To complete our mission toward 100% impact projects, we need a diverse team of consultants. With different expertise, backgrounds, and personalities. Let’s meet our team of consultants. What motivates performance consultant Roderick Oe, who also leads our journey towards Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

Can you tell us something about the projects you’ve been working on?

Well, I’ve been working as a performance management consultant across many industries for more than 12 years now. One of my favorites was a project for Sanquin, also known as the blood bank. It’s non-profit organization that collects blood from donors and turns it into life-saving products for patients. For instance, for immune therapy to treat cancer patients. They wanted to make the blood donation process better, so that donors would be glad to come back and donate again. We helped all 300 employees across the country to learn and adapt the LEAN methodology. Very inspiring.

What makes these projects so interesting?

I love helping a team to become better. Step by step. It’s not just about working on the right structure and conditions, but it’s also very people oriented. If they don’t change their behavior, there’s no way they can improve their performance. I also love working on tangible problems. I’m not the kind of person to be dreaming up a strategy and then leave. I like to stay and see the results of my work. Our methodology can be used in many different companies and processes, which offers a lot of variation.

How do you keep working on your own development?

In general, there are many opportunities to get the support you need to keep growing. My role in the company has changed over the years. I’m now in a position where I manage the projects and help coworkers with their performance improvement projects. But what I’m most proud of is my role as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lead.

What does this role entail?

As a B Corp, we’re committed to creating a more sustainable and inclusive economy. I’m the person who’s leading our journey towards an inclusive and diverse organization. In 2022, we invited renowned expert Terence Guiamo. He’s also the Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging of Just Eat Takeaway. Terence educated us about unconscious bias, gender equality, systemic racism, and started a dialogue about these topics. We also performed an audit of our company’s human resources and marketing & communication processes. Finding blind spots in our communication and inspiration to make necessary changes.

Any tangible changes yet?

One example is using English as our first language of communication and opening our positions for consultants who don’t speak Dutch. Another is offering the option to exchange two national holidays for another holiday of choice. Enabling people to celebrate those religious or cultural holidays that are important to them. Also, we have a dialogue about this topic with the entire company every quarter. It’s what we call: meaningful conversations.

How about sustainability, what role does that play for you?

I’m a big fan of B Corp’s holistic view of sustainability. Not just caring about the environment, but also building a more inclusive economy. Creating a more inclusive and diverse organization is part of being a sustainable company. And who knows, perhaps we can help clients on their journey too?

“I’m a big fan of B Corp’s holistic view of sustainability. Not just caring about the environment, but also building a more inclusive economy.”