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Communications, corporate relations and worklife

Communications, corporate relations and worklife

November is already knocking on the door, and applying for LTKY’s board is also ahead! This is where the series “Introducing Board 2020”, where each of us in LTKY’s this year’s board tells about their own year. Articles are published every other day, so stay tuned, and at least read the article in the area of responsibility you are interested in!

Here other articles of the series:

1. Communications, corporate relations and worklife
2. Higher education politics
3. Social politics, vice chairman, well-being and sports
4.
Associations and events
5. Municipal affairs, offsite campuses Lahti & FITech and international affairs
6. Culture and tutoring
7. Chair of the board

Before we jump into my world of communications, let me just say: I have never heard anyone regret that they applied to year of board – but not applying I have.

So, I don’t quite remember how I ended up here, but it was at least influenced by the “seriously consider applying to the board” heard in the phone call and a comment at the basement counter that caught my interest “next year we need communication and you’d be just right”. A year ago, I had one year of Enklaavi’s board behind me and ahead the competition for the guild’s chairman position. Luckily, I listened to these comments and I was brave enough to leave the chairman competition and apply to LTKY, even though I was only a second-year student!

My year has been quite hectic and busy, but it has also been exactly what I have built from it myself. At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t actually properly introduced to my tasks, instead, I was given a free hand to do almost anything I could think of. I was scared and nervous, but thinking it back, it is precisely this freedom to build your own work that has been perhaps the most valuable thing I got from LTKY. It has taught me to prioritize, schedule, analyze, brainstorm, plan, boldly experiment, and roll up my sleeves when I want things done. Just the kind of stuff I’m sure I’ll benefit from for the rest of my life.

Kolme hallituslaista illan häärässä soihtujuen kanssa, teekkari- ja kylterilakit päässä.
Me with my board pals Anniina and Henna at this Autumn's cap lowering! Photo by Lassi Onne.

My responsibilities in addition to communication are corporate relations and working life, which, however, have covered perhaps no more than 10% of the work time I have spent. For me at the beginning of the year, it was clear that I am going to focus much more strongly on communications development than the development of business relations and the working life, but yet I have called the CEO of Kyrö if we could get some hand sanitizer to our students and also been in many longer co-operation meetings.

In communication, I have been able to do much more: at the beginning of the year, designed a new look for our social media, produced daily social media content and also continuous continuous series like TipsTuesday and EVVK, came up with crazy projects in a really short time (fun fact: the WWWappu in Spring was invented with Oona about 2 weeks before the implementation. Not a schedule that I would recommend to others, but sure it was hands on working!), organized photography sessions and learned to produce both visual and other content for our new websites, and pondered communication more deeply through strategy and planning. In addition to these, I have also been able to do board work every day, which includes meetings, coffee-time ideas, trips to SYL’s seminar and sector meeting, and I have even visited Lahti twice in the Spring to visit and in the Autumn for orientation days.

Kuvakollaasi somen kuvista, joissa Meeri esiintyy
Some examples how I have shown my face in LTKY's Instagram.

I would also like to say that LTKY is a great team: everyone can assume that the agreed things will be done, everyone will help in the other’s area of responsibility if necessary, and everyone is doing their best and together come up with things ideas in other than their own fields, too. Of course, I have learned a lot during the year about communication, but also about our entire organization, our influence, the field in which we work, our strategies and our future prospects.

LTKY has been like a trampoline for me: It supports and gives a boost to bounces, and doesn’t limit how high or how often I want to jump. When it feels like nothing is working in the afternoon, in an hour I have come up with a new (possibly stupid) idea that I am quite excited to implement – and LTKY bounces me again to implement these ideas.

So yea, LTKY seems to have taught me much more than I myself have been able to give to it. Not a worse deal at all.

Meerimaria Ketokulta

The author is a member of LTKY’s board with responsibilities in communications, corporate relations and worklife, and who also likes silly metaphors.

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