At Vahterus, project leadership is first and foremost about leading people

A significant proportion of Vahterus’s orders are managed as projects. Successful project delivery and the capabilities required to achieve it therefore play a vital role in the company’s business.

Vahterus recognised that project leadership is largely about leading people and teams. This created a need to strengthen the people leadership skills of those involved in its projects. The company was particularly looking for new perspectives and practical tools to support effective teamwork and project delivery.

Kumura, which has since become part of IQI, was selected to deliver the training.

“Project managers play a key role in working with both internal and external stakeholders. In addition to project managers, the Leading People in Projects programme was attended by team leaders from engineering and production,” says Elina Seikola, PMO Manager at Vahterus.

The project department led by Seikola is responsible for managing customer delivery projects.

“The programme gave us practical tools for leading people. Participants from every role gained valuable insights into what good leadership means and how to take different people and their individual needs into account.”

Elina Seikola
PMO Manager

The Peili profile added depth to the training

Seikola had previously become familiar with IQI through Finnish project management training events. She also attended the PM Master® programme, designed specifically for PMO professionals, in spring 2025.

“The content and professional delivery of PM Master made such a strong impression that we definitely wanted to continue working with IQI when developing the capabilities of our project leadership professionals.”

Participants gave the programme, facilitated by Mika Purola, an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5. Purola was named Peili™ Trainer of the Year in 2020, and Vahterus chose to complement the programme with individual Peili behavioural profiles.

“For each participant personally, the Peili profile was one of the most valuable elements of the entire programme. It is useful to pause occasionally and consider how other people perceive your behaviour and how you can engage constructively with people whose styles differ from your own,” Seikola says.

“The Peili profile helped the teams identify their strengths and different ways of working in a constructive manner. When we better understand how our own behaviour affects others and how different people respond in different situations, interaction becomes easier and collaboration within the team grows stronger.”

Mika Purola
Lead Consultant

The same principle applies to stakeholder engagement. Understanding different behavioural styles makes it easier to adapt communication and leadership when working with customers, suppliers and other partners. This helps make collaboration smoother and more productive.

“For many participants, the most important realisation was that simply becoming aware of their own style and its impact on others could begin to change teamwork for the better,” Purola adds.

Genuine interaction instead of one-way instruction

Seikola praises Purola for engaging the entire group.

“Mika got everyone involved from the very beginning. The programme was not simply a series of lectures, but genuinely interactive. The small-group exercises encouraged participants to consider situations from both their own perspective and that of others,” Seikola says.

Although Vahterus approached the programme primarily from the perspective of customer delivery projects, Seikola believes the lessons are equally applicable to internal development projects.

“I would recommend the Leading People in Projects programme to project managers and anyone who works closely as part of a project team.”

Seikola concludes that the two-day programme covered a great deal of valuable content while still allowing the emphasis to be tailored to Vahterus’s specific needs and to the topics that generated the most useful discussion.