Currently, Lowie is working for several departments of Rijkswaterstaat in Zuid-Holland and Zeeland. “I deliver products and services to the Tunnel Team that maintains the tunnels, to the Coastline Team responsible for the North Sea shore, and also to a bridge project. Furthermore, there is the waterway project, the junction project, and the European Water Guideline project. The products and services are based on the plan-do-check-act methodology (the Deming Circle), a well-known concept in quality management. Examples of my work are the design, modification and implementation of processes, internal audits, product tests and project evaluations, and initiating improvement schemes. I always strive to dot the i’s for my clients.“
Variation
“The five departments at Rijkswaterstaat in Rotterdam for which I work are each situated on a floor in the same office building and I try to meet with a different team every day of the week. The project team Waterways A is located in Middelburg where I work one day per week. The variation is very pleasant, it keeps me on edge. On Fridays, I usually work at NedMobiel when most of my colleagues are also in house. Normally we will work on internal projects when we’re at the office. I am, for example, involved with the execution of internal audits for the ISO certification. Together with some colleagues, we’re working on an onboarding plan to optimise the landing of young professionals at NedMobiel. This is a structured training and learning programme to help new colleagues feel at home and be deployed on projects right away.”
“I want to take complex projects to the next level. At NedMobiel, I got the opportunity to put this in practice.”
Horizontal organisation
“NedMobiel is a horizontal or flat organisation which means we all share responsibility for several business processes. This feeds my sense of entrepreneurship, even though we work within a company context but I really like that. You’re free to bring up your ideas, generally over lunch or by the coffee machine where everybody meets informally, including senior management. Good ideas will be elaborated on with the support of colleagues.” Lowie was promoted from a junior position to a medior position relatively fast because he was able to distinguish himself in the field of process optimisation and quality management. “A project I was involved in lately, has determined my ambition for the future. On this project, unforeseen circumstances led to a lot of extra work within an existing maintenance contract. No-one could see the wood for the trees anymore. I was able to structure the internal process for the completion of the extra work which improved the working relations between the contractor and Rijkswaterstaat. This learning-by-doing experience in risk and contract management has inspired me to aim for a senior position in all-round project management. Because of the flat structure in our organisation, pro-activeness and initiative shape your future for the most part. Anything is possible, especially if you have ideas of your own and find the right people to support you. As a direct result, I just started a course in Change Management. This will help me move forward regarding my professional development in project management. It gives me a lot of energy and motivation!”
