New ways of moving forward together.
For me, lasting change starts with what the people concerned find important, see for themselves and are able to carry. I want to help them shape their surroundings and give direction to their own development.
I am curious about what really drives someone. With a student looking for where they want to grow, and with people working on a change together. What do you want to make possible, and what do you want to learn for that? From there it becomes clearer what you want to focus on and what a next step could be.
My approach brings together design, technology and working with people. I ask questions, help sharpen the purpose and try things out together with others.
What you can ask me for
Sometimes I work on a process or design for a longer time. Sometimes we look together at your work and development. And sometimes we explore new possibilities with a whole group.
Building, guiding and adjusting processes
You know where you want to go. The route takes shape along the way.
Perhaps there is already a plan, but it does not get moving. People drop out, resistance grows or the initiative stays with a few people. What is going on? What do people themselves find important? And how can a next step grow from there?
From there, I help translate the purpose into who we bring together, which questions we ask and how the meetings build on each other. I also pay attention to which perspectives get room and how people themselves can influence the direction. As we go, we explore together what is needed and adjust the process, with the purpose in mind.
Researching, designing and building
You want to make something possible. What it will take is still open.
I explore what helps people move forward and which new ways of working or technologies might play a part. From there, I imagine, design and build something we can try together.
- The change
- The process
- The meeting
For people who keep asking
Sparring and coaching
We begin with the work itself.
What do you want to make possible? Which question helps at which moment, and what do you give people back so they can take it further? I look with you, ask questions and offer my perspective when it opens something up. The choices stay with you.
At the Mental Health Networks, the facilitators had already designed the outline of their transformation plan sessions. Together we sharpened the purpose, and I thought along about where AI could help. How that went at the Mental Health Networks →
What I bring
Many facilitators come from working with people, and that is their strength. I come from design: co-creation, design thinking, prototyping, trying things out before you settle on them. Working with people and technology came on top of that. So to me, a session is also a design, something you can try out and adjust.
I also like to think along about AI. Where can it help, for example by giving back what people contribute? Where does it create distance? And how do people keep deciding what happens with their words?
Learning from each other
I also enjoy doing this in education. I coach students on their projects and development: what do you want to explore, which choices do you make and how do you find your own direction in them?
People who want to learn and keep asking questions also set change in motion.
For four years I coached Industrial Design students at Eindhoven University of Technology. What I found especially rewarding was working out together what drove someone. Why did you choose this study? What do you enjoy? What do you want to do with it? There was no right or wrong answer. It helped them find direction: this is what I want to focus on, this is what I want to learn and this is what I still need. Students told me that those conversations in particular helped them move forward. That work taught me how much attention matters, both to the quality of the work and to the motivation of the person making it.
What I enjoy most is when it carries on informally: someone takes everything in, comes back with new questions and challenges me to think further. Then we both learn.
Talks, workshops and teaching
Would you like to work with colleagues or students on social design, Social AI or change from the ground up? I give talks, guest lectures and workshops, preferably with questions and material from your own practice.
I like to share what I know with anyone working towards a better society: grid operators, municipalities and provinces, care institutions, schools and universities. In Dutch or English.
Two ways to begin
You are working on something yourself. Tell me what you are working on, and we will plan a first conversation.
You are organising something for a group. Discuss a gathering: tell me who wants to learn, what you want to explore and what date you have in mind.