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Ambassadors bring the spirit of Pauwels Consulting to its clients
Pauwels Consulting is known for its high-quality approach in the world of consultancy, as well as for its personal touch where human connections are key. Our ambassadors play a crucial role in cementing this reputation. Who are the ambassadors of Pauwels Consulting? And what does it mean to be an ambassador, exactly? In this blog article, we tell you all about ambassadors, their role and their impact on our company culture.
A need for stronger connections
The world of consulting can be a revolving door of new faces when it comes to carrying out projects on clients’ premises. We wanted to create a more personal approach for the consultants, which is how the idea of appointing ambassadors came about in 2019. The rapid growth of Pauwels Consulting also meant that we needed other ways to provide new colleagues with a warm, personal onboarding experience.
In addition, we became more aware of the separation between the daily life of the consultants on site at our clients and their connection with Pauwels Consulting. How could we better communicate our values and DNA? Ambassadors serve as essential links between the on-site work, the company and our core values, enabling us to establish a stronger connection with the consultants.
As the first point of contact, I'm ready to support my fellow consultants. I also organise a monthly on-site lunch, so I can ask the participants how their project is going and how they feel.
A personalised, on-site approach
We asked several consultants with a proactive mindset who embody the values of Pauwels Consulting whether they wanted to become ambassadors. They were duly appointed as the point of contact for all consultants who work as consultants through Pauwels Consulting.
Céline Van Puymbrouck, L&D Coordinator and the driving force behind this concept, explains: “We wanted to offer new employees a warm, personal onboarding experience – at the client’s premises as required – while appointing an ambassador who fully embodies our Pauwels DNA.”
What do our ambassadors do?
Ambassadors at Pauwels Consulting play a unique role. This role is not specifically defined; it varies based on their own level of motivation and commitment.
What do they do, exactly? The ambassadors are the point of contact for the Pauwels colleagues who work for the same client. They facilitate the smooth flow of information, for example by relaying onboarding information from the client, informing others of standard conduct on the shop floor, or simply showing consultants around all the buildings. For larger groups, such as those in the pharmaceutical industry, ambassadors regularly organise events and dinners to reinforce team spirit.
They also build bridges between Talent Managers, consultants and clients, helping to identify any issues and, on occasion, find business opportunities.
“Ambassadors are clients’ eyes and ears for talent managers.” Melina Uyttebroeck, Talent Manager. Our Talent Managers are committed to regular personal contact with each consultant. In addition to regular follow-ups and their involvement in evaluations, Talent Managers are always available to consultants who want to request training, coaching or mentoring.
Well-being among consultants
An ambassador’s role can also be more in-depth. For example, they can have a significant impact when it comes to mental health. As a point of contact on the same site, they tend to notice more quickly when something is going on within the team. Listening to each other and offering support makes a real difference to the well-being of the consultants.
As Charlotte Bryssinck, an ambassador at a leading pharmaceutical company, makes clear: “As the first point of contact, I’m ready to support my fellow consultants. I also organise a monthly on-site lunch, so I can ask the participants how their project is going and how they feel. This enables you to respond quickly and pass on any issues to the relevant person in good time or even help solve them yourself.”
In short, ambassadors are closely involved in cultivating a healthy company culture and are invaluable at maintaining the human touch within our growing organisation.
What makes a good ambassador?
What makes someone a good ambassador at Pauwels Consulting? It goes beyond having professional skills. A good ambassador is very sociable, acts as the default ‘go-to person’, opens up easily, is willing to listen, and can connect well with people.
“If there’s something on your mind and you want to discuss it with someone, the person you picture doing that is a good ambassador.” Melina Uyttebroeck, Talent Manager
The ambassador’s method
Ambassadors support our consultants in their own way. Valentin and Toon are good examples of what it is our ambassadors are doing.
Valentin Jacobs is an IT security consultant and our ambassador at a multinational pharmaceutical company. He has arranged for the creation of a web page where new consultants can find all the information they need about working with the client. This includes practical details, policies, parking information, lunch arrangements and more. This results in a warm welcome for newcomers, ensuring they settle quickly in a large company environment.
Toon Budeners, who works as a Digital Engineer consultant and is an ambassador at a leading company in the pharmaceutical industry, reveals his commitment to our onboarding approach: “I try to help with onboarding when needed. […] From the moment someone starts working with the client, I try to build and maintain a sense of the ‘Pauwels Consulting Family’. […] It is important to feel part of the Pauwels family, more than being part of the client’s family – though both are important, of course.”
Other ambassadors have also created Teams groups and email groups for their fellow consultants who are working for the same client. This makes it easy for them to organise meetings or lunches and keep in constant contact with each other. This also fosters cameraderie between colleagues and allows them to organise after-work sessions or simply chill out with each other.
Ambassadors have an impact on the company
The ambassadors contribute to Pauwels Consulting in other ways, too, providing valuable input that we can use to improve things internally. We regularly organise meetings where they share their ideas on all manner of topics. These workshops are important because they allow ambassadors to talk directly to management. This, in turn, enables us at Pauwels Consulting to look at what could be improved and understand how we can grow thanks to the feedback from the ambassadors.
These workshops have led us to identify around fifty action points, with roughly five per department. This really shows how much impact ambassadors have on our policy of continuous improvement at Pauwels Consulting.
Examples of action points
Thanks to the action points that we established during a meeting with all ambassadors, we now organize two intervisions every year. These are a kind of round table discussions where real cases are brought forward, and the group comes to a solution together. This was an idea that came out of the workshop. At such an intervision, all ambassadors come together with a Talent Manager, who acts as moderator.
Another example of an action point that has already been realized is that we are now committed to more effective communication with the consultants through social media and a new and more up-to-date intranet. For this, the ambassadors also gave concrete ideas about what information is communicated such as company news, information about training options and new employees in the support internal team.
The ambassadors also passed on that there is a lot of interest in the afterwork events and events on-site at the customers. We are now organizing more targeted afterwork events spread across the regions where the Pauwels consultants operate.
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