Laura Winder: Finding your voice

Laura Winder is an IT Business Development Engineer at Athora Netherlands, a leading pension and life insurer, and recently completed the RightBrains Digital Leadership Programme. Curious by nature, Laura is unapologetic about asking the tough questions. Here’s how she transformed this ability into her superpower.

When a younger Laura completed Bachelor Bèta-gamma at the University of Amsterdam, she initially had strong aspirations to work within the police force. When she was studying for a Master’s in Victimology and Criminal Justice, she was disillusioned by the significant waiting lists for the police academy. Although she was willing to be patient, she couldn’t imagine being in limbo for four years. This led her to take a pragmatic decision: she would seek a new professional setting to live out her ideals. “Bèta-gamma is an interdisciplinary field that combines natural and social sciences,” Laura explains. “When I started sending my CV out, there were some interesting prospects because the combination of cognitive science (in which I majored) and programming skills was in demand by IT companies.” Even though she did not have much formal experience in finance or IT, Laura was intrigued by conversations with prospective employers. She took the leap, focused on IT training for three months, and hit the ground running during her first secondment.

Learning on the job

Laura’s initial designation at Athora was in Operations, where she focused on the maintenance of existing processes. Her curiosity and unique perspective sprouting from her studies prompted her to question, probe and improve on system inefficiencies. Her drive to understand more about the underlying mechanics of processes led her to explore the analytical side of operations. “I’m known for being inquisitive, and I think my studies developed an intrinsic need within me to find out all there is to know. But I had to develop my confidence so that I’m perceived as someone who has something to say, too,” Laura laughs. As someone who came from a non-IT field initially, and as a woman, Laura felt that she had to be strategic in the process of finding her voice. Large organisations can be slow to implement changes, and Laura has learned to be patient with her ideas and to bide her time when pitching them. “It’s not only about speaking up, but adding depth and value within a larger team at the right moment in time.” Laura has learned to do this well, and with conviction. Today, she is not only known for her inquisitiveness, but also as someone who can stand firm and hold her ground. Her colleagues know her as someone who is not easily led astray in the face of differing viewpoints, and mark this as one of her professional strengths.

Moving in the right direction

To Laura, being able to leverage research for problem-solving is a critical skill as a Business Development Engineer. It’s a stimulating field for curious minds, and it helps to be able to visualise processes well (in her case, she opted to develop the latter skill further by supporting courses in architecture). Laura’s day-to-day work is very much data-focused, and her department has the mammoth task of collecting, and making sense, of large amounts of data. She relishes this challenge and finds it energy-giving to be a cog in the machine of an industry that ultimately has a very direct and life-changing impact on its end users. “The reporting deadlines are intense, and the amount of data in such an operation can be daunting  –  but that’s why I’m personally motivated to help refine and improve processes for the internal teams. When we move towards this goal together, we are moving in the right direction.” Laura notes that it’s the colleagues and people she works with who give her the most professional energy, and finds it fulfilling to support others in achieving communal goals.

Taking the leap

In the fast-paced world of digital technology, the stakes are high and there is very little wiggle room in the face of failure. But Laura is still an idealist at heart – and if she could change one thing about the industry, it would be to create more space for risk-taking. “It’s universal knowledge that women tend to fight only for the things they are certain about. They apply only for the positions where they tick all the boxes. I hope that ladies stepping into the field can learn to trust their gut more and to learn from the calculated risks that didn’t pan out.” Another critical piece of advice is to find ‘your people’ within your organisation where there is an organic meeting of minds. Laura advises young professionals to work with them, leverage their support and ask them as many questions as needed in the process of finding the niche where you shine. After all, this is what supercharged her own career. “Questions are a hugely undervalued commodity. It’s more than a skill – it’s a game-changer.”

This article was originally published in the RightBrains DIGIDIVA Magazine. Check out this year's issue for more inspiration or to get involved!