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The Story Behind the Achievement

The Story of Turner and MBO Amersfoort

This year, we can call ourselves the No. 1 strategy consulting firm and have the highest customer satisfaction rating of all consulting firms. What lies behind this achievement by us and our clients? In the series “The Story Behind the Achievement,” we speak with Ruud Mols, director of the Lifelong Learning initiative at MBO Amersfoort. How has Turner helped boost the education of vocational professionals?

The story of Turner & MBO Amersfoort begins with a theme that is central to virtually every vocational education institution: Lifelong Learning (LLL). Plans to offer more education to working professionals had been in the works for some time, but were often difficult to put into concrete terms. It was time to make this a top priority and assign one person at MBO Amersfoort to take overall responsibility: Ruud Mols. And sure enough, within six months, MBO Amersfoort expanded from two to fourteen programs for working professionals. What happened there? And how did Turner help make that happen?

Odd one out

Ruud Mols is something of an odd man out at MBO Amersfoort. Until two years ago, he worked in the private sector in various marketing and sales roles. Now he is the director of MBO Amersfoort’s Dutch Health Tech Academy. Ruud: “It’s true—I don’t have a typical educational background. Still, my experience and connections in the business world have proven to be valuable, because the Dutch Health Tech Academy offers many training programs for working professionals. Take, for example, our programs to become an audiologist, optician, or dental technician; often, people are already working while pursuing such a program through their employer. As a vocational education institution, you also need to have a good understanding of employers’ needs.”

Lifelong Development

MBO Amersfoort had long had the ambition to offer more education opportunities for working professionals as part of a lifelong learning program. Ruud commented: “Employers are desperate for talent, but the number of MBO students is set to decline. We therefore expect there will be an increasing need for continuing education, retraining, and specialized training among working professionals. At MBO Amersfoort, we have a wealth of in-house knowledge and experience, as well as strong ties to the professional field, so we really have a lot to offer this group.” Still, it proved difficult to put concrete plans in place and prioritize this initiative alongside all the other activities in our existing operations. A familiar dilemma.

"To be honest, I didn't expect it to be such a success. It's definitely proven that we're capable of more than we thought. It's really sparked something."

– Ruud Mols, head of LLO, MBO Amersfoort

Pick up the pace

When Ruud was asked to lead a Lifelong Development program at MBO Amersfoort, he chose to organize it separately by thinking and working like a startup. Ruud: “I didn’t want to conduct market research or studies; I wanted to get started quickly with the right specialists within the organization—people who know the field well, people who can deliver training, and people from the support services. They are given a lot of responsibility and can make decisions quickly. The philosophy is: learning and experimentation.”

Turner as the driving force

How exactly did Turner come into the picture? Ruud: “We were looking for support with this shift. It’s quite a big step for our organization, where we’re used to thinking first and then acting. Now we had to act first and think later: ‘fail fast,’ as startups say. That’s how we ended up with Turner. She’s a catalyst and a connector. On the one hand, she inspired us with training sessions on Agile and Scrum and organized a day-long event on Lifelong Development featuring guest speakers. On the other hand, she ensured that the core team worked well together and delivered results. It was a pleasure working with her.”

Turner is number 1 on the MT1000 list. What’s the story behind this impressive achievement? We’d love to tell you more.

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Agile working means that you’re constantly working toward a Minimum Viable Product (MVP): a product, service, or solution that you quickly test in “the market.” What kinds of products has MBO Amersfoort delivered after six months? Ruud: “We now offer fourteen training courses in the field of Healthcare and social services and have already conducted the first sessions. We hear from instructors that they find it inspiring to teach working adults, who are often highly motivated. The really great thing is that a large proportion of the participants go on to enroll in regular vocational training programs. So a course like this lowers the barrier to entry for people changing careers.”

Blazing Fire

So, a great result. How does Ruud look back on this process? “To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be such a success. We’re truly capable of more than we thought—that’s been proven. The core team is very dedicated and enthusiastic. A real fire has been lit. We’re going to stick with the agile way of working and apply it to the implementation of our other strategic priorities as well.”

“It’s great to hear that Ruud is so satisfied and that MBO Amersfoort is continuing with this approach. I really enjoyed contributing to it.”

Alex Crezee - Practice Leader, Education

Alex: “It’s great to hear that Ruud is so satisfied and that MBO Amersfoort is continuing with this approach. I really enjoyed contributing to this, so it’s great to see that this approach is being widely adopted within organizations. And I’m confident that MBO Amersfoort will soon be well-established as a provider of lifelong learning in the region.”

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