What are some of the effective and less effective approaches to managing consultants? We interviewed two rocket scientists, Jari ‘Jartza’ Tulilahti and Janne Suomalainen, and asked them to come clean about Rakettitiede’s leadership.

“Onboard the Rocket, good leadership can sometimes be invisible. That’s how I know everything is working and I can focus on the client’s needs,” says Janne Suomalainen, rocket scientist #55.

So, does this mean that leadership should be understood as doing the bare minimum? Should the consultants hear announcements from the command centre only once every blue quarter moon? Not quite.

Rocket scientists are hardcore professionals who know what they need to carry out their work successfully. They also know how to ask for the things they need. That’s why managing them requires candour, openness and, above all, mutual trust.

“Clients already give me enough complex problems to solve. I need my home base to trust me, give me support and create an environment that allows me to thrive,” Janne says.

Jari ‘Jarza’ Tulilahti, rocket scientist #1, agrees and adds: “Other companies should look up the word Rakettitiede for a definition of good leadership.”

Well, doesn’t that just take the cake! Let’s delve deeper into what it means.

Management paves the way for the consultant

“I can guarantee that no one here will ever tell you how you should do your job or how you should improve your performance. The management is there to pave the way for the consultants and help them achieve their goals without unnecessary hassle,” Jartza says.

What are these hassles that consultants need to overcome?

“It starts with practical questions like choosing one’s tools. I’m free to choose the toolkit that allows me to carry out my work to the best of my ability”, Janne says. Jartza agrees and mentions that giving the consultants the chance to assume responsibility for such a seemingly simple but crucial aspect of work shows respect. (Read more: Rocket scientists have an almost unlimited device budget)

Another hurdle consultants need to overcome concerns the beginning of a new assignment. Getting acquainted with a new client and learning to navigate different conventions takes time.

According to Jartza, other companies should look up the word Rakettitiede for a definition of good leadership. “I can guarantee that no one here will ever tell you how you should do your job or how you should improve your performance. The management is there to pave the way for the consultants and help them achieve their goals without unnecessary hassle,“ says Jartza.

Luckily the Rocket sales department carefully prepares the client for the arrival of the consultant: it’s important that the consultant is treated like any other company employee. To help with this endeavour, the Rocket has drawn up the How to Care for Your Consultant guide, which contains instructions for working with a rocket scientist and gives a cursory overview of how rocket scientists think. In addition to these preparations, rocket accelerators carry out regular check-ups at status update meetings.

“It’s much nicer to start working with a new client once they already have a pretty good idea of what it means to have a rocket scientist as part of the team,” Jartza explains.

Freedom to work the way you want

According to Jartza and Janne, Rakettitiede is “a workplace for grown-up consultants” as it allows them to balance between responsibilities and freedom.

For example, the freedom to work remotely enables Jartza to live and work in the peaceful countryside. Although the client is the one who ultimately dictates where the consultant is supposed to work, practicalities can often be negotiated. Working remotely and making occasional visits to the offices of the Rocket and the client is a perk many rocket scientists really appreciate.

However, remote or hybrid work requires a lot from the consultant.

“The Rocket’s model really emphasises self-management. It’s a default setting that underlies everything else. It needs to feel natural or you won’t enjoy your time onboard,” Jartza says.

Even though the Rocket isn’t a place where collegial pingpong tournaments are held during daily coffee breaks, amusements are organised at regular intervals for those who wish to partake in them. “The Rocket is full of like-minded, easygoing and uncomplicated people,” Janne says. There’s no need to worry about becoming isolated.

Caretakers ensure flow of information

Management requires candour, openness and, above all, mutual trust. “Clients already give me enough complex problems to solve. I need my home base to trust me, give me support and create an environment that allows me to thrive,” Janne says.

In a typical IT consultancy fashion, rocket scientists work on their assignments scattered across different clients and teams of various types and sizes.

Decentralised management is something that the commander of the ship, Juha Huttunen, needs to think about: “Since the consultants work in different teams across the client base, any natural points of contact between me and them are few and far between.” Getting an overview of how the consultants are doing can be difficult.

Cue Rocket caretakers, who act as links between the Rocket management and the consultants.

The caretakers are other consultants, Jartza among them. “I help my assigned consultants with their problems, whether they be technical or psychological. This arrangement takes some of the load off Juha’s shoulders,” he explains.

Focus on your passion

The mother ship has realised that one size does definitely not fit all when it comes to career development. No one on the Rocket expects a consultant to progress headstrong along the traditional career path towards becoming a manager. Other opportunities for development exist.

The Rocket supports people’s efforts as best it can, and once you find the thing that makes you tick, you can really focus on it.

“I realised pretty early on that I’m a really good coder, and that I actually like what I do and want to become amazing at it. The Rocket supports people’s efforts as best it can, and once you find the thing that makes you tick, you can really focus on it. The only thing you need to do is know what you need and speak up,” Jartza says.

The Rocket accelerators ensure that people on board have a meaningful career path by making sure that the consultants have access to assignments they find interesting, inspiring and challenging. Tackling real-life problems is the best way to develop.

Pulling together

Seasoned consultants like Janne and Jartza understand that the value of work comes from the ability to give the clients the thing they’re expecting – high-quality solutions to problems.

“In my experience, the interests of the employee and the employer genuinely meet at the Rocket. “

“In my experience, the interests of the employee and the employer genuinely meet at the Rocket. We want the client to be as happy as possible. It makes cooperation easier across the board,” Janne explains.

The roles are clear as well. “While I get to give all my attention to what the client needs, others focus on things related to work continuity, such as client relationship development, facilitating staff development and all the mundane tasks of running a business,” Janne says.

He continues that this type of working is also supported by the Rocket’s salary model. It shows that the employee’s and employer’s interests to succeed are intertwined and thus the fruits of the labour are also shared evenly.

The perfect company size

As the mother ship’s first employee, Jartza has witnessed the growth of the Rocket over the course of 11 years. “I really like working here. For the first time in my career, I feel like I could stay at a job until retirement,” he says smiling.

Hands-off management and non-existent bureaucracy are the main reasons why donning the moon suit still feels good after so many years. All this has been made possible by the Rocket’s moderate growth.

The modest size of the company has its appeal. Janne, for instance, came to the Rocket from a bigger consultancy. “I wanted to work in a firm that didn’t have processes for the processes’ sake and allowed me to have a say,” he says and continues: “Of course having the opportunity to influence your work requires active participation as well.”

Rakettitiede falls within a comfortable middle ground in terms of its size, so consultants need not fret about the lack of clients.

But is this where the Rocket is going to stay for the unforeseeable future?

No, there’s growth on the horizon. And that means that leadership may assume new forms as well. The most important element, trust, is not going anywhere though. When a consultant can rely on the management and vice versa, hurdles can be overcome without working out much of a sweat.

Janne summarises the idea behind the Rocket’s growth: “The management humbly acknowledges that there is no such thing as perfect leadership and that management requires constant active development as the company continues to grow.”

Is leadership doomed to fail in the consulting business?