A quality certificate, because otherwise ....

One of the 16  youth protection organizations in The Netherlands faced a deadline to satisfy new standard certification requirements . The situation was urgent – without the certification the organization would have to close down. The interim CEO asked me to help. My quick diagnosis revealed that there was a basic quality system in place , but the ability to implement it was missing. There were so many urgent matters requiring attention from the management, they knew no longer where to start. I set up a quality team consisting of the quality manager and four employees.  Together we implemented a quality system. We organized interactive meetings with management to support them as well as possible. Due to time pressure I initially used an instructive, directive style. Once in place  I promoted  a learning style to embed the new methods. This resulted in a preliminary certificate and in new ways of working.

“Ons tweede Thuis” standing in the midst of society

Roel de Bruijn, CEO of  Ons Tweede Thuis (“Our Second Home”) needed to  make a major transition from a somewhat self-centered provider of care for the mentally disabled to an organization that is  closer to the people in need of its care, their family and friends as well as partner organisations . The CEO Roel de Bruijn summed up my contribution : “Sef helped us with this transition. In an inspiring way, he guided us to develop strategic policies, focusing both on the content and the process. In a stimulating, respectful way he constructively worked out with the organisation, with the non-executive board and with me, the CEO. In short, he made a significant contribution to our development, without  taking over.”

Bringing Wilde Ganzen to a next developmental phase

In 2018, Sef van Ments worked for nine months as an interim CEO with Wilde Ganzen, a major and well-known Dutch philanthropical organisation. It faced complex organisational issues that needed intensive support.

Together with the organisation and the board, Sef implemented change and promoted acceptance within the organisation 

Sef found the balance between short-term choices and execution on the one hand and developing a new structure and culture of worker involvement and engagement on the other hand.

The client comments on the process: “Respect for the organisation and its workers, giving and receiving trust, mobilizing energy and removing obstacles, but also penetrating to the core of the problem are characteristic of Sef’s interim management style.”

Auditing and certification of quality systems as a source of inspiration

Auditing and certification of quality systems is an activity that can help organisations to reach their goals. But instead of stressing the implementation of norms, rules and procedures, I start a process of talking with management and professionals, posing them challenging questions, stimulating processes of self-reflection and improvement. 

Because a good balance between technical aspects of quality like quality policy and goals, norms procedures et cetera on the one hand and socio-cultural aspects of quality like education and training, motivational programs, developing learning programs for professionals et cetera on the other hand makes for good quality culture. It is my style and competence to reach that balance together with the organization. And thus having an inspiring journey to better quality and quality culture.

Managing successful change at Eurofiber

Eurofiber, a leading supplier and operator of digital infrastructure in the Benelux and France, faced the challenge of properly managing its solid success and growth. 

With the help of Sef van Ments, then partner of Twynstra Gudde and his team, Eurofiber managed the transition to a higher level of functioning in a focused and effective way and thus secured its growth.  

With a smart change diagnosis Sef and his team not only diagnosed how the organisation functioned, but also discovered a number of patterns and ways of working, which on the one hand explained the success of the organization, but also gave rise to opportunities for improvement and coping with rapid change. Based on this diagnosis a change strategy was formulated. It took the existing mission, ambition and goals as a starting point but introduced new, different ways of looking, working and organizing. 

The main task of Sef and his team was to help to achieve the ambitions and goals in a sustainable and organised  way.

A lot happened in the organization in the more than a year and a half that Eurofiber and Sef worked together to strengthen the organizing capacity. The process was continuously monitored  and thus the change process was very flexible and adaptive. Thus, the change goals were effectively reached

Alex Goldblum, CEO of Eurofiber says: “ Sef and his team helped us to embed sustainable change into the way we ran our operation, developed new products and entered new markets.  It was an intense and very rewarding process!”