Coach of Clarity & Focus
I am Virpi Haavisto, a global high-performance coach.
My special areas of expertise are leadership, creativity, teams and emotions.
I help founders and leaders, executives and top creative experts, talents and teams to have clarity and focus. High performers who want to take the next leaps forward.
What I Offer
COACHING
Individual coaching
– for professional and personal growth
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Leadership coaching
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Executive coaching
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Career coaching
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Mentor coaching
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Creativity coaching
Team coaching
– for strengthening the key teams
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Founding teams
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Leadership teams
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Boards of directors
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Product teams
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Production teams
Group coaching
– for people with shared interests and needs
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Team Leads coaching
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Executive coaching
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Mentor coaching
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Peer coaching
WORKSHOPS &
KEYNOTES
Workshops and keynotes on leadership, creativity, teams, interaction and emotions. Some of the recent topics:
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Emotions in Work
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Team Dynamics
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Team Leadership
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Feedback Culture
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Essence of Creative Work
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Powers of Artistic Creation
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Core of Sustainable High-Performance
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Leading an Organization of Creative Experts
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Coaching Interaction and Tools
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Solution-Focused Dialog
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Team’s Interaction Culture
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Psychological Safety
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Self-Leadership
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Nurturing Motivation and Inspiration
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Flow feeling
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Creating a Creativity Supporting Culture and Atmosphere
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Elements of Teamwork
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The Art of Listening
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Emotional Intelligence
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Leading with Emotional Intelligence
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Leading Emotions
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Positive Intelligence
FACILITATION
Facilitation in organizational growth and renewal processes with engaging co-creative methods.
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Strategy processes
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Leadership culture renewal
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Team building
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Organizational culture development
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Feedback & interaction culture development
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Introducing coaching culture and mindset
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Recruiting and evaluation processes
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People strategy
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Leading internal training programs
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Mentoring programs
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Fusions and other change processes
ADVISORY &
MENTORING
Advising and mentoring in all people, teams, leadership and creativity related issues.
About Me
As a coach, I am discreet and direct, solution-focused and encouraging, gentle and structured.
I help my clients to create clarity and meaningful paths to their preferred future. My aim is to be a trusted go-to partner to my clients and to help them reach and maintain an excellent balance of well-being and sustainable high-performance. My passion is to help people grow and flourish.
My clients say I create a safe space for reflection. An honest dialog is a powerful tool. It clarifies the view, increases awareness, gives confidence, inspires, and empowers forward. An open reflection creates clarity and focus. It lights one’s strengths and aspirations, blindspots and challenges, hopes, beliefs and fears, strategies for future paths and the concrete next steps.
I help my clients to clarify to themselves where they are, what is their preferred future, why, and how to get there. Clarity is kind, inspiring and empowering.
I work with high-performers from tech to design, from arts to athletes, from science to NGOs. Most of my clients are founders and leaders, executives and top experts, business owners, artists, inventors and investors. They are talented and ambitious, high performing professionals in their own fields.
I have a unique multidisciplinary background in tech & innovation, art & design, leadership, creativity, teamwork, organizational behavior and emotions. Together with a broad experience in coaching high performers, it gives me a solid foundation to work naturally with a wide range of professionals in their unique contexts.
Pro-bono, I coach and mentor early-stage startups at Kiuas startup accelerator, and lead Creative Leaders Forum.
In my freetime, I love being together with my family and I enjoy outdoors, nature, sports and arts.
EDUCATION
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M.Sc.(Tech) from Helsinki University of Technology HUT (Graphic Technology).
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Master’s studies in University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH (Graphic Design and Design Leadership).
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Doctoral studies in University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH (Creativity), Stern School of Business at New York University NYU (Leadership and Organizational Behavior), Åbo Akademi University ÅA (Organizations and Leadership) and Salford University (Design Leadership).
EXPERIENCE
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Founder of Creative Leaders Forum & Avantage www.creativeleadersforum.org
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Full-time coach since 2014.
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Trailblazing research on Emotions in Creative Work.
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Research in Creativity, Leadership, Organizational Behavior and Emotions.
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Founder & Head of Career Services Unit at Helsinki University of Technology HUT.
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University Lecturer on Creativity and Leadership.
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Research Scientist at VTT in reasearch groups of Artificial Intelligence and Graphic Technology.
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Art Director at White Pony Productions.
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International working experience from creative organizations in Finland, France, Switzerland, Sweden, the UK and the US.
CERTIFICATES
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Certified Personal and Team Coach – Solution-Focused.
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MCC, Master Certified Coach by International Coaching Federation ICF.
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Certified consultant of personal and team profiling tools: WorkPlace Big Five Profile™, Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0®, Emergy Emotional Climate Audit®, Maslach Burnout Toolkit™, and Workplace Nordic 360.
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Mental Fitness Coach by Positive Intelligence.
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Member of International Coaching Federation ICF.
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Member of European Mentoring and Coaching Council EMCC.
"Clarity is kind."
Virpi Haavisto
Trusted By
I am happy to lift up some of my collaboration partners.
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“I met Virpi in a personal capacity and that set the tone for a very transparent and open communication. Virpi helped me both personally and professionally to set clear goals and offered suggestions and practical advice regarding pathways and alternatives as I was beginning to work on a transition from a founder-led organisation to a professionally led
one. Virpi has a very open and empathetic mindset, she listens carefully and understands the broader implications of suggested actions. I felt Virpi was on the same levels as I, I could
speak freely without feeling the need to explain which made it easier to talk.”
Maria Spink
Founder & Executive Director at
Lyra in Africa Foundation
"Virpi is the go-to sparring partner for leaders in creative industries – her vast experience and insights on structuring creative work and building high-growth organizations have proved simply invaluable over the recent months.”
Mika Tammenkoski
CEO & Co-Founder at Metacore Games
”With her relaxed open-minded touch and presence, Virpi has helped me to find my self-confidence to value my creativity.”
Alexander
Supercell
"Virpi approaches people with warmth, respect and a mindset that everyone has something really exceptional to harness as a resource in one’s professional career path. In talks with her, I succeeded to recognize my own priorities and strengths which I hadn’t been aware
of before. For me, coaching sessions with Virpi were illuminating experiences. This quality of coaching everyone should deserve to have regularly during their career!”
Silja Kanerva
Legal Counsel at Neste Corporation
Olympic Medalist & World Champion in Sailing 2012
“It was very easy to talk and share with Virpi, it felt that I can trust her and her experience. I felt myself very confident in sharing and being as open as possible. I pointed out topics which bothered me, and I wanted to talk about. She really can provide support and encouragement. I think it is important to raise up and reflect on the questions which are real and relevant. I like her style in coaching, as it is not too pushy, not too technical or complicated. She can really listen to you and asks the right questions pointing out the most relevant issues you need to deal with. She gives you perspective and helps you to see your topics in a larger context and at distance. As I got a very warm and personal and open contact with her, I know that if I need I can always contact her again and we will just continue where we left last time.”
Maarja Loorents
Co-Founder & Exhibition Lead at
Fotografiska Tallinn
"Virpi is an amazingly good listener, and has helped me to organize my own thoughts. By asking just right questions, she has succeeded in helping me to make also difficult decisions which have turned out to be the right ones.”
Pauli
Supercell
“Virpi has supported my creativity, imagination, and courage to develop myself and my business. Virpi has a wonderful talent of creating a sense of ability: nothing seems impossible after a session with her. I have personally gained plenty of confidence, motivation, and ideas from our sessions, and I would recommend Virpi to anyone who is aiming to take the next step.”
Samuel Harjanne
Theatre Director
Specialized in Musical Theatre
Harjanne Company Ltd
"Virpi is an excellent coach and mentor. Always before we meet, scattered and unfinished thoughts have been floating around in my head, which I then think out loud when I meet Virpi. Virpi listens, understands, asks clarifying and just the right questions and challenges me to think about the subject from different perspectives. At the right moments, Virpi deepens my thought by referring to related research/theory, and often Virpi also offers tools that I can use to move the situation forward. I always leave our meeting energized, my thoughts clear and the next steps thought through.”
Maria Ainamo-McDonald
Executive Producer, Marketing Concepts
Yle Marketing
Yle Creative Content and Media
Yleisradio
“As an executive, I am quite alone and rarely get the chance to dig deep into myself as a leader. Virpi has a unique quality to create an atmosphere where I can be myself and have the time and mental space to talk and think about things that really matter. Highly recommended to anyone seeking a trusted thinking partner, and clarity on difficult issues.”
Anonymous
Executive, Chairman of Several Boards of Directors
"For an entrepreneur in the creative field, it's almost impossible to draw a line between work and free time. Everything that happens in your personal life affects your work, and work worries affect your peace at home. When you have a lot to think about, it's easy to get anxious about details, although you should be remembering the big picture. Talking with Virpi helped me understand the core of the problem. She had the right questions for me. I gained perspective on my own thinking and feelings and got out of my own head, so it was easier to advise myself forward."
Jenni Ahtiainen
Designer, Creator & Founder of Deafmetal®
AIDesign Oy
Creator of Brands:
DEAFMETAL®, Jewelry Brand for Hearing Aids
SUGARHATTY, Accessories for Type1Diabetes
gTIE, Badassessories
”Supervision meetings with Virpi were meaningful for our multidisciplinary project: we were able to calm down together, meet each other, share thoughts and emotions, and talk about both our joys and concerns. The meetings gave us tools that will help us to continue to foster a safe and supportive atmosphere as a group.”
Antti Malinen
Principal Investigator of the project ”Kuulluksi – Rejected, Unheard, and Gaining a Voice”
Senior researcher, Title of Docent, Tampere University
Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences (HEX)
“We are grateful to have Virpi in our Mentor Coach pool of our Startup Accelerator Programs. Virpi is a very precious and appreciated coach and mentor for our startup founders. She has a very calming voice and gets her insights across in a very concise and simple manner. Founders and founding teams that Virpi has mentored since 2017 have given a 100% recommendation rate to her. She has helped our startup founders in areas of team building and team dynamics, leadership, strategy, marketing, branding, decision making and prioritization, time management and wellbeing – more specifically, to understand leadership and growth while maintaining motivation and work-life balance.”
Kiuas Startup Accelerator
https://www.kiuas.com/coaches
“Virpi helps me to clarify what’s important, and to find out ways to carry out both short-term and long-term projects. One can see that she truly loves her work. Virpi is a structured and serene coach who can turn the most hopeless
situation to something constructive and positive. The most fantastic is that as
a client I get a feeling that I have found the ways by myself which makes
acting upon them much easier. The regular coaching sessions with Virpi are powerful and empowering in the best sense, and has given me tools to transform my work field and catapulted my career in a new and prosperous direction.”
Lisa Fornhammar
Guest Professor for Innovative Vocal Techniques and Interpretation in Contemporary Music & Head of the International Master Programme for Contemporary Music at The Dresden College of Music
Freelancing Opera Singer
Researcher
“My friend suggested to me contact Virpi to find help for the challenges that I face in leading my multidisciplinary research on early brain development. By the time, I had realized that orchestrating a network of high level experts towards common goals takes much more than telling the directions. A key challenge in my working environment comes from seeing the essentials myself in the first place. I need to lead our team effectively in a situation where the goals change continuously; moreover, the work is done well only if it satisfies team members’ personal needs, which are unique and they also change over time. Keeping the pieces together in this multidimensional puzzle needed strong guidance from Virpi. She knew what to ask from me, and how to lead our conversations so that I can feel discovering the path forward myself. Virpi has a special talent in making people feel free to talk, and be able to find answers from themselves. It has been always refreshing and empowering to meet with Virpi, and I have always felt like having rediscovered my focus. To share the joy, I have also invited many of my team members to meet Virpi in the hope of improving clarity and focus in their work as well, for the benefit of our whole team.”
Sampsa Vanhatalo
Professor in Physiology, University of Helsinki
Director of BABA center, Helsinki Children’s Hospital
"Virpi has helped our new leadership team to strengthen our common vision, ambition and purpose in the times of transformation. The transformation within our business means great changes within the environment due to covid and geopolitics as well as mergers and acquisitions. The strategic thinking has been facilitated by Virpi with her gentle push, where she has been able to create a fully trusting environment. She has helped both the leadership team as well as the whole organization to strengthen the collaboration with facilitating the strategy work in an including and inspiring way. As a result, this has helped the whole organization to collaborate more effectively and seamlessly. Virpi has a great personality for helping people individually and as teams to achieve their very best at work. I have also learned a lot from myself as a person and as a manager under Virpi’s coaching. I may warmly recommend Virpi and Avantage!"
Heidi Liikkanen
Managing Director at Mediq Finland
"Discussions with Virpi were valuable. She has a very warm and encouraging way to communicate, she asks the right questions, and she is an excellent listener. We were delving into topics that are important to me professionally but also personally. Our coaching sessions were very open and intense, and I felt afterwards very content, more self-aware and focused."
Minerva Keltanen
Dr., Head of Exhibitions at The National Museum of Finland
"Virpi Haavisto has for several years gently guided our members in Grafia’s Mentoring Programs. Participants of both the Mentor-Mentee Pairs and the Peer Group Mentoring Programs have given excellent feedback for Virpi’s artful coaching for creative professionals. Mentoring Program is a valuable and desired part of our member benefits. In addition, Virpi has led an online workshop on Emotions in Creative Work for our members. Virpi is a skilled and emotionally intelligent collaboration partner, a delight to work with, who we at Grafia can warmly recommend!"
Katja Ojala
Communications Manager and Editor at Grafia, Association of Visual Communication Designers in Finland
“Virpi has helped me think through some of the key decision points in my career. Virpi’s calm, focused and empathetic approach to coaching has allowed me to consider different options and perspective. Every session with her leaves me with a reignited sense of purpose and a deep feeling of being centred and in-control.”
Anonymous
Management Consultant at a global management consulting firm
"I’m grateful that I took the time to talk with Virpi about overcoming obstacles in my career path. After each session with Virpi I leave feeling empowered and confident about my decisions related to my career. She is a wonderful listener, calm and welcoming, incredibly thoughtful and provides a fresh perspective on how to move forward to achieve one’s goals."
Rachel McKeen
Special Effects Artist at Film & Television Industry, Los Angeles
“For some years I had been losing motivation and belief in myself as an artist. After meeting with Virpi many times over the years, I regained a lot of self confidence and trust in myself by gaining new perspectives and broadening my view of creativity. Virpi is easily approachable and a brilliant listener with plenty of experience in working with different creative people. This makes her familiar with all sorts of different situations and thoughts that creative people struggle with which allows her to approach whatever issue one might have from multiple different angles.”
Ilkka
Game Artist at Supercell
"In the busy world of managing director, you may feel a bit lonely sometimes. You may face sudden and challenging decision-making situations that cannot be shared or spined around with anyone. That’s where the highest value of long term and trusted coach partnership steps in. Virpi is a person that I have high confidence and trust who I can contact whenever I need support and she always is there to answer. Our long-term partnership with Virpi has included strategic coaching and facilitating, leadership team coaching with one-on-one coaching and team building. Especially our well working management team has gained even deeper trust and confidence to each other after the coaching sessions and tools we have used. Those have enhanced the trusted and open dialogue among the team. One-on-one coaching has helped the management team individuals to deepen their strengths and develop and rethink behaviors on those areas of improvement opportunities.
Strategic facilitator and coach is a must to gain clear and focused vision and direction for the business. We have had success already with two strategic periods with Virpi. Virpi has been able to coach our statements into clear, and easily adaptable form so that the whole organization from warehouse to executives have opportunity to learn and get the purpose for the new direction. During the organization wide coaching sessions the work with Virpi has been fun, productive but even more open and has felt that every one can safely express their ideas. Laugh and joy has been around in all of our sessions. The major part of the facilitating work is done “behind the scenes”. That is where Virpi has brought great value with the summaries and next step planning.
Virpi as a coach is easy to address, super good listener and can challenge you with the details when needed. She can summarize even from complex thinking the key things where to focus. Virpi brings joy to work and feels that she is part of the team. I have high trust on her and there are no topics that I could not discuss with her."
Pekka Vartiainen
Managing Director at Swagelok Helsinki
"An honest dialog is a powerful tool. It creates clarity and focus."
Virpi Haavisto
Let's Talk
Virpi Haavisto
Coach
Founder of Avantage
I am here for you. All my services are available face-to-face and online.
Keep well and safe.