How to manage teamwork: tips from a consulting company #MemberSpotlight

At the heart of Mindspace is our vibrant community of members. Their personalities, insights and values enrich both our global network and local experience. We love individuality and people who do things differently. So we were delighted to sit down with our valued member at Mindspace Nicolaas Beetsstraat in Utrecht, the Netherlands – Gjerryt Leuverink – who is the Strategic Consultant and Managing Partner at the consultancy firm De Selectie (The Selection). They support companies and governments with their goals, strategy, plans and organization, helping them achieve what they want, with ‘no bullsh*t consultancy’, as they call it. Gjerryt manages the firm with his business partners and fellow Mindspacers Charlotte Bosveld and Gerben van den Hurk. Together they boast an impressive client list including KLM, The City of Amsterdam, Amnesty International and the National Railroads.

Read the article for tips directly from a consulting company on how to manage teamwork.

What change is your company creating in the world?

First, we do consultancy differently. De Selectie aims both companies and organizations to progress in this world. I love to help people and companies make progress with their ambitions and beliefs. But I hate it when there is too much ‘blah blah blah’. We get straight to the point, and don’t complicate it by using all the buzzwords. We don’t dazzle you with reports or overwhelm you with hordes of consultants, as our motto is “less talk leads to more results”. Basically, we don’t make complicated agreements or contracts; our consultancy service is simple, to the point and spot on. 

Second, our consultancy team operates as a high performance sports team. We think of our consultancy jobs as matches: we want to play them competitively, with passion, and to secure the win for our client. This also means that there are no individual bonuses (only team targets and bonuses), employment contracts are a one page online document (and include perks such as unlimited holidays). In summary, we take transparency to the next level. All members know all the financial details of De Selectie, including their co-workers’ wages. 

Why did you opt for Mindspace? 

Mindspace is our ‘home ground’. It provides the right buzz and atmosphere for us and we love to welcome our clients in the lobby and meeting rooms. We like the community because there are always people around to meet. Certainly, the bar might be our favorite place. We have Monday Drinks, Tuesday Drinks, … you get the point! In addition, we just love our community manager. She understands what we are doing and will always be the kindest person to receive our clients. Paulina feels more like a team member instead of ‘just the receptionist’. It’s great that we can use the office 24/7 and everything is included: coffee, tea, meeting rooms, reception desk, wifi, cleaning etc’. We can fully focus on our job! We also hosted our festival at Mindspace last year and it was great. Watch the video, if you like!

What are you focusing on for your company for 2023? 

Our company is growing and more and more clients find us. We would love to have more customers understanding the point of our direct approach. Also, as a team we want to improve our performance even more. To that end we are going to Bilbao in September. We want to find out what Athletic Bilbao is doing to stay true to their beliefs while competing at the highest level, the Spanish Primera Division of football.

Parting words on how to manage teamwork?

If you want to get to know us better or need some ‘simple, straightforward, no bullsh*t consultancy’: give us a call. Or e-mail: [email protected]. Why 14? Ah! Every player at De Selectie picks their own shirt number. But you can’t pick 14. It was the shirt number of Johan Cruijff, Dutch football legend and our inspirer: “playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is”.