Blog

Jim is a seasoned professional with over 36 years of experience in learning and development. He holds an MBA in Digital Transformation and an MSc in Learning Technology.

When The Story Suddenly Changes

November 11, 2025 08:09

Introduction

Sometimes you walk out of a meeting convinced that you have just landed the assignment.
The energy feels right, everyone nods, and the discussion ends with clear enthusiasm. You leave the room already thinking about the next steps, who to involve, what to prepare, and how to deliver value quickly. For a moment, everything seems to line up perfectly. And then, a few days later, an unexpected message arrives. It might be an email that starts friendly but ends differently. “We have decided to go in another direction.” You read it once, then again, trying to make sense of it. The tone is polite, the reasoning vague. You sit back for a moment, slightly stunned, wondering what just happened.

The situation

Did you misread the situation? Did you hear what you wanted to hear? Were they not as clear as they seemed, or were you already halfway into the solution before they were even sure about the problem? These moments leave you with that strange feeling of doubt. You start replaying the conversation in your head. You remember the smiles, the nods, the signals that felt positive. And you ask yourself whether the story changed afterwards, or whether it was never really what you thought it was in the first place.

Clarity

In my work with organisations, I have learned that clarity is rarely as solid as we believe. It is not a fixed point. It shifts with context, politics, timing, and even with the mood in the room. People often speak in half-truths without meaning to. They are balancing between what they want, what they can say, and what is still uncertain inside their own organisation. That is why you sometimes walk into a meeting where everyone agrees but walk out of a completely different one a week later. Priorities change. New information appears. Someone higher up takes a different view. And what once seemed like a green light turns out to be only a polite handshake at the starting line.

Do not take it personal

It is easy to take that personally. To think you missed something or that you did not listen carefully enough. But more often than not, it is simply how organisations breathe. They move, they shift, and the story evolves. What was true on Monday may no longer be true by Thursday. The only real safeguard is curiosity. Asking one more question than feels comfortable. Not to prove a point, but to explore what sits beneath the surface. What is driving this request? What makes this important now? Who else is involved in the decision? What could make this change tomorrow? These are not questions that guarantee success, but they keep you connected to reality. They help you read not only the words but the silences between them.

In closing

Over the years I have learned that the moment of surprise — when a conversation suddenly turns, is not necessarily a sign of failure. It is a reminder that we are dealing with people, not processes. And people change their minds, especially when things get complex. So, when the story changes, I try to resist the instinct to close the door or blame myself for misunderstanding. Instead, I take it as a moment to pause, reflect, and prepare better questions for next time. Because real understanding does not come from hearing what people say. It comes from staying curious when the conversation takes a turn you did not expect.

AI Means the Sky Is Not Your Limit Anymore

October 2, 2025 07:46

Introduction

We are entering a new era where the boundaries between professional roles are fading. In the past, a consultant focused on strategy, a trainer focused on learning, and an L&D professional built program. Coding, design, or data were skills you left to specialists. Skills like stakeholder management or learning agility were seen as long-term developmental journeys. With the rise of artificial intelligence, these borders are dissolving. AI lowers barriers and unlocks capabilities that once required years of training or practice. Suddenly, one professional can reach into multiple fields at once.

This is not about replacing experts. It is about expanding your own reach and becoming a T-shaped or even M-shaped professional. You still have your core expertise, but AI allows you to branch out horizontally into coding, design, storytelling, analysis, and even soft skills such as agility or communication. In other words: with AI, the sky is not your limit anymore.

Examples on how AI expands roles and skills.

Example 1: Coding without being a programmer

Writing code once demanded years of training. Now AI can generate working scripts or prototypes in seconds. With Articulate Rise’s new Code Block (beta), you can use AI to insert HTML, CSS, or JavaScript and create richer, more interactive learning. A trainer or L&D professional can now directly enhance the learner’s experience.

Examples of tools: ChatGPT (Code Interpreter or Advanced Data Analysis), GitHub Copilot, Rise Code Block (beta).

Example 2: Graphic design at your fingertips
Strong visuals bring messages to life, but design was once the domain of specialists. Today AI makes professional images and layouts accessible to everyone. For consultants and trainers this means presentations, e-learning, and reports can become visually compelling without outsourcing.

Examples of tools: MidJourney, DALL·E, Canva Magic Tools.

Example 3: Data analysis and insight
Where data used to be the territory of statisticians, AI now makes it approachable for everyone. It can clean, analyze, and visualize complex information, giving consultants and managers in digital transformation immediate insights. This makes advice more evidence-based and decisions faster.

Examples of tools: ChatGPT Advanced Data Analysis, Google Gemini, Tableau with AI.

Example 4: Smarter presentation development.

Presentations remain at the heart of consulting and training yet creating them can be time-consuming. AI tools can now generate entire decks with structure, visuals, and story flow. You provide the ideas, and the AI delivers a draft to refine. That means more focus on engagement and less on formatting.

Examples of tools: Beautiful.ai, Tome AI, Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint.

Example 5: Project management and communication.

Managing complexity is easier with AI. It can create task lists, track progress, and generate meeting notes automatically. For consultants and interim managers this saves valuable time and shifts attention to people, strategy, and results.

Examples of tools: Otter.ai, Notion AI, ClickUp AI.

Example 6: Accelerating difficult-to-learn skills.

Beyond hard skills, AI also supports the growth of softer, often harder-to-master capabilities. Learning agility can be enhanced by simulating real-world scenarios or providing instant feedback. Stakeholder management can be practiced with AI role-plays, exploring different perspectives before a real meeting. Even critical thinking can be trained by using AI to challenge your assumptions, generate counterarguments, and surface hidden biases. These skills usually take years to develop, but AI gives professionals a safe space to practice and refine them faster.

Examples of tools: Claude for simulated dialogues, AI-powered coaching platforms, adaptive learning tools like Docebo or LearnAmp.

From T-shaped to limitless

What emerges from all this is a new professional identity. The consultant, trainer, or L&D professional no longer works only within the walls of one specialty. With AI, you extend upward into the horizon of possibility. You remain anchored in your deep expertise, the vertical line of the T, but your horizontal reach is now wider than ever, sometimes spanning multiple depths and creating an M-shape. And above it all lies the sky. Not as a ceiling, but as a wide-open space of opportunities. AI enables you to connect disciplines, bridge knowledge, and even accelerate the development of complex soft skills.

With AI, the sky truly is not your limit anymore.

The 5 Most Effective Change Management Models for Successful Transformation

September 17, 2025 07:34

Introduction

Change is never a one-size-fits-all journey. Over the years, I have guided organisations through transformations in banking, government, and industry. What I have learned is simple: successful change requires a balance between structure and people, between business goals and human experience.

ADKAR

One of the most practical models is Prosci’s ADKAR. It stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. ADKAR breaks change down into concrete steps that individuals must go through to adopt new behaviours. In my own projects, ADKAR often acts as a diagnostic tool: if a programme stalls, I can quickly see whether the issue lies in lack of awareness, insufficient skills or missing reinforcement.

Kotter

Another powerful approach is Kotter’s 8 Steps, which emphasises leadership and the power of momentum. From creating urgency to embedding change in the culture, the steps provide a roadmap for large-scale transformation. In one digital transformation project, I used Kotter’s principles to create short-term wins, visible improvements that convinced sceptical managers to support the wider programme.

Lewin

Kurt Lewin already described in the 1940s that change moves in three phases: unfreeze, change, refreeze. It sounds simple, but it captures the essence: people need to let go of old habits before they can embrace new ones. I often use Lewin as a metaphor when explaining to teams why rushing to implementation without preparation rarely works.

7S

The McKinsey 7S framework reminds us that change only sticks if both the “hard” and “soft” sides are addressed. Strategy, structure and systems need to be aligned, but so do style, staff, skills and shared values. In practice, I use the 7S to map out interdependencies. For example, introducing new systems without adapting leadership style or skills usually leads to frustration instead of progress.

Transition

William Bridges’ Transition Model makes a valuable distinction between change, which is external, and transition, which is internal. People go through three stages: ending and letting go, the neutral zone, and the new beginning. This model is particularly helpful in sensitive transformations where emotions play a big role, such as during reorganisations or mergers. I have seen leaders underestimate the letting go phase, which often creates hidden resistance later.

In Summary

What sets these models apart is their unique focus. Prosci is practical and diagnostic at the individual level. Kotter provides energy and leadership at the organisational level. Lewin offers a simple yet powerful foundation for pacing change. McKinsey highlights systemic alignment across the organisation. Bridges reminds us that people need emotional guidance, not just new processes.

From my perspective, the true value lies in combining them. No single model covers every angle. In digital transformations, I often mix ADKAR for adoption, Kotter for urgency and 7S for organisational alignment, while always keeping Bridges in mind to support people emotionally. Change is both a science and an art. These models give structure, but success comes from knowing when to use which lens. As a change professional, I see my role as bridging the business, organisational and human dimensions, because only then does transformation become sustainable.

What Every Interim Manager Should Ask to Quickly Decode an Organization’s True Dynamics

July 4, 2025 11:10

Introduction

When I start a new assignment as an interim manager, a learning strategist, or a change consultant, I don’t begin with processes, org charts, or strategy documents. I begin with questions. Not just any questions, but the kind that reveals how people actually work, learn, and make decisions. No matter how polished the onboarding or how clear the formal structures appear, the reality of an organization lives in its culture, in the unspoken rules, and in the daily patterns people have learned to navigate.

What do I do?

Here are the three questions I always ask, and why they matter.

1. How does learning really happen here?
It’s easy to point to an LMS, a set of onboarding modules, or a leadership program. But real learning doesn’t just happen in training sessions. It shows how people deal with mistakes, change, and uncertainty. Do people feel safe to say: “I don’t know”? Are lessons from the past shared and applied, or brushed aside? Do teams reflect regularly, or only when something goes wrong? This question tells me a lot about psychological safety in the organization, and whether there is room to grow, not just professionally, but as a collective.

2. Who decides what matters?
Forget the org chart for a moment. Influence in organizations is rarely linear. I try to understand who people turn to when they’re unsure, who frames discussions in meetings, and who sets the unspoken boundaries.
Sometimes it’s the formal leader. Often, it’s someone with experience, seniority, or just a strong network. Understanding these informal lines of influence helps me know where to engage, where resistance might live, and where true leverage for change exists.

3. Where is the friction?
I look for hesitation, silence, or irony in conversations. Where people lower their voice, shrug their shoulders, or switch topics, those are signs that something important is hiding in plain sight. It could be tension between departments, outdated systems, unclear roles, or conflicting KPIs. But the friction is never random. It’s a signal.
And as a change leader, I need to know:
– What is not working, but no one wants to talk about?
– Where do people feel stuck, unheard, or stretched too thin?
– What are the “unsaid things” everyone quietly works around?
These three questions don’t solve anything by themselves. But they open the door to honest conversations, the kind you need if you want to create movement.

For whom is this relevant?

And they’re not just for interim professionals. Whether you’re a team lead, an HR business partner, or a transformation lead: asking better questions helps you see more clearly, faster. What do you ask yourself when you step into a new organization or role? I’d love to hear how others approach this.

How to Emotionally Reset After Leaving a Long-Term Team

June 10, 2025 16:03

Introduction

Discover the emotional reality of leaving long-term teams as an interim leader. How do you adjust when the calls stop, routines fade, and familiar rhythms disappear? Over the past five years, I’ve had the privilege to work with four different teams—each for a stretch of at least 14 months. That’s long enough to build trust, share countless meetings, laugh over inside jokes, and create a rhythm that feels almost second nature. It’s also long enough to make saying goodbye more complicated than just transferring responsibilities and closing your laptop. Leaving a team doesn’t happen overnight. You gradually unplug from the group chats, cancel recurring calls, and wrap up that one last shared project. But emotionally? That takes longer.

The Trusted Train Line.

Working with a team for that long often feels like riding a familiar train route. You learn the stops, the rhythm, and the small signals. You know when someone needs backup before they ask. You feel part of a crew that’s moving together in the same direction. Then the assignment ends. The train pulls into its final station, at least for you. You step off, and the train keeps moving. That’s when the real shift begins.

The Invisible Threads That Stay Behind.

What I often miss most isn’t the work itself, it’s the patterns and people. Daily check-ins that anchored my mornings. Unspoken ways of working that made collaboration effortless. That comforting sense of belonging that grows over time. You build a mini ecosystem with its own norms, pace, and humor. And when you leave, that system continues—just without you.

The Quiet Phase of Re-Adjustment.

After each departure, there’s a quiet moment. The calendar is suddenly empty. No more Monday syncs. No familiar Teams notifications. Even the silence feels oddly loud. This is the paradox of interim work: you’re trained to let go, but each departure still leaves a mark.

A Soft Landing After the Exit.

What helps is pausing, really pausing, to reflect. I often take moments to think about what made this team unique. What did I learn? What will I carry forward? Sometimes I stay in light contact. Sometimes I don’t. Both are okay. What matters is making space—mentally and emotionally—for what comes next.

Finding a New Balance.

Gradually, I let go of the old habits tied to that team and prepare to build new ones. I try to embrace the in-between phase, not as a void, but as a reset. It’s a rare moment to regain perspective, recharge, and prepare for a new journey. Because here’s the truth:
You don’t really leave teams behind. You carry them with you. Quietly. Like familiar tracks on a trusted train line.

“Cited, Surprised, and Slightly Distracted”

April 18, 2025 04:58

Introduction

Scrolling through some academic databases the other day, I stumbled upon something unexpected: several citations of an article I co-authored with Dr. S. Jones back in 2020 — Jones, S. and Van Hulst, J. (2020). Leadership and Digital Transformation: Building Strategic Conversations. Eight!

Nobel Prize?

Now, I know we’re not talking about Nobel territory here, but still — that’s different researchers (or at least bibliographies) who thought our work was worth mentioning. I’ll admit, I was genuinely surprised. Not because the article wasn’t any good (we were quite proud of it), but because in the whirlwind of projects, workshops, and the occasional espresso-fueled late-night editing session, I’d honestly forgotten how widely this topic resonates. Strategic conversations around digital transformation are clearly still very much alive — and apparently, so is this paper!

Not too much ego.

Of course, seeing this gave me a tiny ego boost and a slightly larger nudge: “Hey… maybe I should write more.” But here’s the twist: not another academic article. Not a book on leadership. Not even on learning technologies. No, if I ever sit down to write a book, it might just be a novel. Yes — a plot, characters, suspense, maybe even a slightly unhinged AI or a retired change consultant solving mysteries in a small coastal town. Stranger things have happened, right?

For now, though, I’ll bask in the glory of these lovely citations (see picture!) — and keep having strategic conversations of the non-fiction kind. Once upon a time………

Blog

When The Story Suddenly Changes

Introduction

The situation

Clarity

Do not take it personal

In closing

AI Means the Sky Is Not Your Limit Anymore

Introduction

Examples on how AI expands roles and skills.

From T-shaped to limitless

The 5 Most Effective Change Management Models for Successful Transformation

Introduction

ADKAR

Kotter

Lewin

7S

Transition

In Summary

What Every Interim Manager Should Ask to Quickly Decode an Organization’s True Dynamics

Introduction

What do I do?

For whom is this relevant?

How to Emotionally Reset After Leaving a Long-Term Team

Introduction

The Trusted Train Line.

The Invisible Threads That Stay Behind.

The Quiet Phase of Re-Adjustment.

A Soft Landing After the Exit.

Finding a New Balance.

“Cited, Surprised, and Slightly Distracted”

Introduction

Nobel Prize?

Not too much ego.

Other articles

Want to do business?

My Strengths

Terms and conditions