What sports and business have in common and how they’re applied at Fortaco.

By Heidi Lehtonen, Fortaco Quality Health Safety & Environment Manager

From sports to the factory floor

I’ve been involved in sports all my life. From the beginning, I have competed as an individual athlete and as a team member. Today I’m a group fitness instructor and part of a coaching team for swimmers ages 16 and older.

At Fortaco, I lead the QHSE-team in Kurikka, Finland. My team is responsible for maintenance, customer- and supplier claims, internal quality, safety management, and the operational excellence of quality assurance.

The principles of competitive sport are something I bring with me to work at Fortaco, as well. People who’ve taken sports seriously know all about target setting and strategy — it’s the very key to their success. They set long-term targets and train systematically according to a plan to get there.

But no matter how carefully you plan, life will surprise you from time to time. These are the times when we must react quickly and focus on containment to get back on the track. To be a champion, we must learn from failure and move on.

Consistency transforms average to excellence

Long-term development needs a solid base before details can be fine-tuned. It means daily rituals and common processes that every member of the work community is familiar with. Why? Because rituals coming from the spine free up space for the next step: for a new skill, for better performance, for thinking, and continuous improvement. They enable climbing to the next level, step by step.

It takes time to create rituals. Shortcuts are not permitted and will result in efforts that are quickly forgotten. Human beings are lazy by nature and always try to find the easiest and the most comfortable way of doing things. The possibility for human error is always present and must be eliminated by quality assurance and operational excellence throughout the whole chain.

In both sports and business, great results are never the accomplishment of one person alone. Doctors, trainers, massage therapists, family, and friends are all needed to take care of athlete’s overall well-being through coaching, administering tests, analyzing, motivating, and simply being present. Equally, collaboration between functions creating cross-functional competence is necessary to build the best possible quality culture and zero-defect mindset.

Team power and a successful attitude!

Quality is a process of teamwork, where every team member has their own important role to support the goal of the team. The most valuable player is the player who makes the most players valuable. By respecting that, and combining our strengths and different perspectives, we multiply success and bring more value to processes.

The equation “result = competence x motivation x attitude” holds a lot of wisdom. Most important, I think, is to understand that we are all responsible for our own attitude. What can I do today to make tomorrow better? How can I support and help my colleague? Because what could be more motivating than a team of co-workers you know will play toward a common goal?

There are many similarities between sports and quality management. Both aim for continuous improvement and finding the most effective method to achieve a desired result. As a QHSE Manager, I do my best to ensure our team is competent, motivated, and has a successful attitude.