121. Teamwork

Dear Gerard,

Obviously I have also given colleagues another chance at times. Partly because of the same reasons as you, that the person in question was either sympathetic, or prepared to work hard and had an open attitude. It is a matter of finding work that will fit well with the person in question. In football if you’re a good defender, I won’t suggest you play as a forward. It is the same at a company – if someone is in the wrong position you look for something more suited to their skills.I don’t make allowances any longer for colleagues who are not cooperative. Ultimately a company is about teamwork and for that you need an open mind. Talking about cooperation, how do you promote it within your company and how do you combine it with goals and rewards? I have just read a book called ‘exponential organizations’, which is about why new companies like Uber, Snap Chat, WhatsApp, and Tesla and the now somewhat older companies, like Google and Facebook, are growing so fast compared to traditional businesses.

In the past, it took a growth company twenty years to reach a market capitalization of one billion. It took Google eight years and then Facebook five years, but the latest success stories, growth companies such as Tesla and Snapchat, only needed one or two years. There are several factors that contribute to this, but one of the most important is the openness within these companies. And in particular in terms of goals to be met by anyone.

We have a vision and we work from there to an annual plan and from the annual plan targets are set for management and staff also set goals. But what these companies do is that they share all the goals and make them transparent to all employees. So everyone can see what the goals are, board members and staff alike, and also whether these targets are met. We do not do all this, but I actually think it’s a super idea. Firstly, I think it is motivating to see that everyone is working to improve themselves and the growth of the company is accelerated when all the targets are met and everyone is working towards the greater goals and vision of the company.

But what I struggle with is – how you do you reward the meeting of targets? Should rewards always be financial? This is now a complication for the financial sector in the Netherlands as the government prohibits a generous bonus policy and continually increasing the basic salary as quarterly goals are achieved is not a long-term option. Moreover, if everyone’s goals are public, a certain expectation among staff is created and if goals are continually met, you need to take care not to blow up the company financially. Most of the US growth companies work by granting shares or options. I am still wrestling with a solution and the implementation and except for financial implementation at an individual level, I still have no firm idea of how to introduce rewards at a team level. This would be effective if you had a group of people who can work better together, as they set themselves common goals and also know what they can expect if these goals are achieved. I’m curious about your opinions and if you know any companies which work with such transparent goals and rewards for team targets.

Regards,

Erik