Miriam Beekmans – Manager Sales Support at Koudijs

It's the challenges of the ever-changing export market that Miriam enjoys the most. "Nothing stays the same for long," she says. "The market changes very fast and the lead times of shipping vessels aren't always reliable. For example, we had the Red Sea crisis at the end of last year. We had to respond quickly and look for alternative routes to serve our customers."

When Miriam started at Koudijs she was in a supportive role but was soon encouraged to spread her wings. "After a few weeks, I was helping the Sales Support Team due to a shortage of staff. My manager asked me if I would be interested in becoming Sales Support Manager when the current manager retired. I wasn't sure that was really my ambition, but I did an assessment and in the end, my manager and I decided I should give it a try."

"My team and I are responsible for order entry and making sure goods are delivered to customers on time and with the right documents," Miriam continues. "We work closely with the export managers." Collaborating with colleagues and customers is a key aspect of working at Koudijs. "We cooperate closely with our factories. Investing in time to talk to one another, understanding each other's jobs and challenges, and providing better and clearer information to the factory leads to very positive results."

Working closely with colleagues also means being open and honest. "We don’t hesitate to give each other feedback. Both positive and negative feedback are important. They help your team to develop their talents. If you listen and only make decisions after you've thought carefully about matters, you give people the feeling they are heard and that you really need each individual to grow the team."

To help people grow in their roles and develop their careers, De Heus offers a wide range of training opportunities. Miriam herself recently took a one-week Management Excellence course in Germany. "Nobody on the course knew each other but we were all managers at De Heus," she says. "It was great to get to know them all and we realised that it doesn't matter which country you're in, we all face the same kind of challenges. Cultural differences mean that you sometimes handle these challenges in different ways."

The course was also boosted Miriam's confidence as a manager. "I got such great feedback about the positive energy I gave to the others. People felt that energy and really appreciated it. It made me realise that being myself, giving honest feedback and inspiring people leads to better performance for your team as well as for yourself as a manager."

By now, Miriam has fully embraced her role as a manager and is looking forward to her future at Koudijs. "Managing is more and more important for me," she says. "Not working in the organisation but on the organisation. Helping my team to grow by sharing my knowledge and experience." So what advice would Miriam offer to aspiring professionals looking to pursue a career at Koudijs or a similar field. "If you like a job that's different every day with a lot of challenges and opportunities for personal development and you like to work with different cultures, building up relationships internally and externally, a job at De Heus is really interesting."