Petri Kettunen: Nordic Leadership in an International Context
Article by Petri S. Toivanen
Working across cultures has its challenges – so how exactly do you practice Nordic leadership in an international context?
We are not only experts in Nordic Leadership and cross-border recruiting – we are also interested in floorball, as our sponsorship of the German men's national floorball team shows. In three consecutive blog posts, Nordic Minds partner Petri S. Toivanen interviews internationally renowned floorball coach Petri Kettunen.
This second part is about Kettunen's intercultural experiences as a coach and leader in Finland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
Petri S. Toivanen: You went to Switzerland as a player-coach in 1996/97. How was it for you to work as a Finnish coach in a different country and culture?.
Petri Kettunen: It was a completely new experience to get into a new environment. I used to play against Switzerland when I was on the national team many times. But I didn’t know what to expect when I went to live and work there. I knew that they have Rolex and Toblerone and cheese fondue – but that was it! You could say it was perhaps quite a rough start. In the beginning, my German was far from perfect. I could say ‘Mein Name ist Petri’ and order a beer. But I learned the language quite fast. Not perfectly, but I managed.
In Switzerland, I realized for the first time that coaching is completely different when you are in another culture. There are similarities, but there are also big differences. The first year there was a form of university for me in my coaching life – I was a player-coach abroad in another culture among people that were not communicating in English, but in German, which was a foreign language for me.
Toivanen: In 2017, you became head coach of Czechia's men’s national team. Tell us about the differences between Finland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
Kettunen: I think the Finns have something that is called internal leadership or internal responsibility. It’s really high compared to that of Swiss or Czech people. When there was an issue, the Finns would take responsibility, that was clear. In Switzerland, you have to push a bit more. And in Czechia, a lot more. That was a big difference. It was hard for me to understand at the beginning. My expectation when I went to Switzerland was that they would be quite similar to the Finnish players. But they were not. Then, when I went to the Czech Republic in 2017, I thought that they would be similar to Finns. Again, they were not. It was a completely different world.
Toivanen: Can you tell us a bit more about those differences?
Kettunen: Swiss people are like a Rolex watch. They need clear demands, they have a really good work ethic, they are ready to do things, and they are very loyal. These are the first things that come to mind when I think about my time coaching in Switzerland.
Talking about Czechia – what I didn’t understand earlier was the whole situation there. For 50 years, Czechoslovakia had been living under the control of the Soviet Union. So when I was there, they had only 25 years of being an independent nation. And they said to me: ‘Petri, you have to understand – we are still starting to think for ourselves. During the previous fifty years, that wasn't allowed.’ That was a big difference: they waited for somebody to tell them what to do, how to do it, and how many times to do it. That was the biggest thing in my leadership during those five years with the Czechs. But we changed a whole player generation. They are now youngsters who weren’t born under the control of the Soviet Union, they were born in the free Czech Republic. Now they are used to taking more responsibility for themselves.
Toivanen: Interesting learning and how you’re tying it to history and culture.
Kettunen: Of course, you have to build that step by step. You can’t change everything instantly – although that’s how I came in. For the people around me, it was impossible to change everything they had done for 25, 30 years just like that. It took time. In my case, almost five years. It was, every now and then, like fighting against windmills. But that’s the way it goes.
Toivanen: So basically you needed to be more of a manager than a leader?
Kettunen: Yes, they need a more involved form of leadership. On top of that, with Czechs as a nation and as people, emotions are more part of everyday life than in Finland. Many people might say that we Finns are quite cold because we are not showing our emotions. But in the Czech Republic, they are in touch with their emotions.
One example: the World Championship in 2018 took place in Prague, on our home turf. First, we played against Germany. Not a great game, but still okay. The second match was against Latvia and we lost. What happened in the arena afterward was something that I will always remember. 12.000 people were whistling at me when I walked away from the arena. And two days later, when we beat Switzerland, there were 14.000 people shouting my name in the same arena. Within those two days, I could see all aspects of what you can experience as a coach and as a leader in those positions. I thought ‘Okay, Petri. Now you know what you’re dealing with’.
This was a different world from what I was used to seeing in Finland. Czechs really show their emotions. That's a benefit in some regards – but of course, there are negative aspects to it as well. Because they are reacting to things in an emotional way. These differences were hard to understand for me at the beginning. The challenge is: How do you deal with that? We need emotions. They are power. But how do you move them in the right direction, working for the same target? That was a huge point.
Toivanen: That sounds like quite a leadership challenge for you, to get to grips with that.
Kettunen: Yes, absolutely. I was coming from Scandinavia, I was coming from Finland, and I saw how the system worked in the floorball world in the Czech Republic – I wanted to change that. It was a five-year-long battle against walls. Many of those walls we could crash down and that’s the reason why they now have a bright future.
Toivanen: I remember when you were playing against Finland in the semi-finals last year, I said to my friends ‘My head is for Finland – but my heart is for the Czechs' because you were their head coach. I had mixed feelings. How was that for you?
Kettunen: The first time when we were in the first match against Finland, I had mixed feelings, too. It was really weird. I had only been with the Czech team for one camp for six days before the World Games in Breslau. The Finnish team, on the other hand, I had been coaching for six years. So I knew all of them, their personalities, what was going on inside their heads, how they played, and what they did. It was very mixed feelings. I knew the other team much better than the team I was coaching. But when the match started, it was okay.
Ultimately, when those five years in the Czech Republic ended with Bronze at the World Championship in Helsinki against Switzerland, it was so interesting that the emotions … I myself had been learning every day, all the time. How the federation is working, how the team is working, and how the people are. That was challenging for me – and then there was a happy ending. When our player made the golden goal, I started to cry. The tears just came out. I didn't cry when we won the World Championship gold medal with Finland in 2010 – but when we won Bronze with our team from the Czech Republic. It was emotionally so much bigger for me personally.
Here you can read part I of our interview series with floorball coach Petri Kettunen about teamsport and Nordic Leadership.
The third and last part of our interview with Petri Kettunen will be published on 31. January 2023.
We are not only experts in Nordic Leadership and cross-border recruiting – we are also interested in floorball, as our sponsorship of the German men's national floorball team shows. In three consecutive blog posts, Nordic Minds partner Petri S. Toivanen interviews internationally renowned floorball coach Petri Kettunen.
This second part is about Kettunen's intercultural experiences as a coach and leader in Finland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
Part II
Petri S. Toivanen: You went to Switzerland as a player-coach in 1996/97. How was it for you to work as a Finnish coach in a different country and culture?.
Petri Kettunen: It was a completely new experience to get into a new environment. I used to play against Switzerland when I was on the national team many times. But I didn’t know what to expect when I went to live and work there. I knew that they have Rolex and Toblerone and cheese fondue – but that was it! You could say it was perhaps quite a rough start. In the beginning, my German was far from perfect. I could say ‘Mein Name ist Petri’ and order a beer. But I learned the language quite fast. Not perfectly, but I managed.
In Switzerland, I realized for the first time that coaching is completely different when you are in another culture. There are similarities, but there are also big differences. The first year there was a form of university for me in my coaching life – I was a player-coach abroad in another culture among people that were not communicating in English, but in German, which was a foreign language for me.
Toivanen: In 2017, you became head coach of Czechia's men’s national team. Tell us about the differences between Finland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
Kettunen: I think the Finns have something that is called internal leadership or internal responsibility. It’s really high compared to that of Swiss or Czech people. When there was an issue, the Finns would take responsibility, that was clear. In Switzerland, you have to push a bit more. And in Czechia, a lot more. That was a big difference. It was hard for me to understand at the beginning. My expectation when I went to Switzerland was that they would be quite similar to the Finnish players. But they were not. Then, when I went to the Czech Republic in 2017, I thought that they would be similar to Finns. Again, they were not. It was a completely different world.
Toivanen: Can you tell us a bit more about those differences?
Kettunen: Swiss people are like a Rolex watch. They need clear demands, they have a really good work ethic, they are ready to do things, and they are very loyal. These are the first things that come to mind when I think about my time coaching in Switzerland.
Talking about Czechia – what I didn’t understand earlier was the whole situation there. For 50 years, Czechoslovakia had been living under the control of the Soviet Union. So when I was there, they had only 25 years of being an independent nation. And they said to me: ‘Petri, you have to understand – we are still starting to think for ourselves. During the previous fifty years, that wasn't allowed.’ That was a big difference: they waited for somebody to tell them what to do, how to do it, and how many times to do it. That was the biggest thing in my leadership during those five years with the Czechs. But we changed a whole player generation. They are now youngsters who weren’t born under the control of the Soviet Union, they were born in the free Czech Republic. Now they are used to taking more responsibility for themselves.
Toivanen: Interesting learning and how you’re tying it to history and culture.
Kettunen: Of course, you have to build that step by step. You can’t change everything instantly – although that’s how I came in. For the people around me, it was impossible to change everything they had done for 25, 30 years just like that. It took time. In my case, almost five years. It was, every now and then, like fighting against windmills. But that’s the way it goes.
Toivanen: So basically you needed to be more of a manager than a leader?
Kettunen: Yes, they need a more involved form of leadership. On top of that, with Czechs as a nation and as people, emotions are more part of everyday life than in Finland. Many people might say that we Finns are quite cold because we are not showing our emotions. But in the Czech Republic, they are in touch with their emotions.
One example: the World Championship in 2018 took place in Prague, on our home turf. First, we played against Germany. Not a great game, but still okay. The second match was against Latvia and we lost. What happened in the arena afterward was something that I will always remember. 12.000 people were whistling at me when I walked away from the arena. And two days later, when we beat Switzerland, there were 14.000 people shouting my name in the same arena. Within those two days, I could see all aspects of what you can experience as a coach and as a leader in those positions. I thought ‘Okay, Petri. Now you know what you’re dealing with’.
This was a different world from what I was used to seeing in Finland. Czechs really show their emotions. That's a benefit in some regards – but of course, there are negative aspects to it as well. Because they are reacting to things in an emotional way. These differences were hard to understand for me at the beginning. The challenge is: How do you deal with that? We need emotions. They are power. But how do you move them in the right direction, working for the same target? That was a huge point.
Toivanen: That sounds like quite a leadership challenge for you, to get to grips with that.
Kettunen: Yes, absolutely. I was coming from Scandinavia, I was coming from Finland, and I saw how the system worked in the floorball world in the Czech Republic – I wanted to change that. It was a five-year-long battle against walls. Many of those walls we could crash down and that’s the reason why they now have a bright future.
Toivanen: I remember when you were playing against Finland in the semi-finals last year, I said to my friends ‘My head is for Finland – but my heart is for the Czechs' because you were their head coach. I had mixed feelings. How was that for you?
Kettunen: The first time when we were in the first match against Finland, I had mixed feelings, too. It was really weird. I had only been with the Czech team for one camp for six days before the World Games in Breslau. The Finnish team, on the other hand, I had been coaching for six years. So I knew all of them, their personalities, what was going on inside their heads, how they played, and what they did. It was very mixed feelings. I knew the other team much better than the team I was coaching. But when the match started, it was okay.
Ultimately, when those five years in the Czech Republic ended with Bronze at the World Championship in Helsinki against Switzerland, it was so interesting that the emotions … I myself had been learning every day, all the time. How the federation is working, how the team is working, and how the people are. That was challenging for me – and then there was a happy ending. When our player made the golden goal, I started to cry. The tears just came out. I didn't cry when we won the World Championship gold medal with Finland in 2010 – but when we won Bronze with our team from the Czech Republic. It was emotionally so much bigger for me personally.
Here you can read part I of our interview series with floorball coach Petri Kettunen about teamsport and Nordic Leadership.
The third and last part of our interview with Petri Kettunen will be published on 31. January 2023.
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