Top Women Leaders Europe 2021LEAVE A REPLY
Profile
In 2012, Johanna joined IT company Vincit as Head of People Operations and was tasked with creating an advanced human resource management model. To date, Vincit has journeyed through bold experiments into becoming a successful and global digitalization expert and a three-time winner of the Best Workplace in Finland Award, Best Workplace in Europe in 2016 and rated among Fast Company’s global Best Workplaces for Innovators 2020 -list. Through my team’s passion for sharing this leadership model with the world, LaaS Company was born.
LaaS is a digital HR platform that helps organizations update their whole toolkit to meet the needs of modern working life, based on Leadership as a Service philosophy. This agile, co-organized, and data-driven platform helps companies lead employees’ well-being, competencies, and employee experience, offering tailored support and services to meet individual needs. Awarded as the Winner at HR Tech 2021 Awards, LaaS Company continues to gain exponential growth and global recognition.
As keynote speaker and influencer of modern working life, her passion is to help organizations increase their agility and make working life more meaningful, sensible, and productive for everyone.
Johanna Pystynen is a very versatile leader in Vincit, Finland. Mrs. Pystynen has wide-ranging experience in leadership. Mrs. Pystynen has previously worked in Human Resources and developed Vincit a Great Place to Work. (Johanna Pystynen and her team has developed many tools for organization development). Mrs. Pystynen has always understood that cooperating with schools is rewarding both ways. It is good for the company and also for the educational institution. Johanna Pystynen has started to work as Head of Leadership Development from January 2020. I have worked together with Mrs. Pystynen since the autumn 2014. Johanna Pystynen has been active cooperative partner for my school. Mrs. Pystynen has offered my students possibilities to make contacts with a company. We have had chances to explore modern work places. Also we have seen perspectives how to develop modern leadership. Since autumn 2020 Teacher Training School in Tampere University and Johanna Pystynen and Vincit have started a pilot programme to test and develop LaaS leadership tool for school purposes. The idea is to work on f. ex. students well-being and to test and develop services for students well-being. We will develop what kind of services peers and teachers can offer in addition to official services for students (f. ex. student health care, student counselling and tutoring school subjects). Our school and the students have a special chance to take part in service design and to learn how to cooperate with a company in real life. My students have also a opportunity to work with a female leader and that probably gives young students wider look in to the modern working life. There are female leaders in Software, too.
Under Johanna’s leadership she help to create an internal tool called LaaS (Ledership as a Service) that enables employees to self-manage their work life careers and get customized services/support they need. This enables them to have a better work life experience and helps with their wellbeing. Johanna continues to help support LaaS for Vincit as well as LaaS is now being used by over 40 companies in Europe with another 50 in the pipeline to be integrated in 2021. Because of the contributions Johanna has made to LaaS this has enabled Vincit to win best place to work in Finland 2014, 2015 and 2016, Best Place to Work in Europe 2016 as well as Vincit was just named by FastCompany as a top 100 best innovative companies to work in 2020 (https://www.fastcompany.com/90527870/best-workplaces-for-innovators-2020). Johanna continues to support the global expansion of LaaS and has been a key leader in developing a tool that is helping employees globally!
I’ve known Johanna for some five years through Great Place to Work survey (both of our companies were successful there) and she’s come across as an exceptionally positive, confident and open person. Even after being ranked as top workplace in Finland and then Europe, she’s remained grounded in reality and very collaborative towards everyone. Her current business cause, Leadership as a Service, is an effort to productise what Johanna herself is great at – shifting the focus away from ego-driven leaders and crippling hierarchies to fluidly functioning human-centric organisations. Being a great networker multiplies a person’s impact and is thus a real asset for a leader. Her personality also makes people want to help her wherever possible (as proven by me writing this testimonial).
Johanna has been an integral person in the growth of Vincit. Through IPO to current day she has embodied true leadership qualities and has strived towards efffective bottom-up leadership practices through the creation of LaaS (Leadership-as-a-Service). This phenomenal tool allows all Vincit employees to request support tasks for professional or personal development when it’s most suitable for their needs. This has alleviated time and pain points from our HR teams and allowed us to better support each individual employee to the best of our ability and avoiding typical blanket style support. While I support the USA team, Johanna and LaaS have made the support from Headquarters in Finland seamless. I would not be able to run as successful operations if it wasn’t for her guidance.
Johanna never settles for ”good enough”, she always pushes a little further and her leadership style also nurtures innovation in others. Vincit’s awarded leadership style is largely Johanna’s design, and the way she has turned that model into a successful product—LaaS—speaks volumes of how her people-driven approach resonates not only with her own employees, but with other organizations, too. LaaS has the potential to disrupt working life by helping all organizations to adopt a co-leadership model and future-proof their business.
Straight forward Project management skills. Johanna can present a clear and simplified roadmap for customers and decisions are easy to make after meeting. She is warm and happy always and empowers all around her. As a big education customer we are also happy that Johanna has good information and knowledge to work with as though she works in a software company. She encourages us to develop together new products to support you one’s life during their school year, which is a global challenge for all of us.
She is easygoing, knowledgeable and professional. Always stays on top / ahead of trends and technologies in the HR-field. One of her biggest achievements in my mind is her involvement in LaaS (Leadership as a Service), a software designed to help organizations tackle their HR problems and drive them towards a more self-managing organizational culture in pursuit of better overall performance.
I admire Johanna for her ability to create big visions – and to make them happen with her team. She is person who can truly inspire others. She has changed the way that many leaders and HR people think about leadership by actively promoting LaaS (Leadership as a Serice) -tool and the mindset behind it.
She has a holistic picture and vision of what is needed to lead people as well as processes. She understands people’s motives and can adapt the strategy to these motivations. Besides, she can make practical solutions to support leadership: for example, Vincit’s Leadership as a Service.
Huge amount of creativity and passion in a same package. Amazing work at Vincit in building company the Best European workplace earlier (Great Place to Work, 2016). I’m happy to see her work in LaaS to help other companies and their employees success and building up a better tomorrow.
She is extremely innovative and agile in her work. She has the capability to see HR-functions in a new perspective and create a platform fo organizational development that is radically inclusive for the employees. She can combine technology and humanity in unique way.
Vincit winning the ”Best place to work” award many times in Finland and in Europe. Johanna has created and developed the LaaS-model and it is now a scalable service to support a modern HR and Leadership for many existing customers of Vincit and many to come.
Virtuous mindset in hr! I’ve worked with Johanna when we implemented LaaS -I was amazed how quickly she figured out our entire organization and had suggestions immediately on matters I had worked with years and not being able to solve/develop them.
Johanna shows her best when improving all the benefits for her employees. I could not imagine a better leader for our People Operations. She is empathetic, kind, and our benevolent leader, who always think how she could improve our well being.
Johanna is full of innovative ideas and capable of implementing those. She’s lead Vincit to become one of the best places to in Europe (Great Place to Work institute) and most innovative places to work in world (Fast Company).
Inventing new things and putting them fast in action. Understanding moder hr role in bisnes. LaaS is just one of her top achievements to prove that.
Outside of the box -thinking Unique combination of people and business understanding Creativeness Truly trustful person
Always open for new ideas, super focused on the important things, and always tries improve herself and others around her.
Creative mind and forward thinker who is constantly looking for new ways to create better working life. Inspiration.
Johanna understands people’s strengths and helps them shine and perform. She is an absolute delight to work with.
Truly visionary HR Director representing the new generation. Internationally known forerunner within HR.
Ability to create A Best Place to Work -environment and visionary insights in developing LaaS.
Continous learning and curiosity. Johanna wants to help people around her flourish.
Compassionate, thinking of the employees wellbeing. Creation of LaaS
Inspiring others and identifying future opportunities.