Drs. Tonnie van der Zouwen MCM (1956)

Since 2002 I have worked as an independent consultant, operating from a network of colleagues. I support organisations and communities of professionals in change processes, in order to develop individual and collective abilities with the goal of increasing effectiveness. In these processes my role ranges from that of a consultant, facilitator, coach and trainer to researcher. The Creation of new connections by matching people with ideas, participative change methods and new methods for putting theory into practice are all part of my approach. My services include interactive processes and products, such as the LSI-training, building informative websites like this one, and organising conferences for professionals. See also www.learninghistories.net

What is my story? After finishing my degree in Ecology at Utrecht University, I wanted to work as a researcher. However, the environment was not yet a hot item, and there were very few jobs in that field. So I became a biology teacher at an agricultural school. I learned a lot from my colleagues, from working with groups and how to organise and give effective lessons.

In 1990 I switched to environmental consultancy. At first with a regional engineering firm, later with multinational organizations. My first projects as a consultant were assignments from environmental government departments: quality management, research and development of environmental legislation, investigations and environmental audits. In those days I made an evaluation of the perceptions of environmental rules for Small and Medium Enterprises. Confronted with the ambiguity of perceptions with the parties involved, I felt the restrictions of my position as an expert. Why did the implementation of the solid designed strategies and programmes often fail in practice? After an initial period of three years, I decided to follow the Master of Change management course at Sioo (a leading institute in the Netherlands for research and learning routes on consultancy). I dived deeply into world views, change strategies, and learned to work with participative methods like Large Scale Interventions. In doing action research I rediscovered my passion for research and writing.

Since 2007 I am doing a PhD research on the sustainable effects of LSI, at the Tilburg University in the Netherlands. You can read more and contribute to this research on the Wiki LSI.

I am a member of the Society for Organisational Learning, the Future Search Network, the Open Space Network, the Dutch Association of Consultants Ooa, and the Academy of Management.

For more information please see
www.tonnievanderzouwen.com

Drs. Eva van der Fluit
(1957)

 A large Group of people is smarter than the most intelligent individual in that Group.

(The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki)

I am born in New Zealand and came to the Netherlands when I was 3 years old. After my grammar school I studied psychology ( bachelors) and business ( masters). I started my working life doing  development projects in Africa. There after I learned the profession of management consultant. First as an internal consultant with Danone in Paris and then as an external consultant with Boer & Croon in Amsterdam. Since 2004 I work independently. 

As a consultant I am specialized in facilitating the strategy process of professional service firms. Clients are lawyers, engineers, policy advisors, medical specialists and other external or internal professionals. Their organizations change direction if the professionals start to think and act differently.

As a consultant I started in the expert role and wrote beautiful and complex reports. This brain gym was interesting but did not really deliver  sustainable results. The question which help is helpful  occupies me since my start in Cameroon. Today I think that a strategy process can be successful if the individuals that have to execute it, make their own plan. This does not guarantee realization but results in ownership. If they are able to keep the fire burning together, a strategy can become reality.

Developing and monitoring a strategy together, asks for an approach that is different from traditional strategy making. During my inquiry I followed a course as Open Space facilitator with Harrison Owen in 1996. There I also came across other methods to make a strategy with a large group. Since then I design together with my clients strategy processes with large scale interventions. 

Not every client is immediately convinces of this approach. They wonder if it will deliver quality results. But Surowiecki  proves that a poll under the employees of a multinational gives better policy results then the brilliant ideas of their CEO. We have too much trust in experts. Churchill already knew this. He prepared D-day with a team of experts, combined with a housewife, a nurse, a painter and other individuals with original views.

I am a member of the Academy of Management, the World Future Society, the Society for Organisational Learning, and the Dutch organization of consultants Ooa.

For more information please see www.evavanderfluit.nl