Job Journey : the tool for inspired employees at the OOZ school board
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Published on
12 Feb 2025
Interview with Janny Huisman, Organizational and Team Development Consultante
Nearly 2,000 employees. 38 schools. 12,000 students.
These impressive numbers represent the public education system in Zwolle and the surrounding region (OOZ). As you can imagine, managing such a workforce requires a solid HR strategy. The five HR team members share a single goal: ensuring that employees are happy, passionate, and in their element. After all, enthusiasm is contagious and directly enhances the quality of education.
With this vision in mind, they tackle today’s HR challenges and take care of their employees. How? OOZ has developed the Job Journey tool in collaboration with Popay. Janny Huisman tells us more.
Janny Huisman has been working with the OOZ school board for 13 years, and it’s clear she enjoys every moment of it.Â
OOZ includes secondary, primary, and special education schools, spread across the Zwolle region—from Hardenberg to Elburg and everything in between. When Janny talks about her work, she radiates enthusiasm, making it obvious that she is an HR consultant at heart. This kind of commitment is exactly what you want to see in every employee. Janny shares her mission, vision, and approach.
Janny, you have a mission. Tell us, what do you believe in ?
“I chose the wonderful profession of HR because I believe that work should be enjoyable—for everyone. You spend a significant part of your life working, so it should be a positive experience. It should bring joy. Energy. My mission is to create an optimal balance within the triangle of people, work, and organization. By giving employees opportunities to grow (people) and by designing work effectively (work), you help the organization move forward.
When people do what they love and what they are good at, they go to work happy. And as an organization, what more could you ask for than happy employees ? It creates a positive flow. Enthusiasm is contagious. That’s the essence of my work.”
« It’s a fantastic tool to support our vision of talent development. »
That sounds interesting. Trends don’t always make your job easier. How do you respond to developments such as sustainable employability, an aging population, and the war for talent ?
“These ongoing developments certainly play a major role in the HR field and within OOZ as well. We are working hard on this. The right person, in the right place, at the right time—this is crucial. That’s why talent development is one of our key focus areas.
We want to empower people and help them grow. When they enjoy going to work, they stay motivated for longer. This is how we attract talent, retain it, and build towards sustainable employability.”
2,000 employees: how do you encourage talent development ?
“To support this, we developed a fantastic tool in collaboration with Popay: Job Journey, which we call TSA. We had two key objectives: an online tool for our interview cycle and a platform where employees can express their skills, talents, and ambitions.
This provided plenty of discussion points for our meetings with Popay as we explored the possibilities. The result? The Job Journey tool! It allows us to add depth to talent development. Employees can take control of their own careers and enrich their daily work. Even better—colleagues can also connect with each other through it. I am very happy with this approach; I truly believe it’s a great tool.”
Now we’re curious ! Tell us more—why do you believe in this tool so strongly ?
“Because this tool allows employees to shape their own journey while also connecting people. In this application, you can highlight your strengths, talents, and ambitions—and in a particularly engaging way. Fill out your passport, pack your bags, and embark on your journey! Along the way, the tool suggests activities and training sessions.
This step-by-step approach helps employees develop their talents and move closer to their ultimate goals. The tool can be used individually, but it also fosters connections with colleagues. As a team, you can identify your collective strengths. Knowing what others bring to the table allows you to leverage those skills effectively.
It also enables cross-team or even cross-school collaboration: if you share skills with a colleague from another school, you can work together on your development. At OOZ, we are thrilled that Job Journey has now reached a stage where we can start rolling it out across all schools.”
Implementing this in the first schools—exciting or just fun ?
“I think it’s really fun. We’re starting with the people who are already enthusiastic, so most of the feedback I hear is positive. What feels a little exciting is finding even more colleagues who will be inspired by this project. But it will happen—the energy is there.
As success stories begin to emerge, word will spread like wildfire—I’m convinced of it. In a few years, I believe this will be a widely accepted and valued tool within the organization.”
“As an organization, what more could you ask for than happy employees?
It directly improves the quality of work.”
“As an organization, what more could you want than happy employees ? It’s the key to improving the quality of work.”
When the time comes, how will you assess whether this contributes to the HR vision ?
“We’ll see the impact as more and more employees start using the tool. We continuously evaluate progress—mainly by asking employees for their feedback. With these insights, we will work with Popay to determine if any adjustments are needed.
The more users we have, the more feedback we get, and the better the system becomes. Over time, it will evolve into a tool designed by the employees themselves.”
What benefits will the organization gain from the success of this initiative ?
“It’s a fantastic tool to support our vision of talent development. Once employees take ownership of it and it becomes fully integrated, both the organization and individuals benefit. Everyone wins.
Employees will start feeling the advantages as they build their own skills portfolio, which gives them energy and a sense of ownership. This will make everyone happier—I’m sure of it. That’s how an organization enters a positive flow.
And here’s where the real benefit for the organization lies: it enhances the quality of education. Every single day.”
Curious to learn more about Job Journey and how this solution can help you ?
