Carlo: Together with five project leaders, I am responsible for supporting eight different initiatives and goals for the province. Through Digitaal Zuid Holland, we support these initiatives with digitization projects. Some of these projects are technical in nature, while others are focused purely on organizational changes.
Roos: And I’m one of those project managers. That’s quite different from the first role I took on through Alistar, because I started out at the PWC service desk. And just like pretty much everyone at Alistar, I have a very different background: I first graduated from the Maastricht Hotel Management School. In this job, I realize just how valuable that experience is. The role I have now goes far beyond just the technical aspects of IT and digitization. It requires a lot of interaction with others; you have to plan and organize a lot, and convince people. In that respect, this job has a lot in common with working in the hospitality industry. But if you’d told me two years ago that I’d now be calling myself an IT consultant, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Carlo: The hospitality industry is a great training ground for project management. In the hospitality industry, you deal with many different customers, each with their own demands and preferences. At the same time, you’re expected to ‘deliver and perform.’ At Digitaal Zuid-Holland, we also deal with many different clients. I think that it’s precisely because of their hospitality experience that people are able to handle the whims of individuals and organizations. That was one of the reasons I hired Roos. And I have absolutely no regrets about that—she’s currently working on a project that cuts across all kinds of tasks, and she’s playing a key role in it.
“This job isn’t about your technical skills, but about who you are as a person.”
Carlo: For Digitaal Zuid-Holland, we were looking for project leaders capable of serving as intermediaries between the Digitaal Zuid-Holland project organization and our clients. That requires an understanding of the political dynamics within an organization, but you also need to be able to switch seamlessly between different disciplines. The technical aspects, the content, the process—you have to be able to translate that mix into a clear project brief. Ultimately, that was our request to Alistar. At the time, I did wonder if Alistar might be too focused on service desks and pure IT. But I’ve been in this field for a while now, and my experience has taught me that it’s not about your technical skills, but about who you are as a person. And whether you, as a person, are capable of navigating between different levels of expertise, content, and knowledge. Even in IT, project management isn’t so much about the content as it is about guiding a process. Roos has all of that in her. Alistar consultants are able to connect various complex organizations with one another.
It is important to continue developing the expertise you bring in.
Roos: I really wanted to learn more about the technical side, but I didn’t see a future for myself as a developer. For me, this assignment had it all. It was indeed very different from working at the service desk, but I felt that this role suited me even better. Things are going really well now—I truly feel at home here. I work on three or four projects at the same time, with many different stakeholders and within a complex organization, but after just a few months, I was already comfortable with it. That was thanks to the great guidance I received from both Digitaal Zuid-Holland and Alistar, as well as the experience I gained during my first assignment at the service desk. That experience will continue to be valuable for the rest of your career.
Carlo: We bring in outside expertise. When an organization does that, it generally doesn’t focus on the professional development of the people it hires. But at the Province of South Holland, we pay close attention to the professional development of our own people, whether they’re internal staff or external contractors. We believe it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to gain experience within these complex programs and, as a result, to develop themselves as well.
Roos: The Deep Dive It also helps me grow in that area. It broadens my perspective on the world of IT—not just on the technical side, but especially on the soft skills side as well. The consulting training sessions are very valuable; for example, I can put the new communication techniques I’m learning to good use here. It gives me more confidence in this role. It’s really great to notice that.
“Alistar is an organization that believes in development; that’s where the added value lies.”
Carlo: Roos and her colleague Tristan are gaining a lot of valuable insights from Alistar. In my opinion, how well they perform—and will continue to perform—in this role depends largely on them. But I also see that they’re being positively influenced by Alistar. It’s an organization that believes in professional development—that’s where we see eye to eye. And that, to me, is where the added value lies. Alistar isn’t just a resume-pushing firm; it aims to build a lasting relationship. They try to tailor their services as closely as possible to our work, without attaching any obligations or expectations to it. That’s what makes this such a pleasant collaboration for me.
Roos: I really do think our organizations are a great fit. Digitaal Zuid Holland is a very dynamic team where a lot is happening and you sometimes have to adapt very quickly. I also think it’s really cool that my work has a direct impact on society, and I’d like to keep doing that for a while longer.
Carlo: And so are we! We’re on the cusp of many digital transformations within the Province of South Holland. That’s going to continue for another year or two. My goal is to keep our team’s staffing as stable as possible, so if people are happy, I’d like to keep them on board. The collaboration with Alistar and the Alistar consultants is going well. We know what to expect from each other, and we should definitely keep it that way.
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