Skills
Designing
ways to work together.
Training
entire organizations in skills.
Developing
solutions with software and devices.
Leading
vision, teams, projects, and processes.
Experience
2024-
Helsinki
I joined the best Microsoft experts in Finland and the #4 Microsoft AI experts in the world to help organizations use technology as a driver for collaboration. I provide consulting and training on Microsoft's GenAI (Microsoft Copilot), other Microsoft apps and platforms, and the best ways to use them in modern work.Most Finnish workplaces run on Microsoft. With the partnership with OpenAI and the built-in security and privacy features of Microsoft's apps and platforms, Microsoft Copilot provides the best GenAI tools for the vast workforce.Working with Microsoft customers gives the best access to help people upgrade how they work together. With the arrival of GenAI and its gradually evolving autonomy, this is an exciting time to participate in building the future of working together.
2019-2024
Helsinki
I built, led, and delivered two Google.org-funded training programs to find ways to upgrade the workforce in Finland and the EU. The programs taught digital skills such as AI, information security and privacy, Google and Microsoft apps, digital communication, and continuous learning to over 1000 hard-to-reach people. Skills that enable people to work together at their workplace, communities, and society fully.At the same time, we discovered the most important digital skills and the most motivating ways to train them.I worked closely with Google, SAK, and multiple trade unions to reach businesses and their employees. 95% of participants found the training useful. 90% would recommend it to their colleagues.After the training programs, I helped associations understand GenAI, its impacts, and how to get the most out of it.
2018-
Helsinki
I founded my own company. It provides consulting and training to organizations that wish to use technology as a driver for collaboration.
2011-2018
Helsinki, New York, Singapore
I joined or co-founded multiple software startups that focused on communication, collaboration, and communities. My role was to lead our customer-facing efforts such as sales, marketing, account management, customer service, and community management. I worked at the intersection of customers, design, development, and business to ensure that our customers get the most out of our products and that our products are moving in the right direction.I provided my technology and collaboration expertise to dozens of organizations such as mobile game developers, magazines, newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, professional sports leagues, book publishers, universities, spas, and hotels.I built strategies as a part of the senior leadership team.
Origin story
When I was a child, I loved playing video games and doing sports. Video games, especially the ones where you team up with others, taught me about working together in digital environments. Sports showed me how important it is to balance what you do alone and what you do as part of a team. As a teenager, inspirational movies and books made me even more interested in these themes.I also found a love for design thanks to my brother, who was into drawing and architecture. His influence pushed me to excel in design projects at school, where I got top grades for creating blueprints. At first, I dreamed of becoming an architect for buildings, but I eventually blended designing with my interest in technology and people working together. This led me to become a "collaboration architect," where I build with social materials like effective communication and teamwork instead of bricks and mortar.As a young adult, my country allowed me to polish my craft in practice. During my compulsory military service, I was selected for officer training as a part of the top 5% of my age group. Finding my potential and the potential of the people I served with, I learned a lot about working together when it matters. Although we were all young, I found to my surprise, that the same human dynamics still apply to this day in things like setting goals, communication, teamwork, and empathy.At university, I studied how people think and work together. I started by learning about different religions and ideologies, leading to a major in social ethics and a minor in social psychology. My master’s thesis explored how to encourage people to work together in digital environments. I also majored in economics, which taught me about data analysis and systematic thinking, helping me to translate abstract ideas into variables and algorithms.
Philosophy (intro)
Working together means that people take action to reach a goal together. Working together is valuable because it makes a pool of skills, knowledge, and other resources available to the effort. Working together also creates a glue that strengthens people's commitment to reach a goal. This is invaluable for goals that take a significant effort to complete.Did you know that people can work together in different ways?
I-mode
People work towards their personal goals, in the same space. They work together coincidentally. They form a crowd.
Example. People work in an open office. They work on their tasks independently, without interaction with their colleagues. They are not aware of each other's goals. They work together in moments when their tasks happen to advance the same goal.
Me-mode
People work towards their personal goals. Working together is the best strategy to reach them. They form a group.
Example. People hop into a meeting. They are there to find answers to questions that block them from completing their tasks. They interact with each other as long as it's the best way to get the information they need.
We-mode
People work together towards their common goals. Working together is a part of the goal. They form a community.
Example. People have received a link to an updated mission statement. They are asked to add their notes before it's published to the public. People add their feedback and comment on each other's notes because it's important to the organization and they want it to thrive.
The mode affects how much resources people are willing to put into working together and for how long. In the perfect world, people always work together as a community in the we-mode. But realistically, people shift between the modes consciously and unconsciously. They remain in a mode for any period.When designing ways to work together, the goal is to match the right mode to different kinds of work and encourage people to enter it. And keep entering it. The odds are, you want to maximize the time people spend in the we-mode because it's the most powerful form of working together.I help people use technology as a driver for collaboration. If you would like to learn more, feel encouraged to reach out.
I want to thank two Finnish academics, Raimo Tuomela and Jaana Hallamaa for inspiring this philosophy.
© Kim Katainen. All rights reserved.