Blue on the outside, informal within
Cabaret
Since 2017, the AFM has had its own cabaret tradition. The annual cabaret is an event that attracts hundreds of AFM employees. The board members are seated in the front row of the theatre to make sure they do not miss a word of what the cabaret group believes they should hear about the state of affairs at the AFM. The stage thus provided for dissenting opinions is quite typical of the AFM. Usually the board itself makes a short film with a wink to enliven the show.
While our steady growth has obviously changed us as an organisation, we have managed to retain our informal culture over the years. And we are still an organisation with a ‘purple’ heart.
When asked to describe the culture at the AFM twenty years ago, some employees who were with us at that time may use the word ‘cowboys’. While this is due in part, no doubt, to a romanticised view of the past, there is no denying that in this early period, our 200-odd employees did an awful lot of pioneering. As an offshoot of the Securities Board of the Netherlands (STE), the AFM was assigned ever more new tasks and had to develop its own vision of supervision – amid a range of established institutes that sometimes regarded us with a look of pitying disdain. Small wonder then that we soon felt the need to prove our raison d’etre.
No longer cowboys
Since that pioneering phase, we have developed enormously in terms of numbers, knowledge and organisational strength. Today, our departments no longer work as separate islands, and our management board pursues a single strategy and a uniform supervisory approach. The ‘cowboys’ of the past now work in accordance with fixed processes aimed to ensure efficiency throughout the chain. And while this may have made our culture slightly more formal than it was two decades ago, the AFM has never ceased to surprise new colleagues. While our organisation might appear ‘blue’ on the outside, internally we are quite outgoing and informal, and we care about each other as colleagues. And we have remained slightly eccentric, with employees who are passionate about their ideals and their profession.
Our ‘purple' heart
In 2020 we introduced our ‘purple’ heart to symbolise our strong internal culture. The purple heart expresses the connection between the AFM and its employees, and we use it in a variety of ways in our internal communications. Another connective element is our set of core values. We are diligent and thorough, as well as autonomous and connective. These values are firmly embedded within the AFM and our people are living up to them. An internal survey has shown that our employees are keen to retain the core values precisely because of their practical applicability in our daily work. After all, what we are often concerned with is finding the right balance.
A truly coherent whole
In a period of two decades, we have grown from around 200 to 700 employees. This has been due to a large number of new tasks, particularly in the period until 2018. Growth figures have been stabilising somewhat since then. As our expansion was mainly driven by the addition of new tasks, the AFM tended to develop as a ‘group of islands’ each of which, to a certain extent, had its own culture. But while the various task areas still have their own features and emphases, since the most recent organisational change in 2016 the AFM has developed into a more coherent whole.
A willingness to learn
One thing that has not changed at all in all those years is our willingness to learn. This is essential: amid the many developments on the financial markets and in our own environment, we need to stay agile. We have had Tuesday board meetings ever since the days of Arthur Docters van Leeuwen. Employees whose presence was not required until agenda item 10 were sometimes permitted to attend from point 1 in order to learn. The learning process has been formalised since then. For example, since 2008 we have run a basic supervision course (internally known as the BOT) for each and every new employee. In addition to offering knowledge and insight, the 15-day course also ensures that we all start from the same page when it comes to our mission.
Traineeship for data analysts
Our firm commitment to dialogue, as a supervisor, also requires specific competences on the part of our employees. This does not make life any easier for us, given the tight labour market. It was a reason for us to set up a special traineeship for data analysts, for example, in collaboration with the ACM and NZa. Once we manage to hire a person we give them every opportunity to develop and familiarise themselves with new disciplines. For example, all our managers and department heads – and many other employees – have attended a basic course in data-driven supervision.
Culture is not a constant
Culture is not a constant – or at least only partly so. This means we also continually consider the way in which we want our culture to develop. For example, in 2022 all small and medium-sized audit firms in the country were brought within the scope of our supervision. The people who carry out that supervision have incorporated cultural elements from that specific market, similar to what happened when we welcomed data specialists and behavioural scientists. We then consider how we could use those elements to strengthen our culture while retaining our own DNA. In this process, it is key to maintain an environment that does full justice to the knowledge, experience and talents of every AFM employee. This is completely consistent with the inclusive and learning culture that we strive for.