Mariëlle has a broad experience working for companies in different domains, such as hospitality, the pharmaceutical industry and lease companies. In 2019, one of the recruiters of Avanade approached her to join the company. She now works in the field of change management and is a talent community lead.

In ‘Who is your manager’ we share Inspiring leadership stories of Avanadi with a management role. Leadership is not all about decision making and strategy, it is about risk taking, going against the grain, and caring for others - acting for the greater good. Here we weigh up some of the successes of our manager by exploring the true nature of the individuals concerned.

International outlook

The international character of the company and focus on diversity within Avanade are in line with Mariëlle’s own values and experience: “I was born in Belgium and grew up in Germany. Now I am married to a Korean adoptee husband and together we have two daughters. In my work, I have always done a lot of international projects. My background is in hospitality, and I worked in hotels before I made the move to respectively lease companies and pharmaceutical companies. Where I had roles in sales, marketing and procurement. I first met IT projects at my last employer. I had the opportunity to give training as I was trained to be a professional trainer and was involved in all communication to different parties. When I worked as a change manager for Microsoft Dynamics projects, I was approached by a recruiter of Avanade.”

Building a strong team

Once conversations with Avanade had started the whole recruitment process was completed within a week: “What attracted me to the company was the client portfolio, the global aspect of Avanade, the joint venture with Microsoft and working on international projects.

Now my team is 17 people strong, with an equal ratio of male and female professionals. We are a team that is built on trust and transparency. We try to spend time together at work and even outside office hours to stay connected with each other. Next to being a manager I am a career advisor. First my role mainly focused on organizational change management projects, but since February 2022 I am also a talent community lead. I do not see myself as a typical manager, because I highly value personal connections next to the business side. I always try to find the sweet spot of my team members, so that they can be at their best and focus on areas that make them thrive. I am at my best when I introduce and match professionals with each other for the best possible result. One example of staying connected to each other in this hybrid day and age is our team calendar with social activities and knowledge events to share experiences and best practices.”

What does a Change Manager do?

In order to change organizations, one often looks at the business processes and how to optimize and automate them: “At Avanade, we implement Microsoft technology, such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics. These applications can truly make a difference for our clients and their employees. To ensure the technology lives up to its investment, really adds value and is adopted within a company, change managers support the change journey every person is facing. Amongst others, we assess the situation to understand the change that is happening and what the impact the new technology has on the business. A tailor-made approach is created for all target audiences. It is important to understand that each targeted group has different needs of support to change. I help managers fulfill their role as a change maker by training them on how to best enable the adoption process and tell each audience in the company what the new technology means for them, why it is implemented and how it works. When people are enthusiastic about the solution and can’t wait to start using the new tech, I know I did my job right. At Avanade, we celebrate successes as a team. When I need help or support, there is always a colleague ready to help, guide or coach you along the way. If you want to be successful as a change manager, it is important to be intrinsically motivated about what it is that makes people want to change and maybe even more important - what isn’t. You truly need to observe people's behavior, read what is not being said and anticipate what makes a project successful for the client.”

Look at these pages to find out more about the culture at Avanade.