Fredwerk - up close with fredwerk


		To help you understand a little bit more of the founder of Fredwerk, a journalist was asked to interview Fred Buining. Following topics where addressed:
		Fredwerk and what characterizes it Style of working On the necessity of facilitating change in organisations Principles of facilitating change Success factors Diversity of his work experience and education



		The name Fredwerk and what characterizes Fredwerk What type of organisation is FredWerk? Fredwerk is node in an international network of professionals who are committed to individually facilitate change in organisations. I lead my own assignments and hire other professionals to complete the required expertise and qualities. Professionals from the network regularly use my services and my experience as well. I believe that networks are the workforce of the future. Where does the name FredWerk come from? Clients, colleagues but even at university fellow students, always emphasized that I have a typical and personal style of working. By naming my business like that, I honour that what has taken me upto where I am now. My first name is Fredericus (short Fred) and Werk in Dutch. So my business is called FredWerk, meaning Fred’s work.
		Node in a network of professionals Facilitate change, innovation, creativity FredWerk = Fred’s work
		Style of working So what makes your working style so typical and personal? I am sorry, I can’t explain it. (laughs) Why don’t you just work with me on changing your organisation and find out yourself! No seriously, I can’t. I recently did some name research and found something that actually might shed some light on my style of working. ‘Fredericus’ is a Latin scripting of the Germanic ‘Frederik’ where ‘Fred’ means peace, safety and security and ‘rik’ means powerful. So in short Fredericus means ‘powerful through peace’. And of all the definitions of ‘work’ I like most John Dewey’s definition “work = active imagination”. Aha, so you are powerful, peaceful and safe work through active imagination? (Blush) Well uh, I’m not always in that position. I’m only human. Sometimes I feel disempowered or distracted then again very, very, very busy or without ideas. But I strive to work from that position with clients. That sounds religious? No way !! There are many ways of reaching this state for myself; running my 10 Km, singing jazz in a quartet, cooking with fresh ingredients, spending time with my family or friends, meditating, trekking through nature, talking and listening to people. I don’t see anything religious in that, spiritual at the most. Any unique approach, management trend, guru vision from FredWerk? No magic model, idea or toolset and techniques that will solve all your problems. We use models, tools and techniques, but our work and the success factors are found in working with people. Just you and me, our experience, our knowledge and expertise, our dreams and fears, our ability to change and our willingness to work for shared goals.
		Powerful, peaceful and safe Work with active imagination working with people
		On the necessity of facilitating change in organisations Haven’t organisations already changed enough, aren't people tired of change? (twinkle) Well that is exactly my point ! That is why we should facilitate change. Look here. Organisations are structures designed to reach for goals we individually cannot reach. By complementing each other we can achieve goals beyond our individual capabilities. The diversity of a group and the celebration of individuality in a group are the key enablers for creative group achievement and change. However the past century organisations evolved so rapidly that the mainstream of organisations have turned into structures that actually sacrifice individuality to reach their goals. The majority of people accept this as a reality and do not enjoy their days work anymore. There is a minority of people who do not accept this and start looking for organisations who do value their individuality, their flexibility and commitment to their profession. They are attracted by organisations that address their need in advertising campagnes using buzz-words like "self motivated, entrepreneur, creative, innovator, challenging, exciting, be the best, etc." But once employed by these organisations their 150 % input of individuality, flexibility and commitment is not matched by 150% input of the organisation. And I'm not talking about money here, but about commitment and flexibility as well. So in the end people burnout. How do you know this? I visit many companies and talk to many people and moreover I just listen to them. I also discuss and reflect with other professionals from various disciplines. Knowledge and understanding does not come from a book or a powerpoint presentation, it comes from challenging your own thinking. So what do you think is the solution to all this? There is no solution for the incredible pace of change, an avalanche of technologies and innovation, the information overload, the lacking empowerment in organisations, globalisation and increased competition, etc. But what I can do is facilitate people to really work with these conditions, instead of working against it. Working for shared goals in a group and at the same time live their individuality, flexibility and commitment to their profession, without burning out.
		Individuality serving shared goals Challenge your own thinking Flexible and committed without burning out
		Principles of facilitating change Is working from a network limiting? (frown) No I think networks are the future structure of workforce in the western societies. But I don’t think that is what you are trying to address in your question. No, you are right. Let me rephrase. How can you alone change an entire organisation? I cannot, but let me return to you with a question: “As a director of a 3000 people workforce would I be more successful in changing an organisation then as an individual facilitator? Yes, you could change much more simply because you can tell 3000 people what to do, right? Well, that depends, how you look at it. You are right, in a director position I could tell 3000 people what to and how to do it different. But authority is not the success factor that makes them change in a sustainable way. Consequently I will have to keep telling them again and again and again. Organisations can do things different, but organisations don’t change. People change, or they don’t. So how do you get a 3000 people organisation to change? Simple ! (smile). I can change, I can facilitate your change, you can change, you can facilitate your colleague to change, your colleague can change, etc. That’s how change works. Once we can effectively organise this process that’s when we start trusting leadership, share goals and visions without loosing our individual perspective, buy into reasons for change and choose to be a part of change. But if change takes place one person at a time, then change will take a long time? That’s an interesting belief. Change does not need to take long, there are many approaches in facilitating change, some big some small. But try to understand, it’s not the approach that determines the speed of change, it’s the people. How do I know that everybody is changing in the way I want them to change? You can’t, but that’s not the point. Change is individual, different in direction and tempo. The point is that you maintain a group that is willing to work on change and shares a future. Their joint effort in the direction of that future that’s the bottom line of facilitating change.
		People change – or they don’t Group willingness and understanding Joint effort
		Success factors How can you be successful in your work? Well actually one cannot be unsuccessful in facilitating change. As long as we, the client and I, can work under the conditions of mutual respect, trust and curiosity, and accept the fact that the essence of change is emergence, we will reach our goals. Curiosity towards the outcome, trust in the process of reaching this outcome and respect for all that seeks participation in this process. Emergence as the process of making room for the unexpected and unknown. Isn't that normal? Yes it is for the things that are obvious (smile), but I ask more, I ask to keep working under the conditions where the outcome might not be obvious, the process we design might not be obvious and finally the parties involved might not seem obvious. The better you can work on the edge of the obvious with the non-obvious the bigger your success will be.
		Curiosity, trust and respect Keep working Non-obvious
		Diversity in my working experience and education So what kind of teaching did you receive? A masters degree at the University in Delft, Industrial Design Engineering. At that time a very diverse study where all aspects of creating, manufacturing and the psychology of selling new products/ services is studied. My final work was on managing an innovation process in multidisciplinary teams. I continued to work in this field and worked as an engineer and project manager on many innovative projects. I received additional education in robotic engineering and project management. That sounds like a very technical environment. Boring? Technical….yes. Boring….not at all! (Very serious) We developed ‘crazy’ applications that were from a technology push point of view, state of the art. I worked with multidisciplinary teams, international clients and subcontractors, a very enriching environment. And then? Venture capital pulled the plug on the innovative side of the company and wanted more ROI on the development and manufacturing side of the company. I became aware that Calvinism actually made Holland so rich. We are good at banking….(Smile) So I left and I became a management consultant specialised in innovation management. Classic blue/ grey suits? Yep their suits were boring (laugh). To be honest. I found it hard to only advise clients in innovation and organisational change and not walk along with the process of change. And imagine this, we developed all these models for innovation management and change but did not apply any of them to ourselves ! And typical for management consultancy is using their models dogmatic and far from playful. Our models for structured ways of managing change and innovation, were applied like a straight jacket to a ballet dancer. You loose the magic of the continuous search for balance within movement. The ballet dancer becomes a hopping potato bag. (Laughs out loud) Why be a management consultant if you do not agree with their culture? Let’s leave the clothes out off the story. I chose the “one off” projects where the models and the process of innovation and change had not been defined yet. Few colleagues wanted those projects since they demanded creativity in working with your client and were unlikely to make a profit which again would harm your career. Luckily a consulting company needs those assignments to get international high profile exposure in the market. So I stayed for almost five years and did some beautiful projects. Next to that I studied some more on innovation management at the MBA in Twente. Still, being a management consultant is a lonely profession. So you missed working with the human side of change in your consultancy work? Yep! I guess I satisfied this need on working with people by taking intensive training in group dynamics and change as a therapist trainee from the Dutch school of Psychosynthesis in Utrecht. At a certain moment I left the consultancy practice and became partner of certain network organisations and created my own so I was able to really work with people again. You seem to me a person who really likes his work? Yeah, you are right. I just love to work with people under fortunate and unfortunate conditions, as long as we do it together. Thank you for the interview? It was nice talking to you, thank you.
		Master Industrial design engineering Management of innovation Projectmanagement Consulting Group dynamics and change