Sphere-Work is een gespecialiseerde HR-boutique die op een erg pragmatische échte en duurzame veranderingen implementeert bij bedrijven;Ons team is samengesteld uit uitsluitend ervaren consultants die samen jarenlange ervaring in HR en organisatieverandering samenbrengen;Wij willen het alternatief zijn voor consultant-speak en -aanpak, die vaak voorschrijven hoe het moet, maar het nog nooit zelf gedaan hebben;Wij, wij hebben het wel gedaan: reorganisaties, managen van zware onzekerheid, van verandering op verandering, productiviteitsverhogingen, hertekenen van processen en structuren, implementaties van bonussystemen die de strategie en de samenwerking tussen entiteiten ten volle ondersteunen…Wij zijn uniek in onze aanpak omdat we heel veel focus brengen: vanuit het probleem kunnen we heel snel naar de root-cause analyse gaan om dan gericht de maatregelen te nemen met de hoogste toegevoegde waarde aan de laagste kost (zowel financieel als “collateral damage” in termen van motivatie en productiviteit van mensen);Al onze oplossingen zijn gedrenkt in wetenschappelijk onderzoek: wij doen geen change of HR ‘vanuit de buik’.We vallen de mensen op de werkvloer niet lastig met concepten. Onze oplossingen ademen praktijk, de concepten blijven in de keuken;De meerwaarde van onze aanpak is meerdere malen aangetoond, in verschillende omgevingen, gaande van KMO’s tot grote ondernemingen en van de private tot de publieke sector.

Transform Brussels Airlines into a sustainably healthy company, preserving many airline and -port related jobs and developing Brussels Airlines as economic motor of the Belgian economy.

After six months, it was clear that the integration of Eurowings and Brussels Airlines wasn’t possible: both entities had too many internal problems, had both an heritage of extreme complexity, etc. Therefore, the (right) decision was taken to separate again the two entities, to make it possible for both entities to simplify and focus on their specific strengths. Both entities need deep change and restructuring. Therefore, I stayed in both entities until Eurowings had a good alternative.

Since 2010, we managed within BNPP Fortis:1. To implement a risk-aware entrepreneurial culture. I think this was important give the opportunity to our people to recover from the financial crisis. Our crisis HR-approach, followed by the integration approach and cultural shift was an effective one.2. Since 2011, the economy shifted and impacted heavily the revenue generation of banks. Revenues under pressure, costs increasing through banking taxes and regulation-linked investments, heavy investments in future oriented customer services: profitability under pressure. We didn't doubt as BNPP Fortis: while investing in the future, we should also reduce costs, but in our BNPP Fortis-way, ie. Responsibly and respectfully towards everyone. Knowing that staff expenses are a big part of the costs, we have worked on this as well. In the period since 2011 and now, we reduced staff by 25%, always respectfully for every indivual and in close concertation with social partners, through a highly disciplined and socially responsible approach. A highly effective multi-year strategic dialogue & workforce planning approach at the one hand and at the other hand making maximally use of the talents we have, re-skilling and re-training, an efficient internal mobility strategy with pro-active career guidance and -counseling proves to be very effective.3. This doesn't mean that we lost sight of other priorities: as we decided to leverage maximally on the talents available, initiatives to find, retain & engage talents are critical: we have an excellent traineeship, a leadership development track which is simply cutting edge, a unique personalized rewarding system stimulating people to reflect on their long term career development & mobility choices, a day-to-day people management outperforming any benchmark, etc etc.All of this with one objective: making sure that our people can make a difference for our clients.

I started in HR as HR programme manager, responsible for the projects related to the implementation of the Fortis HR-strategy. Afterwards, I combined this role with the 'Finance'-side of HR: everything related to staff expenses reporting and advising top managing how to manage it (knowing that in Fortis staff expenses mounted to 66% of the total cost base).While the above mentioned jobs were 'corporate' HR jobs and very specific, my next job was a more generic one: responsible for HR Shared Services in Belgium. In this role, I was heading all local activities as Recruitment, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, Social Relations and the HR Service Center.

My background as project- and programme manager still influences me in everything I do...

(Back then: Dexia) Together with 2 other people, we managed 7 retail branches in Dexia. Both the concrete banking experience as the direct client facing experience is and remains extremely valuable to me and a yard stick for every decision that I take.The first thing that I did when joining Fortis was to follow a kind of internship in the Fortis-branches to feel the life and the difference with the Dexia-reality.

Hands on end-to-end process improvement and -simplification, in both in front- and back-office processes.

Re-invention training tracks for investments on the moment when Dexia transformed from 'bon de caisse'-bank to a 'normal' client driven investment advice.

(Back then: Cera). Still a valuable client facing & rewarding experience.