Kurt Schulze on Crafting a Sleeker NewtonX
The obstacles to a startup are numerous and varied. More than most, it’s success depends on not simply the idea but how the assets are utilized and implemented. Often are the times when a potentially powerful innovation has fallen by the wayside due to a lack of proper management and execution of time and talent. Kurt Schulze is an expert in this exact arena and was able to deliver a seismic shift for NewtonX early on; one which led them to status as the world’s leading B2B market research company, with an AI driven search technology that sources from an open network of 1.1 billion B2B professionals, across 140 industries. NewtonX has set itself apart as the top choice in the market by providing unmatched B2B expert access and precision, along with the finest data quality, significantly faster than competitors. With a client list that includes Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and others, the core of NewtonX is delivering excellence, with market leading technology and a highly talented team. Mr. Schulze, Head of Client Delivery at NewtonX, included this core value in his design of a proprietary pillar system for NewtonX to harness the potential of its workforce, bring depth to strategic planning and enable best in class execution. The power of this system is that it can be universally applied across different functions, geographies and industries. The design of the pillar system container is such that it’s framework can be applied to an abundance of different business contexts and teams. The outcome was massive for NewtonX and an essential component of their modern day success story.
There were a number of obstacles which threatened to inhibit Kurt’s pillar system from being effective. It needed to be something that was easy for participants to understand to encourage participation while still upholding the integrity of the system. A “pillar playbook” confronted this issue. The template design maximized momentum while still providing clarity. Data tagging measured the progress of different pillars on solutions being sought out. The results of implementing this pillar system were tremendous. The global staffing of NewtonX includes experts in over forty countries and clients across the globe. To manage this complexity the pillar system developed a staffing technology that empowered the team to deliver global projects seamlessly while leveraging experts across 140 different industries quickly and effectively. The pillar system also has the added benefit of maximizing team satisfaction and learning. The Learning and Development pillar optimized the onboarding process of new hires while allowing managers to concentrate time on more nuanced learning. The finance pillar brought strong and fair bonus opportunities to those who contributed greatly to delivering outstanding client results. Though the importance of these factors seem obvious, creating a system which harnesses the strength of a large workforce in different parts of the world in a nimble and expeditious manner is nearly unheard of.
At the core of this system is ownership. The system sets a clear owner for each initiative, with each using a proprietary template of questions to answer which help set out the right strategic vision and prioritized action plan for each initiative. Through collective feedback and iteration, the strategic plans are refined and then broken down into monthly milestones that get centrally tracked and reviewed. Notably, the system recognizes those who take initiative to create and are responsible for results, including juniors. This enables a diverse team with different perspectives and approaches to the same issue. Since its implementation, Kurt’s pillar system has increased employee efficiency by more than 30% and employee satisfaction is higher than ever before. Mr. Schulze communicates, “I am very proud of the outsized impact this has driven for the organization. Since its implementation over a hundred successful initiatives were successfully rolled out that have delivered business impact and kept NewtonX at the forefront of innovation within B2B market research. The successful roll out of the system has been adopted by over seventy people in the organization. Getting a new tool and system to be efficient and consistently used requires a very thoughtful roll out and implementation plan. The pillar system is now ingrained in our day-to-day work. Particularly meaningful to me is the diversity of ownership and learning that this system has enabled. At its core it has empowered a lot of junior resources to be highly effective at delivering and implementing impactful solutions/innovation and in the process supercharged their development. As NewtonX grows, the pillar system will keep it vibrant and strong.”
Writer : Calvin Hooney
