Orlando Heijmerink asked himself this question when he was still working at ABN AMRO, where he led several departments and coached several colleagues. With the statement that he would like to become a trainer, he wrote history for himself and Lagant. In 2016, Orlando joined Lagant as a trainer where he is now director/owner along with Jeroen Ykema. Lagant is a training and consultancy agency with the motto "doing fun things with nice people" and "working on the company where you would like to work".
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Orlando and Jeroen work together on the change capacity of people and organizations, but also on that of Lagant. Since its inception in 1991, Lagant has trained approximately 45.000 students online and offline. With an average rating of 8 for quality and interactivity, this shows that you are dealing with an organization that knows what it stands for and where it wants to go.
Interactive Online self study
“What makes Lagant different from other educators in the online training market is, among other things, 'the interactivity',” explains Orlando Heijmerink enthusiastic. “Instead of a simple PowerPoint training, we work interactively with the candidates. For example, we work with interactive tooling such as Mirobords, Mentimeter and Kahoot. And that is appreciated! During this corona pandemic, we even see that our average rating has increased from 8.3 to above 9. Something we are extremely proud of, but also have to stay sharp. That is why we are also the best trainer in the Netherlands”.
“To bring about organizational change, it is important that you empower people and organizations. People have the capacity to change, but you often have to help them to get moving. Creating the context and conditions in which the seedling of change can continue to grow. I already saw this at ABN Amro and I have continued this within Lagant. Developing this vision further gives me a lot of energy. Especially if you also see the growth mindset emerging in people.” said Orlando.
“If you touch people's beliefs, you touch their mindset. And if you touch their mindset, there is room for growth, so that movement becomes possible. With which individuals influence teams and teams can change the organization. People who work in a context where they are empowered. The ability to change is already there and to see this come to fruition is fantastic!”
Keep coaching
Coaching does not stop with an online training. You can implement this in various ways. At Lagant they have done this by, for example, also offering an ExamTrainer® with the Online self study. Orlando explains; “Our ExamTrainer® consists of many very relevant questions, with which the students can prepare well for the exam. This exam support is highly appreciated. In this way, the lessons themselves can go into more detail and attention is paid to the practical cases of the participants themselves. We also offer online guidance at the Self-study to coach participants even better”.
Change guides
“Increase your own self-reliance and autonomy. That's what we do at Lagant. We encourage our students to take ownership and thus increase the impact on their environment, so that they contribute to the continuity and existence of an organization,” Orlando explains. “That's why we call ourselves Change Guides. As seasoned specialists we guide (read: professional idiots) and inspire our students and customers. We think and work from our belief in individuals and organizations that enjoy working together and want to grow together. Because pleasure gives space in the brain and that makes growth possible. And connection provides social support so that teams work better (together). The resources that Lagant uses for this include state-of-the-art skills training, consultancy, coaching, certification training, (online) self-study and exam training. Central to this are the terms: interactive and, relaxed and the common thread is fun!
“We are therefore most happy when participants of training courses say that they will immediately apply what they have learned in practice the next day. And when there is laughter again. Because a day without laughter is a day wasted. Those are the real compliments that make us happy”
Consultancy assignments
In addition to coaching and providing (online) training, Lagant also carries out various Consultancy assignments. As an example: “We recently completed a great consultancy assignment at Business Forensics. The client let us know that we really helped them change their organization. The language and working methods that we taught them enabled them to improve mutual cooperation themselves. We can't really get a bigger compliment. We have addressed the changeability of Business Forensics. By providing them with insights and skills that they can use themselves, we have increased the self-reliance of the people and the teams and thus the organization. Resilience has increased.” says Orlando proudly.
Change guides with a mission
When you speak to Heijmerink in this way, you know where Lagant's ambitions lie. They are Change Guides who really help their students and customers. Change guides, which ensure a mindset change in their participants and provide insight and practical tools to be able to implement changes. “We 'professionals' can make a positive contribution to someone's behavior and communication through Lagant. It also makes Lagant an attractive employer for our Change Guides. Because here they can do what they are good at, enjoy their profession and inspire each other. Our coaches are proud of what they deliver here. Quality, with 'state of the art' resources and tools. And that makes me proud too. Because our tools and our Change Guides make us that reliable supplier with a high rating,” says Heijmerink.
From complaint to positive experience
Of course, complaints are also sometimes received. We are very open about that. All trainers receive each other's evaluation forms and those of all students. It is fine and makes sure that you as an organization remain sharp. Orlando explains how Lagant handles complaints. “It is precisely how you handle complaints that is important. We keep this personal. We always call our student or customer if they score us lower than a 7 (on a satisfaction scale of 1 to 10) and we listen. We then look for a tailor-made solution and in this way satisfy the customer or student. It is precisely this personal contact and experience that we find very important, and so do our students. We do everything we can to give every student a positive experience. And if they are really dissatisfied, we give money back, or they can follow another training. But luckily that rarely happens. We also call when customers give them a 9 or a 10. It is of course wonderful to receive compliments. Then we will certainly listen. And we share each other's compliments.” laughs Heijmerink.
Increasing demand for Online self study
Certainly in the current time, but even before that, you see a huge demand for online training. These online training courses or “Online self study” as Lagant calls them are extremely popular because the participants are their own boss about the times that they follow it and can follow their own pace. At Lagant you can see that the quality, the ExamTrainer® with exam guarantee, certainly offer extra pluses. “So you can start an Online Tutorial from Lagant worry-free, because you know for sure that you will succeed. In those self study there is interaction, you will find surprising ways to ask questions and to discuss topics. Movies and all kinds of “games” activate the student and make him think.” says Orlando.
It is those videos and the interactivity that positively distinguish Lagant from other providers. You get a very extensive self-study and you decide how deep you want to dive into the teaching material, with the help of a supporting platform, which is based on the psychological insights of Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909). At the end of each module you test your own knowledge. Under the "bonnet" it is arranged in such a way that you have to give the correct answer a number of times and only then can you move on to the next one. So that is based on a smart learning algorithm.”
From need for certificates to need for competencies
The great need behind Online self study is that you can obtain certificates, which are considered important by governments and corporates. Think of certificates for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, or Project Managers, Project leaders, PMO'ers, Agile coaches and Team coaches. The way of learning Lagant offers is flexible, smooth and easy. Lagant also offers guidance. Precisely to work on deepening your competences. You can purchase coaching from one of the Change Guides for this. A beautiful hybrid variant that bridges the gap between a classical classroom and an online training. This contributes to the need of professionals to develop competencies and skills.
Who are Lagant's students?
Our target group consists of people with the ambition to change something in themselves, in their organization or in their team. Those who want to lead their team, achieve results and reach a higher level are people in all kinds of different roles. Think of business analysts, consultants, project leaders, product managers/product owners, scrum masters, IT engineers or marketers,
When we talk about vision development, we naturally also want to know where Lagant is ultimately going. Orlando Heijmerink is clear about this. “Certainly in this day and age, the online world appeals to people very much. I am convinced this will not go away. In that regard, it has accelerated digitization even more. However, I am convinced that the classical training sessions will pick up again soon. Because that offers networking opportunities and contacts. People see it as an outing and can also meet others from their field. So we will not go back to just classroom training, but we will offer more hybrid training forms to our students. Online Self-study remains a very important part as a learning solution.”
