What Your Organization Believes It Is

Photo by Jamie Street

How does your organization see itself? As a support function delivering services-as-products efficiently? Or as a partner creating meaningful impact?

That perception shapes everything. What you notice. What you see as possible. How you engage with clients. What you consider success.

The tech company that delivers groceries

Picnic delivers groceries to homes across the Netherlands, Germany, and France. However, when logistics experts describe Picnic, they call it a logistics company, not an online supermarket.

This perception shift opens different possibilities. The company wins logistics awards for delivery innovation. Their teams build fully automated fulfillment centers. Because their electric vehicles already drive the same routes daily, Picnic adds package return services. This approach reveals opportunities other grocery retailers miss—opportunities that become visible through a different lens.

When you believe you're a logistics company that happens to deliver groceries, different patterns become noticeable. New partnerships emerge. Fresh approaches to creating value appear.

The IT company with a banking license

Industry observers described bunq, the Dutch digital bank, at launch as "an IT company with a banking license." The founder states "bunq is the only bank built by coders." This distinction goes beyond being digital—it's about identity.

Traditional banks see themselves as financial institutions that use technology. In contrast, bunq sees itself as a technology company that does banking. This shift creates space for different innovation. The bank develops user-driven features that traditional banks wouldn't consider. It offers a subscription model instead of hidden fees. Complete transparency about where deposits go becomes standard practice.

The industry remains the same. The self-perception differs. The approach to creating value transforms completely.

What might this mean for service organizations

Notice the pattern. Organizations shift not by changing what they do, but by changing how they see what they do. Picnic still delivers groceries. bunq still handles money. The shift happens in identity, not activity.

Where does your service organization see itself on this spectrum? Are you noticing tension between delivering efficiently and creating meaningful impact? Between responding to requests and exploring what clients actually need? Between proving your value through cost reduction and demonstrating it through outcomes?

Here's what makes this complex: creating meaningful impact becomes difficult while seeing yourself as a support function. Being a strategic partner challenges an identity built on efficient task delivery. Innovating services requires more than an identity that says "we execute what's requested."

A local village shop doesn't just sell products—it creates a community. IKEA's meatballs aren't about food—they're about the shopping experience. These services recognize something larger than the transaction.

Making sense of the shift

When your organization's perception evolves, you're building the bridge as you walk on it. You start noticing patterns in where partnership happens naturally. Connections form between what creates real value and what clients actually need. Teams test approaches and observe what emerges.

Consider two teams in the same circumstances. One continues delivering efficiently—faster, cheaper, better. The other explores what meaningful impact looks like for specific clients. Different self-perceptions create different outcomes.

The second team pays attention differently. Team members observe where value emerges beyond the transaction. What brings energy to both their team and their clients becomes noticeable. Patterns appear in moments of real partnership. Gradually, this team pieces together a new picture from what they already know and what they're discovering.

Where you might already be

Your organization may already have moments where teams move beyond transactions. Someone asks "what does this client actually need?" instead of "what did they request?" Partnerships form naturally without official mandates.

Consider this possibility: these moments aren't exceptions to normal service delivery. Instead, they might be signals of something trying to emerge.

When organizations shift from efficiency to meaningful impact, they often don't become something entirely new. Instead, they recognize capabilities that already exist in pockets. The ability to partner rather than just deliver. The capacity to co-create rather than just respond. The willingness to explore rather than just execute.

These capabilities may show up in your organization already. The question becomes: do you see them as who you are, or as deviations from who you think you should be?