Portfolio Implementations - A Hero's Journey

TEAM DEVELOPMENT AT ROBECO – A HERO’S JOURNEY*

The Hero’s Journey Robeco’s Portfolio Implementation (PI) team was created in 2012 by clustering and harmonizing implementation and supporting activities across the asset classes within the Investments domain, with the objective of increasing both the efficiency and quality of these activities. In this Spotlight article, Judith van IJserloo, head of PI, explains how the department has further increased its effectiveness by embarking on a year-long team-development journey together – the Hero’s Journey.

“The forging together of the different teams and individuals that were combined into one department in April 2012, has been on the agenda since the very start,” says Judith. “To this end, we organized several team-building activities in 2012 and 2013, with the Management Drives methodology as one of the tools. These activities definitely helped us to increase our efficiency and effectiveness. Also based on the positive feedback from our internal clients, the portfolio managers, we had the feeling that we were performing rather well as a department. But deep down, I knew we could do even better, that we could achieve much more.

The human factor “At Robeco we are very much focused on content and less so on the human factor. However, if you are well aware of each other’s strengths, talents and personalities, and if there is enough mutual trust to give each other feedback and hold one another accountable, you become much more effective, both individually and as a team. I decided to discuss my thoughts with HR and ask for support, which resulted in the involvement of Erna ter Weele, a consultant who had already facilitated various organizational-development programs at Robeco.”

TOT2020 Verbeelders van Verandering Erna ter Weele • ERNA@TOT2020.NL • 06 430 21 556 • De Baronie 54, 2404 XG• Alphen aan de Rijn Margon van Toor • MARGON@TOT2020,NL • 06 228 03 212 • Tafelbergweg 41 • 1251CA • Laren

We do need another hero “Shortly after our first meeting, Erna came with the idea of basing our next step in team development on the pattern of the so-called Hero’s Journey. This describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as ‘the hero’: the person who steps out of his or her comfort zone and, after overcoming many challenges, achieves great deeds on behalf of the group. Erna asked Sylvie Villoria and me to kick off the first session by sharing our own hero’s journey with the team. This wasn’t easy, because it involves sharing your own insecurities, fears and struggles, and answering personal questions from colleagues. Looking back, this was very important. It wasn’t our intention to force the entire department to tell their story, but people wanted to themselves, and in the end everyone shared their story in one way or another, which certainly increased bonding and mutual understanding.

Letting go of control After the kick-off meeting, we held a session every three months. Each session was organized by a different team, made up of colleagues from various PI sub-teams, which increased cross-team integration. And each organizing team was fully responsible for the agenda of their session, without interference from me. This in itself – letting go of control – was quite an interesting experience for me!”

Lencioni test We also did the so-called Lencioni test, based on Patrick Lencioni’s famous book on team building, ‘The five dysfunctions of a team’. This test includes the willingness to confront each other, to embrace constructive conflicts and to hold one another accountable. It came as no surprise that there still appeared to be room for improvement here, and we worked on these behavioural aspects with the help of actors and video recording. This was quite confrontational for many of us, and I deeply respect the courage of my colleagues to participate in this exercise.

TOT2020 Verbeelders van Verandering Erna ter Weele • ERNA@TOT2020.NL • 06 430 21 556 • De Baronie 54, 2404 XG• Alphen aan de Rijn Margon van Toor • MARGON@TOT2020,NL • 06 228 03 212 • Tafelbergweg 41 • 1251CA • Laren

Self-directing teams One of the consequences of the journey was that we decided to introduce a management model with self-directing teams, based on three pillars. The first is self-direction: each team must be empowered and capable of managing itself, with management providing support using a coaching leadership style.

The second pillar is result orientation: the responsibility of each team is expressed in results, not tasks. The third pillar involves the joint responsibility of the team as a whole, with the team, rather than the individual, being central.

Point guards “Obviously, the transition to self-directing teams does not happen overnight.

This is why we appointed ‘point guards’ for each of the four teams in the department: Fixed Income, Equity, Customized Overlay Management and Solutions Products. These point guards – a basketball term referring to the player responsible for directing plays and regarded as coach on the court – are responsible for ensuring that the objectives in the year plan are achieved, that collaboration within the team is being discussed and that the different talents in the team are optimally used. They are also responsible for reporting to management. The job of point guard is not a hierarchical role, and it can rotate among the team members.

Making decisions “The journey we embarked on in March 2015 has significantly increased our insight into how teams work, in which phase we are as a team and what we still have to work on to further increase our effectiveness. One of the things we learned from this is that we are good at generating ideas but that we find it difficult to make decisions. So this is one of the points we are working on.

Interacting without prejudice Sylvie Villoria, point guard Solutions Products and team lead Operational Portfolio Management adds: “Thanks to the Hero’s Journey, I've become more aware that my colleagues are able to solve most things on their own and that as a manager you don't have to meddle in everything. In fact, you sometimes actually even have to refuse to get involved. There's still plenty to be done. We need to develop further in terms of dealing with each other in a non-judgmental way.

TOT2020 Verbeelders van Verandering Erna ter Weele • ERNA@TOT2020.NL • 06 430 21 556 • De Baronie 54, 2404 XG• Alphen aan de Rijn Margon van Toor • MARGON@TOT2020,NL • 06 228 03 212 • Tafelbergweg 41 • 1251CA • Laren

We tend to approach each other too readily with assumptions, often based on the past, without testing those assumptions. Another lesson that I’ve learned is that it's crucial to find a healthy balance between such a team-development program, our regular work and individual training course. For some colleagues, it all became too much at a certain point, as they were also following other training programs. If you participate in something like the Hero’s Journey, it's sensible not to do that while following other development or coaching processes. Unfortunately, that's difficult to plan as you often have to register far in advance for training courses.

Different perceptions Virag Fuzi, point guard for the Customized Overlay Management team, adds that “thanks to the Hero’s Journey, we were also able to experience that everyone has a different picture of the simplest things in life. In light of that, we together established which team values were required to deliver the desired material results to our clients.

Use each other’s qualities… but how?

Arjan Bouman, point guard Equity: “I feel we've taken some big steps forward over the last year in communication, setting boundaries and providing each other with feedback. The key challenges we are working on now involve making optimal use of each other's qualities while at the same time ensuring that it's not always the same person doing the same work.”

The journey continues According to Jeroen Bergmans, point guard of the Fixed Income team, “the Hero’s Journey has also given us the chance to further develop various group and individual skills. Group skills include decision-making, sharing information and holding each other accountable for the results. The Hero’s Journey isn't over in our eyes, and we think it's very important to keep developing as a team. That's why we make time every month to concentrate on further improvements.

TOT2020 Verbeelders van Verandering Erna ter Weele • ERNA@TOT2020.NL • 06 430 21 556 • De Baronie 54, 2404 XG• Alphen aan de Rijn Margon van Toor • MARGON@TOT2020,NL • 06 228 03 212 • Tafelbergweg 41 • 1251CA • Laren

Slowing down in order to accelerate Judith: “At the end of May, we concluded the program in a very relaxed way.

Well, relaxed... perhaps that's the wrong term to use, as we were sitting in an escape room. But in that setting too, we once again experienced how far we've grown and where there's still room for improvement. One of the main lessons of this last year has been perfectly summarized in something Erna said: if you want to accelerate, you sometimes have to slow down first. With the focus on results and the competitive spirit of most people in PI – not to mention Robeco as a whole – this is not exactly our most natural mindset. It's something we really have to learn. ” Questions? Comments? Please connect with Judith van Ijserloo

About the Portfolio Implementation department Portfolio Implementation executes operational portfolio management tasks as an extension of Robeco’s entire front office (mainly the Custom Overlay Management, Solutions Products, Equity Investments and Fixed Income Investments departments).

PI was created from existing jobs and teams, such as Fixed Income Portfolio Engineering, assistant portfolio managers from Equity and Global Allocations, and Mid-office. The department consists of 23 people and is divided into two teams that differ in their tasks: operational portfolio managers and portfolio information managers. The primary task of operational portfolio managers is to monitor portfolio positioning and the operational management of portfolios in line with model portfolios, including the implementation of model portfolios in the investment portfolios. The primary activity of portfolio information managers is to carry out specialist reporting and transaction support activities for investment portfolios within Investments.

From left to Right: Constantijn van Marle, Jeroen Bergmans, Virág Füzi, Judith van IJserloo, Sander van Heijst, Sandeep Singh, Arjan Bouman, Suroso Lie, Roshnie Dielbandhoesing, Peter Brochard, Richard Kloos, Martijn van Bommel, Martin Wolff, Erwin van Dijk, Johan Jongejan, Arjan van der Velden, Han van der Boon, Karren Pang, Sal Thijssen, Sylvie Villoria Not on the picture: Goran Pandiloski, Adri de Bruijn, Vincent van der Sanden *Interview published in RobecoWorld (Robeco’s internal magazine) - 2016

TOT2020 Verbeelders van Verandering Erna ter Weele • ERNA@TOT2020.NL • 06 430 21 556 • De Baronie 54, 2404 XG• Alphen aan de Rijn Margon van Toor • MARGON@TOT2020,NL • 06 228 03 212 • Tafelbergweg 41 • 1251CA • Laren