Change within Helsinki´s Youth Department presented by Director Tommi Laitio at Aalto Executive Education 2.3.2016.

1. Leading Change:
Helsinki Youth
Department
Tommi Laitio
Director of Youth Affairs
2.3.2016 MBA, AaltoEE

2. Helsinki Youth Department
• Mission: Make the entire
city a great place to be a
teenager.
• Methods: Youth clubs,
skate parks, leisure
activities, street art,
squatters, democratic
participation
• 1,4 million contacts /
year, 2000 hobby groups
• 400 employees, 60
venues
• Annual spending 31
million euros

3. During my first year I visited all our venues.
Four main findings and reactions to them.

4. 1. We do amazing work but people did not know about it.
Solution: New narrative

5. 2. We needed a bigger frame for our work.
Solution: From running services to improving a city.

6. 3. There was no crisis.
Solution: First culture and operations, then structure.

7. 4. People want to work with us and want us to succeed.
Solution: identify change ambassadors

8. Change process
2012–2013
Listening, Building trust
in new management,
Symbolic wins
2013–2014
Participatory design, PR,
Strategy
2015
Reorganisation,
Recruiting
2016
Behaviour change on
staff-level 2014: Staff workshop
2013: President of the Republic visits a youth club

9. Staff Participation
353 employees spent a
day interviewing
teenagers
10 Open Staff Forums
10 Planning Groups
5 Staff Events
50 Team Discussions
2 Events for Managers
Appr. 100 Personal
Hearings
All material in intranet

10. Strategy
1. Youth work is local and needs to be
planned based on every neighbourhood´s
needs. This means more power to young
people.
2. The role of the professional is to help
young people and other organisations to do
good things for young people.
3. Empathic skills are the new urban skills.
Organisation
1. From function-based to an area-based
organisation.
2. Matrix organisation for development.
3. Recruiting new top management.
4. All managers change units.
5. Youth workers get to change their unit if
desired.
6. Planning staff : from experts to service
designers.

11. What has
changed?
• Helsinki´s leading
department in job
satisfaction
• More contacts to
young people
• More and better
visibility
• Bigger budget
• Exemplary
implementation of
city strategy

12. Examples: From running the city's youth services to making
Helsinki a nice place to be a teenager.
New and stronger partnerships
with arts institutions, police etc
Participatory budgeting with
6700 participants
Annual report on the state
of young people
Summer job voucher for all 15-
year-olds (appr. 5500 teenagers)
2,2m € donation for
migrant work
Joint building projects like an
event venue in a gasbell

13. Day 62 of the new organisation
1. Day-to-day operations running
smoothly.
2. New management works well as a
team. Combination of insiders and
outsiders works well.
3. Managers under a lot of stress. But
there is a desire to make this work.
4. As managers changed units,
different practices became visible.
The issue is not fixed in a day.
5. Should have invested more in
change management for planning
staff.
6. We have built very high expectations
for the change. Now it is time to
deliver.

14. Lessons
1. The frame you choose defines the
resources you have.
(department vs. Helsinki)
2. Find pockets of existing good practice.
(visits to youth clubs regularly, social
media)
3. People see the big picture if you think
they will.
(workshops, seminars, working groups,
communications)
4. Allow some people to do more.
(ask for volunteers)
5. Be frank but empathic.
(invest in a fair process)
6. Make pain and anxiety visible.
(online barometer for mapping flow)
7. Invest in management.
(change management training)

15. Tommi Laitio
Director of Youth Affairs
City of Helsinki, Youth Department
Hietaniemenkatu 9B
PL 5000, 00099 City of Helsinki
tommi.laitio (a) hel.fi
tommilaitio.munstadi.fi
ruuti.net
twitter: tommilaitio