UKI Arkkitehdit found a deputy managing director inside the company

Ulla Passoja, architect and graduate engineer in industrial business and management, has been nominated deputy managing director of UKI Arkkitehdit. The position is new in the company. In management, Passoja emphasises staff motivation and maintaining working capacity in creative work. She believes that success is achieved in close cooperation between design team leaders and the managing director, and by listening to the customer sensitively.

Deputy managing director Ulla Passoja started at UKI Arkkitehdit in 2012. Her career and job have developed from design assistant to responsible architect and principal designer, design team leader and management team and board member. Passoja is also a partner in UKI Arkkitehdit.

”We have succeeded in our planned moderate growth also during the corona time. I needed a reliable, competent and motivated person by my side to ensure continuous growth and develop the company further”, managing director of UKI Arkkitehdit, Mikko Heikkinen, explains the nomination.

In her new role, Ulla Passoja highlights the motivation and working capacity of the professionals as key issues in personnel management.

”People’s characteristics and sensitivity have to be considered in managing creative work. Maintaining motivation and meaningful tasks are important – variation and interesting challenges are required.”

”On the other hand, working capacity is also important to us. We invest in helping others and finding ways to support our colleagues in demanding projects”, she says.

Ulla Passoja and Mikko Heikkinen say that in managing daily work they work as partners, whose views have aligned in discussions on the values and future of the company.

Managing director Heikkinen has main responsibility for managing the overall business, i.e., design team operation, projects and project sales. The fresh deputy managing director Passoja has responsibility for overall back office operations.

”Everything we need so that our designers can concentrate on the most important thing: design and customer service”, she describes.

Before her career at UKI Arkkitehdit, Ulla Passoja worked in the technology sector for 8 years. During that time, her employer grew from a small start-up into a workplace of more than 50 employees.

”Interesting years in the IT boom, where I could witness closely the growing company, its growing pains and how to operate systematically while keeping agile. I can use these lessons also in my new position.”

Ulla Passoja’s experience and competence as graduate engineer can still be heard in her speech, and her colleagues have noticed that, too.

”Yes, I want our operation to be sustainable and sensible. The quality of the customer service and architecture as well as smooth design process are in the focus. Another side in me is softer: we can achieve the desired quality and results also by promoting wellbeing at work, good atmosphere and drive.”

The importance of work made Ulla Passoja switch from the ICT sector to architectural design, which she describes as a calling. Design tasks continue in suitable quantities also in her new position, in a schedule allowed by administrative and managerial tasks, of course.

UKI Arkkitehdit is also important to me and I feel I have a lot to give to the success of our company and our customers.

Ulla Passoja, deputy manager director

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