Lina Simonavičienė

HR advisor, SEB Global Services centre in Vilnius

Education: Bachelor of Economics, Vilnius University.
Personal interests: dancing, board games, gardening.

Lina Simonavičienė works as an HR Advisor, focusing on areas like learning and development, talent management, labour law and supporting managers with complex HR questions.

What do relationships mean to you?

Empowering each other really rings true for me. What I’ve experienced here is that we’re stronger by working together. We have created a self-organised group of employees who have a high interest in diversity and inclusion topics. We have actually started organising events to create awareness about important questions around belonging, inclusion, and diversity. We work with sensitive topics in order to create a shift. We’ve had panel discussions and invited a Lithuanian artist to explore tolerance through art. It’s not part of our job descriptions, but it’s so amazing how people are involved, and it keeps growing.

What makes SEB a friendly and welcoming environment for you?

I’ve had a lot of ‘firsts’ while I’ve been here. All my colleagues have encouraged me to try things I’ve never practiced before. I had my first coaching experience and my first project for reskilling which was led by me as well. We have a culture of support and trust which encourages new skills, and there is always someone to turn to.

In what ways do you feel like your colleagues show respect for each other?

We collaborate a lot in SEB through different functions and you always have support and understanding, whether you are a new or existing employee. You don’t have to have a lot of courage to say yes at SEB because the environment is so friendly and collaborative and you’re not afraid to fail here.

How important is curiosity and growth at work?

As I mentioned I’ve had a lot of first times at SEB and I feel the company is constantly transforming. This transformation enables us to explore new skills to grow and learn something new. In this volatile world we can never stop upskilling our competencies as there is constant change in technologies and ways of working. We as an organisation can keep pace with this permanent change only by enabling our employees to gain new competencies fast. That is why our continuous learning culture is key.

What has been the biggest driver of your personal development at SEB?

It’s been the support of my colleagues and the trust of my manager which have allowed me to try new things and learn a lot. I’m continuously gaining valuable experiences by working with managers who have worked in this organisation for 15, 20 years, and even longer. I feel inspired to see all these examples of hard work and living the purpose of SEB. In general, our managers are so independent and conscientious, and SEB is so strong in leadership, which means that, managers are the ones bringing the HR magic to life. As an HR professional, I am so proud to see managers taking the front lines and truly caring about their employees.

What role does SEB have in positively impacting society?

We are leading in the sustainability transition, and it brings to mind the statement: today, and for generations to come. We are always thinking about the future and how the things we are doing today will impact us and others in the future. I participated in coaching training with employees from different countries and based on the topics that we discussed you can really see that we are all focused on sustainability and that it rings true for all of us.

How do you practice sustainability in your everyday life?

I believe that small things matter, so I do my yoga online in order to reduce travel. In the summertime, I grow vegetables in my garden, and this autumn we also set up a solar power plant on our house rooftop. Also, I tried our SEB CO2 Footprint app, it was fun to see what impacts my CO2 Footprint and to think about how I can reduce it.

 

Giedrė Ramanauskaitė

, Innovation Lead

At SEB, we believe in the importance of innovation. But sometimes it may feel difficult to understand exactly what we do when we strive for innovation. Giedrė Ramanauskaitė, Innovation Lead at SEB in Lithuania, explains how her team works toward innovation.

Being part of the Baltic Innovation Team, Giedrė Ramanauskaitė is responsible for different initiatives and projects that cultivate an innovation culture both within the bank, but also in society. In Giedrė’s daily work she reads, participates in discussions, prepares workshops, and leads cross-functional teams to gather valuable insights that are leveraged for good decisions.

How do you and your teamwork with innovation?

“We have lots of different activities and directions that we work with, where we want to boost innovation culture, entrepreneurial minds and creation within and outside the bank. Externally we have two main audiences to whom we are boosting knowledge, which is business customers of small and medium enterprises where we work with growth ambitions and youths."

“We support youth through Youth LAB - a summer internship program where students, work in teams to solve real bank challenges by learning how to build and validate innovative concepts. They work as “internal start-ups.”

“More specifically, I am responsible for internal innovation activities. One of those is Design Sprints, which is appreciated by both employees and management and gives noticeable results. Since we started with it in SEB Baltics, more than 40 concepts have been built and validated with customers and more than 320 SEB employees were part of this exciting journey.”

Giedrė adds that innovation is not just about developing things that technically work, but about developing things that make our services better and more convenient with a price tag that customers are ready to pay. To build new solutions you must set this mindset that it is about trying, failing and testing until you reach the desired state.

Why did you choose to work at SEB?

“I have been in the bank for over 18 years, but more on the traditional banking and corporate side. I started to work at SEB during my bachelor’s studies in Finance and Insurance Mathematics and later got a role as Account Manager. SEB has really evolved during the time I have worked here – both internally, and externally with the services we provide. SEB is really a respected and trusted bank in our market.”

What has your journey as Innovation Lead been like?

“It has been challenging, but very interesting. It was difficult going from the corporate banking that I understood, to something completely new. I am still learning on the go what kind of skills I need, with different cultures, mindsets and expectations where I am trying to manage and find the best solutions. At the same time, the new “universe of start-ups’ ecosystem” is very exciting and interesting, and I am continuously building knowledge.”