Operations run smoothly, processes are efficient, and digital transformation delivers results. Yet, customer relationships increasingly feel transactional. What if the next phase of sustainable growth requires a different kind of conversation?

The number of households with financial problems increases, while the Dutch government expects more financial self-sufficiency from citizens and businesses. The financial service industry can support consumers and businesses in preparing for economic adversity.

Organizational change is not difficult as long as changes come step by step, one by one. Then you can adjust yourself to it, get used to it and gradually go along with the changed situation. 

It becomes different when several changes run simultaneously. And new changes follow each other rapidly or overlap. 

You can't change if you keep doing what you've always done. Yet, it is not easy to start doing things differently than you are used to.

Today I am talking about the noble art of letting go. How to free yourself from what has kept you where you are until now.

Change happens constantly in the world around us. I find it educational to learn valuable lessons from our natural environment that help increase the effectiveness of change projects. In this post, I share 3 reminders from everyday life that help you become a more effective change leader.

Recently I saw the program “Steenrijk Straatarm” (Filthy Rich Penniless). This episode was about a "penniless" mum with 4 kids. They have to get by on a few tens every week. How did this come about?

Suppose you were a blacksmith in 1908, what choice would you have to make towards the future? The demand for horseshoes declined, but there were not yet enough cars for a profitable tire business. What are you doing then? In retrospect, the answer is simple, but in 1908 it was not easy.

The big leading question for many businesses today is how to implement the learnings from the COVID-19-crisis in their culture and operations. Given the dramatic changes we have seen in the fields of employee relations, customer relations and even carbon footprint, it would be a hugely missed opportunity not to seize the momentum and the learnings.

There is a difference between the value customers experience and what service providers claim to deliver. We open the discussion to two questions from a customer centricity and change leadership perspective.