TAG is proud to celebrate its ten-year anniversary this year. The one, constant element throughout this decade of success? The strong TAG DNA, which has recently been translated into ten principles. TAG Manager Samuel Dom, who has been part of the team since day one, knows the culture inside out and sat down to discuss how these ten values came to be.
TAG expressed its company DNA in ten strong principles. How did you decide on these values?
‘These values have been part of TAG since day one. TAG was founded with the ambition of doing things differently and delivering quality results. Values such as pragmatism, quality or an engineering mindset have always been integral to our service, as well as having fun and creating an enjoyable work environment. Our first team building was a trip to Tomorrowland, for instance. These values were ingrained in everyone who was at TAG in the beginning.’
What prompted you to make these values explicit?
‘We were looking for ways to improve our recruitment process. We noticed a pattern in candidates we didn’t hire: they didn’t match with us culturally. That prompted us to make our company culture more explicit so we could assess the cultural match early in the application process. New hires who feel at home at TAG would perform better and stay longer in our team, which is to the benefit of our clients.’
How do you ensure that these ten values are embodied by TAG consultants?
‘During the first application interview, our team managers have a checklist where they can indicate whether a candidate possesses this or that value. That way, we’re certain that every starting TAG consultant has internalised these. That doesn’t mean, however, that our consultants are identical in terms of personality or talent; they each have their unique qualities they can bring to the table. Afterwards, that TAG culture is expressed through one-to-ones with team managers, trainings such as the Bootcamp and the Reboot, our team-building activities, and even our office, which, with its open interior, exemplifies our supportive and approachable working environment.’
Has TAG in any way changed now that you’ve formulated these ten principles?
‘It has! Making our values explicit has allowed us to align our recruitment process and any new strategic decisions with our company DNA. Now that our values are made explicit, we can stay true to them. To measure how well we’re doing in that respect, I will set up an NPS score, offering both clients and our own consultants the chance to give feedback. Finally, CEO Peter Verboven has taken up the role of Chief Culture Officer to supervise our fidelity to the company culture and how that culture is shared with others.’
How has TAG’s DNA contributed to its growth these past ten years?
‘The secret to our growth lies, I believe, in how we focus on our people. We actively invest in a work environment where consultants can feel part of a team and where they have the space to take up responsibility and be involved in the growth of the company. You often hear the term ‘bench’ in consultancy, but at TAG there is no such thing. Here, you’re either working on a project for a client or an internal TAG project, for example, our CRM tool Nimbus. In the latter case, TAG becomes a consultant’s client, which not only offers an interesting training ground for new hires but can also produce interesting tools and insights we can use for our clients. In my opinion, our culture is quite unique and has allowed TAG to stand out in the industry for the past decade.’
It goes to show that clear and strong company values are integral to its growth and development. Sam, congratulations on ten years TAG and thank you for taking the time to talk about TAG’s ten principles.
