by Alexandrien Van Der Burgt-Franken
On January 26, 2011 the Good Work Hub started its program in The Hague, Netherlands, a spot for people “who want to turn their profession into work, realizing that as such it has meaning. Whether you are a teacher, policeman, nurse, doctor or social worker, you contribute a building block to our society, development and civilization.”
These opening words were spoken by Alexandrien van der Burgt, founder and president of the Stichting Beroepseer (Professional Honor Foundation) and starter of the Good Work Hub. She explained how she got this idea in the summer of 2010, after attending a meeting with public servants of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and another with “shop-floor workers”. The public servants said that they could not agree on financial legislations and incident politics. At the second meeting members of parliament were so caught up in their political programs that they were incapable of listening to the people who do the actual work. After these meetings, Alexandrien van der Burgt resolved, “We must bring these different worlds together. People must meet again and start changes.”
The next speaker was Jacqueline Rutjens, who works in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations. Ending her speech with an invitation, she said: “The Good Work Hub is there for professionals with drive, managers and policy makers, scientists and others who are interested in good workmanship, good regulations, stimulating leadership and effective definitions of rules and laws. You are here to improve professional quality but also because you believe in the chances for new social networks. You are searching for contacts you might not make otherwise. We have high expectations of you.”
Jacqueline Rutjes also said in her speech that Thijs Jansen will make a start finding out what good work in the public sector means. Giving a scientific definition of the exact content of good work will be part of his program.
Thijs Jansen is founder and member of the board of the Stichting Beroepseer and research/professor at the Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration Management.
The name Good Work Hub is based on the Good Work Project, started in 1995 by the American psychologists Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihaly and William Damon with research in the field of leadership, creativity and morality. The project was created to address their concern for the possible results of professionals coming under enormous pressure from growing social attention for incidents, individualization and increasing market forces.
The book “Beroepstrots – een ongekende kracht”, edited by Thijs Jansen, Gabriel van den Brink and Jos Kole and published in 2009, was translated in 2010 as “Professional Pride – a Powerful Force”. It contains a chapter dedicated to the Good Work Project. The core of good work is professionalism, ethical responsibility and personal engagement. This project forms the basis for the Good Work Toolkit, by Lynn Barendsen and Wendy Fischman. They developed a toolkit showing the way for professionals to discuss all kinds of dilemmas they might encounter in their work. The book “Good Work Toolkit” has been translated into Dutch under the title of “Goedwerk Gereedschapskist”. The Good Work Hub plans to make use of the gereedschapskist.
During the opening of the Good Work Hub Thijs Jansen connected via Skype with Lynn Barendsen in her place of work at Harvard University in the U.S.A. She talked about her research of, and interviews with some 1200 people in different professions, from very young devoted students and young professionals to people in their sixties. One of the insights she gained during her research was the realization that just thinking about ones profession may lead to many advantages.
Finally Alexandrien van der Burgt mentioned that the Good Work Hub now has a number of allies where the message of GoodWork will continue to be spread. Amongst them organisations in the field of education, public service, the police, home care, social work and a college of hotel, tourism and management. The ideas of ethics, engagement, and excellence in work are global characteristics, and apply to individuals in all sectors of work.