Sanne Sattler on her start in the Young Improven programme

Late last year, Sanne Sattler entered the Young Improven programme, also known as YIP. Among other things, she talks about what the programme has brought her, about the assignments and about the development she is going through. She also talks about the culture within the consultancy and casts a glance into the future.

Young Improven's development programme offers starters and (almost) graduated talents (with a business / IT background) the chance to kickstart their careers and quickly develop into fully-fledged consultants, focusing on areas such as finance, IT, risk, project and process management.

The Young Improven programme includes an intensive training offer combining a variety of professional and skills training, courses and working in projects. Young Improven consultants (also known as YIPs) are guided in this process by Improven's experienced consultants, as well as by a manager and by a coach.

Meanwhile, who can tell a lot about the challenging programme is Sanne Sattler, who has now been working within the Young Improven development programme for 10 months. While Sanne previously completed a degree in International Hospitality Management, she had long had a desire to go into business.

"I worked in the hospitality industry all my student days and loved it. The dynamics, teamwork and different experiences every day. This was also something I was looking for in a new job, but in business."

Through a connection from the Hotel School, Sanne received the golden tip: "If you want to enter the business world, you should really go and talk to someone from Improven." A tip that Sanne took to heart, because after an open conversation she chose the Young Improven programme at the end of last year. It was mainly the combination of "the personal development aspect with the social aspect of a group of like-minded people within a company" that convinced her.

For ten months now, she has enjoyed working with the other participants in the programme: "You start the YIP programme with a batch, in my case with three others. The trainings you attend are always with that batch, and often in combination with the group that started six months earlier or later. Trainings are often given by Mediors or Seniors from Improven itself. This way, you immediately meet a lot of people on a regular basis, which I find very nice socially and also professionally, because you know who to turn to for questions about those topics," Sanne says.

Discovering consultancy together

My colleagues are an important aspect within the work, finds Sanne; "We exchange tips for on our assignments, but also have a nice chat about, for example, a festival where more than one person can be found. The focus is on discovering consultancy together, where do our interests lie, and learning a lot in a short time, I like that."

"The focus is on discovering consultancy together, where are our interests, and learning a lot in a short time, which I like."

When asked how Improven further helps her develop both professionally and personally, Sanne first of all points to the extensive training on offer: "The Young Improven development programme offers numerous training courses that allow me to add to my professional knowledge and skills."

But she also has excellent opportunities to develop on the job. "On assignments, you often work closely with a senior consultant who teaches you the necessary knowledge on the shop floor. The theoretical part then comes from those training courses, plus additional (online) training courses/courses you can still take on your own initiative," Sanne explains.

"At the client, I also enjoy talking to a lot of people and thus exchanging ideas and experiences. That way, I see what the different roles within a team entail, and how colleagues got to where they are today. This way, I also learn what opportunities I can create for in my role as a consultant in the future."

Personal learning goals and keep improving

Finally, Sanne points to the so-called APEF (Advisory Skills and Personal Effectiveness): "During these training sessions, I work together with my batch on our personal learning goals. I also have regular discussions with my manager in which we reflect and look at what I would still like to learn and how I can develop further to achieve this. He coaches me to keep improving and highlight my strengths."

"What I noticed from the first contact with Improven was that it was not important what kind of content knowledge I already had, but that it was mainly about what I wanted to achieve as a person [...]"

In line with the pleasant guidance and the social interaction she has with her colleagues, Sanne is further particularly impressed by Young Improven's people-oriented approach, which she experienced even before she started; "What I noticed during the first contact with Improven was that it was not important what kind of substantive knowledge I already had, but that it was mainly about what I wanted to achieve as a person, what I wanted in an employer and how Improven could support that. Instead of previous work experience or my CV, the conversation was about me," Sanne says with a smile.

Challenging work

In terms of work content, Sanne is also in an excellent position at Young Improven. Because already shortly after starting, Sanne had a nice and challenging assignment at a large, global home-grown beer brewer. "The portfolio I work in is organised as a "tech scale-up" within a large corporate," Sanne explains.

"This portfolio is leading the digital transformation of all breweries worldwide. Among other things, we implement digital Apps to support operators and an IoT data platform. In this way, data can be retrieved and used in a standardised way. For example, in the future you can predict when a machine in a particular brewery will break down, and thus anticipate this."

Sanne's role mainly focuses on the interface between change management and communication. "I make sure everyone in and around the portfolio is kept up to date on developments, events and other issues. I also liaise with people in the breweries and try to bridge the gap between us as a supply chain office and the breweries. With a focus on what is needed from the breweries, and how we can help with that."

"Furthermore, I am closely involved when presentations or events take place, here I mainly look at what the message should be that we want to convey."

'Making sense of the future'

With more than 15 months to go in the Young Improven programme, Sanne undoubtedly has a lot of new experiences awaiting her. What is she especially looking forward to? Sanne: "I'm especially looking forward to learning a lot, looking at different organisations and especially seeing what kind of roles within those organisations suit me and how to achieve this. The great thing about this development programme is that you can immediately apply the training courses to your current assignment."

"I think it would be cool to find at some point that you are so versed that you can carry your project/assignment on your own from A to Z," Sanne looks ahead.

"Furthermore, I am also looking forward to the social events coming up. We have another beach volleyball tournament in September, and skiing in the spring. Conviviality is very important to me in an employer," she concludes.