Profiles from the Field
Johanna Seppalainen, M.S.
Independent Consultant and Coach
About Johanna:
Johanna is originally from Finland and has been living in the U.S. for around 15 years. She has been in the New York metropolitan area for approximately five years, and prior to that lived in the San Francisco Bay area for over ten years. While in California, Johanna received her undergraduate degree, and Master's in Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from San Francisco State University. Johanna is married with a four and a half year old son.
Current Role:
Johanna is currently an independent consultant and coach, working on various talent management and performance management projects. A recent assignment Johanna found very rewarding was one in which she worked with a team of consultants to develop a performance management system for an organization. Johanna and her team studied the organization and the staff and managers at all levels to understand its mission, values, and goals. The team then created customized performance management tools to reflect exactly those. Johanna and her team communicated to all stakeholders how the performance management system was designed and its purpose to take the organization forward and establish a system for managers to truly coach employees “to be all that they can be”.
In addition to working on various talent and performance management projects, Johanna has a passion for coaching. Helping people move forward in their careers and effectively solve problems has been very satisfying for Johanna. Often, employees may have a different picture of themselves than others may have; Johanna helps individuals "see the forest for the trees."
Career Progression:
After completing her Master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Johanna worked in internal Human Resources roles for several years. In one of her previous roles as an HR Manager, Johanna was responsible for creating a diversity and inclusion plan for an organization. This project involved collecting and analyzing confidential data, and making strategic decisions for the company based on that data. Johanna formed a team including staff from various levels in the organization to draft the diversity and inclusion plan. Once the plan was approved by the CEO of the organization, Johanna communicated the current and future state of diversity and inclusion to all staff in an interactive presentation. She found this to be a very satisfying project.
While Johanna enjoyed her HR roles, in an effort to seek more flexibility, she decided to enter the world of independent consulting and coaching. Johanna has found consulting to be both exciting and challenging. She secures projects through networking and "being in the right place at the right time." Johanna ultimately sees herself returning to an internal role. She is very passionate about people's success and helping others reach their goals.
In addition to working as a consultant and coach, Johanna is very active in METRO. She previously acted as the "food czar" for two years, organizing the appetizers for the monthly meetings. Johanna now has the role of sponsorship chair. She welcomes anyone to speak with her about the benefits of METRO sponsorship. Johanna has also worked with METRO career day and plans on continuing to do so.
Advice
Johanna shared some advice for current graduate students:
She encourages students to build strong support systems and networks. It's important to take advantage of internships and develop relationships now that will help to serve as your career foundation.
Johanna also emphasized the importance of understanding the value of "soft skills." She believes that in addition to focusing on the more tangible competencies, directly relating to one’s skills at work, and that while organizations like to see numbers and statistics, we should remember the benefit of developing well-rounded employees.
Reported by: Julie Weintraub
