Philippe Van der Linden facilitates peer groups in Human Resources and Risk & Audit. With a career built across payroll management, HR outsourcing, service delivery, and innovation in HR services, he brings firsthand knowledge of the challenges his members face. His meetings are known for being informal, direct, and honest \u2014 with a good dose of humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My background is in HR \u2014 I have a bachelor’s degree in the field and have worked in roles ranging from Payroll Manager to HR Outsourcing Manager and Innovation Partner in HR services. Along the way, I did a lot of facilitation and coached my own team members, which taught me how to lead people and how to listen. When members bring their challenges to the table, I’ve often seen similar situations before. That lets me ask the right questions and push the conversation in a useful direction rather than just nodding along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk into one of my peer group meetings and you’ll find something informal but structured \u2014 those two things are not contradictory. I expect members to be direct with each other, as long as it stays respectful. Humor is genuinely important to me; it relaxes people and opens them up. I always start with a check-in question tied to the topic of the day \u2014 something that makes people reflect before they speak. And when we get into issue processing, I deliberately slow the group down: clarifying questions first, solutions second. Rushing to fix things before truly understanding them is a trap I’ve seen too many times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I chose to be a Chair because I’m simply a people person \u2014 I like working with others, I like facilitating, and I like creating a moment where people can step away from the daily grind and actually think. The best illustration of why this matters? A member once came to the group with a challenge, expecting us to hand her a step-by-step plan. Instead, the group helped her see that she didn’t need a plan \u2014 she needed to hire someone with the right expertise. At the next meeting, she told us she had already posted the vacancy. That shift, from looking for answers to finding the right question, is exactly what a good peer group can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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