The essence is empowerment

Obviously a broad term, empowerment. As far as I'm concerned, it really is at the root of change. As a company, you have a number of stakeholders around you: partners, owners, suppliers, customers and the people (and entrepreneurs) in your company itself. Those own people are really my number one priority. By always starting with them, empowering them and giving them space, they experience more job happiness and develop better. I am convinced that this leads to better results in the long run. Not only for the company, but also for the customers. That is a belief for me and for us, a philosophy.

It is really a matter of creating a certain atmosphere: a culture with a lot of autonomy, where there is a lot of room for personal interpretation and input to make customers happy. This requires a certain mentality in which you assume someone's strength, knowledge and self-reliance. You should not believe in hierarchy as a basis. A lot of trust and a safe environment are crucial for us. Moreover, you must not only say it, but also feel it!

In this day and age, numbers often dominate and it sometimes seems out of fashion to take people and their well-being as a starting point. Spreadsheets and short-term thinking often dominate, where people are reduced to pawns who have to do what is needed. Where work processes are too often "designed" on the drawing boards of the technician, economist or lawyer. Incidentally, none of this takes away from the fact that we do need to keep scaling up, to become more efficient. 

So too in the kitchen industry. Just because you can put together a kitchen online (cupboard - cupboard - corner - another cupboard, choose the color, fit the worktop, fit the appliances, order and deliver) doesn't mean that professionals are no longer needed. Kitchens, on the other hand, are becoming increasingly complex, and many customers want to be relieved more and more. But they also want to be helped to make sustainable choices. And all this has to remain affordable. The need for sound advice (in the broad sense) and craftsmanship is not diminishing, but increasing.

It is therefore our goal as a service organization, that professionals can remain successful in this industry. That's what we do everything for. They are our number one priority. If they enjoy their work, there are many benefits: less turnover (quite essential these days) and more ambassadors for your company (important in building a strong brand). With proud employees and business owners, you can also more easily change toward customer needs. And so when your people are proud and happy, the customers naturally follow.

And if I may offer another tip: do it your way. With as few protocols as possible and by facilitating autonomy, true professionals go about finding the best way to meet customers' needs. Based on commitment. This is how our profession can evolve into the future, if you ask me. But what if I ask you? -