Years ago, in my former life, I was one of the decision-makers who enabled my former company to invest in Tappx. I suppose that created a link in the advertising and digital field with Daniel Reina, CEO and Co-founder of the company. Given its current value, maybe I should have asked for a share or two… but let’s not focus on the money, as this is a beautiful love story.
Having redesigned my professional life to focus on helping organizations – finding shortcuts, working through problems, setting challenges – leaving behind many years of providing digital services and leading large international teams, I was lucky enough to experience Tappx’s growth from the front row and I am very proud to be able to work alongside professionals who are, above all, great people and more reliable and dedicated than most people I have met.
Being one of the pioneers of the mobile and digital industry has shaped my understanding of business and team management. With a background in communication, I left Barcelona to discover Madrid and the world as a father, but I was still young enough to be able to enjoy one of the most effervescent times in the history of the technology sector: the beginning of the 21st century.
Our current relationship with Tappx started in late 2018 and has grown closer over the years, intensifying my time commitment and level of integration. The continuity that the CEO of the company was looking for, in terms of my contribution, focused on 2 types of project:
A year later, this led to a couple of sessions being held with all employees, whereby we worked on powerful concepts such as Purpose and Values in a somewhat relaxed setting. These are the key GPS markers in the development of any company or group of people with a common purpose. Without them, you don’t know where you’re going.
In the 20th century, all businesses were built on 3 fundamentals and 1 equation (the 3 Ps):
Profit = Product + Process
Fortunately, during this century, we have been able to add 2 key Ps to this axiom that give meaning, continuity and solidity to the original idea: People and Purpose. We believe that no business can truly be successful without working with these concepts as basic business elements.
Returning to my story, a few months after those initial sessions, world events brought a lot of things to a stop and we had to put some processes on hold. Nevertheless, the wise saying goes that when God shuts a door, He always opens a window, so the flip side of the COVID coin was the appearance of the first Human Resources person in the history of the organization, who over time has become my partner in crime when it comes to defining needs, developments and projects.
When Pat Iglesias joined us, the company had only about 25 employees and now there are 100 of us, which is extremely intense growth over 3 years. Given this speed, the difficulty of sizing and the needs that have arisen have been a constant challenge. Even more so, considering that growth has not only taken place organically, but also through the acquisition of projects which, moreover, were located far from the Barcelona headquarters.
Based on this context, my contribution to the project concentrates on 3 main areas and with specific intervention models:
Let me give you some details about the 3 headings, so as not to sound pretentious.
Talent development and retention are crucial. These are perhaps the most important elements of a company’s success and many actions have an impact on the delicate relationship between employee and employer.
The inclusion of the prominent P for People, as I indicated earlier, elevates human resources (so reviled in the past) to an essential level within a company. People become the company’s biggest asset. Whoever denies this does not understand what is happening around them. This is a structural ASSET. It’s the BIG CHANGE in mindset. This is the REAL REVOLUTION.
Identifying talent, rewarding it appropriately, understanding emotional fluctuations, continuing to search the market, building an attractive proposition, managing the hybrid model from a balanced position… is a Herculean task. Fortunately, the level of turnover is smooth and we manage to maintain a high level of engagement without breaking the bank. The advertising sector manages high salaries in certain positions, but the work we do focuses on getting ahead, with individual follow-ups with key players and providing motivation for growth, stability and visibility based on contribution.
People are the main asset of the company, the great change of mentality, the real revolution.
I am fortunate to know and work with many successful entrepreneurs. And I value this success from the perspective of building a project that generates wealth and adds value, regardless of whether it has a turnover of 5 million or 500 million. Well, they all agree on one point: the most complicated thing, the great challenge they face, is not the market, competition, innovation, regulation or trends… it is the people who collaborate and work on the project.
That is why the care and support we provide in this area has such a substantial impact on the results.
One of the most motivating projects that can be undertaken in an organization is the cultural definition and design of an umbrella model that can accommodate the realities of all acquired cultures. At Techsoulogy, the project could not be called anything else… indeed, we call it Culturology. This has allowed us to create a cross-cutting team that represents all areas, with profiles that encompass different positions, seniority and genders.
The process is guided by a methodology used by many of the world’s largest companies: Culture Model Canvas. Companies such as Spotify, Patagonia, Microsoft, Ikea and Amazon have defined their organizational culture thanks to a canvas that allows you to visualize the personality – the spirit – of the company in a very simple and activatable way. The possibility of collectively finding the identifying attributes of Techsoulogy is proving to be a motivating and inspiring process that is being validated by the Steering Committee and sponsored by the CEO.
The objectives of such a clear understanding of the company’s culture come with a series of objectives that have a positive impact on the business: loyalty and retention of existing and incoming talent, alignment in terms of strategic priorities, decision making models, definition of feedback style, meeting protocol, etc… In short, the life that the organization generates, which allows us to establish productive relationships.
This project is iterative and is prolonged over time as it applies to a being as alive as the company itself, which is why it entails a high level of continuity and dedication.
Finally, the third major collaborative building block is the Leadership Model, which has a particular impact on middle managers, known as Team Leaders, who bear the greatest weight in terms of responsibility for team cohesion and development. Having the privilege of being able to work side by side with this layer is a pleasure. It is a process that combines mentoring, training, coaching and facilitation, and is supported by individual follow-ups and team activities on a cadenced basis.
The training program is designed under the umbrella of a very powerful concept: Self-Leadership. After all, it is impossible to manage a number of people properly if you do not develop the relevant competencies to be able to do it yourself. By working together over a number of sessions, we discover that many of the circumstances and challenges we all face are more common than we realize. This is where we use collective intelligence dynamics to work out solutions, find answers and reach implementation agreements. Thinking out loud in a group is sometimes cathartic and can build powerful bonds between all Team Leaders.
In conclusion, my involvement as a corporate coach at Techsoulogy allows me to consider myself an asset to the company and I enjoy the eureka moments as if they were my own. It is a very rewarding collaboration that also allows me to continue to grow and learn, as the company itself does, while retaining the talent it has acquired. It is a kind of symbiosis that I trust will continue for as long as we can mutually invest in each other.
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