Radka Dohnalova from ATAIRU: Explaining and selling an intangible product remotely is a real challenge
ATAIRU is on the threshold of major changes. It is about to digitise its leadership training programmes and bring them to one million people by 2025. We talked to its founder and CEO Radka Dohnalova and marketing manager Petr Ondruj about why the business adage "change is the new normal" doesn't apply, why companies shouldn't tune different teams to the same speed, or how Pippi Longstocking can make absolutely everything manageable.
When we enter the ATAIRU headquarters, we feel a zen air. Clean surrounded by greenery, silence, minimalist but warm interior with large glass doors leading to a small Japanese garden. A place perfect for cultivating the ideas that move the leaders of big Czech companies forward. The word ATAIRU comes from the language of a Brazilian indigenous tribe and means partner and guide on the path to the new. And that is exactly what this educational project in a local corporate environment is.
ATAIRU has been operating on the Czech market since 2013 and since then it has managed to leave an impressive footprint thanks to both the innovativeness of its approach and the portfolio of clients who benefit from its know-how. It focuses on training and educating leaders and managers and preparing them for the future. It guides teams to better collaborate and communicate in a hybrid environment and supports companies to be more flexible, innovative and prepared for current and future challenges.
Differential as a key position of the future
This is what they are trying to achieve, for example, through their leadership programmes. "We are all about being as contemporary and relevant as possible, which is why we offer an adaptive leadership program that teaches leaders how to be prepared and react to whatever may come up. Adaptiveness is about balancing the stable and dynamic elements in an organization. We want leaders to think smartly about combining the two, to have a kind of dual perspective." Says the founder and CEO of ATAIRU. "In companies, some teams are dealing with stable elements like profit, structure and order, while others are dealing with innovation and have a speed bump. Unfortunately, companies often solve this by trying to align both kinds of teams to the same speed, but this can slow the whole company down significantly. In our view, the solution is the new position of 'differentiators' who act as a link between the different teams moving at different speeds and can connect them in a meaningful way. Differentials are currently one of the main topics for us at ATAIRU, it is a trend we want to teach companies to use to their advantage." He adds.
"Unfortunately, companies often deal with the different speeds of development of individual teams by trying to align both types of teams to the same speed, but this can slow the company down significantly."
Change is not the new normal
It is not only thanks to the arrival of the pandemic situation as an unpredictable event, which noticeably disrupted the market environment and reset all previously clear-cut orders, that Czech leaders have started to focus on change more than ever before. "We at ATAIR don't fully believe in the much-loved mantra that change is the new normal. Of course, it is desirable to be fundamentally prepared for the changes that may come, but it is equally important to focus on the stable elements of our business. Jeff Bezos said in one of his interviews 'Everyone keeps asking me what's going to change, but I focus on what's not going to change', that's one of the fundamental things we're trying to convey to leaders at the moment," says Dohnalova. The theme of the immutable elements of business is also at the heart of the Authentic Leadership Programme, in which ATAIRU helps nurture mature and resilient leaders and build a healthy company culture, among other things.
"It is desirable to be fundamentally prepared for changes that may come, but it is equally important to focus on the stable elements of our business."
Web as a challenge
The first touchpoint through which future graduates of ATAIRU programmes encounter the web. "For us specifically, the web is something extremely important but also extremely challenging. Being able to describe and explain a product that is intangible, elusive and difficult to imagine is a real challenge." Describes the founder of ATAIRU the hardships associated with creating a website. "Our site became especially important with the advent of covid, as we transitioned our intangible product from a sales-based, in-person recommendation to a greater emphasis on online sales. That's where the site makes the difference between a visitor saying 'What is this, I don't understand what this service offers and how it works, I'm not coming back' and 'That looks interesting, I want to know more'." He says.
"Being able to describe and explain a product that is intangible, elusive and difficult to imagine is a real challenge."
"The web needs to be a functional tool, we need it to be easy to use. From a UX point of view it is important that it is easy to understand, the visitor must be able to easily perceive who we are, what we do, what benefits our product brings to them and what our propositions are. It should pique interest, offer information and provide answers just as easily as if you walk into a store and a clerk or salesperson patiently explains everything." says Petr Ondrůj, marketing manager of ATAIRU. The difference between a mediocre and a good website was felt in practice by ATAIRU with its latest redesign. "Part of our new marketing strategy was to transform our old website into a new one that will best serve our goals. Thanks to it, we have also been able to increase the number of enquiries from the site by 60% over the last year." He adds.
Describing and selling anything intangible remotely is a challenge, but it's not impossible. We'll help you find your way.
"Thanks to solidpixels, we have managed to increase the number of enquiries from the website by 60% in the last year."
Million-dollar plans
ATAIRU's ambitions for the next few years are big. "We want to positively impact one million people by 2025 and our main iron in the fire in this regard is ATAIRU LEADERSHIP TV, which we are launching in collaboration with our new technology partner MALL.TV." Dohnalova says. "We want to be able to pass on our know-how to a much larger group of people in the same amount of time than we have done so far, which is why we are planning to go abroad with ATAIRU LEADERSHIP TV. It's a unique broadcast format where you receive inspirational and timely content in real time, interact with guests and get their perspective, and within 90 minutes you get insights you often wait months for, all in a fun interactive way, called edutainment. We've also already completed the inaugural three-part mini-series 'How to Motivate People Today', which we're launching on 14 October 2022 at 2pm and companies and individuals can register for it now on our website. In addition, we have successfully piloted two series - Leading for the future and Well-being - over the course of last year and this year." He explains.
Radka's favourite quote "I didn't do that, I'm sure I can do that." by Pippi Longstockings is her motto whenever she comes to ATAIRU with new topics and ideas for change, which she feels are instinctively right, but lack the experience to present them confidently. This is what happened most recently with ATAIRU LEADERSHIP TV. However, it was certainly not the last time.
Describing and selling anything intangible remotely is a challenge, but it's not impossible. We'll help you find your way.
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