In this blog, you'll tell Paul van Bekkum, co-founder of Summiteers, why he enthusiastically jumps out of bed every morning to help clients achieve their strategic issues.

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Complexity

Strategic issues always have considerable content complexity and a group of people (with their own dreams, interests and ambitions) who need each other to achieve a goal. That combination is always a challenge, but that is exactly what I find immensely interesting.

The development of a strategy is still (too) often regarded as a “paper exercise”. And as the cliché goes: paper is patient. Anything goes on paper, and with the right assumptions, it quickly seems like a good story. But that's no use if the group of people who are going to realize the strategy can't get along with it. You have to make that substantive puzzle that strategy can sometimes be understandable (and preferably together!). In that sense, I fully agree with what co-founder Dolf says in his blog. You start with a collection of puzzle pieces and only when you know how to structure it do people understand what is expected of them and can get to work. Seeing something come into practice, what started as an idea/plan on paper, I love that.

An example of this is a recent assignment where we designed a new top structure for a client so that they could start recruiting the right directors given the intended new strategy and organizational structure. A few months later, these new colleagues were recruited and on board and we assisted them in detailing their own departments. For me, the fact that you see something gradually emerge in practice is the execution of a strategy.

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Helping people

For me, this profession is ultimately about helping people. That's what drives me and what I get out of bed for. I don't care if it's an executive team looking for a new corporate strategy, a team lead who wants to take a step with their team, or an individual struggling with a complex issue or their next step. As long as it's important and relevant to the person we work for. Being able to work with someone on what is important to him/her and is a top priority is something I continue to find special.

For example, we recently received a call from a client. They had already started reformulating their strategy with a small team. After two or three weeks, however, they realized that they were not speeding up enough and asked us for help. What I really appreciated was that they were very clear about the division of roles between what they wanted to do and what they needed us for. Above all, they expected us to act as a catalyst for their internal team. Tackling something like that together is exactly how we always have it in mind.

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Better understanding

Ultimately, it is also great to get a glimpse into various cuisines through this profession. How does a bank, an insurer, a media company, a retailer work? What does a supervisor do? What is the dynamic in our healthcare sector? I like to understand the dynamics of a new organization and the chain in which it operates over and over again. To see the parallels and differences and ultimately, of course, to contribute to the changes that are at play. Even though it's modest, I still have the idea that it helps me understand the complex world we live in a little bit better every time. And that we are making a positive contribution to it with our assignments!

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Always urgent

If I have to mention something I don't like, it's the urgency. The question is often: “Can you help us? We've already started internally, but we're getting stuck, so there's no time to lose. ' The fact that it's always urgent and that we always have to start now sometimes makes it challenging. It's never the case that you finish one assignment properly and then have two days to catch your breath before the next one starts. In practice, the end of one assignment always overlaps with the beginning of the other. On the other hand, that urgency is also related to the fact that we always do things that are relevant. So secretly, I actually like that pressure, just staffing those jobs with respect for the work-life balance of all colleagues, that's sometimes a struggle.

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Need help with strategy and execution?

We are Summiteers, we create movement, make something that is complex understandable again, something big achievable, a - vague - idea concrete and make something difficult succeed. Can you use help with this? Take contact with us.

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