- We held a team event in the beautiful Alpine surroundings of Castione della Presolana, Italy
- DAINians came together from across Europe to put a spotlight on our values and celebrate recent achievements
- The event was also an opportunity for colleagues to have fun and get to know each other better
- Since the company’s inception, gatherings such as this one have been a central to building DAIN’s trusting team culture
From June 1 to June 3, we held a team gathering in Northern Italy. Colleagues from Finland and Germany flew into the picturesque mountains of Presolana for a combination of workshops, mingling, fun activities, and fine dining. During the three-day event the aims were as follows: Plan for the future; celebrate our values and recent achievements; and have as much fun as possible.
Trust, diversity, and fun: some of DAIN’s core values
Importantly, the gathering in Italy provided us with the opportunity to re-familiarize ourselves with DAIN’s core values.
Trust is one of our key principles. We think that we work best in collaborative teams that embrace a caring spirit. Co-founder and CEO of DAIN Studios Finland Ulla Kruhse-Lehtonen put it this way: “We believe that it pays off for people to get to know one another in person. We work as an integral cross-country team, which means that trust and personal connections are the foundation for top-notch project delivery.”
Diversity is another important value for us. We’re stronger because we’re an inclusive group, and we encourage everyone to take their whole self to work and help us create a welcoming, non-judgmental atmosphere. Our team is non-uniform, and this is something we celebrated in Italy too: On the current count we’re 60 people from 20 different nationalities working across our three locations.
At DAIN we also believe in having fun, and our Italian adventure was an opportunity to relax. We chatted over delicious food and laughed a lot during amusing team activities. For us, creating some light-hearted memories is not only an essential ingredient to building team spirit, it’s also a good in and of itself.
“We strongly feel that connecting with colleagues outside the usual place of work… strengthens [our] bond. This is the energy we are bringing back to work with us,” said Ulla Kruhse-Lehtonen.
Curiosity and a culture of listening is at the core of everything we do as well. In short, we love to learn. While we iterate with data and AI, we’re happiest solving seemingly unsolvable problems. This outlook requires us to maintain a try again, fail again, fail better mindset. During our Italian getaway we made sure we kept our minds limber and attitudes open. Ice-breaker activities involved both tons of lateral thinking and plenty of opportunities for silliness.
Planning for the future. Building on our knowledge.
We’re undergoing rapid expansion, and this presents us with exciting challenges. So, the gathering was a chance to plan for the future. We discussed fine-tuning our operations, honing our culture, and finding pathways to further business development.
In addition, our team event gave us a chance to share best practices. We believe in continuously updating and expanding our knowledge, so bringing together a crowd of great minds in Italy was a perfect opportunity to share wisdom—helping to spread confidence and expertise throughout our team.
Celebrating achievement.
Welcoming new teammates.
In response to DAIN Studios growth we’ve needed to add new people to the group. Five newcomers have started in Helsinki, six in Berlin, and one in Munich. Our gathering in Northern Italy provided the chance to introduce these newly-arrived members to the team as a whole.
We extend a warm welcome to the new arrivals, and we look forward to working together in the future.
“People are our greatest asset”
Going forward we expect our team to get bigger. As this happens, team gatherings such as the one in Northern Italy will remain important, because our business is nothing without our people pulling together as one.
In reference to DAIN’s success, Ulla Kruhse-Lehtonen wanted to emphasize the central role of the team: “In our consulting company, people are our greatest asset, and we want to make sure teams know and understand each other to work the best way together.”
“Thanks to the whole team”
DAIN has a history of holding team events since the earliest days of the company. The Mountain Hotel in Presolana was a beautiful setting for the latest installment. Our organizing team of Ines Klammer, Taru Lähteelä, and Heiner Albersmann did a superb job of making everything run successfully.
“For us founders it’s these moments when you feel proud and privileged to be part of such a gang…Thanks to the whole team,” said Dirk Hofmann.
Such was the success of the event in Italy, it’ll be a challenge to put on a gathering that is as good next year—but if any team can do it, our team can.
