Awareness and flexibility are the key

YKA got a new director at the end of 2025 when Terhi Leiniö from Lahti took on the role as the Union’s Director of Member Experience and Services.

Terhi, who are you?

In my spare time I’m a mum who likes to spoil her teenage girl and a boy dog and loves her home city of Lahti. At work I’m a Director of Member Experience and Services who is responsible for ensuring that out members see us as a useful trade union and like to use our services.

What do you see as the Union’s role in the working life of the future and in our members’ daily lives in the 2020s?

I see that we have many different kinds of members who want the Union to offer them different things. Some want community, others want to increase their professional skills through workshops, while others still prioritise the safety that union membership brings.

The most important thing is to find a balance so that all YKA members feel like they benefit in their daily lives from this union existing.

What are YKA’s strengths right now, and in what direction do you want the Union to grow?

These days people want to access services quickly, through the correct channel and in a timely manner, and ideally also personally. In the future we need to get even better at meeting these expectations.

YKA already does many things well. You can see this in the results from various member surveys and by examining our service offering or for example by looking at YKA’s way to communicate with its members who are at different life stages.

YKA also has the courage to try new ways of doing things with a low threshold. We have understood that there is no need to build obstacles where none exist. Next year we will start work on a new strategy, so I have started working at YKA at exactly the right time and I’m getting a grandstand view.

How would you describe your approach to leadership?

I’m not a very formal person, instead I like straight talk and human-oriented collaboration. Above all, leadership is about communication, which is famously a difficult thing to do well. Life is made up of work and other things. That is why a good leader has awareness and flexibility towards their employees.

Which values guide you as a leader?

I strongly subscribe to YKA’s values, i.e. openness, courage and fairness. I also want to add being a trailblazer.

Where do you find strength and recovery amid your busy work?

My hometown Lahti is close to the magnificent and wild terrain of Salpausselkä, where I like to go for forest walks with my dog at all times of the year. My teenage daughter and I have a couple of TV shows we like to watch together on the sofa. I go to a lot of gigs with my friends – I don’t mind much what the genre is.