Some of my favorite projects
I have more than 20 years of experience as an innovation and strategy consultant, in all kind of domains (healthcare, mobility, sustainability, manufacturing industry, spatial planning, ...) and worked with companies and organisations big/small, profit/non-profit, private/governmental.
Some of these recent projects are part of my work as employee or my work as a freelancer for TomorrowLab and Prepared Mind.
Helan
on behalf of TomorrowLab - 2021-2024
Goal
Creating a future vision for the newly merged organization and coming up with concrete new business opportunities in close collaboration with employees, management board and board of directors. Helping the organization in the necessary transition from a process-oriented service provider to a wellbeing organization.
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My role
​Client lead, foresight expert, project manager and process facilitator
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The positive sparks:
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A diverse team of employees could not only participate but became internal ambassadors of change
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Really concrete new strategic opportunities emerged
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Dynamic strategy became the default mode
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My lessons learned
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A long-term partnership creates the necessary trust to confront, to expand horizons, …
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Getting ownership for innovation picked up broadly in the organization remains a challenge
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Internal supporters are key in long-term change processes
Capacity Building
on behalf of Prepared Mind - 2023
Goal
Europe WSE aims to facilitate a service to reach job seekers and non-professionals with complex multi-problems starting in 2024. To achieve this, they want to establish partnerships at the local level between all relevant experts in the field.
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My role
Process facilitator, coaching and supporting the partnership coaches
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The positive sparks:​
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Supporting the coaches in getting better insights in “clients” needs, introducing the voice of “the client” in the process
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Take a more elaborate system perspective to really identify those leverage points for change in employment
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Coaching an entirely new team in a variety of skills via teach-the-teacher principles, triple loop learning
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My lessons learned
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The key of leading by example
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Working in networks is easier said than done
Departement MOW
on behalf of TomorrowLab - 2019-2024
Goal
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Creating a new mobility vision for Flanders and defining those transition drivers to make this vision become reality.
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Fostering innovation initiatives by combining efforts in a network of innovators
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My role
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Innovation Network Coordinator + innovation training/coaching
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Foresight Expert, process facilitator, team coach
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The positive sparks
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Scenario planning as an enabler to open up minds and set a shared vision
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Stakeholder involvement throughout the process
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Levelling up their innovation projects to horizon 2-3 (beyond incremental)
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My lessons learned
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Civil servants can become civil entrepeneurs
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It helps to take your different stakeholders perspectives
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Creating profound impact is too much limited by the silos of policy domains
Your project
What I believe are key ingredients of creating value and impact in collaborations :
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Everybody part of change: participation & co-creation
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Effectiveness before efficiency
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Focus on the big picture, not only the individual parts
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Expand horizons and articulating deeper issues
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Focus on long-term outcomes, not mere outputs
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Communication & authentic storytelling
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Don’t teach what to think, but how to think
