In collaboration with MT Sprout - Do you want to take your scaleup to the next phase and gain insight into how the organization is doing? With the scaleup organization scan, we quickly provide insight into where the biggest challenges lie in the organization. By facilitating a good conversation with the leadership team, we help scaleups determine practical next steps to strengthen growth. Learned, a software company for data-driven talent management, was able to take the next steps, partly thanks to the scan.

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Learned is one of the companies that went through the scale-up organization scan process with us. Rick Kuijf started Learned five years ago with his brothers Paul and Joost. At previous employers, the brothers experienced that companies can still improve a lot in the development and internal flow of employees. “We wanted to create a scalable solution with the aim of retaining employees to an organization for longer and thus reducing staff turnover.”

After an investment round last year, the question for Learned was: how do you take the next step? Within a year, Learned had almost doubled in the number of employees with a substantial international customer portfolio and the ambition to keep growing. To achieve further growth, the leadership team was exploring the next steps. In addition, a doubling in the number of employees also brought a new dynamic to the organization. Kuijf came into contact with us through a round table session that we organize annually. During this session, scaleups can learn from each other in the same growth phase by exchanging challenges and experiences. “That came together nicely and after an introduction to the scaleup organization scan during the round table, it resulted in the scaleup organization scan process.”

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The scale-up organization scan

The scale-up organization scan helps companies to stop, zoom out and quickly identify possible growing pains. There is often little time and finding out quickly what is lacking is therefore essential. The starting point is a questionnaire that focuses on six dimensions that an organization must have in order to grow quickly and effectively (see figure below). Everyone in the organization, leadership team (LT) or employee, answers the questionnaire. The results are then bundled and you quickly understand where the organization stands within each dimension.

“From the results, you can see where the company is doing very well and where there may be room for improvement,” explains Casper Kemperman, management consultant. “For example, there is a clear plan that is supported by the MT and the employees, but the organizational structure is not transparent to everyone.”

There may also be significant differences between the MT's responses and the employees. We will take such observations with us and prepare a workshop where the results will be discussed.

Simone Halink, management consultant: “We discuss with the MT what they notice, whether they recognize the results and how to address any challenges.” From there, we talk about the right next steps to be able to grow effectively and realize the plans for the future. What needs to be done varies by company. Every organization has different challenges and needs.

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Great insights from the results

Did the scan reveal any surprising things for Learned? Kuijf confirms this: “We got a clear insight into the problems that are hampering growth and how to solve them quickly and efficiently. In addition, it was instructive that employees differed in vision with the leadership team on a few points.”

Halink elaborates on this: “It became clear that the founders of Learned have an enormous startup mentality. They put their shoulder to the wheel and work very hard. This means that they still do much of the work that can also be taken up by employees. That's actually time they'd rather invest in strategy and growing the organization.”

Kuijf says that until a year and a half ago, as founders, he and his brothers had to invent and implement everything themselves. “Because we have now grown to eighteen FTE, we have much more execution power. But we also need to put the people themselves in the lead on projects much more. That was a great insight.”

There was also uncertainty about how the projects that Learned is now contributing to that strategy, adds Kuijf. “In addition to giving people more responsibility on projects, it is therefore also important to communicate the strategy clearly and show how the projects contribute to the strategy.”

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Changes based on the scan

What are the hands-on changes that Learned made as a result of the scan? “For us, this phase means getting more out of the team and a better relationship between the projects we do and the strategy,” says Kuijf. His company has started working more agile; since April, Learned has been working in one-month sprints. “At the beginning of the month, each team presents which projects they are going to tackle, linked to a certain strategic goal. At the end of the sprint, the person responsible provides a status update or the result is presented. That way, you get really fast results.”

Because you are growing rapidly as a company, the situation changes regularly. So how helpful is the scan? Kuijf: “The scan helps you to review an organization in a very structured way in a very short period of time. So we actually mapped out maybe 90 to 95 percent of the optimization with a minimal time effort. And in such a way that it is very understandable for both employees and members of the leadership team. We speak the same language now.”

For Kuijf, it was nice to hear that his people said they really felt part of the team. “They said that they were happy with the leadership team, that they are listening and that there is a focus on talent development. Ultimately, talent management is the product that Learned is developing, so it's good that this is also in order internally.”

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About Summiteers

We help customers define and realize their vision, strategy and organizational issues. One of their products is an organizational scan for scaleups: companies that have a product-market fit, are therefore in the growth phase and want to move forward.

With the organization scan, we help scaleups to make important professionalization steps in the short term that are fundamental for effective growth. “For each organization, the challenges and solutions are different. We find it especially important and fun to get founders of a scaleup out of the day and help them in the next steps of growth in a pragmatic way,” says Halink.

If you want to exchange views about your challenges to grow effectively or explore whether the scale-up organization scan is interesting for you, please contact Casper Kemperman.

Of course, you can also get in touch with us via LinkedIn and the Summiteers website.