April 11: 18 teams from Belarus, Ukraine, Israel, Greece, Portugal, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, competed together yesterday, in the Region East VISTA semi final.
While it’s called Region East, the sales area in fact encompasses all independent Volvo Trucks’ dealers in Europe, regardless of location. Consequently the Region East VISTA semi final in Madrid saw a diverse range of teams from a wide geographical area. However the principles remain the same, and all teams embraced the opportunity to learn more and test their skills.
“This is our second time in VISTA,” say Belmagistralavtotrans #1, a VISTA team from Belarus. “It’s very interesting and it upgrades our level and skills. Before we did things in our own way, but now we’ve learnt to follow the guide and Volvo’s systems, and it’s better.”
With a number of new and emerging markets coming under Region East, the semi final also included teams with vastly different levels of experience. Competing alongside the experienced teams from Portugal, Greece and Israel, are teams from smaller markets, who are not only new to VISTA but new to Volvo.
“It’s difficult – it’s not a usual task in our workshop,” say Incepatorii, a VISTA team from Moldova, whose name means ‘the beginners’ – appropriate given they are the first Moldovan team ever in a VISTA semi final. “But it’s an experience for us. We get to see how other teams work, and see the level of other workshops. We’re learning a lot.”
For many teams, just making it to Madrid has been a huge confidence boast. “At the beginning when we started in our workshop no one believed in us,” claim the cleverly named Turkish VISTA team, VISTANBUL. “But day-by-day, they are happy, they believe in us. VISTA has helped us, and motivated us.”
“Being here is very important for them; they are representing all their colleagues,” says Joanna Coelho, VISTA leader for Portugal, who is in Madrid accompanying three teams. “When they go back home, they’ll talk about their experience. They learn a lot here. If they cannot solve a task here, they will write it down and try to solve it back in Portugal so that they learn how to do it. They don’t give up.”
Overall the Region East semi final has been a testament to VISTA’s universal appeal, and has shown that the benefits apply to everyone, regardless of culture or experience. The night after the competing in the workshop, Belmagistralavtotrans #1 (Belarus) and Extreme (Ukraine) were announced as the winners at an award dinner. They will now represent Region East in the world final.
