10 November 2020
Typical Stefan: quirky & enterprising
“This is also really typical of you” is a reaction I regularly hear. For example, when I share a holiday story, hobby or idea at work. That makes me think. “What is typical about it?” and “Is this also typical of someone else?”.
650 kilometres on the tandem
My girlfriend and I, like many others, had to adjust our holiday plans several times this summer. We wanted to fly, nice and far away. But unfortunately, the airports were practically closed because of corona. Then the plan was to go to Sweden by car, because Sweden would be a safe country. That, too, turned out not to be feasible, because the country went on ‘orange’. So my girlfriend and I thought: no flying, no car, what can we do?
It was the bicycle, because we believe that we would run little risk with it. But it would be a real bike ride and not a 'dull' round. And so we came up with the idea of cycling to Paris. A 650 kilometre ride. My girlfriend thought that was just too far, so we joined forces and decided to go on the tandem. So we did. After 650 kilometres in 10 days and with a good dose of muscle pain, we had achieved our goal. On the way we met a lot of nice people, slept at special addresses and really experienced the surroundings. It was a great holiday!
Puzzle with data
Also at work I regularly hear 'this is really typical for you'. I have a good example of this. As a Business Consultant IT I mainly focus on developments in the field of data. I told my colleagues that we needed insight into the reviews of hotel guests. Both the locations where we clean and the locations where we don't yet do so. These reviews are very important for our clients. And therefore also for us. However, there was no ready-made solution. And it takes too much time to check all the reviews of all the hotels individually. How can we make that a reality? I always like to look at what is possible. I thought, 'Surely there has to be a solution for that with data'. Since I like to puzzle with data in my spare time, I started building a dashboard at home in the attic room to collect reviews. Quite a puzzle, that's the challenge! At work they heard about this idea and I was given time to develop it further. What started as a hobby eventually resulted in a review platform that we now use organisation-wide. It is called 'Intelligent Hospitality'. This platform gives us insight into the experience of hotel guests. Of great value to our clients. This data enables us to improve our services even further. And do you know what the great thing is? It is such a success that we are now also working on a platform specifically aimed at the experience of office users.
Just do it!
In my work and private life I see many similarities in how I approach things. I don't think about what I can't do. Because, (almost) anything is possible! What matters is that you have passion for what you do and don't let bumps on the road stop you. Whether it's about 650 kilometres of cycling to Paris or building a data platform in an attic room. Make a plan, adjust where necessary and don't stop until your goal is reached. This entrepreneurial approach and idiosyncratic way of working is very much in line with how things work at EW Facility Services. Fortunately, because it is one of the reasons why I get so much energy from my work! And forwards, I'll take the reaction "that's really something for you" for granted.
