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Ija Šležė director of Forbis – developer of FinTech considers that the heads of IT companies should pay significant attention to maintaining good relationship with the employees, and she also shares her experience how to achieve this.  

According to the head of the Forbis Company, the key to IT company success is a relationship based on the long-term professional partnership between the company’s employees and its management. I. Šležė emphasized that each manager wishing their team to be successful and work steadily, should not be afraid of making mistakes, be able to personally take part in the course of implementing ideas. 

“I am sure that successful labour relationship is possible only in the environment, where openness and mutual trust win out. Both the manager and each member of the team should be able to assume the responsibility for the actions and any lack of such. For the team members to trust each other, it is necessary that the head would openly communicate the goals and the expectations. Owing to the long-term experience I have learnt that the work culture encouraging the openness as well as the sharing of the information makes the team motivated, responsible, and a good solution-maker,” said Forbis director. 

Undeniably, each team starts with its formation. Despite the fact that the rapidly growing Lithuania’s IT sector is currently facing a lack of talented experts, I. Šležė states that creation of the ambiance, where the people feel valued and free, even at the talent deficiency conditions, allows attracting the necessary specialists.  

When selecting new team members, it is particularly important to identify their motivation, and make sure that a person is interested not just in earning more, but also in being eager to learn, seek for the professional novelties, have a desire for what is being done, and be independent. 

“When selecting the employees, we give preference to independent and proactive candidates. Inside the company, we have managed to create the ambiance, where new ideas are welcome, are taken for serious, and are given freedom to be implemented. Having in mind that this is one of the essential principles of our work, when selecting the personnel, we give priority to people aiming at self-realization of personal potential in profession and career. I believe that each lead forming a team should identify those work culture aspects, which in their opinion, would bring the greatest benefit, and look for the employees who share those values,” said the head of the Forbis Company. 

According to I. Šležė, even the team of the most motivated and qualified professionals will constantly face challenges, and a good lead is the one, who will be able turn those challenges into the opportunities. 

“One of my goals as the company’s head is to take care that the team members would not lose motivation, for instance, due to routine tasks. To support motivation, we need new challenges, goals, and tasks,” stated I. Šležė. 

As for personal challenges related to the management, I. Šležė says that it is necessary to live up to the expectations that the employees have of their managers. The criteria, by which a team is formed, are also applied by the head of the Forbis Company to herself. The absence of double standards makes it possible to achieve a balanced, respect-based manager-employee relationship. Managers in any field, especially information services, should constantly learn, improve, look for new challenges, and represent an example for their team.  

Despite the fact that Forbis started its activity several decades ago, today the company is an example of a modern, growing FinTech company. The director of the company emphasized that a major reason for this stability and ability to change is the balance of younger and more experienced professionals.  

“We are proud of having found throughout these years of our activity a formula enabling us to remain stable and reliable partners of financial institutions, yet being able to change. Our employees can adjust their career paths not only by holding higher positions, but also by requalifying. We assume this to be one of the reasons why we do not face high personnel turnover. We are oriented towards a long-term employee-company relationship, and we extremely value both the need of novelties of the younger employees and the experience of the senior specialists,” said I. Šležė.