Professionals Program Royal HaskoningDHV

“We notice a growing demand in organizations for development opportunities for mid-career professionals. These employees form the core of the organization and are highly capable at their job. That is why companies are eager to invest in these professionals, so that they can develop further within their own organization,” says Mariska Kemp-Ruiter, Incompany Advisor at de Baak. One company facing this issue was Royal HaskoningDHV, a prominent international engineering and consultancy firm. That is why Royal HaskoningDHV partnered with de Baak to design a Professional Program to help this group of employees advance their personal and professional development. Ard Verweij, Business Unit Director Regional Development & Infrastructure at Royal HaskoningDHV, and Esther Huls, Trainer at de Baak, describe their experiences with the Professional Program.

The Professional Program is intended for professionals at a crossroads in their career. They face important questions such as, ‘do I want to develop further in my specialism?’ Or, ‘do I want to move on toward a management position?’ “These employees are our organization’s future leaders, whether in formal positions or informally, and we at Royal HaskoningDHV are eager to invest in them,” explains Ard. “We often see that fresh employees bring a lot of luggage from their prior education to the job. Then, during the first few years in the organization, as they learn what it actually means to work at an engineering office, they build more expertise. But then, several years further down, the question arises: ‘What next? How can I continue developing myself?’ We noticed a strong need among our employees to continue developing, also beyond the boundaries of their discipline, for instance with regard to the human component and interpersonal skills.” 

Esther Huls is one of the three trainers at de Baak who supervise the Professional Program. She recognizes the employees’ need for personal development. “Employees at Royal HaskoningDHV are people with a very strong grounding in their discipline, who need to operate within complicated force fields and in their projects need to cooperate with lots of internal and external stakeholders. How do you deal with that, for instance when you are the project leader but are not formally in a management position? Besides the content, in such cases personal development is vital to growing further in your role. What matters then is not just what you do, but also how you do it.”

The Professional Program centers on personal and informal leadership. It starts with a kick-off and individual intake interviews, and consists of four modules. “At Royal HaskoningDHV we had a clear idea beforehand what the development program should achieve. We obtained information from both the management and the professionals regarding their expectations. We also consulted a number of colleagues who have previously completed a development program. This gave us a solid picture of our needs, as starting point for the design of the program,” says Ard. “It turned out that one of the standard programs of de Baak, The Informal Leader, was in line with our needs. That’s why we decided to take this program as a basis on which to further develop the Professional Program, incorporating various tailored elements to ensure a perfect fit between the program and our organization.”

“We refer to this as Incompany Proven Concepts,” Mariska Kemp-Ruiter explains. “These are semi-tailored programs, based on a training course from our open offer, which is then adapted to fit the organization’s context and needs. This approach gives organizations the opportunity to make use of a tried-and-tested program, but in a form that has been tailored to their own organization. This saves an organization from embarking on a tailored training program entirely from scratch.” Ard: “For us, having this solid foundation to build on was one of the main factors that determined our choice for de Baak.”

The first module of the Professional Program concentrates on personal leadership. It is all about examining your own behavior, determining its effectiveness, and learning to develop further on this basis. “The program really starts with yourself. Who am I? How do I act? And how do I respond to situations?”, says Ard.

The second module explores how you interact with others. How does your behavior affect or impact others? The next two modules concentrate on collaborating in complex situations, using case studies drawn from the participants’ work field. “Here we shift the focus to actual practice and the context in which people work, to help participants apply the insights acquired in the program to their daily work practice,” says Esther. The practical application is also facilitated and increased through the managers’ involvement with the co-workers who participate in the program. The program concludes with a grand finale, where participants share with each other – and also with their managers – what they have learned and how they will continue to pursue their development after the program.

Esther underlines the importance of the managers’ involvement: “Straight from the kick-off we involve the managers, so that they are aware of their co-workers’ development goals and how they can facilitate this. After each module we ask the participants to update their manager about the insights and action points resulting from the module, along with the question: what do you need from the manager in order to put your learnings into practice? This way, the program is truly embedded in the participant’s work situation and also ensures the managers’ active involvement.” Ard adds: “We find it very important for the participant and the manager to maintain sincere contact, so that they can together work on the co-worker’s development. This program strongly contributes to that.”

Besides stimulating a sincere dialogue between participants and managers about personal development, Ard sees that the Professional Program achieves other results as well. Employees are hugely appreciative of the opportunity they are given to truly work on themselves. “It is an opportunity for reflection, which allows them to engage with their own development. We notice that this helps  employees identify and talk about their strong points as well as their ambitions for improvement. We can see these employees really achieving a leap in their development, and for instance finding it easier to address colleagues and to conduct discussions differently.”

Esther agrees: “Employees become more aware of how they approach matters, of how they’ve always acted in the past and now have the opportunity to start doing things differently. That’s an important result of the program.” Ard adds: “We also see how much participants learn both from and with each other, during the program. We work a lot with the case studies that the participants contribute. You also see a network forming, as participants get to know other people in the organization and start to exchange knowledge. We are very pleased to see how the program reinforces the network throughout the organization, also beyond a co-worker’s regular work circle. We strongly believe that Royal HaskoningDHV gains an edge by acting together and collectively fulfilling a customer’s demand. And then it really helps when people know where to find each other within the organization and can understand each other. This element of connecting is a very important outcome of the program. As soon as a new group is announced, the applications to participate come flooding in. People encourage each other to participate. For me, that’s a very positive confirmation of the added value offered by the Professional Program.”