I am a firm believer in collaboration, trust and respect. As someone once told me long ago , without the basis of trust you cannot have conflict that results in positive things. But when trust is there, conflict can be open and transparent, based on mutual respect. And in that scenario, conflict (some would call it having a good discussion) leads to better things (here in The Netherlands we say ‘zonder wrijving geen glans’, in English ‘without friction no shine’). Without trust, conflict leads to throwing around opinions, people only sending their message and not listening, or even worse to people agreeing while they actually don’t agree but are just afraid to say so or agreeing to something they don’t agree with for political reasons.
Dutch people are I think well-known for being what we call open and honest; non-Dutch might call it rude ?. We wear our hearts on your sleeves and prefer to think of ourselves as being ‘direct’ or ‘honest’. Well, I fear I am more Dutch than most Dutch people; I have taken the concepts of being open and honest a bit further, at least with my collegues. Sometimes I am too open, but being who I am I take the hits and proceed to work towards a more open and transparent world for all to live in. Yes, I probably overestimate what I can accomplish in one lifetime but hey, I don’t want to change who I am too much. I blame (big hug, Mom & Dad) my parents for that of course, they raised me and my siblings that way. I see the same characteristics in my sister and brothers. We all somehow can’t abide secretive, political or dishonest maneuverings around us. And we can’t keep ourselves from trying to change that. You can imagine that doesn’t always work to our advantage.
But I digress… Why did I start writing this down? Well, 4 years ago I started an adventure with a handful of people. Called Dynasource. The name came from dynamic sourcing (not extinct animals as some might think at first). The idea behind Dynasource was to make the ICT market, or any other market for that matter, transparent and open. Individuals, I think, should do the work they are good at, work they really want to do. Place people in their power and they will do a better job and have fun at is as well. One of the founders of Dynasource, Richard Bross, once said something along these lines; all people should go to work in the morning with joy, come home at the end of the day with a little bit of extra energy; live from week to week, not from weekend to weekend.
Dynasource was all about creating a direct link between demand and supply of individual expertise. No middleman, no politics, just direct, transparent collaboration between the owners of expertise (professionals) and those who in the end need that expertise. Expertise that is made ‘real’ and truthful by all certifications that professional has and how people who worked with the professional have experienced that professional. Creating transparency in an ecosystem that has been obscure and cloudy for decades, where it has become normal to be contacted by headhunters and recruiters who want to earn from selling your expertise to the highest bidder.
So it seems my upbringing had brought me to the right place. Every startup is a struggle, but the Dynasource startup has been a worthy struggle for a headstrong Dutchman who promotes transparency and openness. And I sincerely hope, from the bottom of my heart, that the Dynasource message will slowly help change the way our ecosystem works; from a non-transparent, recruiter predominated market to an ecosystem where individuals have control over their own expertise and decide where and how to use that expertise to do what they do best; what they like most. I understand this is not a reachable goal for all labour markets, but I firmly believe the ICT sector will move in that direction in the end.
Unfortunately the Dynasource adventure has ended some time ago. The idea behind it is something I still firmly believe in. Luckily Microsoft and LinkedIn have picked this up as well of course, launching initiatives to help people acquire the right skills and be in the right place with the right knowledge (see here). The think I can do, now that the Dynasource concept has ended, it make sure I help others be in that right place – put them in their strength, and make sure people around me are ready for the future. It’s one of the most important objectives a manager can achieve.
