PaperDigits | Performance Marketing Agency

PaperDigits blikt vooruit met 20 man sterk. We geven met de directie vorm aan de visie van het bedrijf. Met deze bestemming plannen we de operatie en organiseren alles wat zal zorgen voor het bereiken van de visie.

Cultuurbouwer

The HERD Agencies

Bureaugroep The HERD heeft 1 missie: Stick together. Met alle bureau eigenaren geven we vorm aan de verbinding van de kudde. Met de bureau eigenaren individueel borgen we hun authenticiteit op bureau niveau.

Nobel Recruitment 

Nobel Recruitment wil een kickstarter voor Growth Journeys worden. Samen met de oprichters bouwen we door aan de cultuur en sturen we de operatie op deze visie af.

Het Scribe Collectief

Het Scribe Collectief staat op het punt van doorbraak in Nederland. Samen met Laura en Dennis bouwen we een sterk fundament. Om de juiste mensen te verenigen en duurzaam door te groeien.

Sam van der Steen

SMIT. Digitaal vakmanschap B.V.

SMIT. had behoefte aan focus en perspectief. Zij opereerde het laatste jaar vooral reactief. Samen bouwde we aan hun Tribe. Nu kunnen ze jaren vooruit.

Regiodienst

Regiodienst groeit uit tot meerdere vestigingen. Het leiderschap zocht manieren om consistent en consequent leiding te geven aan hun Tribe en zo een sterke cultuur te bewaken.

code d’azur

Worked on UX reservation flows and communications for Lotus Cars.

UX Designer

Liberty Global

Responsible for motion design on Horizon TV platforms.

Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Teaching in the minor User Experience Design.

Lector

Most entrepreneurs don't want to be people managers.

However...

Chances are your scale-up is experiencing these growing pains now:

→ The startup energy has faded
→ There's cynicism and unrest
→ Everyone is being stubborn
→ Growth has flattened to a plateau
→ Your motivation and enjoyment are diminishing

You're not alone. Every company goes through 4 phases:

Forming → Storming → Norming → Performing

Now, you're in the Storming phase with your scale-up. And you want to get to Performing. Right?

I fix that Norming phase for you.

We will build a strong company culture in your business that deals with the people problems. You'll get:

→ The winning mentality back
→ Confidence in you as a leader
→ Intrinsically motivated employees
→ A solid operation
→ Excitement to go back to the office and grow

Curious how to build a strong culture?

Follow me on LinkedIn, tag along and learn more.

My business was my baby. I was raising it, night and day. 

Until I became a father.

-

My wife said: "Sam, you are physically here. But you're not present."

I resisted...

But truth be told, she was right.

I was going left lane, sixth gear and full throttle and boy I loved it.

But the ones who love me, not so much.

I was busy, worked overtime and even dodged family time.

I had to learn how to slow down.

❌  Phone in the drawer
❌  No laptop after diner
❌  Plan work instead of freestyle

Desperate measures? Maybe. 

But to slow down a man on a mission, tough measures are needed.

And what do you know... it brought me this:

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄:

✅  I can accelerate AND decelerate
✅  I AM more and I DO less
✅  I can enjoy 'the little things'

And guess what? Business goes as usual or even better.

And if I got €1,- for every time people advised me to enjoy those 'little things'.

I would be RICH!

But cash + unrest = still poor.

I hope to inspire all entrepreneurial dads out there.

Enjoy your weekend folks!

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👋🏻 Hey, I'm Sam. 
🎯 My mission: Build strong teams in scale-ups.
➕ Follow me for: Inspiration on People & Culture.

Clear development paths are awesome.

It keeps everybody motivated at any time.

Newcomers tackle the grind. Improving their game and work towards autonomy. Mediors have the mix of hustle and muscle. Complexity will challenge and develop them. They make the backbone of your team.

Seniors drop knowledge bombs, mentor mastery and keep the quality tight and right. And Leads are there to boost the growth vibe and challenge the crew to aim and reach new heights.

Sounds like a winning team? You bet!

✔️ Get the game
✔️ Set the team
✔️ Achieve results

Keep it simple, keep it strong.

That's all folks.

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👋🏻 Hey, I'm Sam. 
🎯 My mission: Build strong teams in scale-ups.
➕ Follow me for: Inspiration on People & Culture.

One question changed the course of my life.

And it might changes yours too.

-

2018, I am still a designer at a tech startup.
I don't hate my job. I don't love my job.

To experiment, I swap 1 day of work as designer
and start teaching design at the University of Amsterdam.

Because deep down I feel an emptiness. 
It is an empty space in my gut in which it echoes: 

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵... 𝘪𝘵... 𝘪𝘵...

But what IS?!

It made me change employers
I turn into a bad employee sometimes
and it keeps me up at night.

It's one question that changes everything for me.

It sounds like this:

𝑻𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏? ~ Dirk Schouten

It took me months and months to figure out
because I first had to know:

Who am I?

They don't teach you this at school.
So by now I do a job that is mainly transactional.
And I lack a deep sense of fulfilment.

In what follows next, is my journey of personal development.
I plan to write a blog about it soon because it's a long,
yet interesting story, with many tools and tips.

But to end this post,

If you find yourself in a job that does not really satisfy you,
ask yourself this:

𝘋𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴?

At age 31,
Helping founders build a winning team,
I feel blessed to say: Yes.

Do you?

Happy Easter folks.

How an A-player turned into a C-player.

Yikes.. This is my story.

-

By now, you know I build strong teams. But before that, I was a designer.

I worked at a startup. Where everything had to be designed. Everything was new, to all of us, and we were building great stuff for happy clients.

At some point, about 2 years later.

We became a real company. With 15 employees, we grew fast. Crazy enough, my motivation started declining.

I couldn’t find my way anymore and in hindsight, I have to commit, I started to vent this.

The happy uplifting designer was replaced by a grumpy criticaster.

After 3 months, I left.

-

What happened?

Looking back, it’s easy to connect the dots. I was not aware of my needs, let alone able to communicate or act on them. I was waiting it out and hoping for better times.

They never came.

Because the company had changed and I was still the same.

I did not have the self-knowledge and the ability to adapt to the new context that had arisen around me.

-

I did 100’s of tests and read all the books.

But I found the answers about myself in 3 sources. And you can too:

1. 📚 The Big Leap - G. Hendricks
2. 👤 The Enneagram (test)
3. ⚡️ The Motivation Code (test)

I am happy to say that at 31 years of age, I know exactly in which context I should be to be of value and feel motivated.

And here is the kicker:

That could have been in that start-up.

If only I knew more back then.

-

Invest in yourself, invest in your people, and build a strong team.

Have a good week folks.

Speed without direction = going nowhere, fast.

We declared a clear vision for the fast scaling PaperDigits .

-

A vision keynote/powerpoint is the excellent tool to inform your team where you as business leader ultimately want to end up.

As we did here on a friday afternoon. Grab a beer and gather around. Who said team meetings should be boring?

We aligned the team on the long term trajectory of PaperDigits . And as we work towards a strong company culture for this team, we notice how much inspiration for decision making that vision gives us.

We have something to refer to. To fall back upon and justify decision making.

Decisions like:

- What do we write on our new website?
- What milestones do we need to achieve?
- What roles and experience do we need?
- What type of customer really needs us?
- How do we coach on behaviour and performance?

And as you know, growing a business IS decision making.

All day long.

But there is one decision to rule them all: 

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜?

-

👋🏻 Hey, I'm Sam. 
🎯 My mission: Build strong teams in scale-ups.
➕ Follow me for: Inspiration on People & Culture.

Stuck around 15 employees? You're not alone.

Once you've found product-market fit and are building with about 15 people, something strange happens:

→ People start to become cynical
→ Motivation leaks out of the team
→ Performance and results decline

What happened here?

Growth went so well recent years and everybody went all-in.

Where is everybody now?

Well, a few very important things have changed:

→ You're no longer in the day-to-day operations
→ Turns out you're not really a people manager after all
→ You haven't established a system for growth yet

And that brought you in the Storming Phase.

Your business and team grew but the systems and structures didn't grew along. Because the daily hustle and business only got bigger and draws more attention.

So, what's next?

In the Norming Phase, your focus has to shift inward again. You will have to build systems and structures to have something to fall back on. And align the intrinsic motivation of your people with the company's vision to get the results up again.

Exhausting? Yes.
Rewarding? Yes.

The longer you wait, the more damage. Start norming this quarter.

We nailed our core values to the wall.

But nothing really changed..

-

Here is what most companies miss:

Declaring your core values is a start. Not an end.

Core values help business owners and their teamleads to:

1️⃣ Coach on behaviour that leads to good collaboration and results.

2️⃣ Hire people that are a good addition to the team and their mission.

3️⃣ Make decisions that help secure what is important to the business.

4️⃣ Allow other people to make decisions for the business, delegating responsibilities.

-

Here is a recipe for good core values that actually do something for your business.

1. What do we want to achieve, and so, what kind of values do we need to secure (in order to deliver that promise)?

2. What kind of decision making and behaviour does 1. demand from us as a team (including leadership).

3. How do we remind and incorporate the values in our daily practice to remind ourselves on 1. and 2.?

They key is to make core values:

Functional.

Otherwise, they’ll be catching dust.

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👋🏻 Hey, I'm Sam. 
🎯 My mission: Build strong teams in scale-ups.
➕ Follow me for: Inspiration on People & Culture.

I was sentenced 9 till 5, for life.

Here is how I got out.

-

If you look for a shortcut, an easy way, this post is not for you.

In my escape, there were:

- Confrontation on self worth
- Financial investments
- New skills to master
- Painful conclusions
- Fear of rejection
- Responsibility
- Big doubts

I withstood all the above to answer one question.

One question that got me out.

And it sounds like this:

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝?

You might have to read that again.

What it means is: When the world calls upon your talents every day and you are allowed to do your work with endless satisfaction, that is total freedom.

Work stops feeling like work.

It just works.

I hope this post starts, continues or even boost your journey towards fulfilment.

Keep it up, you are doing great.

P.s. It took me about 5 years to find it. And I will do it all over again if I have to.

-

👋🏻 Hey, I'm Sam. 
🎯 My mission: Build strong teams in scale-ups.
➕ Follow me for: Inspiration on People & Culture.

Complexiteitshonger. The lead of liever niet. Waar heeft de groep mij nodig?
Willekeurige motivaties van drie collega’s bij Florpartners.

Afgelopen maand hebben we de persoonlijke motivaties samen met Sam van der Steen en met behulp van M-Code concreet gemaakt. Met enige kwetsbaarheid vertelde iedereen zijn motivational flow: 1. Wat is jouw trigger? 2. Wat heb je nodig in het proces? En 3. Welk resultaat is uiteindelijk voor jou bevredigend?

Zó belangrijk om van elkaar te weten wat jou drijft. Om de juiste team-samenstellingen te maken. Een extra handleiding om elkaar goed in te zetten. Om rekening te houden met elkaar. Voor een Gezonde Mens. 
Hoe blijven we hier mee en aan werken? Dat gaan we de komende tijd met elkaar ontdekken.

Beetje complexiteitshonger kunnen we hier wel bij gebruiken, toch Bart?  

#mcode #motivatie #gezondemens 

I kept 3 talented A-players on board for my customers.

Here is how:

Talented people can work anywhere they want.

The only reason that make them stay, is love for the club.

YOUR CLUB.

But you have to nurture that love. It takes attention and care to establish and maintain the preference for your business.

Here is what I did:

We shaped and present the vision for the company.

❌  No BS story
❌  No promises
❌  No sugar coating

Just the vision. Where are we going. And why do we need you to tag along?

In this way, we offer meaning to the people who work for us.

And that makes them stay.

One A-player said to me after the presentation:

"𝘠𝘰 𝘚𝘢𝘮, 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 7 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵."

It's not the money. Not the status. It's the journey.

Something to believe in and to be part of.

So craft that vision presentation, gather your team and inspire them with the destination you have in mind. And keep your A-players on board.

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👋🏻 Hey, I'm Sam. 
🎯 My mission: Build strong teams in scale-ups.
➕ Follow me for: Inspiration on People & Culture.

“Squeeze it Sam, don’t crush it.” 🧘‍♂️

Sometimes you bump into those lessons you’ve learned from a mentor.

-

Yesterday I prepared a salad and I laughed out loud as I recalled one of those lessons learned on a student job.

I was a kitchen help in a restaurant and the chef told be to be gentle with the salad when you mixed it.

He made me feel like the karate kid.

Funny how that sticks with you and 15 years later still comes up.

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What lessons do you recall from previous mentors?

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