A look back at the “future of work, new ways of working” holaspirit and Soople’s Meetup — Amsterdam, May 28th, 19.
On May 28th in Amsterdam, in the superb premises of Ymere, on the banks of the Ijhaven canal, we held a “new ways of work” meeting with our partner Soople. Edward and Jan-Paul Ouwerkerk, the co-founders of Soople, are convinced that the transition to organizational formats that can handle complexity and act in a truly agile way is more necessary than ever. Edward introduced the meetup by highlighting the key dimensions of this transformation towards adaptability and agility.
Through a dynamic mobile application, animated in a fluid and real-time way, we were able to participate in votes and keyword proposals, in interaction with the fifty participants. These collective contributions highlighted the fundamental concerns of the companies represented (very different sectors and sizes). The search for speed, efficiency, transparency and employee engagement was discussed during the meeting on the basis of the keyword clouds generated live. Soople has a solid experience in providing historical support to the first pioneers of these methods in the Netherlands, whether at the level of departments or divisions of large groups or even SMEs or new generation start-up or scale-up.
Edward’s demonstration of the need for agility in an accelerating world made the link between the purpose of the organization, the empowerment of teams and their alignment towards that purpose, in a context that necessarily relies on trust and transparency. He noted a difference in transparency between hierarchical and agile companies for which it really works in both directions (top-down and bottom-up) and makes control totally superfluous. “Accountability and performance are two types of transparency that work together, and Holaspirit allows us to implement them.
Robin Van Vliett, Wow coach at ABN Amro, gave a testimony keynote of his implementation of autonomous circles — 26 circles and 343 roles to date — within the bank’s traditional hierarchical organization with more than 20,000 employees. The major gain observed concerns employee satisfaction, with an index improving by 6 points to 86/100, which translates into more commitment, more human relations and adult-to-adult relationships. “What you do, shows what you want.”
Many discussions focused on scaling up, the context of deployment within a large group, the appointment and role of the lead link. As Robin noted, “we are in favor of allowing sparks to spread throughout the organization.
A very rich round table extended the sharing of experiences with feedback by:
- Erwin Claus, Director of EQIN, a company specializing in the rental, sale and maintenance of industrial equipment, in particular for lighting, air supply and electricity supply installations,
- Sybrand Brouwer, CEO of INDI, specialized in the distribution of technical parts,
- Sarah Glasbergen, Founder of The Perfect Wedding, the largest and most visited wedding site in the Netherlands where brides can easily find original ideas, practical information, the latest trends and the best suppliers,
- Marijn De Vries, lead link to Ymere, an organization that rents more than 70,000 social housing units in the Amsterdam, Almere, Haarlem, Haarlemmermeer and Weesp regions.
The round table discussed the best profiles for the role of lead link.
Sarah Glasbergen and her husband, with whom she directs The Perfect Wedding, temporarily leave the role of lead link in their respective circles to other members so that they can take on this type of role later. At INDI, Sybrand seeks the profiles with the best leadership by giving them space for expression and ensuring the development of other personalities.
More broadly, we then focused on the markers of new generation organizations, or using new generation governance.
Marijn de Ymere says: “We are not talking about self-management, but about flexible working methods. It is a very accessible method. We have worked well on the definition of roles, responsibilities and have been very attentive to their contribution to Ymere’s overall purpose.
This allowed us to clarify who does what through roles and to include everyone in the process. Trust is thus at the heart of this transformation. Colleagues love working in this way and we clearly deliver more and better. Transparency in actions, decision-making and measures allows you to quickly detect what works and what doesn’t: this is very valuable! Our 4-person management team often spent 2 hours on 4 points. Now, in less than an hour, we can discuss 15 to 16 projects and other agenda items. We have gained a lot in efficiency!
Almost all employees in our department work with Holaspirit, including remotely, in a very fluid way. Beyond the meetings, we move our projects forward and measure them on the tool.
One of the notable results is the greater autonomy of the employees, clearly visible since our transition to flexible working. Their responsibilities are clearer; they act accordingly and have gained confidence: they are very satisfied with this transformation and work much more effectively.
Finally, I had doubts about the ability of everyone to embark on this path. My feedback and my conviction are now that everyone can do it if the right direction is given. »
These markers of new generation organizations, Sybrand Brouwer, CEO of INDI, also described them: “Our choice to be an e-commerce player with the corresponding business model obliges us to have a modern, optimized organization, and to do so we need a modern method. I grew up in the traditional hierarchical model, but today we need more adaptability, more agility. In our business, everything goes super fast, and I think that’s now the case in all activities: you need to stay at the top of practices. Agile practices that optimally solicit and promote the different talents of each individual, stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit.
We wanted to do things right but in our own way and that is the reason for our choice for Holaspirit, which allows us both rigor and flexibility to adapt perfectly to the INDI context. From this point of view, Holaspirit’s developments towards more freedom are interesting.
From the perspective of the first reports, transparency and trust have become the organization’s strengths and have improved employee satisfaction. Our organization has become much more fluid and allows us to better anticipate and react to events and hazards. »
Even if each transformation is not linear and simple, in the cases presented it has led to better business performance in the long term, clear accountability and greater creativity on the part of the teams, who also demand greater transparency. Finally, it was recalled that “one size doesn’t fit all”; the context and maturity of each company, department or division call for a personalized implementation of self-management.
This is precisely the key argument of the new version of the adaptive business platform Holaspirit, coming this summer. Philippe Pinault, its CEO, described an evolution that will soon make it possible to practice all types of methods (holacracy, sociocracy, sociocracy 3.0, GTD…) on the same platform, including potentially in the same company. Finally, Philippe revealed future evolutions of all business modules (projects, actions, HR, etc…) for a more efficient work in the same place.
A sustained question and answer session with all the speakers closed a high quality meeting, if we consider the very positive feedback from the participants.
The buffet served, a great networking and the continuation of the sharing of experiences took place even on the terrace of Ymere, an exceptional point of view on this district marked by modernity and innovation, in the heart of Amsterdam.
Given the success of this edition, and the fact that many interested people were not available to join us on May 28, we look forward to seeing you soon for a new meeting dedicated to new generation companies.
This meeting was part of a Holaspirit tour with its partners in different capitals that started in Brussels in early May. After Amsterdam, Sao Paulo and Warsaw, Paris and Montreal we will meet our customers and the market on July 16 in Berlin.
