When an opportunity presents itself, you must seize it
Claudia is now a former NextGen employee. She successfully completed her two-year Next Level program and during that time already made great strides within an international organization in the chemical industry, where she has now joined permanently. We visited Limburg to hear her growth story. Also at the table: Jos Schmitz, head of Integrated Business Planning Operations. The team Claudia was part of for a long time.
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I felt I was ready for a new challenge
Claudia: After six years working for a smaller company, I felt I was ready for a new challenge. The vacancy at this company happened to come to me through two channels: through my father and because Marco from NextGen approached me. Marco asked me very openly about my situation: for example, I did not want to work as an interim manager, but really wanted to take a new step with a company. Besides, I don't take risks that easily, and that's how this possible step felt. But Marco convinced me to start talking to him and Jos and then there was actually a click immediately.
Jos: You showed that you were ready for a step to a larger organization. As an international company, the scope is larger: many regions, many different products. You came across as someone who was ambitious, but always made well-considered choices. That fits our company very well.
Claudia: And I felt like working within the supply chain with a more specific scope, in this case in demand planning. When all that turned out to be possible, of course I couldn't say no anymore. It is a good trait to be loyal, but if you can take a nice development step, you have to take it. Especially if a party like NextGen helps you with training and coaching in that development.
Jos: That's also where the added value of NextGen lies for me. Step 1 is of course finding candidates of the caliber of Claudia. That is already difficult in our industry, but NextGen really has a nose for that. NextGen also excels in the subsequent process. The intensive coaching and training that NextGen does, we as a company cannot offer ourselves. But by working with NextGen we can. That is attractive both for us and for someone like Claudia. And that development is going well.
'Claudia is ambitious and develops quickly, I can really build on that'
Claudia: I'm making quite a few strides, yes. I started here as IBP Process Coordinator, supporting the demand planning team with, for example, data management and implementing process improvements. When a Global Demand Manager role became available, it turned out to be a great opportunity to take the lead in demand planning myself. Also because I could do projects, including my Green Belt, alongside it. At moments like that it felt great to be part of NextGen, because there is always someone with whom you can spar. This allows you to get a quicker idea of which skills you still need to develop in order to take the steps you want. Slowly but surely the end date of my NextGen contract was approaching and I had to think about my next step. I wanted to stay, Jos and the rest of the organization wanted to keep me. Together we then looked at what role would suit me. And that was as global supply planner.
Jos: That did have one drawback, because she's not on my team now! But if the opportunity arises to make such a step, I very much welcome it. Claudia is very ambitious and develops quickly. She is open to everything. That also makes my life easy; I know I can rely on her. One of her biggest challenges in the beginning was stakeholder management. She has grown enormously in that. At first she looked forward to that, too, but through many conversations with NextGen coach Amanda and us, she has learned a lot about it.
'As a manager, you need content knowledge, which I am building now'
Claudia: I got a lot out of that. And now I want to learn something else again. I am always interested in many things, in the coming time I want to develop my leadership further. And in addition, I want to gain broader experience within this company. For us it is important that a manager has broad, substantive knowledge. That is what I am trying to build up now. Then I'll see what comes my way.
Jos: We made a conscious decision to do that as well, to look together at how to maintain that growth curve. With everyone it levels off after a while, but by taking this step now, she continues to learn. As a company, we benefit from her development, and from the improvements she suggested from her Green Belt trajectory.
Claudia: By exposing pain points you create urgency within the company to make processes run better and get people on board. That's also where stakeholder management comes in: how do you get people on board with change? I've done a lot to improve our Integrated Tactical Planning process. But everything we accomplish, of course, is teamwork, that's what it really feels like.
'Step by step you go through a huge development, which is very nice to notice'
Jos: But she can be really proud of this, the improved ITP process has now been rolled out worldwide. And Claudia, together with a colleague, was really the conscience of the project. They were the designers and the people who asked questions at the same time. That was very nice to see. That also comes from a dose of natural leadership. It soon became clear that Claudia was not afraid to take the lead. She picked that up very quickly and did it well.
Claudia: Thanks to the coaching! One of my learning goals was to build leadership skills. I had many coaching sessions with Amanda. I also consulted a lot with Jos, but in a conversation with your 'neutral' coach you get to the core just a little easier. Every quarter we set a new goal and that's how you end up developing step by step. It's also very nice to notice that you can immediately put certain theory into practice.
Jos: That also helps me to support the NextGen'ers, because we have three walking around here, in their development. We get a very honest picture about where someone stands and what someone is struggling with. With a coach who helps both us and the employees in this, it works a lot easier. As a result, a NextGenner adapts very quickly within the organization. We really see the added value of NextGen in this, and now that Claudia has left my team, perhaps I should call them again....
When an opportunity presents itself, you must seize it
Claudia is now a former NextGen employee. She successfully completed her two-year Next Level program and during that time already made great strides within an international organization in the chemical industry, where she has now joined permanently. We visited Limburg to hear her growth story. Also at the table: Jos Schmitz, head of Integrated Business Planning Operations. The team Claudia was part of for a long time.
I felt I was ready for a new challenge
Claudia: After six years working for a smaller company, I felt I was ready for a new challenge. The vacancy at this company happened to come to me through two channels: through my father and because Marco from NextGen approached me. Marco asked me very openly about my situation: for example, I did not want to work as an interim manager, but really wanted to take a new step with a company. Besides, I don't take risks that easily, and that's how this possible step felt. But Marco convinced me to start talking to him and Jos and then there was actually a click immediately.
Jos: You showed that you were ready for a step to a larger organization. As an international company, the scope is larger: many regions, many different products. You came across as someone who was ambitious, but always made well-considered choices. That fits our company very well.
Claudia: And I felt like working within the supply chain with a more specific scope, in this case in demand planning. When all that turned out to be possible, of course I couldn't say no anymore. It is a good trait to be loyal, but if you can take a nice development step, you have to take it. Especially if a party like NextGen helps you with training and coaching in that development.
Jos: That's also where the added value of NextGen lies for me. Step 1 is of course finding candidates of the caliber of Claudia. That is already difficult in our industry, but NextGen really has a nose for that. NextGen also excels in the subsequent process. The intensive coaching and training that NextGen does, we as a company cannot offer ourselves. But by working with NextGen we can. That is attractive both for us and for someone like Claudia. And that development is going well.
'Claudia is ambitious and develops quickly, I can really build on that'
Claudia: I'm making quite a few strides, yes. I started here as IBP Process Coordinator, supporting the demand planning team with, for example, data management and implementing process improvements. When a Global Demand Manager role became available, it turned out to be a great opportunity to take the lead in demand planning myself. Also because I could do projects, including my Green Belt, alongside it. At moments like that it felt great to be part of NextGen, because there is always someone with whom you can spar. This allows you to get a quicker idea of which skills you still need to develop in order to take the steps you want. Slowly but surely the end date of my NextGen contract was approaching and I had to think about my next step. I wanted to stay, Jos and the rest of the organization wanted to keep me. Together we then looked at what role would suit me. And that was as global supply planner.
Jos: That did have one drawback, because she's not on my team now! But if the opportunity arises to make such a step, I very much welcome it. Claudia is very ambitious and develops quickly. She is open to everything. That also makes my life easy; I know I can rely on her. One of her biggest challenges in the beginning was stakeholder management. She has grown enormously in that. At first she looked forward to that, too, but through many conversations with NextGen coach Amanda and us, she has learned a lot about it.
'As a manager, you need content knowledge, which I am building now'
Claudia: I got a lot out of that. And now I want to learn something else again. I am always interested in many things, in the coming time I want to develop my leadership further. And in addition, I want to gain broader experience within this company. For us it is important that a manager has broad, substantive knowledge. That is what I am trying to build up now. Then I'll see what comes my way.
Jos: We made a conscious decision to do that as well, to look together at how to maintain that growth curve. With everyone it levels off after a while, but by taking this step now, she continues to learn. As a company, we benefit from her development, and from the improvements she suggested from her Green Belt trajectory.
Claudia: By exposing pain points you create urgency within the company to make processes run better and get people on board. That's also where stakeholder management comes in: how do you get people on board with change? I've done a lot to improve our Integrated Tactical Planning process. But everything we accomplish, of course, is teamwork, that's what it really feels like.
'Step by step you go through a huge development, which is very nice to notice'
Jos: But she can be really proud of this, the improved ITP process has now been rolled out worldwide. And Claudia, together with a colleague, was really the conscience of the project. They were the designers and the people who asked questions at the same time. That was very nice to see. That also comes from a dose of natural leadership. It soon became clear that Claudia was not afraid to take the lead. She picked that up very quickly and did it well.
Claudia: Thanks to the coaching! One of my learning goals was to build leadership skills. I had many coaching sessions with Amanda. I also consulted a lot with Jos, but in a conversation with your 'neutral' coach you get to the core just a little easier. Every quarter we set a new goal and that's how you end up developing step by step. It's also very nice to notice that you can immediately put certain theory into practice.
Jos: That also helps me to support the NextGen'ers, because we have three walking around here, in their development. We get a very honest picture about where someone stands and what someone is struggling with. With a coach who helps both us and the employees in this, it works a lot easier. As a result, a NextGenner adapts very quickly within the organization. We really see the added value of NextGen in this, and now that Claudia has left my team, perhaps I should call them again....
'Step by step you go through a huge development, which is very nice to notice'
Jos: But she can be really proud of this, the improved ITP process has now been rolled out worldwide. And Claudia, together with a colleague, was really the conscience of the project. They were the designers and the people who asked questions at the same time. That was very nice to see. That also comes from a dose of natural leadership. It soon became clear that Claudia was not afraid to take the lead. She picked that up very quickly and did it well.
Claudia: Thanks for the coaching! One of my learning goals was to build leadership skills. I had many coaching sessions with Amanda. I also consulted a lot with Jos, but in a conversation with your 'neutral' coach you get to the core just a little easier. Every quarter we set a new goal and that's how you end up developing step by step. It is also very nice to notice that you can immediately put certain theory into practice.
Jos: That also helps me to support the NextGenners, because we have three walking around here, in their development. We get a very honest picture about where someone stands and what someone is struggling with. With a coach who helps both us and the employees in this, it works a lot easier. As a result, a NextGenner adapts very quickly within the organization. We really see the added value of NextGen in this, and now that Claudia has left my team, perhaps I should call them again....
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