Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Bart and I've been working at IG&H for over 4 years now. I studied business administration. Alongside and after my studies, friends and I built a company focusing on second-hand products (mostly gaming). After four years of entrepreneurial experience, I changed course and worked as a management consultant at ABN AMRO for three years. This sparked my enthusiasm for consultancy and led me to IG&H. Passions of mine are music and sports, field hockey to be specific.
What drew you to IG&H?
The desire to make a switch from more strategy-focused consulting to transformation and implementation consultancy. I found the combination of a “family vibe” with very driven people attractive. I only truly realized that I switched jobs after roughly a month at IG&H because the transition was so smooth, and everyone made me feel welcome from the start.
What is your role & what does it involve?
I’m a manager/lead in the transformation team. This involves several things. First, I have internal responsibilities to further develop our practice by contributing to our service offerings. Next to that, I guide several younger colleagues in their development. At clients, I mostly work on projects that involve supporting them to realize their strategy. This usually means helping teams evolve or implementing a way of working. I'm happiest when there’s an improvement and we leave clients with the ability to keep improving on their own.
How does 'transformation' fit into digital transformation, and why is it important?
Transformation is a vital part of digital transformation. Of course, we can think of a lot of new strategies and tools to implement…but the key is to make it work. Adopting new tooling, adjusting organizational structure, implementing new ways of working – there’s plenty to do. Our transformation team plays a big role here; we involve everyone in such a way that they want to contribute to change.
What are the most common challenges/surprises you encounter in projects?
We might encounter resistance from people who do not want to change or are very skeptical about a consultant coming to tell them how they should do their job. Clients are often used to consultants who are focused on short-term results and not a lasting difference. Our focus is on sustainable change, which means that we not only work together with people but also equip them to continue after we leave. This will take a little bit more time and patience because we do not simply tell them what to do but help them achieve results with a bit of guidance from our side. We are in it for the long run.
What does a typical day at IG&H look like?
Luckily, I do not often have a “typical day” because my work is so varied. It mostly consists of a lot of client interaction. I often help clients to improve collaboration and ways of working. For example, at a health insurer, we taught employees how to become more Agile by coaching people in their roles like Scrum Master, structuring their daily routines and implementing continuous feedback loops. We also helped a big retailer become more client-focused by coaching a 12-week track that included creating common goals and ambitions, testing out small improvements before scaling them to improve client interactions, implementing new ways to co-operate and providing the teams with useful feedback instruments. I also often have coaching conversations to help teams and individuals perform better or to help them remove obstacles they face.
What do you enjoy most about working at IG&H?
It’s a combination of multiple things: an environment where you easily get responsibility, get the chance to show what you have in store and a place where I can truly call some of my colleagues friends. I think that is pretty unique for a place where you work. What I also like about working at IG&H is that we really try to collaborate with different teams within the organization to achieve the best result. In my time within IG&H, I’ve worked with transformers, developers, sector experts, data scientists and UX designers who all have their view on how a problem could be solved. This keeps the work diverse and interesting.
You're a member of Hondius Revelation, the IG&H band. Could you tell us more about this?
Yes, of course: I'm a proud member of our company band for four years now. Over the years, more and more people, including myself, spontaneously joined the band. We play at several company events during the year. I must say, the colleagues are the best crowd you can get. Being able to play music with them and IG&H providing the facilities to make that possible is quite special. We've made our own music video and we've played at cool venues (Thuishaven Amsterdam for example) which will stay a happy memory forever!
What has been your proudest moment at IG&H?
I can think of several, including our performance at Thuishaven, but I also think of when one of our clients gave me the best feedback someone could give me. They told me “You've helped me grow in my role, but even better, you did not say what I had to do. Instead, you gave me the ability to develop by myself and that is something no one ever accomplished before.” As a transformer, that made me proud.