Marc van der Meer

(Professional) Education | Craftsmanship | The Art of Organising

How do we organise work so that people can practise their profession well, without rules, procedures and systems getting in their way? How do professionals and skilled workers deal with the gap between policy and practice, and what is needed to bridge that gap? Marc van der Meer shows how organisations can create space for craftsmanship, trust and collaboration, so that people do not get stuck in the system, but move forward together.

Employability:: Keynote speaker
Languages:: Dutch, English
Categories:: Arts Culture & Lifestyle

Education & Learning

Health and Care

Innovation and Technology

Leadership

Sustainable Employability

Book Marc van der Meer

Our consultants would be happy to advise you on how best to tailor the narrative to your specific target audience.

+31 10 433 33 22 [email protected] Request a quote

30 years matching events with the right speakers
The most experienced team of consultants
50,000+ satisfied clients worldwide

About Marc van der Meer

Marc van der Meer connects issues concerning education, the labour market, and professional craftsmanship with a broader vision on organizing, collaboration, and change. As a researcher, advisor, and speaker, he examines how policy and management decisions manifest in daily practice, and what is required to truly advance professionals and organizations.

His work revolves around a fundamental question: how do we structure education, work, and organizations so that people can utilise their talents and collectively tackle societal challenges? Moreover, it becomes evident that his lectures not only analyse what goes wrong, but also help to look differently at organizing, leadership, and collaboration.

Van der Meer has extensive experience in research and innovation in vocational education, teacher policy, labour relations, and personnel and organizational development. He links scientific analysis with strategic issues and the experiences of people in the workplace. He looks not only at the ambitions and formal structures of organizations but also at the everyday practice where collaboration needs to take shape.

A striking example of this approach is “Bureaucrazy”: the phenomenon where otherwise sensible management decisions accumulate into an organization where people increasingly spend time organizing their work rather than doing the work itself. They wait, coordinate, account, adjust, and seek approval again. The commitment remains high, but progress stalls. The organization becomes clogged with its own procedures and coordination.

The core of Bureaucrazy is that this blockage does not necessarily stem from unwillingness or incompetence. Often, it is the committed and conscientious professionals who keep the system running by doing extra work, making missing connections, and compensating for poor coordination. Their commitment masks the shortcomings of the organizational design.

Van der Meer makes such mechanisms visible and explores how organizations can improve their structure and coordination. Not by simply rejecting bureaucracy, but by distinguishing what is necessary for quality, accountability, and collaboration from what inadvertently leads to delays, overload, and loss of productivity.

In his keynotes and lectures, he simplifies complex issues into recognizable patterns aimed at collective routine formation. He connects research to the experiences of professionals, administrators, and policymakers, and invites his audience to critically examine how we organize work. His approach is analytical and constructive: attentive to the systemic effects behind daily problems as well as to the possibilities for doing things differently.

Whether it concerns the future of vocational education, the teacher shortage, sustainable employability, professional leadership, or bureaucratic blockage, the same challenge is always central. How do we organize the conditions under which people can deliver good work and achieve results together?

Topics

1. Bureaucrazy – when organising gets in the way of work

Why does an accumulation of reasonable management decisions sometimes lead to an unworkable whole? On bureaucratic congestion, invisible coordination work, and how organisations can stifle their own productivity. A lecture that helps to understand recognisable patterns and find points of improvement. An appealing theme not only for educational institutions, but also governments, healthcare organisations, public institutions, and larger companies can recognise themselves in the problem.
2. From teacher shortage to collective strength

The teacher shortage is not just a matter of recruitment and retention. The organisation of work, professional autonomy, collaboration, and the distribution of responsibilities also determine whether education professionals can sustainably practise their profession. About education regions, collective professional development, and the shared responsibility of education boards.
3. The future of craftsmanship through adaptive vocational education

The shortage of skilled professionals in the Netherlands can indeed be solved, provided we look at the conditions for talent development: what people do, how they reflect, and how they share their knowledge. This leads to adaptable behaviour. But what does a changing job market demand from vocational education, and what do employers, policymakers, and educational organisations need to provide for good education? A lecture on the connection between learning and working, the development of craftsmanship, and the organisation of innovation.
4. Professional leadership, authority and trust

How do we create organisations where professionals can take responsibility and actually apply their knowledge? About governance, professional space, trust, and the tension between central control and local agency. In this lecture, a new vision of participation and dissent will be discussed in an era of technological and social innovation.
5. From Policy to Practice – on Internships, Vulnerable Youth, and Good Work.

Policy and management are often focused on improvement, but the outcome can be different from what was intended. How do differences arise between policy ambitions and daily experiences? And how can research, practical knowledge, and methodical innovation contribute to better choices and workable solutions? Marc works in Amsterdam on programmes for vulnerable young people. How do they get from the streets back into work?

Videos

Skip embedded content from YouTube

This content is available after accepting marketing cookies.

View on YouTube

Embedded content from YouTube skipped.

Learning to ask questions about the teacher shortage