Merel Woudstra: Cultivating your unique style

In literature, the term ‘inciting incident’ is used to describe an event that sets the plot into motion. For Merel Woudstra, Director of IT at the Randstad Group in the Netherlands, curiosity about the business world was the inciting incident that led this former editor on a path to a successful and impactful career in the world of digital technology.  

Merel Woudstra never really fancied herself a manager. In her early career, when she made a career shift from broadcasting, she landed in a position as an intermediary for secretaries at Randstad. This challenged her in the sense that she found herself making calls and visiting clients. “I think it was the perfect job to immerse me in the business world,” she remembers. In the ensuing years, she went on to hold various roles within Randstad, and the notion of management was one brought about by her superiors. And although she didn’t quite know it yet, her course toward IT leadership had already been set. When the leaders of two internal teams left the company, Merel found herself temporarily overseeing both teams. She recalls: “I remember I had a huge drive to make a success of it. I realised that my team and I were on our own, but I felt very empowered in that moment.”   

Coordinating complexities 

Twenty years have passed since Merel’s first venture into her professional unknown, and she has added value to Randstad, Yacht and the Randstad Group in the roles of a senior consultant, commercial manager, and most recently, as the Director of IT at the Randstad group. The 65-year old Dutch company is currently one of the world's leading talent companies and operates in 39 markets. Across Randstad Digital’s holistic market, more than 25,000 digital talents work on their clients’ IT challenges. To Meryl, it’s an interesting environment to work in since talent is scarce, needs are constantly shifting, and digital technologies are transforming operations constantly. One of the mammoth tasks that she is working on as director of IT, is the transition from a local organisation to a global IT infrastructure. “A uniform IT landscape is what we need to continue innovating and to remain at the top of our game for the sake of our clients and talents,” she explains. “We have a loyal IT population and our colleagues have built elegant solutions over the years. It’s a complex task to replace the older technology and integrate it into our global solutions – but I get a lot of energy out of challenging teams to widen their perspectives.” Merel is conscious that within the recruitment landscape, offline issues related to biases have existed for decades, and that it should be digitised with caution. “Overall, I’m all for proceeding with automation with caution within the digital recruitment industry, regardless of your own company’s status of globalisation.”  

The return to the office 

When considering how the needs of job-seekers have changed in the face of digitalisation, Merel notes that there is still very little interest in a full-time return to the office following the pandemic. She, herself, is a bit of a convert: as a trained communications professional, she realises the impact of fully remote working on teams. “Five years ago, we did really well with the shift to remote working with our existing colleagues. But as more new colleagues join over time and youngsters join the workforce, the distance between people keeps growing. As a leader, she encourages people to seek connection beyond just one-on-one online meetings, where you undoubtedly have to repeat the same message to several people individually over the course of the day. “I think we can increase productivity and effectiveness as teams if we shift our mindsets and find joy in being together again.”   

Challenging change  

In her leadership journey, Merel constantly reminds herself that there are things that go beyond her scope of influence. “Sometimes, the only thing you have control over is how you deal with change and challenges. I try to appeal to my teams to unpack their doubts so that diverse perspectives come forward. Nobody is perfect, and no one holds all the wisdom – the best you can do is to create an environment where they can be transparent.” She is also adamant that women should afford themselves the time to learn, and to value each job as a learning opportunity rather than seeking the perfect appointment right out of the gate. “It can be tough, but we must be strict with ourselves not to take failure personally. That way, we will be able to spot hidden compliments in every rejection and bounce back from professional disappointments more quickly.” She feels that she hit her personal stride when she started sharing more of herself in the workplace; she noticed she became more effective and it added to her overall enjoyment of her job. “It takes years to cultivate your own unique style, and to develop the confidence to stop asking yourself if you are good enough.  But showing more of who you are will ultimately leave you feeling powerful and impactful in your career.” 

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