Diana Brandl is a longtime C-Suite assistant, and host of the Executive Office Insights podcast.
In this spotlight episode, explore how service skills evolve into strategy as Heleen Vink shares her path from hospitality to supporting the CEO of Ingka Group (IKEA), the calendar audit that reset priorities, and the systems that protect deep work and drive stakeholder engagement. Heleen and Diana also outline how to build an internal assistant network and keep balance through community and creativity.
Topics covered:
- hospitality foundations shaping executive support
- moving from generalist skills to a stakeholder specialty
- the structure and roles inside a lean CEO support team
- how to run a calendar audit and turn data into priorities
- setting non‑negotiables like protected work‑alone time
- building an internal assistant network with clear purpose
- learning by doing: speeches, reports, and projects
- finding your voice and influence with direct feedback
- sustainable work life balance through support systems
- music as a tool for confidence, presence, and renewal
Enjoy!
CONNECT WITH HELEEN
ABOUT HELEEN
Heleen Vink is Management Assistant supporting the Deputy CEO & CFO at Ingka Group | IKEA, by contributing to strategic processes & planning and seamless, efficient daily operations with a focus on CEO Relations & Stakeholder Engagement within the business and beyond.
Heleen also leads the development of an internal community dedicated to Assistants, Business Support Assistants, Coordinators and others who focus on supporting leaders and Group Functions at Ingka Group | IKEA – and beyond.
Ingka Group consists of three business areas;
– IKEA Retail, which consists of 392 IKEA stores across 32 markets, and counting. Welcoming 657 million visitors to these stores last year, and having more than 4.3 billion visits to https://www.ikea.com/.
– Ingka Centres creates great meeting places where each centre is anchored by an IKEA store.
– Ingka Investments makes responsible investments in the core business, or in areas that add value for customers allowing growth across IKEA Retail business.
Heleen started at IKEA in 2011 and previously worked as Executive Secretary (Chief Sustainability and Chief HR) and Global Stakeholder Engagement Leader within the Global Public Affairs team. She has a degree in Hotel & Hospitality Management where prior to IKEA, she worked for 10 years with hotel operations, sales and event management.
Heleen has a particular passion for Climate Action and Equality topics, is married and has two young children.
ABOUT EXECUTIVE OFFICE INSIGHTS with DIANA BRANDL
Executive Office Insights is a podcast for executive support professionals hosted by Diana Brandl – an accomplished trainer, consultant, coach, and former C-suite senior executive assistant with nearly two decades of experience at renowned international companies, this podcast dives deep into the evolving world of executive excellence.
Diana explores the critical themes shaping the modern workplace, including leadership dynamics, digital transformation, AI, and the future of work. Featuring insightful conversations with a diverse range of German and English-speaking experts, each episode equips listeners with actionable insights and strategies to thrive in the ever-changing executive office landscape.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00
Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to the Leader Assistant Podcast. I’m excited to share another spotlight episode of my friend Diana Brandl’s show, Executive Office Insights. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information about her show and today’s featured guest. But in the meantime, enjoy this conversation and keep leading well.
00:00:28
The Leader Assistant podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.
00:00:42
Check out the show notes for this episode at leaderassistant.com/372.
00:00:47
To be honest, it is not easy to impress me, but this lady did, and I’m glad I met her live during one of my trainings last year. I was blown away by the way she looks at the profession, how she’s challenging the profession, what she’s doing in her role as a CEO coordinator, and what she plans to do around setting up an internal assistant network.
00:01:09
She is supporting the CEO of Ingka Group, which is IKEA. And you can only imagine how busy this man is. Well, luckily he has Heleen. She takes care of him and has a bunch of wonderful colleagues around her who really make the executive successful. I’m very happy to introduce you to her because she has a lot of talents to share with us. And by the way, one of them is singing.
00:01:34
It is a pleasure of welcoming a great assistant who is really a game changer out there in our profession. And I got to meet her personally. Can you imagine that? Because sometimes I get to sit with guests and I’ve never met these people, probably will never meet them in person. in the real life. But in this case, I was in a meeting room with her for a long time and I got to see her live and I got to see how she looks at our profession. And this is why I knew immediately I need to have her on the show. So I’m glad she said yes.
00:02:05
So welcome, everybody. Here’s the wonderful Heleen Vink.
00:02:09
Hey, Diana. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to reconnect. And thanks for inviting me to the podcast. I’m excited.
00:02:16
You know, and I told her already that I was nervous about pronouncing the name because it’s not a German name. It sounds maybe a bit Dutch to a lot of people probably who are familiar. And it’s true, right? So you are a native Dutch, right?
00:02:29
I am. Yep. Born and raised. And I have the luxury of working very close to where I grew up. Yeah.
00:02:37
And I learned earlier that you’re based in Leiden, which is not too far from Amsterdam. So is this your base for a long time already?
00:02:47
Yeah, it’s been home base for my entire IKEA career, actually, which is a little bit over 11 years.
00:02:55
In various roles, as I think we’ll get into. But yeah, it sits 20 minutes south of Amsterdam and then 20 minutes south from there is home for me.
00:03:05
It’s a lovely place. I recommend anybody coming to the Netherlands to check it out.
00:03:10
And we have a strong Dutch base here, listeners from the Netherlands. And one of the first episodes I recorded was with my dear friend Jannie, who for sure is going to listen to this episode here.
00:03:21
Shout out to Jannie.
00:03:22
Absolutely. And yeah, I mean, it feels like it’s been ages since we last saw each other, which was actually only in December. And yeah.
00:03:32
I think probably everyone who’s listening to this episode will probably remember the news that actually happened just two days after we left this hotel. Because there was this famous, famous fish tank and the aquarium that broke in Berlin. And this was actually the hotel we were in. So it was so sad. And I remember we were in touch about it. Because we had such a great time in this hotel, which was a fantastic hotel with the whole service.
00:03:59
It was a lovely place and we were all in awe of this lovely aquarium. And then to find out just a couple of days after we left about that horrible incident, it was very sad.
00:04:10
I remember that Lucy was reaching out to me and she said, did you see the news? And I felt like, no, this is not really happening.
00:04:17
But we had a great time and I’m glad we came there early. Yes.
00:04:22
The training went so well. And this is how I got to meet you and your colleague. We were a bunch of wonderful people. And so I got to know you a little bit. So I’m excited to get to know you here on the podcast as well. So what would you say? Who is Heleen? Yes.
00:04:39
I find it a very difficult question to answer. As many, I wear lots of different hats.
00:04:49
But this year, I think this year is big for me because I have a big birthday coming up. I’ll turn 40 later in the summer. As we mentioned, I’m Dutch. I grew up here. I have the luxury of working close to where I also have my support system, my parents and extended family. I live together with three boys, two young ones and one, shall we say, young at heart, young spirit at once. But I’ll soon celebrate almost being together with him for two decades. And I just love spending time with all of them.
00:05:26
I feel I have a big thing outside of all of the different hats I play. And that’s also making music as a singer. I love singing in my band and doing other kind of musical projects.
00:05:38
So hopefully that gives you a bit more of an image of who I am. Absolutely.
00:05:45
And I can tell you, someone who just turned 44, I can tell you that the big 40 is…
00:05:51
always a fun number. Nothing to be scared for, right? Not at all. Not at all. I mean, I’m now four years into it and it still feels good.
00:05:59
So, yeah, I hope you’re going to have a large party. I feel life gets better with each year, to be honest. It’s true. I must say it’s absolutely true.
00:06:09
So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about your professional background? Because you started actually in the hospitality industry, right?
00:06:15
I did. And a lot of assistants do that, right? It’s so interesting. I still meet a lot of people today also at IKEA who come from that industry. I think it’s such a great place to learn many different capabilities.
00:06:31
One could even say everyone would benefit from being in a kind of service-oriented type of role. I think it goes a very long way. I started working pretty young. I remember still having my 17th birthday ahead of me and starting my internship behind the front desk. And I just absolutely loved it.
00:06:53
Thinking back, I sometimes feel, wow, I was really young back then.
00:06:58
So I’m pretty brave, I guess, and courageous of myself, but also of the people that believed in me at the time and really saw me capable of that because I think it built a lot of trust for myself as well. Yeah, so it felt very natural for me to kind of learn by doing. And I spent almost a decade in the hotel and hospitality industry. mostly front of the house, you know, sales conferences and events, reservations really had a blast.
00:07:30
Yeah. But then as one of the, you know, 2008, I think it’s when the big recession kind of hit also that industry quite a lot.
00:07:38
It also coincided, you know, with personal things where I just felt it was the time to make a change. Yeah.
00:07:45
But I can only imagine how well this industry prepared you for the job you were right now, right? Yes, absolutely.
00:07:52
I still feel there’s so much that I take away or that I kind of put in the backpack from back then that really helps me today.
00:08:03
And then, of course, you know, some of the other roles that led me to where I am today. But it’s definitely a great learning school. Yeah.
00:08:12
And then you started to work for IKEA. I mean, everyone is familiar with this brand and I know everyone has at least one piece of furniture from you guys out there, probably.
00:08:21
I hope so.
00:08:23
And we’re going to find out what your favorite part is actually in this huge portfolio.
00:08:29
You were in various functions. Maybe you want to share a little bit about your journey before you started to work in the CEO office, right?
00:08:35
Yeah. Yeah. So as I said, I joined about 11 years ago and I started… I don’t think I fully realized when I entered the recruitment procedure at which level I was being recruited into because I ended up supporting the global sustainability chief and HR chief, which we call people and culture.
00:08:57
Of course, having quite big scopes to their roles at a global organization.
00:09:04
And I always thought entering at that level was such a crash course and gave such a holistic view of the company straight away, again, which benefits me today tremendously. But also supporting two leaders allowed me to have a unique seat in the business because I was also in a way sometimes the bridge in between these two staff functions and really encouraging kind of cross-functional working.
00:09:33
So that was really what I took away from that and had a lot of fun supporting two very different leaders as well. One of them actually happened to be German as well. The HR or the sustainability? The HR chief.
00:09:51
And she had been with IKEA for many years, really embodied the culture and values. And the other chief for sustainability had been in external recruitment, had started not that long before I joined his team. Lovely Brit.
00:10:06
But a very different character had also been used to having had support in his team. So I had one leader that really wanted to do everything herself, was used to doing things in a certain way. And the other person really always having had the luxury of having a support or an assistant. It was very interesting to balance those two characters.
00:10:29
And again, learned a lot.
00:10:31
And you know what is funny? I always wanted to work for a people and culture manager, but it just never happened in my career.
00:10:38
You know, there are certain fields that interest you. For example, I always said to myself, I never want to work for a CFO. I’m just not into numbers. It’s not me, you know, sitting over Excel sheets. So I really wanted to go into the culture, into also the employer branding and all the things. So any specific learnings you took out of this time?
00:11:00
Yeah, what really inspired me at that time is that we were working a lot with our equality agenda, which is very exciting for me where I had a lot of passion. So it was also in that sense a way for me to learn about, you know, the topics of equality and diversity and inclusion and be involved with projects there.
00:11:18
I actually took the other route. So I very much had an interest for the sustainability part of the business as well, as it was really in a time where it was still quite a new topic and companies were really
00:11:31
finding out what their strategies and ambitions should be. So after I went on maternity leave, we decided to kind of change the setup slightly, actually recruit my temp cover, my maternity cover. So she came on board as well. And I then devoted myself, you could say, to the sustainability staff function, which, as we mentioned, I had no background in sustainability whatsoever. So, again, learned so many things.
00:11:59
You know, got so much in-depth knowledge from being able to have that experience.
00:12:05
How did you how did you grab the knowledge? I mean, what kind of learner are you? Are you more into visual? Are you more the podcaster? Are you more into I need to have a specific book on my nightstand going on conferences? So what are the learning strategy you have?
00:12:19
Yeah, as I experienced in the hotel industry, it was very much by doing or by almost, I would say, by practicing. It was also, I listened a lot to the talks, for example, the leader I supported at that time, our chief sustainability officer would have. And at one point, I felt I could dream his speeches. You could wake me up in the night and just say, go, and I would have his narrative top of mind. And of course, with that comes, I would say, a more…
00:12:49
comfortable level with the topic and the content, and then really seizing opportunities to… I volunteered for organizing, for example, the Matrix meeting for his entire Matrix sitting out in the IKEA retail organizations and countries at the time. And
00:13:08
Of course, being the project leader, the project manager for that also exposes you to the content, right? So it’s you’re doing one thing that you know how to do well and contributing with your strengths, but then having these benefits of learning a lot of new things in the same time. And for me, that was really listening to people, asking questions to really get that information, but that also paying attention to reports that we were putting out on certain topics or white papers was really kind of my go-to.
00:13:39
Yeah. And honestly, I know that you’re into also assistant networks and how can we bring them in organization? I know that’s also one of your topics that you’re currently engaged to. And I believe that these things around sustainability, diversity, inclusion, you named it. they need to be also addressed in these assistant networks. I think we still need to be better here because I work with a lot of customers who’ve been establishing these networks. But of course, it’s all about training and it’s all about creating
00:14:12
the new way that our profession should look like. But especially when we talk about training, it needs to be included, right? Microsoft was just running a wonderful inclusion conference and I’ve been sending assistants out there and said, you need to be there. Listen to that and find out how you can support your organization. Anything you want to add to that thought? Yeah.
00:14:32
Yeah, I would say what’s always been, especially, I guess, where I’m at today, there’s a lot of business intelligence that crosses your desk as well. So also to take advantage and by reading what you can and what passes your inbox has always greatly benefited me on any topic. And then also knowing where…
00:14:53
where you naturally gravitate towards what naturally, as you said, for you, it might’ve been people in culture, maybe for me it was sustainability. For others, it might be something else. It might be the CFO area. Absolutely. But to seize those opportunities to…
00:15:07
you know, do a bit of self-learning where you can kind of on the job as it crosses your desk. I’ve always found and still do, you know, gives me a very good kind of pulse of where we’re at as a business.
00:15:18
Yes. And, you know, we need to have these sidekicks in our assistance roles, like where we feel like strongly connected to something specific, you know, running this project or being involved in this initiative. And I know sometimes it’s not easy with our busy lives. And especially when we are connected to a lot of admin org people, stuff and travels and um yeah probably exactly what you experience every single day as well uh working for a busy executive but um nowadays since we talk about is it the right time to move away from the generalist to the specialist and we had this talk in our training um to find these little sidekicks and for sure the topics we just mentioned are very very interesting and take a deeper dive into these these fields right absolutely
00:16:03
Yeah, I always felt that being a generalist really benefited me.
00:16:07
But then having something where I had… Now in my role today, for example, it’s really for me around… helping my leader manage his external network, for example. And that has been something that has been with me for many, many years, supporting other leaders. But it’s also where I dare to say today, I have developed a specialism. So both having, you know, kind of that generalist role, but then also finding kind of a sweet spot that where you also feel like you excel or it’s something that really makes you tick.
00:16:38
that kind of gives you that kind of, you know, the butterflies in the stomach or that extra energy, I think is really important. Also to keep things interesting, right? In jobs that can sometimes, you know, be somewhat repetitive or, you know, have an annual year cycle that if you do it for many, many years in a row, some of the
00:16:59
you know, some of the excitement might go out of that.
00:17:01
Yeah, fully agree, fully agree to that. And I think we continue to have this discussion in our industry about generalist or specialist and what kind of specialist, right? What kind of expert do I want to be? So it’s good to see that a lot of assistants are discovering this path for them, whatever direction it might lead them. But at the end of the day, it’s
00:17:24
Yeah, it’s our own vision. It’s our own feeling how I see my role and how I can contribute to the success of my manager, my team, and overall the organization, of course. Absolutely. I know that you are a great contributor to the success of your current leader. who is no other than the CEO of the Inka Group, which is IKEA. And it is Jesper Brodine. And I would love to get to know a little bit, of course, about how you work together. First of all, how did you end up in the CEO office? Were you headhunted or internally?
00:17:59
Or was there any specific… I should humbly say he handpicked me. I was at the time… It may be an interesting story for the community. At the time, I was with our group communications working with the public affairs team around this topic of stakeholder engagement.
00:18:20
At the same time as I had started in that role, he started his tenure as a CEO and had a different profile than the one he succeeded and was…
00:18:31
He really wanted to engage externally and have that as part of his kind of time allocation. And as he was exploring that agenda, he kept popping onto my desk for a variety of things.
00:18:46
And we then had the opportunity to work together on a couple of different occasions. And after, I don’t know, times X, he just approached me and he said, listen, this works really well. I actually miss this capability in my team today. I would love to have you as part of my team as we further develop this agenda. And again, I was able to do it from this lovely office in Leiden, close to home, and I almost immediately said yes.
00:19:16
Of course, I felt very proud also and humbled by the opportunity.
00:19:21
And I know that you have incredible people next to you in order to manage the CEO office. Maybe you want to share a little bit about the team behind Jesper.
00:19:32
I’m so curious also to how other CEO support teams set themselves up.
00:19:39
And I also feel our setup is, I would say, our setup is quite moderate maybe for his scope. So he oversees three businesses, as we said, IKEA Retail being the core business, and then there’s two other branches.
00:19:53
That roughly makes up 175,000 co-workers. And in our little team, we’re a team of three. And then, of course, we work together with many, many friends across the businesses.
00:20:05
We have, if I try to simplify, we have a strategic… A strategic assistant, who I would say is more with him on strategic topics, priorities, really driving those priorities internally within the business.
00:20:23
Then we have our business support assistant, who’s also brilliant. She’s more focused on the daily operations, on making sure that he has what he needs today and tomorrow, and his travels are booked. And we all know very, very well what falls into that scope. And as I said, then I kind of make up that little trio where there are certain decision making bodies like our board that I’m involved with, where I lead certain processes. And then I also have that big dimension of kind of assisting him, supporting him with his relationships and his stakeholder engagement there. which I do together with a colleague in group communication. So we work together hand in hand.
00:21:10
But yeah, that’s our setup. And I think we’ll talk about the assistance network in a bit because it’s been something that has recently kind of been added to my pleasure, to my delight, which is something also that we’re now trying to drive from within our team as well.
00:21:28
Absolutely. And I must say, I need to jump in into the stakeholder management because I believe it’s one of the core roles where assistants can really support their managers.
00:21:36
Absolutely.
00:21:37
Was it hard for you to get into it or would you say, no, that’s exactly how my earlier roles prepared me, actually, because I know how important a network is. I know how to engage with people coming from the hospitality industry. So was it easy for you to jump in?
00:21:52
I mean, it’s funny you make the connection back to the hotel and hospitality, because that’s exactly what I did. For me, this is so comparable to sales, but not really sales, but it still has a lot of those dimensions.
00:22:07
As we are a foundation-owned company, we have the luxury of not having to work with stockholders. So we’re not on the stock market. So that dimension had never really existed. And I’ve always felt because that component wasn’t there, it took us a while to understand the value of stakeholder engagement. Because it wasn’t something that perhaps came very natural to us as a company. So for me…
00:22:37
Raising the awareness about the value that stakeholder engagement can bring for an executive, for a leader, required a bit of an effort.
00:22:49
But of course, now that I found a sponsor who takes this very seriously and because of the place in the business he sits, I think that has really been a catalyst almost. Yes.
00:23:01
And then a great spot for me to also try and help other teams across our business to take the learnings. Because for us, we started with a blank piece of paper trying to figure out how to do this well, of course, taking inspiration from others.
00:23:15
But now I feel we’re at a spot today where there’s also a lot that we can then share internally with other leaders and their teams to further themselves. And I wholeheartedly agree that I see such a unique position for assistants and support teams to support their leaders. Because especially when you’re managing inboxes, it passes through your hands. And if you think about making… It’s all about making it more easy and more efficient for them. So if there’s… If you have an interest for this, and I think there’s lots you can take off of your leader’s plate by applying yourself there.
00:23:58
I agree. But still, assistants are fighting hard out there in order to get that seat at the table. Would you say that you have that seat at the table in order to make this role function in a way that you are satisfied as well?
00:24:11
Yeah, that’s definitely how it feels like to me.
00:24:16
I think a lot goes back to culture and values. We have very strong culture and values at IKEA.
00:24:23
I don’t feel like I have to fight for a seat at the table or to be taken seriously on this agenda. It might not always come first for people because all of us have conflicting priorities that we’re working with. But I feel over the years, as I have gathered my proof points as to why this is a benefit, not only to the leader I support, but also to the business, it kind of creates the business case itself almost. Yeah.
00:24:49
Absolutely. It’s so true. And we are part of that business case so much. We are. Sometimes we have to remind a few people about it, but in general, we’re in.
00:24:57
And ourselves. Exactly.
00:24:59
And also when it comes to imposter syndrome, like…
00:25:03
Do we have strong beliefs in ourselves? Do we have strong beliefs in order to place this idea at the management table? Because I’m sitting in that management meeting. And I remember when I was a junior assistant, of course, and I was not into my role that much, not much experience. I was not that experienced. That personality I am right back then what I am right now. But I had these thoughts in my head and I was too shy to bring it out. Right. And nowadays, of course, we encourage assistance as you do also when you talk to colleagues and when we bring new assistants on board and onboarding phases and everything. all this kind of opportunities, how we get to meet our colleagues. It’s just wonderful to see when they find their voice and when they bring their ideas out. Would you say that this was something that was natural to you or did you also learn to do that?
00:25:53
I go, it’s…
00:25:55
I have an interesting theory about this. I might be completely wrong, but I go back to my singing. So I started singing in a choir, in the church choir, actually. And I do believe I have seen headlines of a study somewhere that participating in that type of an activity, singing together with others, It’s a really important dimension in listening to others, but also making your own voice kind of count. And as that has been something that has been with me for obviously many years since then, and maybe my, you know, my being a Dutch native and being quite direct and sometimes a bit blunt has helped as well. I have…
00:26:36
And then I think upbringing might be something as well.
00:26:39
I’ve never found it particularly hard in expressing my opinions. And honestly, I feel it’s… And I’m very honest when I share my opinion. I think it’s one of my strengths. And it’s actually why I got handpicked for the job.
00:26:54
Mm-hmm.
00:26:54
Because I was very clear in my beliefs and my opinions. I will any day as well today, I will give my leader my honest opinion, my direct answer to something. And that might not always be something that might not be an agreeable, you know, it might not be that I’m agreeing with a viewpoint or an approach.
00:27:13
And then I always feel I can express that opinion. And then what the other person, you know, does with that input, it’s to them. Absolutely.
00:27:22
But no, I have to say, I mean, it’s been easy for me in that sense that it’s come quite natural. And I appreciate it might be something to really work on if it’s not something that comes natural for all. Maybe singing in a choir could help.
00:27:36
Honestly, I was just going to say this is the best tip ever.
00:27:40
So everyone join a choir.
00:27:42
Go out singing, you know, because indeed it might help you to, you know, also the way your body is moving and how you, you know, you position yourself. So actually, I think it’s a very, very good advice.
00:27:55
Yes.
00:27:56
So I’ve been stalking your LinkedIn profile. Yeah.
00:27:59
And there were quite some nice expressions in it, like spider in the web to your CEO, focusing on connecting the dots, strategic planning and coordination, as well as stakeholder management, stakeholder engagement, we talked earlier about it, and communication. So what ways of working and principles do you and your CEO have where you say, okay, this is us, this is how we operate, and there’s non-negotiables here in this direction or that direction?
00:28:25
Yeah.
00:28:27
We spoke about it in Berlin, right? Ways of working. And I thought you and Lucy had such great tips also to how to really shape that and to bring structure to that.
00:28:39
I’m a very structured person. So one of the things I really had to learn when working with my executive is going back to hotel industry, put myself in his shoes. What were his wishes? What were his needs? How did he prefer to engage with us as a team?
00:28:57
um you know we’ve come away i feel we’ve made some some tweaks along that way but today i would say we work as structured as possible but we also maintain a good level of flexibility and that all depends uh very much on what his day what his week is like and then we adapt to that um i would say some principles that we have in place is that we try to meet with him at least twice a year from a team development point of view. You know, a check-in, what’s working well, what’s not working, what should we stop, start, continue, basically.
00:29:36
um and then we try to meet him on a cycle as well when it comes to his i always call it kind of more strategic agenda planning so it’s not so much focusing on the day today but very much at kind of the big trends like this is what the year roughly is going to look like um and then um on top of that i meet him together with our comms um leader, a CEO comms leader, really connected to his more externally focused agenda. What’s coming up? What does he need? Do we need any of his decisions on things that we might want to add?
00:30:12
And then we try to have a weekly check-in, which could be as short as 15 minutes only when he’s maybe in a car or in transit. to kind of take the things that we cannot move without his input.
00:30:26
And for us today, that’s working really well. But I also remember sitting with so much frustration in the beginning where I was just in need, as Lucy and yourself also share, to have that structure, like, Monday morning call to kick off the week. And it’s just something that didn’t end up working for us, for him as a team. And the best thing I did was just embracing that and finding a way that did work. And sometimes it can take…
00:30:54
Take a bit of time to figure that out.
00:30:57
Absolutely.
00:30:58
And, you know, I mean, it’s a huge onboarding phase for both of you, right? And even if you knew each other and he handpicked you, but it’s still the new job for both of you, right? In order to come together with the other people in the team to know exactly who is responsible for which part and how do we… How do we reach our goals? Right. But one of the things that I was really fascinated with and I gave you that feedback earlier and because you’ve been raising great questions during the training and of course, sharing how you work and how the team works around the CEO role. And I was really fascinated when you said that once you started working for him, that you did this calendar audit. You analyzed how much time he spends on various topics. So why was this in your head? Why did you want to do it? And what, of course, was the outcome?
00:31:49
Was there any things you had to throw out or bring in? This was my inner geek, my inner Excel geek coming to full bloom.
00:32:01
I came really with curiosity. I was coming into that role and into that team. I was just so curious how he was spending his time.
00:32:11
Also, because I felt like I needed to understand that to identify where I might be able to contribute to what he was doing.
00:32:20
So, yes, we embarked on an audit and I basically mapped and tracked the way he was spending his time for a year. I wish I would have had a very cool automated way to do that.
00:32:35
I pretty much did it very manually through just keeping hours per week in Excel. And it took quite some efforts and investment, but it totally paid off in the end. Because as I did that, I must be honest, I might not have completed a full 12 months because after, I would say, a couple months, the trends already started to become clear.
00:33:00
And then we had hard data and we identified kind of buckets where he was spending his time. We were able to cluster them. And we then had something that we were able to present to him and say, this is how you’re spending your time. And is this how you want to be spending your time?
00:33:19
And he absolutely loved that exercise. Also because it was very concrete, right? It was built on hard data. Effects and figures. Here we go. Effects and figures.
00:33:31
And also, this is where I feel I have to make the point also where we as assistants have…
00:33:37
It’s not my quote, it’s totally somebody else’s. I don’t know who it is, but somebody referred to assistance as asset managers, managing the most valuable asset a company and a leader has, which is their time. That’s also very much what led me to this exercise.
00:33:55
Yeah, the conclusion that came from that was that we were able to have that conversation. This is working well. Yes, this is totally where I should be spending my time. Oh, is it that much time that I’m spending on this? Well, let’s bring that down for next year. And that gave us a blueprint to continue to do yearly planning on. And we still use it today. Very good. And I think it also… Besides…
00:34:21
doing, you know, being very practical and giving that hard data. It also built a lot of trust with him because he knew that we had done this exercise. We, you know, totally understood what he was trying to do. So, and I think we, we went above expectations by, by doing this type of an exercise and, and, that I think that was a nice feeling for us as a team as well.
00:34:44
It also, that conversation really helped us actually when you mentioned the non-negotiables before that really also allowed us to have that conversation with him. Like, well, what is, you know, what are the non-negotiables? What can’t we touch? And we landed on work alone time, really carving out work or time for him to, to either fill himself or to, you know, for him to really sit and, and, and work alone and,
00:35:09
You know, lock yourself away. Exactly. Lock yourself in a dark room, you know. And of course, you know, that time is very… We have a principle on it where it’s we as his team are not able to touch it. If he wants to offer it to somebody, that’s for him to decide.
00:35:29
We might come with an ask to him. But oftentimes, the answer is no. I’m not compromising that time. And I think that’s also… Very commendable to him, you know, we’re really sticking to that principle. Yes, absolutely. And that helps us a lot. But that was one of the very obvious, among the others that I mentioned, but outcomes of that work. And the fact that we now have that blueprint to work with every year is just so…
00:35:56
And honestly, it’s such a fantastic advice. And I’m glad you share this story here with all of us again, because calendar auditing is, I know, a lot of work. But once you have your data and you know exactly how can I really take the direction in order to make my executive more productive in this way or in that way. And this is where the magic happens, right? As you said, the greatest gifts come. we have for our executives is time. The moment we can allow this in the busy schedule, then you know exactly that you brought the right dots together, right? In order that you agreed, this is necessary, this is not necessary, this is productive, this is not productive. Let’s skip this one, but give room to that one. And then we have our agenda. And that’s a constant process. So I’m sure that many of our listeners are really… noting this down in order, did I ever do this properly? And maybe I should do it because it will really, really help us to increase the productivity, right?
00:36:54
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree.
00:36:56
So I know, I know, yes, do it.
00:36:59
So I know that you and the team are working very hard about, you know, reaching the goals of your executive team.
00:37:06
to make your CEO successful. But I want to talk about your goals as well, because I know that you have specific goals and you are structured and you want to work on your goals. So when you look at the year 2023, and we’re jumping into March already. So what is on your bucket list for this year?
00:37:25
Yeah, we mentioned the stakeholder engagement part of my role. One of the goals I set towards that was really to become a super user in a system that we use. I’m a geek in this area. I love figuring new systems out. So it’s also I have so much fun while I’m doing that.
00:37:43
But I would say the biggie for me is the assistant network that we talked about a little bit already. And especially at… at a company like IKEA who really encourage the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s so fun to be able to kind of identify a gap that I believe is there and then to be able to run with it. So my big goal for the year is to really kind of move the needle with our assistance network. And we kind of started last year in a small group across our management, the support teams to our management team. But we’ve also established a bigger group of assistants and basically everybody in an administrative professional role across the company to bring us together to honestly also figure out together what we want this network to be and how it can benefit us.
00:38:34
And some very obvious themes like onboarding and sharing best practice, etc. already bubbled up.
00:38:46
forward.
00:38:48
But to be honest, I feel that work really required somebody to step up as a community manager. And I was very, I don’t know, that felt like such a big thing to also kind of take that on and to connect myself to that. But I had such lovely encouragement from across the community that i decided to just be brave and step up but also be very honest about i don’t have all the answers for us it’s not about me you know saying this is where we’re going it’s more about you know what do we want this to be collectively and how is each of us kind of showing up within the network to um uh to to make it valuable for all of us of course what are the roles what are the expectations how often do we come
00:39:34
together? What tools are we going to use? I mean, I can only imagine the list you have together with your team, you know, slightly starting ticking the boxes because it’s a project, a huge project itself. And of course, you know, next to the busy, busy life you have, not only within the company, because we also know that you have a pretty busy personal life. We’re going to share a little bit about it. you’ve shared the music part already, but there’s more to hear from. But I can only imagine that this is really a fun project because it will really, really help you to identify the needs from all the stakeholders being involved. Not only the assistants, but also the managers, the departments that you’re interacting with and a lot of interactions are happening every single day between assistants and the department.
00:40:26
So I always find it interesting when this all starts off and you get to know your peers in a different way, right? So it’s a great project. And of course, we wish you all the best success with it. Thank you. So maybe we should do this again in a year and let’s see.
00:40:43
Let’s do a check-in. Here we are.
00:40:45
Let’s see. There’s the network. Because I know that it’s a huge topic for many companies out there. And we have great companies with really long existing networks who started just like you, right? Yeah.
00:40:59
I’m excited to see where it leads us. You have to start somewhere. But I’d love to check in a couple months from now to see where it leads us.
00:41:08
We definitely will do that. So I must say…
00:41:14
Keeping the balance is not always easy in our busy, busy lives as an assistant, as we are so connected to so many different people. We want to help. We want to be there. And sometimes we forget to put ourselves on the priority list. So how do you manage your working and your private life? I know you’re a mom. You have your hobbies. You enjoy other things in life.
00:41:38
So how do you take care of yourself? Is there a specific method you do?
00:41:43
So my first answer here is I’m nowhere without the support system that I have around me. And that’s, of course, my partner and having our parents close by who really play a big role. I mean, that support…
00:42:02
is immediately linked to my performance at work.
00:42:06
And for me, that has been also working in an environment where I see people moving with their families for roles, which
00:42:16
can be very exciting, right? And be an amazing experience for the whole family. It was something where I felt it was too far out of my comfort zone. I just felt that being in, you know, in another country without that support system around me, I would feel I wouldn’t be able to perform in the way that I would want to. So it’s been quite a conscious decision. And I’m so thankful to them what opportunities, you know, still came to me because I remember sitting with a fear that, you know, which doors and windows am I closing with kind of, you know, having this as a prerequisite?
00:42:50
Um, no, but it’s very, it’s, it’s very important to have, have a system like that around you and that can look very differently. Right. But I think organizing yourself and the way that you kind of, you know, set that up is, is for me at least a very important prerequisite to try. And, uh, uh, I would say it’s not really maintaining the balance, but it’s, It’s like you have this anecdote about the, you know, the, I don’t know, the circus artist, right? How do you call one of these thin ropes? It’s like that person is never, ever completely in balance. It’s like they’re constantly working to keep that balance, so it maintains. something to for me to focus on almost daily and also I think just accepting that you cannot have it all and you’ll miss out on certain things either in private life or at work or in other dimensions
00:43:43
And be very real and honest about that.
00:43:48
And that can sometimes also, you know, that can come with disappointment. And just to be honest about that disappointment and, you know, not keeping up appearances. That’s also very much, I think for me, just to be honest about what my situation is. And maybe that’s sometimes it’s harder than other days. It helps me to just…
00:44:08
Keep it very real. And yeah, we mentioned the singing now a couple of times, but it really helps having something outside of my work and my family that I’m very passionate about because it helps kind of draw me out of those circles and do something completely different every now and again.
00:44:28
So having something outside of that really helps me to just let go.
00:44:33
And it’s for sure one of your little energy islands out there, right?
00:44:37
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:44:38
So what kind of music? We’re dying to hear this. And how can we listen to it?
00:44:44
So, I mean, happy to do a pitch here. The band is called Lady July. You can find us on Instagram. Yeah.
00:44:57
It’s basically four guys and a girl, and we just love playing covers of covers, I would say. So it’s songs that you’ll recognize, but they are probably performed in a slightly different way than you might recognize them immediately, which adds to the element of surprise, which we enjoy.
00:45:19
Yeah, it’s very fun. It’s very, it’s lovely.
00:45:22
I mean, I definitely would love to share this in the show notes. I mean, we need to get more Instagram followers here. Cool. So definitely, we’re going to put this in the show notes, everyone. So you get to get to get more information about the band. So what is the music you’re listening to? I mean, if I would check your Spotify playlist at the moment, what’s on?
00:45:45
So we’re now rehearsing for a gig that’s coming up, which is 80s and 90s themed. So we’re going back.
00:45:53
Love it. We’re going back in the days. Oh, gosh. They’re such brilliant gems. And how do you say guilty pleasures? You know, they kind of stem from that time.
00:46:05
You know, I love… I have such a broad taste in music. I love everything from Adele to Beyonce, but also, you know, going to a bit of Americana and country. Yeah, as long as it’s music that kind of comes from the heart by artists, you know, you can never go wrong.
00:46:25
Yeah, that is true. Yeah, that is so, so true. And, you know, music is so important in life. I mean, imagine without music, you know, you go to the car, there’s music, you go to these wonderful places that we finally get to enjoy again, you know, after the pandemic. And so we go to concerts, we meet people, we enjoy going on gigs and meeting bands. And it’s just so important for people because music, It’s not an easy life we’re in right now, what’s happening out there in our world. And music has always been connecting people, right? Yes. Through culture, through languages. And it’s just so wonderful. And by the way, what would we…
00:47:04
I mean, I would not survive with one of my favorite apps on the phone with the Shazam app, you know, when you are listening to a song somewhere and you place the app out there and then you say, oh, yeah, that’s this song, right? So I always have this with me because I use it all the time. Very smart. Because I just feel like this is a great song.
00:47:26
Maybe I heard it before, but who’s the singer? What’s the band behind one of my favorite apps? I think they renamed the business, but Shazam was always the big name out there. So, yeah, I mean, I can only wish you all the best for the year 2023, not only for the business life.
00:47:46
Thank you. Which, of course, is going to bring you into wonderful new projects, but also the private life. Because let’s be honest, that’s the most enjoyable part out there, being connected with family, having friends in your life.
00:48:01
And we talked about the sun earlier. You said, I’m ready to go to the sun. So is there any specific holiday planning that the family made already this year?
00:48:11
Totally outside of my traditional character. We did not make summer plans yet.
00:48:20
I don’t know what summer is going to bring us. We recently redecorated or also actually extended the house. So being at home is very exciting because it still feels very new.
00:48:36
So who knows? Maybe if the Dutch summer is friendly to us, we might do a staycation.
00:48:44
But I agree with you. There’s so many different fabulous spots in the world to travel to. Maybe we take a trip here or there.
00:48:52
But honestly, I mean, staying in the Netherlands for sure is a treat as well because, you know, they have great beaches out there. I mean, everyone is familiar with Zandvoort, this area, of course, which is also not too far from you. And yeah, so you have really, really great place, of course, to enjoy your staycation. But speaking of the house, here’s the last question. And I know a lot of people are curious what she is going to answer now. I mean, I think I told you in the training that I’m a big fan of the Hemnes series. Yes, you did. And now, of course, we all want to know what is your favorite part at the…
00:49:28
Ikea portfolio. My favorite product.
00:49:33
And I might have mentioned this at the training as well, did I? It’s Hullbar. I don’t know if I pronounce it correctly in Swedish, but you’ll all know it. It’s the waste sorting system. You have all these different bins, you know, depending on what waste you’re recycling. And for me, it’s organization, time sustainability, lowering your carbon footprint. It makes it easier. It makes life more efficient. It’s at a pretty affordable price. So for me, a true champion of our vision, which is creating a better everyday life for the many people. Yeah, I highly recommend to have it in your home. It makes it so easy.
00:50:11
Yes. And, you know, we all need things that help us organize. We do. Organize, right? So here’s once again the recommendation to check out the IKEA portfolio.
00:50:23
Because, yeah, I’m actually sitting here in my Airbnb and IKEA desk.
00:50:28
Lovely. You tend to mind it quite a lot, right?
00:50:31
You immediately recognize it, you know, you immediately recognize it. It’s so funny. And I think specifically also the Airbnb business itself. So every time when we go there, we do travel a lot.
00:50:43
You really feel familiar when you, oh, that’s a cup from IKEA. Oh, that’s a glass from IKEA. So I think it’s well equipped everywhere in the Airbnbs. So I thank you so much for your time to talk to us and to share a little bit about your story, about you see the role, about the work you do.
00:51:04
and how you collaborate with your executive. So all the best to the team.
00:51:10
Continued success.
00:51:12
And thank you so much for being here and for coming to the show. I appreciate that. Thanks for having me. Take care. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
00:51:22
Well, I told you this is going to be a wonderful episode and I enjoyed it myself listening again to it. So thank you so much for stopping by, Heleen. I think this is just the beginning. I can’t wait to see what’s next coming from you. I will always support you, cheering from you. And yes, thank you so much for sharing all the valuable insights with all of us.
00:51:46
You’re listening to the Leader Assistant Podcast.
