Team Talks: Driving Success and Growth
Team Talks showcase our staff in action, sharing their projects and experiences.
In this article, we will discover what challenges Bart, the COO of Parakar, has encountered, how he found his drivers and how he contributes to the success of Parakar and its customers. Moving from large corporates to an internationally growing scale-up can be a challenging but also enriching experience. Bart has gone through this transformation.
Working at Parakar is an exciting journey in which Bart helps clients achieve success while actively contributing to Parakar’s own growth. With his focus on flexibility, innovation and understanding client needs, Bart plays a crucial role in successfully positioning Parakar as a leading international HR consultancy scale-up.
From Bulky to Personalised
Moving from a corporate environment with 1800 employees under his belt to a scale-up with just 65 employees gave Bart a new appreciation for the importance of personal connections. While having a large number of employees may seem attractive, Bart found it too impersonal. You have no in depth idea in who’s good at what and where they want to develop.
At Parakar, on the other hand, he can establish a deeper connection with his team members and add value to their professional growth. He appreciates the opportunity to work closely together and jointly create valuable solutions for clients.
“My colleagues are smart professionals. I whole heartedly believe that their input creates the best propositions for our customers, as they talk to them all day. They see the challenges of our customers and fix them. In our business there is no such thing as standardized answers. It is about really understanding the specialized needs and come up with tailored pragmatic solutions. Really wanting to understand what drives our customers is the best starting point for improvements that make our customers shine.”
Bart van Diepenbeek
As COO of Parakar, Bart is responsible for defining strategy, developing and implementing new products and integrating processes. He also plays a crucial role in managing Parakar’s international teams, which are spread across 10 countries. Managing teams remotely can be challenging, but advanced customer value tools, online capabilities and traveling allow him to stay in close contact with his team members and build a strong connection with them.
Innovate new successful services
One of the aspects of his job that Bart is enthusiastic about is exploring new services that fit Parakar. He constantly asks himself, “How can we take our customers to even greater success?” This process starts with a lot of talks with current partners, extensive research and thinking, identifying needs in the market. It then determines how Parakar can anticipate them. Next comes marketing communication and a sound sales strategy.
While running a pilot, various challenges may arise, with some ideas not immediately catching on with customers. It is crucial to be in close contact with all the (remote) teams, to get as much feedback as possible both on numbers as well as on the soft side of things. And of course it is crucial to be flexible and listen carefully to our customer. When introducing new services you need to start at a high level of quality, but still he embraces his motto ‘continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection’.
Successfully launching a new service requires effective communication within the organisation. It is vital to engage staff in the vision and understanding the value of the proposition for both employees and customers. By clear 2-way communication, training sessions, and sharing the proposition, the entire organisation can be mobilised and aligned. Bart plays a key role in creating an open informal environment where employees understand the vision and add value to the service.
Adding value to the future of work
Bart emphasises that there is no universal solution for international HR. Each country has its own dynamics and legislation, and local expertise is invaluable in meeting clients’ needs. By putting people first and listening carefully to their personal needs, Parakar ensures that clients receive the best possible service. Bart strongly believes in adding value by being flexible and offering tailor-made solutions that go beyond the “good enough” level.
As COO, Bart is convinced that Parakar is able to make a difference in today’s labour market as well as in that of tomorrow! He sees a growing role for international Payroll & HR consultancy. By consistently looking toward the future and exploring possibilities, we can provide our clients with the utmost level of service!
