Building high performing teams
An insight into our view on Human Capital
- Industry: Human Capital
One brilliant idea can change the world and teamwork can move mountains. That is why we are serious about attracting and nurturing both talented professionals and seasoned executives. We aim to provide them with the support and care they need in order to excel in their daily jobs. Through team training, personal coaching and having access to a network of entrepreneurs and managers of current and former portfolio companies, we build and sustain strong leadership teams and high-performance organizations. Furthermore, our investments are always based on a strategy of growth, which requires a culture adopting change and transformation.
Human Capital: the least tangible, yet the most crucial element of value creation, we try to give you an insight in how we look at it.
Human Capital according to Egeria
Strong leadership
Partnering with private equity can be a daunting prospect for some entrepreneurs: both the stakes and the pressure to perform often increase. Having worked with dozens of entrepreneurs over the past 23 years, we understand the effect this can have on entrepreneurs and their management teams. That is why we pay close attention in the first years of our partnership to the way that management teams work together, both within their teams and with our investment team.
The key lies in combining our hearts with our heads. It sounds simple, but we live in a professional environment that is predominantly driven by rationale. Yet, we are people with feelings, desires and shortcomings that cannot always be willed into order.
At Egeria, we also understand the pressures that modern-day working life presents to people. We aim to help entrepreneurs and management teams to become effective, efficient and balanced, both in their work as a team and in their individual professional lives.
One of the benefits of being part of Egeria is that management teams get access to a database of knowledge and experience through regular contact with other entrepreneurs and management teams. Many of the challenges that companies face, have been faced before, so there is tremendous learning potential by making use of the Egeria network of entrepreneurs, managers and non-executives. Examples include an annual two-day event in Mallorca with all management teams and non-executive board members focused on personal connection, sharing challenges and having fun, or themed knowledge sharing events focused on ESG, Operational Excellence and Commercial Effectiveness. But also during the course of regular business there can be a need for coaching one-on-one. Our in-house Human Capital Director, Kasper Pruijsen, provides hands-on support to management teams in dealing with all sorts of human capital management issues.
Building the organization
Supporting the development of organizations is a tailor-made process, where we build on >20 years of experience with all types of organizations and people. With the right people doing the right things, the results will come.
Our expertise includes:
- Succession planning: sometimes the role and time commitment of entrepreneurs, families or other key people changes over the course of our investment period. We will make sure that the organization is ready to continue both with and without the people at the steering wheel today
- Attracting talent and adding new capabilities to the organization: making sure that the organization can grow in a sustainable way
- Transformation and/or reorganization: sometimes a necessary evil, we have the expertise to do so in the best long-term interests of the business
- Keeping talent on board and engaged with an active Learning & Development approach
- Governance structure in a new shareholder setting: for example, implementing a supervisory board or board of advice with seasoned industry professionals to serve as a sounding board for the management team
Examples of tools we use include connections in our own network, the ability to be a linking pin in the untransparent world of recruiters, experience with Learning & Development programs and best practices when it comes to evaluation and incentive structures.
DNA & Culture
Culture is a unique collection of values, beliefs and behavior shared by an organization. A next phase of growth goes hand in hand with new ideas, new skills, a different mindset and change, which often sparks uncertainty and fear. We strongly believe in fostering the DNA of a company, by focusing on keeping the elements of the company culture that make the difference, while promoting growth is crucial. This requires leadership, transparency and the ability to translate a long-term vision into small, concrete and specific initiatives. Egeria actively supports management teams on this topic with a continuous dialogue, and can help finding the right external support where needed.