In which Pamela Boumeester highlights the benefits of long-term and versatile coaching, John Jaakke reveals the human values behind the director, Inge Brakman pays tribute to the paper newspaper and recommends that Hélène Vletter-Van Dort “break out” from time to time.
1. The request for advice
In which a partner from The Board of Directors talks about a specific assignment and the chosen approach.
Pamela Boumeester: “Within the Board of Directors, I mainly focus on evaluations of supervisors, on-boarding and coaching. There are some nice cases among them. Especially in the longer journeys, I discover a lot of value. Along the way, these include a variety of issues that you solve together with your client. Take the employee who had worked at the same company for thirty years, a man in an excellent position — who couldn't get through a deal with his boss. As a coach, you first focus on exactly where the irritation lies. In which areas do you feel unheard or seen? This man had little direct contact with his supervisor, as it turned out. He always sent messengers, especially with orders or bad news.
As you can imagine, such a working relationship gave off little positive energy. He had to learn to stop accepting that indirect path. Away with the messengers, please contact us directly. By the way, that sounds simpler than it is. Many behavioral patterns are simply deeply ingrained and have many systemic causes. But the man managed to significantly improve contact with the boss.”
“After a while, he thought: time to set new standards. I found that very cool — first solve the problem and then make an independent choice in complete freedom. Many people are fleeing from the problem. He didn't do that.”
“I helped him leave with the right feeling: by royal means, with all the égards and excellent proportions — but without another job. I then guided him to a position at a family business. There was still the owner on board, who was used to getting involved in a lot of things personally. Together, we shaped his leadership position, discussed guarantees for a good landing, also within the family and, in particular, with the owner. Even when he subsequently sold the company. The great thing is that the new owner was happy to keep my client on board — there was no stress about his position and his leadership was not in doubt. Once every two months, we had good conversations about his course and all the things he encountered.”
“The great thing about such a process is that, as a coach, you travel with someone in business, and face tough choices and problems of a very different nature together over and over again along the way. This specific journey of discovery revealed a lot of talents to this man, whom he didn't know about himself either.”
“Within the Board of Directors, we are taking up more and more such longer guidance programs. They revolve around questions that come up once in a while within business settings. People need good conversations about problems, challenges and choices. Our coaching helps people to keep taking good care of themselves, even in a seemingly perfect job. Take control of your career, take the right steps on time, and prepare for those steps properly. We can help with that in many areas.”
2. Three relevant questions
In which a partner from The Board of Directors answers three questions about current trends in the business labor market.
Something happens to leaders as soon as they enter a business environment. Explain.
John Jaakke: “There is often a big difference between how people act in a business environment and how they do it at home. As a partner at organizational consultancy Boer & Croon, I once suggested that CEOs come to a glass ceiling session for women with their studying or just working daughter. Do you think about your female colleague's career differently than your daughter's? To ask that question in such a way seemed exciting to me. Unfortunately, the idea didn't work out: a shame, because the front at home holds up a mirror to you. Daughters and sons ask questions you don't hear in the office. At the kitchen table, not only themes that make you think come up, they are also discussed in a direct way, without flour in your mouth. We often talk about avoiding taking work home. But it would be much better to make sure you bring your home to work as a leader.”
Youth as a catalyst for new behavior?
John Jaakke: “Sure. Young people say: walk the talk. People are not motivated by what the leader says, but by what he or she does. Authenticity is a trait that young people follow more critically than older generations. How real is someone? And how credible is that? That question is more relevant than ever.”
“That also means that you have to dare to be honest as a leader. Not everything is achievable, not everything is possible. Being able to explain that properly is part of leadership. That takes courage, because, especially in our country, it's time to get out of hand if an old administrative plan doesn't quite work out. People understand that's not always easy, but say so!”
“In my booklet “Our council works great”, I wrote the chapter “Courage must”. In this, I recommend that directors claim space, in order to be able to calmly assess their own policy at regular intervals. On your own merits, without peer pressure. The non-intervention principle quickly creeps in in boardrooms: if you'd rather not make comments about someone else, you won't get questions yourself. Recently, I read an interview with Jeroen Kremers, state supervisor at KLM. He stated clearly that it doesn't always have to be fun at the top of a company. As a supervisor, he says, you have to make people feel that you are willing to choose the conflict. Not as an end but as a means. Nicely said.”
Why is such authenticity important in these times?
“Leaders should commit a little more to higher goals — and then say: what does it take to achieve those goals? For example, by seeing European ESG regulations as positive for new behavior instead of as an obstacle.”
“This requires a different attitude than the usual one: 'these are the tools, what are we going to do with them. ' And when formulating such a higher goal — at the risk of putting pressure on shareholder value and profit maximization — it really is also increasingly about the social and environmental conditions in which you operate. In that area, too, you will be allowed to listen to your children a little more.”
3. Sources of inspiration
In which a partner of The Board of Directors shares sources of knowledge that inspire him or her.
Inge Brakman: “As a director, I grew up in journalism, so to speak, and my ultimate source of inspiration are the newspapers. Apart from the FD and NRC fall at my house too de Volkskrant and it Haarlems Dagblad on the doormat and I also read regularly the Telegraph. I distil many administrative trends and problems — as well as solutions — from the daily contribution of written journalism to the debate.”
“Take the discussion about the safe working environment, which drew all the attention after the Van Rijn committee report. If de Volkskrant had not started reporting about the abuses at DWDD last year, the chance of such thorough investigation would have been much smaller. But of course, the press was on to this theme much earlier. In 2017, the newspapers already covered the Me Too movement extensively, although at that time it was still mainly in the US. Then alarm phase one should have arisen in many Dutch boardrooms: this is gruesome, we are going to do everything we can to see if something like this also happens to us and what we can do about it. Well. Although counselors arrived, the breakthrough in thinking actually only occurred years later — first with BOOS's coverage of The Voice, and later with the issues at the NPO. The press gets and takes the space to report and directors who follow the press closely thus recognize social themes early on that could become important for their business — and beyond. If you follow the press closely, you can be a frontrunner, lead by example.”
“As a supervisor, I myself have learned to appreciate such publicity red flags, the warnings that come from those first journalistic analyses. When a competitor, an industry peer, publishes a nasty issue, for me, it's not a matter of “sorry for them”. Then you just need to pay extra attention: how do we do it ourselves?”
4. The world outside
In which a partner from The Board Room provides a personal suggestion that helps to make life even more beautiful.
Hélène Vletter-Van Dort: “When I'm solving a tough problem, it really helps me to focus on something completely different for a while. Recently, I noticed that such a mental 'break out' can really affect you. As part of the question whether I might want to teach Dutch, I spoke to a Syrian refugee who had endured unimaginable misery only to end up in an abandoned hotel where the Dutch government had temporarily placed her. That got me completely out of my comfort zone.”
“Professionally, I try to solve business problems from the fixed frameworks that I have created. Those frameworks completely disappear during such a conversation. The solution skills of people who cross many borders under the harshest circumstances, without a passport, with hardly any clothing, food and money... Listening to that means you can put things into perspective more quickly. Above all, it also makes humbler. Any tendencies to blow up problems because you secretly don't have the solution yourself disappear immediately. Let's look at the urgency of every business issue that we want to tackle fearlessly through the eyes of such a refugee. Then it quickly becomes luxury problems that require parking egos and a quick solution, so that we have time to tackle real problems.”
“It would have a great impact if leadership teams carried out such interventions on a regular basis. A night of cooking for refugees together. That can really change people.”
