What else do we want to learn about strategy execution at Summiteers? In short: a lot! At Summiteers, we see learning as part of our profession. Whether it's about strategy execution or our personal development, there is always room for growth. After the stories of Dolf and Thijs, Lidia and Jurre and Paul and Brechje it is now time for the fourth episode. Casper Hendriks and Daphne Dragt, both management consultants at Summiteers, share their personal learning points. Where is still looking for the right balance and what do they want to further develop in their approach to strategy execution?

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We do it together, but how much together?

“One of our pledges is 'we do it together',” Daphne kicks off. “This means that we work intensively with the customer, using their perspective and knowledge, and combining this with our expertise. To do this, you continuously make a trade-off between speed, quality and ownership and look for the right balance.”

“So you have different knobs that you can turn,” Casper explains. “Customers are often busy, so there is sometimes less progress on tasks that you entrust to them. At the same time, they learn more from it and it really becomes their own project.” It often promotes quality and prevents not invented here syndrome. So we consciously place as much ownership as possible on people who have to do the work, but this also requires tight direction and support. Finding the right balance between speed, quality and ownership or behavior is still quite a challenge. This also requires close and frequent coordination with the client. This allows us to switch flexibly — sometimes we take extra steps to make speed, sometimes we deliberately leave it to them.”

“As a consultant, you don't just want to take over the work. Nevertheless, I notice a tendency to take the lead. “Should I just write this down on paper?” is a question that I ask too quickly after a work session. This helps the customer, but it sometimes comes at the cost of ownership. That's why I'm trying to be more aware of this balance.”

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How far do you dive into the content?

A second learning point concerns the depth of content. “As Summiteers, we are not experts in the specific business of our customers — for example, we don't necessarily know much about international transport, roadside assistance or artist development, to name a few,” explains Daphne. “Nevertheless, we delve into the content to properly understand an issue and come up with solutions. Sometimes, out of enthusiasm or interest, you tend to dive too far into the content, even though this is not necessary in all cases.”

“This is familiar to me,” Casper adds. “I have a natural tendency to want to understand everything. It offers guidance and security. But the starting point should be: what does it take here to get an issue from A to B? How much substantive knowledge do I need for that, or can others contribute this?”

Keeping a distance from details helps to see the whole thing more clearly. Daphne gives a practical example: “With a client who was really into content, I noticed that I was moving in that direction. You can then get bogged down in details in conversations, while sometimes it's better to stay at a higher level to see the bigger picture.”

It remains a challenge to stay focused on when substantive knowledge is sufficient and when it is not further necessary. “I would like to learn how to let go more,” Casper acknowledges.

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The art of slowing down and simplifying

“At the start of an assignment, there is often an urgency and a lot of importance to get started right away,” explains Daphne. “Everyone is eager to get started. But as Dolf wrote earlier, in his blog, in many cases it is more useful to slow down and/or simplify. We know only too well how important this is, but it is always a challenge to act accordingly.”

“Currently, I'm working on an assignment that is more of long-term support, with various projects and initiatives,” Daphne shares. “The customer quickly feels that everything has to be done and everything has to be done now. There is a danger that you will get sucked into that, and not take a step back first to see what is really important.”

Casper adds: “I sometimes still find the conversation with the client about this exciting. Explain that we need to slow down in certain areas to grow in the long term — not every client is up for that. Daring to have that conversation and being able to explain it well, being able to challenge a client properly, I would like to become even more comfortable with that.”

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Don't forget the behavioral component

“Many Summiteers naturally prefer one or two of our three pillars: content, process and behavior,” says Casper. “For me, focusing on process and content feels like the safe way to do my job; it's naturally closer to me. But it is precisely this third pillar — the behavioral component — that is also important to make a good comeback. This provides a long-term effect.”

The challenge lies in concretely mirroring behavior and thus helping people go one step further in their development. “We often find ourselves in situations where we work closely with teams,” Casper explains. “For example, when we support tractors in project management. You sometimes see things go wrong: not being well prepared, going into too much content, not coordinating properly with stakeholders. That is sometimes easier to see in others than with yourself.”

“This offers the opportunity to do things for, participate or have them do it yourself, so you can teach people a lot. But to also explicitly reflect on such a meeting every time: “What did I see you do?” — I don't always have enough attention for that yet. It takes discipline to do that consistently, and sometimes I also find it exciting to give back that feedback. That's what I want to grow in — how to do that effectively.”

Daphne emphasizes the importance of this: “With that behavioral piece, you make an enormous impact. You help a team take a step that will benefit them for a long time. As we also described in our blog about behavioral methods, behavior is often the key to effective collaboration.”

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Stronger together through different preferences

“What's interesting,” notes Daphne, “is that everyone in Summiteers has different natural preferences. What is a challenge for us, someone else has mastered well. This makes us stronger as a team. You can contact colleagues with questions such as: 'I find it difficult to discuss behavior in a session. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make that explicit? '” says Daphne. “That's how you help each other out.”

The diversity of perspectives and strengths within our team is what sets us apart. Where one wants to grow, the other already has experience. By working together and learning from each other, we continue to develop as a whole in all aspects of strategy execution.

Just like we do in our blog about supported strategy emphasizing how important it is to engage widely, we also see this approach internally. By complementing and learning from each other, we become stronger as a team and can better support our customers.

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