MTA has grown significantly in recent years. What started as an organization with a strong family character has developed into an internationally operating player in high-tech mechatronic systems. With that growth, complexity also increased. Not only in processes and projects, but especially in collaboration, decision-making and expectations.
Within MTA, this led to a fundamental question: how do you remain connected and human-centered in your collaboration, while results, sharpness and professionalism become increasingly important? The answer was not sought in a separate culture program, but in a strategic choice that provides direction to the entire organization. That choice was named: WINNING TOGETHER.
Robert Manders, CEO MTA Group
For Robert Manders, CEO of MTA Group, it was clear from the beginning that WINNING TOGETHER could not be a non-committal initiative. ‘We were faced with the challenge of taking the next step as an organization, from an organically developed family culture to a more performance-driven way of working. That meant we had to become sharper in what we do, what we stand for and what that requires from everyone.’
The core of that choice was challenging. MTA consciously decided to move from a strongly family-oriented way of working to a more results-driven culture. While maintaining the strength of connection, with each other and with the client, as part of MTA Group’s expertise. ‘This goes far beyond providing service and having implicit good intentions. We need to fully express our expertise, clearly scope projects and make explicit agreements internally and with clients. And to uphold those together.’
WINNING TOGETHER is therefore not a separate program, but the foundation of the strategic vision of MTA Group. The collaboration between management, internal expertise and external guidance ensured a strong start of a WINNING TOGETHER movement for the years ahead.
Eddie van der Wereld, COURIUS
The trajectory did not start with training sessions, but with making ‘culture’ explicit behavior in the context of the organization. What do we understand by WINNING TOGETHER? What does that mean in behavior, in choices and in daily collaboration?
‘We did not do this alone. Step by step and with a clear direction, we involved the rest of the organization so that input from different perspectives could be used to define what we mean by WINNING TOGETHER’, as explained by Bianca Louwers, People & Culture Lead at MTA Group.
Under the guidance of COURIUS, culture was translated from abstract values into concrete actions. Connection became the starting point: we do it together. Across departments, between levels, and especially in conversations that were previously avoided.
A deliberate design choice was to start with leadership and governance before involving the organization more broadly.
Eddie van der Wereld (COURIUS): ‘You cannot roll out culture. You first have to determine together where you want to go and what behavior belongs to that. Only then can you expect people to move along.’
Bianca Louwers, People & Culture MTA Group
Gradually it became visible where the real work was. Not in structures or models, but in the conversation itself. The trajectory asked for a different attitude: bring it on. Not avoiding the challenging conversation, but engaging in it.
According to Bianca Louwers, People & Culture Lead at MTA Group, having deeper conversations was new for many people. ‘It was not only about collaborating, but about truly addressing each other. Regardless of function or position. That brought conversations to the table that had previously remained unaddressed. Now conversations are about: what is really going on here at the level of behavior and how can we become better together? That is truly valuable.’
Daring to engage in constructive conflict required practice. From teams, from leaders and from the organization as a whole. Eddie: ‘Safety here did not mean that everything became pleasant or comfortable. It meant that the conversation could continue to exist, even when it became challenging.’
Robert Manders, CEO MTA Group
The movement towards more results-driven working explicitly did not focus on working harder, but on adding value. Win-win became an important touchstone: for clients, for the organization and for employees.
Robert saw a clear shift in this: ‘Decisions are taken less individually and more from the collective interest. That helps us to remain agile and resilient and to make clear, conscious choices.’
At the same time, authenticity remained a boundary condition. The DNA of MTA Group is formed by the people who work there and that DNA had to be preserved. Even if that means that differences, doubts and tensions become visible. Bianca: ‘Precisely by allowing that, honest conversations arise. Not making it personal, looking from your own circle of influence and searching for ways to truly WIN TOGETHER.’
WINNING TOGETHER is currently further implemented within the organization. The starting points are gradually embedded in leadership development and in the HR cycle, so that it does not become a temporary program, but part of how MTA learns, works and makes decisions together.
Bianca Louwers, People & Culture MTA Group
The effects of the movement are now visible in behavior, conversations and decision-making. At the same time, WINNING TOGETHER is not a completed trajectory. It is a way of working that evolves with the organization and its people. Bianca: ‘It does not have to be perfect. As long as we keep having the conversation. Colleagues see the value of these conversations and increasingly step forward to carry this forward in their own way. That is exactly what we wanted to achieve with WINNING TOGETHER.’
The core of WINNING TOGETHER does not lie in the choice between humanity or result. Precisely in consciously bringing those two together, space arises for optimal collaboration: sharp where necessary, careful where required, always with attention for the person behind the performance. Not as an end point, but as a shared way of working that provides direction, also when the context continues to change.
MTA is an internationally operating supplier of high-tech mechatronic systems. The company supports Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the development, industrialization and series production of complex mechatronics.
MTA works with more than one hundred employees on solutions for robotics, healthcare, food and industrial automation. The organization combines technological expertise with an integral approach, from concept to realization, and positions itself emphatically as a partner for clients in a rapidly changing market.
Would you also like a results-driven culture program for your organization that contributes to a feedback culture in which addressing each other forms the basis for business results? Then get in touch for an exploratory conversation and tell us more about the challenges within your organization.
