In 2012 I was responsible for the development and launch of an initiative to leverage the skills and talents of the new generations within Arcadis. Global Shapers is an annual program which provides 100 young professionals worldwide the opportunity to learn through working together in a virtual and face-to-face phase. In a couple of years a powerful network of young professionals has been created who helped to make Arcadis a truly global and connected company. The Global Shapers program became a recognized brand internally and externally (MCA award 2017).

During my time at Arcadis, the company has seen tremendous growth. Arcadis expanded in a truly global player, and the number of people almost doubled over the years (from 15.000 in 2012 to 27.000 in 2017). The Senior Leadership Program was designed for high performing senior leaders in Arcadis to take their leadership capability to the next level, familiarize themselves with the Arcadis strategy and contribute to realizing strategy in their part of the business. The program provides an opportunity to build global connections and interact with the board. Also many leaders who have entered through acquisitions have benefited from this program.

The Your Voice Museum concept was designed to inform senior leaders in Arcadis about the ‘engagement survey results’ and get inspired to take action.
The Your Voice Museum used a 3D audio tour to guide leaders along important topics concerning employee engagement, like personal leadership, trust, values, communications, diversity and inclusion. Leaders were challenged to reflect on their understandings, behavior and values through various exercises. The concept has been highly valued as an effective way for leaders to get meaning out of the survey results.

With over 27.000 people working in more than 350 offices spread out over 40 countries, Arcadis truly is a global company. As part of moving towards being One Arcadis I have led the design and implementation of a new Global Induction Program to onboard new colleagues across the globe. The Global Onboarding Experience, called ‘Your Perspective’, is an interactive virtual experience (90 minutes) which enables new joiners to explore the world of Arcadis, meet new colleagues and feel part of the Arcadis’s mission. Your Perspective introduces new employees to Arcadis globally, as well as providing them an understanding of their regional businesses.

To build digital capabilities and innovation savviness within the company, and to engage and activate many employees in the Arcadis digital transformation, I developed an initiative called Expedition DNA. Expedition DNA consists of a virtual online learning experience (Base camp) and a face-to-face experience (Expeditions). After this program Arcadians can act upon digital client opportunities in a more effective way and staff their team for success when dealing with projects that require an innovative mindset and digital capabilities.