26 January – ‘Gewoon aan de Slag’

‘Gewoon aan de Slag’ is a company specialised in facilitating change in organisations from within. Wendy Nieuwland and Maaike Nooitgedagt help organisations that struggle with closing the gap between desired changes to day-to-day behaviour. Their clienst for example struggle with a merger; employees keep working as if there were still two companies, or the company wants to change, but the employees hold on to the old way of life. Or they work with a sales force of an organisation that needs to change their focus from relationship management to new client development. Or simply a team of nurses that doesn’t work together smoothly and is fed up with this. Every case is different, has to do with a different situation and a different goal.

‘Gewoon aan de Slag’ works with groups in these organisations to help them find a common desired outcome and take steps to actualise this (or change the desired outcome). To help every company in its own way, Wendy and Maaike make use of 7 principles of change, change from within. Underpinning their work, amongst others, are social constructionism and systemic thinking & clean language. One of the powerful tools they use for facilitating change this way is with the help of metaphors.

During this research meeting, Wendy and Maaike will explain how they work, will go into more detail about various cases and will talk about the use of metaphor in causing change in companies. You are all very much invited to ask questions, reflect on their work etcetera. They will show us some of the metaphors they encounter in their work and will leave plenty of room for discussion. The more interactive this meeting is, the more interesting it will be for everyone.