WORK OBSERVATION

1. What did you study in University and did you always have ambition to become a leading figure?

2. Before this project, have you worked as a manager or leading figure before?

3. Do you follow the traditional hierarchy of a manager and its team? So would you say you have a traditional style of managing a team and your business?

4. Would you say it is harder as a rather new and innovative company in the industry?

5. What are some of the problem areas when it comes to managing your team?

6. Your organization has a small team at the moment, are you looking on expanding this? Or is it a choice to stay small?

7. As leading figure, how do you make sure all of your employees feel appreciated and keep up the good work?

8. Your business is known for its focus on innovation, in managing we often distinguish 2 kinds of managing? Incremental (non-disruptive) innovation: Focuses on optimization of current products and/or business model in order to remain competitive in an existing market. And radical (disruptive) innovation: Focuses on the creation of a new market, leaving behind regular competitors, in order to reap the huge benefits to be expected from pioneering in a new field. Which one of these 2 would you consider yourself to be and why?

9. How do you deal with resistance at your job

10. How do you deal with authority in your position? Do you give your employees the freedom to come up with their own ideas around some topics?

Catherine Willems
Founder & manager Futurefootwearfoundation

1) I have learned a lot from this work observation. But since it is Covid at the moment I think my experience would have been a lot different if things would be normal. One of the things I learned is that you really have to work hard and a lot, I think a lot of people often forgot that a managing job is very hard and time consuming. You don’t only have to manage the team, but people also see you as a leading figure so they will come to you with the problems that they have. These need to be solved and looked at while you have to work on other things too. Something else I learned is that you don’t have to work in a sector that you studied for. Catherine for example didn’t study anything regarding managing and here she is leading a team and several projects.

2) The most enjoyable part about this whole experience must be that I learned a lot. It was a nice learning moment to be able to follow a manager in the steps that she did. I must say that because of Covid and everything being online I feel that I have learned less than I would in a normal setting. If Covid wouldn’t be there I would be able to attend in real life meetings, which I think can be very teachable.

3) Yes I would consider this job when I am older. First of all because it is so broad and my mom works on a lot of different projects at the same time. The fact that she works so international is also very appealing to me. I would like to work abroad or at least travel a lot for my work. One thing that doesn’t appeal to me is that she works very hard and very long hours. I want to be able to leave my work at my work and not take it home after which is something that often happens with my mom. The fact that she is the managers also comes with a lot of responsibilities and the fixing of other people problems. I don’t know if I would have the strength to do that every day. Other than that I think the job she does is very interesting and has a lot of room for own interpretation and work ways.

4) c) If we take a look at the IBM learning outcomes, I can say that they are all important to this manager’s job. But some are more important than others. Let’s start with LOIBM/01 which is management, this is an important one because as a manager you need to be able to manage a team and keep an eye on everything. Secondly we have LOIBM/02 which is strategic goals, as a manager Catherine needs to be able to set goals for herself and her team. Third we have sustainability and international focus, this is a specific one for this business I think, since they really focus on the environment and projecting this sustainability also on the people they are working with. LOIBM/18, intercultural sensitivity is also an important one. When you are manager of an international business it is important to know that not every culture is the same and that you might need to change your way of working when surrounded by other cultures. Like I said basically every one of the IBM learning outcomes is important in Catherine’s job, but I picked out the most outstanding ones.

5) One of the biggest strengths that I have that fit Catherine’s job very well is that I feel comfortable in an international environment. As a manager you need to be able to adapt to other people’s working cultures and norms. Some points that I can increase, which are part of my weaknesses are that there will always be things that you don’t like to do. As a manager there are a lot of tasks you need to take care of. Above the work you have to deliver there is also managing a team and solving constant issues or problems. Something that I would recommend to myself for my future job is that you need to work as hard as you can if you want to achieve your dreams, opportunities don’t just come flying around.

6) I think IBM prepares us to work international on a general base. But I do think that what my mom does is different than what we learn. I think IBM still focusses on the traditional ways of working and less on the new alternatives. But since it is just my first year of IBM I think this is a hard question to answer since I still have to learn a lot about managing and other business related things in the next two years. I think the first year is very general so that is why I have the feeling we just covered the big topics, and not really.