It has been nearly seven years since Dolf L'Ortye, Lidia Swinkels and Paul van Bekkum founded Summiteers. Their mission? To create a consulting firm that focuses not only on substantive aspects such as strategy, governance, and management, but also on personal development, leadership development, and behavioral change within teams and organizations. From day one, their guiding philosophy has been “doing fun things with fun people.” Summiteers has since helped many organizations achieve better results, but they’ve also built a close-knit and motivated team. The fact that Summiteers was recently certified as a Great Place to Work (GPTW) for the fourth year in a row and named the Best Workplace in the Netherlands for 2023 speaks volumes about the team’s engagement and satisfaction. According to Lidia, this has less to do with wisdom and more with luck. In this blog, she explains where that luck comes from. Or is there secretly just a tiny bit of wisdom involved after all?

Super proud

We’re super proud to have been certified as a  Great Place To Work® Netherlands for the fourth year in a row! Someone recently said, “It does get a bit lonely at the top.” To be honest, I think it’s more luck than wisdom. It definitely doesn’t mean we know it all. So I can’t tell you exactly how to do “it,” but maybe I can inspire you a little?

Philosophy

I think the most important thing is that, as entrepreneurs, we truly stand behind our philosophy 100%. Doing fun things with fun people. That guides the decisions we make, and naturally carries over directly into how we structure and run the company. We want to do fun things with fun people—and so do our people. That might sound logical, but take a look around: is it ingrained in the very fabric of the companies around you as a guiding principle? Or are other things more important, such as making a profit?

Cherish your talent

What strikes me when I look at our team is that we have very low turnover. Jules van Merrienbo joined the Summiteers team as our first new hire in early 2018, and he’s still here. Most of the people who joined in the early years are still here. I think that really contributes to our close-knit culture. If you constantly have to build a new team, it takes a tremendous amount of energy. But when people stay with you longer, they become true ambassadors of your culture.

Open Communication and Transparency

Over the years, we’ve come to appreciate more and more the importance of open communication and transparency. Especially as your team grows, it’s no longer a given that everyone knows everything. In small teams, you can catch up with each other in the hallways or during Friday afternoon drinks, but the larger the team, the harder it is to manage that. That’s why we think very explicitly about what the entire team needs to know and regularly engage in discussions—either with the whole group or specifically with individuals for whom something is relevant. A personal approach often works very well for us in this regard. An example of a whole-group activity is the “Ask Us Anything” sessions we’ve held twice in the past year. Of course, Dolf, Paul, and I might think we’re sharing everything that’s important, but there might be things going on within the group that don’t always have a space to be discussed. During those sessions, there’s no agenda and any question is fair game, resulting in questions like: “What was your toughest moment at Summiteers in recent years?”  'Where do you hope Summiteers will be in five years?' or ‘What drives your ambition to grow with Summiteers, and does that actually make it more enjoyable?’ It sometimes feels a bit awkward, as if we’re on Twan Huys’s College Tour, but when you’re leading a team, it’s okay for things to be a little uncomfortable.

A holistic view of the person

We place great emphasis on the fact that, as a person, you are more than just a Summiteer. After all, you are also a father, a daughter, an athlete, or an avid traveler. Many companies keep work and private life separate, but we don’t really believe in that. No, you don’t have to be friends with all your colleagues or work in your free time, but what you bring to the table as an individual influences how you perform. That deserves attention, especially if you want to help someone grow to their full potential. We focus on the whole person. Sometimes a colleague is struggling. You could ignore it, but that doesn't work. Then the colleague feels unseen and unable to meet our expectations as an employer. We very consciously include all aspects in the personal development plan that everyone at our company creates for the coming six months. This isn’t just about the projects you’re working on, but also about the training courses you want to take, the books you want to read, or the podcasts you want to listen to. It also includes the non-work-related activities you want to make time for. So, someone might include in their plan: “I’m going to be a father and would like the space to prepare for that,” or “I want to run a marathon, so I’d like to be able to train occasionally during work hours.” The mere fact that attention is paid to non-work-related matters makes it possible to communicate about them, and that’s important.

Freedom and Responsibility

We foster a culture where freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. After all, what matters is the results you deliver. This is reflected, for example, in the fact that we don’t track vacation days. We believe that if you plan things carefully, this approach works perfectly well. Of course, it’s possible that someone might “abuse” that freedom. But should you then lay everything out in rules, or is it okay to accept that things might not go as planned once in a while? For us, the benefits of the countless times things go well outweigh the need to organize everything around that one exception—which, by the way, we haven’t experienced in those seven years. We also think it’s really great when someone wants to take a sabbatical. Until very recently, four people were away; in a team of thirty, that’s quite a lot. But a sabbatical is simply something that happens, especially in a young team like ours. We support that, and what we get in return is that we’re involved in someone’s plans early in the process, allowing us to work it out together in a timely and effective manner.  In this way, we strive for a balanced relationship between freedom and responsibility in all areas, so that we can all achieve the best results together.

In the stretch

Ultimately, we’re deeply committed to the personal development and growth of our people. What challenges you as a person? Where do you want to grow? What do you enjoy, and what do you want to get better at? To get there, we seek the optimal balance. The goal isn’t to drown, but you won’t learn anything with sixteen flotation devices either. Right between your comfort zone and stress—that’s where the stretch is. And in that stretch, that’s where your growth lies. That’s what makes you high-five each other, feel proud of yourself, and proud of the team. Actively seeking out where the stretch is also contributes to job satisfaction.

‍

About Summiteers

Curious about the consulting world at Summiteers?Follow our LinkedIn page or visit our website to learn more about the projects we work on, our team, or to get in touch.

Interested in joining our team? Leave your details or do take the test.