Competition is won with Culture

Culture Mirrors your business

I can’t help but see culture mirroring the business strategy and product technology. Culture is there, following and strengthening your carefully chosen strategy. We acknowledge that culture is a key ingredient for business success. A certain culture will enhance employee engagement, which in return has a positive impact on your results. However, we often treat culture as a given. I believe we can be more proactive with culture—making it a priority just like we do with our business and product strategy.

As the Chief People Officer at Nmbrs, my role has been in place since the team grew to over 28 people, making people and organization a priority for us. Back when we started, we were the cloud disruptors in the Dutch Payroll software market, embracing an agile and flat organizational model. We had progressive ideas about HR technology and data ownership, and with that, we gained momentum. From the very beginning, we also organized ourselves sustainably and progressively. We felt the need to lead and set an example.

Culture becomes

Returning to the statement that culture mirrors your business, it’s because the culture is in a lot of organizations defined by two things: the lifecycle and the product strategy. In the competitive Software Technology branch, newcomers tend to have the newest and fastest platform, becoming a company's main competitors. They can quickly outpace established players. Staying relevant is essential. The product strategy determines the focus in this playing field. Software brands may choose to be price fighters with free basic subscriptions, offer product excellence with brilliant experts, or prioritize customer intimacy with a large consultant support team.

Each of these carefully chosen models has an effect on how work is done and by whom. Young sales talents thrive in the price fighter model. Independent developers are common in the product excellence model and ambitious, seasoned consultants dominate the customer intimacy models. Consequently, the HR toolkit needed to support these talents will differ. This is how a culture is formed. To attract young sales talents, there is a need for a strong recruitment team and an efficient onboarding program to get them up to speed fast. For expert developers, facilitating processes and knowledge-sharing sessions to encourage deeper exploration are essential. And for seasoned consultants and support agents, establishing well-defined career paths and training programs will help stimulate them. The culture emerges based on the types of employees you want to attract, serve, and retain.

Culture Evolves

Another aspect of culture is its evolution throughout the business lifecycle. It transforms from startup to scale-up and eventually becomes established.

Startups, in general, have the youngest and newest generation on board. These young generations tend to embrace the latest ways of working and technology. Startups intentionally cultivate a modern image to attract these newcomers. In my day, it was long hours followed by late Friday After Work drinks that made me feel part of the team. Nowadays, we need to consider workcations and meeting-free Fridays to appeal to young talent. And somewhere in between, we had ping pong tables and baristas. The startup culture continues to evolve, aiming to be attractive to young, cost-effective talents who, in return, bring flexibility and ambition.

As organizations scale, hierarchy and processes play a crucial role in creating structure amidst the chaos. Scale-ups begin to seek experienced individuals who can contribute to a more mature way of working. Gradually, the youthful energy wanes, and salaries rise. It’s highly likely that more parents join the workforce, seeking stability and maturity. They value role clarity and prioritize output-driven goals. A healthy office lunch takes precedence over office drinks. Just as parents rely on a village for support, they also seek backup in their work environment. This shift leads to a new level of collaboration, impacting the overall culture.

Once a company becomes established the group of loyal employees form the core of the workforce. Seasoned employees often take on managerial roles. Company and team traditions become the bedrock of the culture. Events like annual hackathons or end-of-year parties become sacred cows. At this stage, cultural change is not easily achieved.

When recruiters discuss the culture with candidates, they emphasize the vibe, solid growth opportunities, and sacred elements. The HR department selects performance and review tools aligned with the organization’s stage. For start-ups, there may be no specific tools yet, and also role clarity is not a need, due to all the adaptations in tasks and direction. During scaling up, standardization becomes essential. Roles, salary systems and review procedures start to matter. In established companies you will see a shift and more focus when it comes to HR on leadership programs. The leadership teams are in the lead for most culture-driven aspects.

Beat the competition and remain relevant: A blended culture.

Maintain youthful energy for innovation and flexibility. Embrace the maturity that comes with scaling up. And foster steady loyalty for consistent performance. At Nmbrs, we actively sought this perfect blend. We believed that culture should lead and influence our future product and tech strategy. Our intent was to design a culture that aligns with our vision.From the outset, we prioritized sustainable growth. We adopted an agile approach, emphasizing short production cycles, small teams, and effective networks. Innovation thrives when people feel safe, comfortable, and recognized. We empowered autonomous teams, trusting them to make the right decisions. As we scaled up, we split teams to maintain alignment. Surprisingly, we never felt the need to seek traditional managers.

Essential ingredients for a culture that encourages the right behavior lie in our core values: autonomy, trust, and collaboration. It’s the people who bring these values to life. We actively nurtured and fostered them from the beginning.

Our hiring process begins with an intense cultural test and a cultural interview. Contrary to seeking more of the same profiles, we value qualities like being a team player, a critical thinker, and having self-reflection. Acknowledging these attributes over technical skills resonates with candidates. During their initial weeks on the job, they grasp how essential this aspect of selection truly is. They feel these values from day one as they integrate into their teams.

To continually reinforce our core values, we’ve incorporated two multi-day team-building sessions into our annual cycle. During these sessions, teams assess their status: storming, norming, performing. We repeat this process when teams undergo changes. By making this a standard program, we genuinely invest in our core values. Teams benefit from understanding their current position and identifying areas for growth. This awareness guides their task selection and planning from the shared backlog.

Our deliberate choice is to grow while maintaining small teams. As cells expand, we split them. Multiple teams can collaborate within the same domain, sharing a backlog. Each team brings its unique strengths, resulting in a harmonious blend of competition and camaraderie. The responsibility for the entire domain remains high, fueling inspiration for innovation.

Within our teams, we foster a culture of feedback. We’re comfortable providing constructive input, and we receive it even better. This dynamic is crucial when there’s no manager overseeing individual progress. Encouraging self-leadership is another facet of our annual cycle. Coaches and HR business partners (HRBPs) play pivotal roles. Our coaches, integral to Nmbrs, are highly valued. HRBPs, distinct from team managers, support all colleagues, reinforcing trust beyond the team boundaries.

Over 15 years, this culture has shaped where we stand today. The world around us evolves rapidly. Competition intensifies, and we now have new ownership with Visma. Talent scarcity affects us just like everyone else. We’ve transitioned to a hybrid work model, with increased work intensity rather than longer hours.

Recognizing the need for work-life balance, we sought a new impulse for our culture. In the midst of stability and maturity as an established player, we boldly implemented the four-day workweek. The impact was tremendous. I’ve written another article about it. Among its effects was a reinforcement of our core values and culture. This progressive step instilled trust in our colleagues, even under these new circumstances and in this new era. They sensed the spirit of the rebellious startup we once were, reigniting creativity and innovation. The vibe returned.

Shaping Our Future Culture

What lies ahead for Nmbrs? We’ll continue our model without managers—agile and with the four-day workweek. Coaches and annual team-building remain integral. However, we’re shaking up the themes for these sessions. Our focus shifts toward becoming a network organization, combining teams during team-building activities to foster connections. This approach prevents these events from becoming sacred cows. We’re also rethinking our annual hackathon and summer event—deliberately.

Our ongoing ambition is to be progressive, striving for improvement each day. It’s not driven solely by revenue goals from our owner; rather, it’s a result of our culture. Part of our vision is that we enjoy the journey. And that, we are.