford their services.

Recurring advisor sessions with an expert advisor can be an effective alternative in developing your team, getting the expertise in-house and also engaging employees within your company in the long run. And we can help you get started.

Customer advisors are an emerging way to build your product and service together with customers who already buy into your mission. The “customer-first” approach is rarely taken into practice by companies stubbornly developing their products beyond the MVP phase and trying to serve it to assumed ideal buyers as a “finished” product offering.

Is there a reason why you are not building your product together with your potential customers?

Some pioneering companies have already built Customer boards and are continually working with customer advisors in developing their offering. In this situation, both parties are at the same side of the table, developing the service or product of a company into something that is aligned with the needs of the actual customers.

Finding customer advisors can happen by simply contacting your existing clientele – or turning to us for help in finding the customers who share your mission and are ready to help you. Talk to us to learn more.

It’s not wise to wait for advice

Ella Seppälä — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 09:19:12 +0000

If you are not getting what you need in minutes rather than days or in hours rather than weeks – may we give you a word of advice? The business rules have changed, and others are enjoying the benefits already. Advisors from around the world can be available for you if you are available for them.

When companies needed advice in 2019 most companies called the service providers or consultants they had been working with in the past. A meeting would be set for the next week or week after that, coffee and pleasantries would be exchanged, the schedule would be set and presented, and an offer would follow up a week later.

Now, none of us expects advice to arrive a month from today. Instead, finding the advice and the right advisors should happen at the exact moment or in the next few seconds at the latest.

Going virtual has opened opportunities for work to move faster and get more things done. And finding an advisor and advice should be no different.

How to find advisors on Prönö?

In Prönö, we are building a platform where you can find advice and the right advisors faster than ever before. Grow more quickly by creating an advisory team that can complement your in-house people. Or replenish your existing advisory board with a key member to help your strategy.

Selecting advisors from your pool of professionals interested in working with you helps you move faster.

The new normal is setting up an advisory workshop with new experts from selected professions and skillsets with just a couple of clicks.

Whether you are just looking for advice or recruiting, you should start by searching for people who can bring something you don’t have to the table. It all begins with a need for advice. Prönö is here to deliver that.

At the end of the day, how many advisors you have in your pool is up to you. Companies on our platform have hundreds of professionals in their pool and can find advice in minutes. What about you?

Start building your advisory board

Advising is an opportunity

Ella Seppälä — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 08:55:53 +0000

Today, everybody can make an impact with their expertise. We are no longer hindered by geography or structures that would prevent us from working on something meaningful, so it’s up to all of us to make a difference.

Working on something more meaningful is becoming a massive trend in society. In the US, we see great resignation where people are quitting their day jobs and looking elsewhere. Of course, not all of us can just leave our current projects and jump into new things, but almost any of us can look at the brighter side in a role of an advisor.

Patterns and habits are changing rapidly due to Covid and the environmental challenges it has brought with it. Not only did the world of consulting and advising permanently change, but so has the world of recruitments. More and more companies are building advisory boards to help them navigate through the turbulence.

Today, almost anything can be done faster than before. Anybody can instantly offer and seek advice. It has never been as easy as today to become an advisor — all virtually.

Become an advisor on Prönö

Our goal at Prönö is to help professionals and experts, with knowledge they can share, to become advisors.

The way we see it is that the faster companies can find advice for their needs, the more value we can create. That is why we are making the platform with unlimited opportunities to share your advice and become an advisor.

Instead of having a limited number of companies you get to work with or having someone else select who you should work for – you get to decide who you want to advise and work with.

Being able to add yourself to advisory pools, attend workshops, and be added to advisory teams of companies working for a more sustainable future should be a possibility for everyone.

Being an advisory board member is a quick and rewarding way to see how valuable your expertise and advice can be to others. The more companies pools you have joined, the more significant the impact you can create.

It is up to you if you want to make an impact or not. Read more and join Prönö today!

Show what you stand for – every day

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 11:54:22 +0000

Equality, diversity & inclusion and sustainability are themes that are encoded in Prönö’s DNA. For us, these are not just themes we want to talk about once in a while.

Instead, we want to do something every day to change the world for the better.

We feel it is also our responsibility, which is why we created this new space for all the changemakers, builders, and doers in the first place.

On our Prönö platform, we always want to give you the tools to show what you stand for. Our badges for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, and Sustainability can be added to your profile to help you do just that.

On your platform profile, you can show that you are always looking for new ways to improve in terms of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, and Sustainability.

And because we want it to be easy for people to find experts who know about these issues, we have created specific profession categories and sub-categories on our platform. For example, under Sustainability, you can find professionals working in sub-categories that include regenerative cultures, legal, UN Goals such as climate change, gender equality, reduced inequality and climate action.

Similarly, under the HR & Talent category, you can also find prönös in the diversity and inclusion sub-category.

Soon, you will be able to use these badges in searches. This way, you can easily find, for example, board member candidates with the same core values.