Dirk Verburg

There are some companies I deeply admire, and On, the Swiss sports and apparel brand is definitely one of them! Not only do they make amazing products and have an extremely powerful brand, they also have a unique company culture.

For this reason, I was thrilled to sit down with Alessandra Del Pino, Head of Engagement & Talent Growth at On, to discuss the company culture of On, or, as Alessandra describes it, their ‘secret sauce’.

During our conversation, we covered the following topics:

1️⃣ Alessandra’s role at On

2️⃣ The culture of On

3️⃣ How the mission and values (‘spirits’) are kept alive

4️⃣ How the impact of the mission and values is measured

5️⃣ An example of a mission – value driven decision in On

6️⃣ Embedding the culture – Recruitment

7️⃣ Embedding the culture – Performance Management

8️⃣ Embedding the culture – Talent Management

9️⃣ The expectations of People Leaders in On

👇 You can watch or listen to this podcast episode on:

➡️ YouTube

➡️ Apple Podcasts

➡️ Spotify

➡️ No time to watch or listen to podcast now? Here is a short summary of our conversation ⤵

Dirk Verburg: Could you tell us a little bit about your role as head of engagement and talent growth and your main responsibilities?

Alessandra Del Pino: My role has three main pillars. First is growth, which is about the opportunities we give our team members to experience growth. Then we have leadership, which is fundamental to our culture and anchors a lot of things for us. The third pillar is around performance and feedback. We focus on how we enable individuals and what our culture is on feedback, making sure these cycles happen with frequency and in a powerful way.

Dirk Verburg: Your mission is to unite the human spirit through movement. You also have five specific values, which you call “spirits.” How were these mission and spirits defined?

Alessandra Del Pino: We have five spirits: Athlete, Explorer, Positive, Team, and Survivor. They came from the very beginning of On, a leadership reflection on the behaviors we want our team members to embrace. They’ve been the same values since the start. The Athlete spirit speaks to our aspiration for bigger goals. The Explorer spirit is about innovation. The Positive spirit is about the wow factor. The Team spirit is about collaboration. The Survivor spirit is about sustainability and care for our planet.

Dirk Verburg: How are these spirits communicated and kept alive in the everyday work of the staff at On?

Alessandra Del Pino: Interestingly, our spirits are not on any wall in our office, but you experience them through people’s behaviors. For example, if you look lost in our office, someone will ask you if you need help, which is living the positive spirit. We have rituals to communicate them, such as a dedicated session during onboarding. We also have “Spirits Awards” where we nominate team members to be recognized for embodying our values. We also speak a lot about them in our town halls and leadership development.

Dirk Verburg: In our pre-discussion, you said that the On culture was the company’s secret sauce. How do you measure the degree to which these values are alive and adhered to?

Alessandra Del Pino: On an annual basis, we have an engagement survey with over 90% participation from our team members. It’s recognized as the channel to provide feedback on how our culture and teams are doing. The survey measures aspects like innovation, team collaboration, and feedback. It’s a pulse check for us. We’re very disciplined about doing it once a year, as it allows us to act on the feedback before asking again the following year, which completes the cycle of listening and acting.

Dirk Verburg: Can you give an example of an outcome of one of these surveys where you and the leadership team decided you needed to act on it?

Alessandra Del Pino: As a company in a hyper-growth phase, with a lot of new hires, there’s a lot of dynamism and speed. A consistent topic from our surveys has been around team collaboration and clarity on roles and responsibilities. With new joiners, this can create unclarity. So, we’ve been very intentional about working on these aspects to achieve excellence and optimal collaboration. We have initiatives to ensure our teams are clear on who is doing what, allowing them to collaborate more effectively and maintain our speed.

Dirk Verburg: Could you mention an example where you took a decision based on your mission and values, even if other companies might have done something different?

Alessandra Del Pino: A good example is our approach to well-being. Traditionally, there’s a clear separation between work and personal life. However, we believe companies play a fundamental role in supporting team members’ well-being. Thinking about our Athlete and human spirit, we decided to partner with Kean to support mental well-being. This was a direct result of our values. If we say we care for our team members and are a human-first company, we need to walk the talk and support them in all areas of their life, not just work.

Dirk Verburg: You constantly use the term “team members” instead of “employees” or “staff.” Is there a specific idea behind this?

Alessandra Del Pino: Yes, we refer to our team members as members and not employees because words have importance. This term acknowledges that it’s not just an employer/employee relationship but a richer one where everyone is part of the team. It moves away from a transactional view of work where people just show up for a paycheck. We want On to be a space where people can contribute to a greater good, identify with their own “why,” and have a more profound, positive impact beyond just a salary.

Dirk Verburg: How are these values embedded in HR processes, specifically in recruitment?

Alessandra Del Pino: Recruitment is a key process and the entry door to our culture. We place a lot of importance on the candidate experience. For example, if a candidate has an interview and receives negative feedback, they will receive a phone call from our recruiters with specific feedback. Many companies might “ghost” people, but we put a lot of care into ensuring individuals hear back from us. We also keep a lot of visualization of our pipelines and proactively match candidates to other roles where they might be a better fit.

Dirk Verburg: How do the mission and spirits come back in Performance Management and performance reviews?

Alessandra Del Pino: We have established specific rituals for performance reviews. We leave a lot of openness in terms of the conversation, but we guide leaders on what’s important. We re-emphasize the importance of feedback for an entrepreneurial and innovative company. We also provide a channel for individuals to give feedback to their leaders, making it a two-way conversation. We want people to know that their stakeholders also need to be happy with how they’re showing up and that there’s a safe space to share feedback.

Dirk Verburg: Do the mission and values also play an active role in talent management?

Alessandra Del Pino: Yes, when we speak about the team spirit, we say, “we are a sports team, not a family.” This means we aim for high performance. The individuals on the team depend on everyone’s performance. We’re not loyal to someone just because they’re part of the “family.” We’ve invested a lot in communicating to our leaders the implications of keeping a low performer. A low performer impacts the full team, slows down the dynamic, and can be contagious. We encourage leaders to act on low performance with a human approach.

Dirk Verburg: What are the dos and don’ts of leading at On?

Alessandra Del Pino: We emphasize three areas for leaders: trust, the ability to nurture a safe space for their teams to speak up and take risks; problem-solving, the entrepreneurial ability to drive results with the team; and coaching, helping their teams grow and find their own answers. From a “don’t” perspective, we don’t value people who are self-centered or have motivations that don’t consider others. A leader needs to have a servant relationship with their team, not a self-serving one.

Dirk Verburg: Thank you so much, Alessandra, for investing your time and sharing the great story of On’s culture with us.

Alessandra Del Pino: Thank you so much, it was a pleasure to be here.

► About Alessandra del Pino:

Alessandra del Pino is Head of Engagement & Talent Growth at On. After studying Sociology in Venezuela, she started a journey in HR which would take her across the globe, working for completely different companies in different industries. Alessandra started her career in 2011 working for Groupon in Spain, before moving to Burger King. In 2015 she moved to Canada to for Restaurant Brands International, a company she also worked for both in Canada, as well as Switzerland. In 2019 she joined On, first as a Talent Business Partner, and later as Head of Engagement & Talent Growth.

On a personal note: Alessandra likes running (not surprising!), Spanish wines (same), good food, and traveling.

► About On:

‘On was born in the Swiss Alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running by empowering all to run on clouds. Since its market launch in 2010, On delivers industry-disrupting innovation in premium footwear, apparel, and accessories for high-performance running, outdoor,

training, all-day activities and tennis. On is present in more than 60 countries globally and is believed to be one of the fastest-growing scaled athletic sports companies in the world’. The company employs more than 2.300 staff and generated net sales of CHF 1,792.1 in 2023 (source Annual report)