Summiteers was founded in October 2017. The Utrecht consultancy firm operates from the conviction that substantive issues and personal development are inextricably linked. The development of a strategy, the implementation of a new control model or the realization of a roadmap is therefore always combined with a form of coaching or leadership development.

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“That can also be a very small thing,” says co-founder Dolf L'Ortye: “When you hang out closely with someone, you can see how they work and you can help with certain things.” Consultancy.nl spoke to L'Ortye and Lidia Swinkels — one of the other two co-founders — about Summiteers' way of working.

“We've been in the consulting business for a while now and you know how great the job is. It's even better if you get to color it all by yourself, in a way that suits you,” says Swinkels about the creation of Summaries: “Dolf, Paul [from Bekkum, the third founder, ed.] and I sometimes say to each other: “For us, Summiteers is about doing cool things with cool people.” It's great when you can help someone with something they just can't quite figure out.”

“We don't just do this by thinking about substantive issues, such as strategy and vision,” she continues: “We also want to take the client further in his development. Helping a team or organization move forward and learn something personally. At Summiteers, we link these two aspects together, and that is what makes us unique in our services.”

“That personal learning is about behavior,” adds L'Ortye: “How do you sit in a meeting? How can you make your point effectively? How do you ensure that you are in touch with your interlocutor? Because we work closely with customer teams, in their natural environment, we also see up close how these people work and where possible learning points lie. When you're working on a strategy issue, you're obviously looking at numbers, but at the same time, you're also busy being a team, working together. And because you're working together, it's easy to make suggestions if you have a good idea.”

Paper is patient

L'Ortye notes that the consulting industry is roughly divided into agencies that focus on 'hard' content and agencies that focus on 'soft' coaching: “What we do is connect those two sides. We very much believe that these are two sides of the same coin. That hard side — agreements about strategy, governance and governance — must be clear, otherwise you won't be able to hold each other accountable for roles and the like. But on the other hand, you also need to have your skills and behavior in order. Paper is patient: you can write out a wonderful control model, but if you don't work together as a team, you'll get nowhere. Those two things belong together and that is the proposition we want to put on the market.”

“Customers usually approach us with a substantive issue,” says Swinkels: “They may not have their question 100% clear yet, but of course there is a reason why they hire an external agency. They are usually less aware that there is a major behavioral component to that issue: “How do we work together? What kind of manager am I? How does my MT work? ' These are all pieces of that same puzzle.”

“The content is also further away from people, and is therefore less threatening,” adds L'Ortye: “If you can talk about the environment — about what the competition does and how to react to it — you're talking about something outside of you. But if you're going to see: “How do we talk about that together?” Then it suddenly comes close. It's also in people to initially feel more comfortable with things that are a little further away from them. But all those parts belong together. And while we're hired nine times out of ten on very traditional questions, I haven't met a director or manager who says: “Developing my people? I don't think that's a good idea. '”

“You can write out a great control model, but if you don't work together as a team, you'll get nowhere.”
— Dolph L'Ortye

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Puzzling together

In its first year, Summiteers supported various customers with a variety of issues with this approach. Swinkels: “Among other things, we were involved in optimizing the design of the Customer Experience Design department within Rabobank. After building a 'case for change', we developed a target operating model, including a 'way of working'. We also helped De Nederlandsche Bank take cooperation within a team to a higher level. The interesting thing about the combination we offer is also that the end result is better when you solve an issue together — as a team.”

“In such assignments, we often work with performance-based rates,” Swinkels continues. “This can be all or part of it.” L'Ortye adds: “This is something that really comes from ourselves. We want to show that we really believe in what we do. Sometimes we agree that nothing will be paid at all if the customer is dissatisfied, which, by the way, has never happened before. When we propose this, clients are pleasantly surprised, who are often still used to the traditional hourly bill.”

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Five-legged sheep

The growth of the agency also shows that Summiteers's approach works. In addition to the three founders, the team now includes three other consultants and an office manager. In addition, there is also cooperation with associates. “We still want to expand the team, but we don't want to grow in order to grow,” says L'Ortye: “'Doing cool things with cool people' remains the bar for us and we measure everything by that. To meet demand, we want to grow to a fixed base of ten this year. That's why we want to hire two new juniors/mediors and at least another senior in the coming months.”

“Our proposition also reflects the type of advisors we are looking for,” says Swinkels: “You have to have a thing for the content, be analytically strong, but relational skills — being able to talk to the customer about behavior — are also required. In addition, we want our people to be entrepreneurial. We are all building the office together. And perhaps most importantly: we just want to have a lot of fun with each other, internally and with the customer.” L'Ortye adds: “We realize that we're not making it easy, that we're kind of looking for a five-legged sheep. But we really don't expect a starter to be able to coach a manager or director on behavior right away. Of course, everyone has their own level of experience. What matters most is that you make our company a little more fun again.”