Desi van Dijk:
Haai! Since November 2023, I, Desi van Dijk (25), started the traineeship at GroupMapping. With a background in organisational & communication sciences, I knew one thing for sure after my master's: I find it fascinating how large groups of people work together. But where I wanted to explore that further? I wasn't quite sure about that yet... Until I came into contact with GroupMapping! Here I saw the opportunity to learn and experience within different organisations how cooperation really works.
I have now been working at GroupMapping for more than 1.5 years and will complete my traineeship in just under six months. Together with another trainee, I am the first batch within Young GroupMapping. Three more Young GroupMappers started last September 2024 and in the meantime we have also found four new top trainees for the third batch in September 2025.
Because I have learned a lot recently and am having a great time, I would like to share my experiences with you through this blog post! I will take you through my role within the traineeship, the different projects I have been working on and everything that seems interesting to me in relation to the traineeship.
During the traineeship, you will spend most of the week working at one of our clients. You will do this with a GroupMapping project team or sometimes on your own, but with guidance from an experienced colleague. The role you have within GroupMapping's traineeship is slightly different from what you often see at other consulting firms. Therefore, in this blog post I will explain to you what you do as a Project Process Facilitator (PPF) within the traineeship at GroupMapping.
At GroupMapping, we believe that in the world of projects and change, it is important not only to manage projects themselves, but also to excel in their execution. This is where the power of a Project Management Office (PMO) and the power of a GroupMapping Process Facilitator (PF) come in. We combine this power in our Young GroupMapping programme! This role gives programmes and projects an extra boost on both successful project management and successful collaboration.
The Project Management Office (PMO) role is a well-known term in the consulting world. A PMO ensures consistency, quality and efficiency of projects. It is someone who ensures that everything runs smoothly and projects are completed successfully. Generally, a PMO deals with project schedules, risk management, resource optimisation, project administration, stakeholder coordination and is often the right hand of a project or programme manager.
In addition, facilitating processes is essential to ensure that teams work together smoothly and achieve their goals. From the Process Facilitation (PF) role within GroupMapping, we take care of this.
And this together we call within GroupMapping a Project Process Facilitator (PPF). As a Young GroupMapper, this is a role that fits well within the field in which GroupMapping operates. In this role, you will support programmes, project managers and teams. As a PPF, you have responsibility for designing the project's process and for helping the organisations within which the project is implemented to achieve the set goals. You will also integrate GroupMapping's specific way of thinking and working into the project approach. Of course, the emphasis here is always on bringing people together in small and large groups, spread over time. As a PPF, you design and support regular project meetings for e.g. joint discovery, research or decision-making.
Being a Project Process Facilitator (PPF) is incredibly fun and educational, as it is a multi-faceted role in which you make an impact on teams and projects and learn all the intricacies of the business. In addition, you bring insights and applications from the GroupMapping philosophy and methodology, aimed at increasing collaboration. A great way to make the GroupMapping way of working your own!
