“I began my career at Iv as a junior engineer. At that time, I was still studying at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences while working at Iv.” Christiaan Hilgers, EIA Team Leader at Iv-Water, has been working at Iv since 2007 and has held various positions during these years. He is now following the Developing Human Talent programme and is being guided in his development as a team leader. Training for the job. “I began as a junior and progressed in steps: engineer, senior engineer, specialist and since July 2019, team leader. It was never my goal to reach a managerial position; I just wanted to do my job well and enjoy it. But my path gradually led me along this route. What are my ambitions? To become a better team leader. The best!" He laughs. “If you function well in the role of team leader, you can grow your department!”

Christiaan is now following the Developing Human Talent (DHT) programme with a group of colleagues. The programme revolves around personal development, (self) leadership and organisational development. “It's, particularly about your personal development process. What are my learning objectives, what do I need in my position in order to fulfil my role," explains Christiaan. “But it's also about creating a balance between your private life and work. And about clearing restrictions and obstacles. For example, I’m quite young, and this can also feel like an obstacle: ‘Can I do this?’ This is then a factor that gets worked on. The programme takes about a year and in addition to the trainers, you also have a coach and a buddy, of whom has a managerial position within another division. At the beginning of the programme, you set yourself a goal and you work towards achieving it in that year. Real development must also be visible. It’s to do with your work, so you can apply what you’ve learnt to your daily work.”

Is your work challenging? "Certainly! My role as a team leader is definitely challenging and I am still growing in it. Together with my collegial team leader and department head, I manage a pool of fifteen people, of which six to eight work for my market sector: hydraulic infrastructure. I really enjoy seeing the developments the people in my team go through. We have devised a policy plan in which we have closely examined the market and our growth opportunities. This is where our focus lies in terms of training and development. This is the part that I enjoy so much and the reason why I accepted the position.”

What are you most looking forward to in the programme? “To get started with my study objective. That was funny. I came up with a study objective, but in the end, the trainers managed to come up with a totally different one. The underlying objective that I hadn’t myself immediately identified. In recent years, I have followed many courses and training, such as project management, Functional Safety Engineer (TÜV Rheinland) and SIL & PL Specialist (TÜV Rheinland). It’s very nice, but also pretty challenging to be mostly busy with personal development. I would also like to learn more about system integration. Our way of working at Iv is very integral, which means that projects are always interesting to be involved with. I’m really looking forward to getting started with this too. You’re never done with learning!”