My story
To really understand something, you have to live it. My knowledge of digital transformation is valuable because it really did change my life.
Murielle Machiels
The journey
Until recently, I was CEO of an educational publishing company in the midst of a digital transformation against a backdrop of intense financial pressure from shareholders.
It was a difficult time, and I felt stuck in my role as CEO. I couldn’t change the
organization fast enough because of resistance, skill gaps, too many tasks and stress.
But at the same time, it was clear that the company culture needed to change. We had to adapt, become more agile, and innovate to keep up with new technologies.
Everything I had learned up to that point as a business leader was no longer serving me and I felt I had three options:
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I could continue to work hard and risk burn-out.
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I could move companies, but I had heard from friends that the situation was the same in many other places.
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I could find a new way of working in order to better deal with my situation.
Embracing change
It wasn’t easy. Change never is. But after a lot of thought, I chose Option 3. It was a decision that transformed my life and lead to great results for the company (financially, digitally and emotionally).
I knew my colleagues and I were operating too much in our own heads and that was part of why we felt stuck and stressed out. It was clear to me that we needed a more holistic approach, but I couldn’t find any training on how to run a business holistically.
After much research, I enrolled in Newfield Network U.S. and followed their ontological coaching training - the mental, emotional and somatic (the body) approach was exactly what I was looking for.
Murielle has the gift to approach digital transformation from a holistic point of view, both looking at content and processes and how they interconnect. She has the ability to guide people personally through these challenging changes, and she does it in such an inspiring way that it makes people excited and willing to change. Murielle’s genuine warmth and support allowed me to see things from a different perspective, without giving me the answers but by simply asking the right questions.
Bart Dooms, CEO Plantyn
A new approach
It was then that I decided to combine the ontological coaching techniques I had learned with “classic” business techniques.
It was a fascinating journey and I started to add concepts from other trainings and books such as “Running Lean”, “The Lean Start-Up”, “Business Model Generation”, “Theory U: Leading From the Emerging Future”. I experienced, taught and tested these concepts within the organization together with my colleagues.
It was a real adventure, with ups and downs, successes and failures, tears and laughter, chaos and breakthroughs. My team and I went through a personal transformation because we had to let go of some deeply ingrained learning and beliefs.
We had to embody new practices and habits that served us better in this digital era. It was sometimes very hard, and yet it worked. Not only did we grow as human beings, but the company grew as well. We managed to reinvent ourselves.
Learning every day
Today, I want to share my experience and knowledge through my book, blog articles, conferences, workshops and mentoring.
I am translating all my learning and theories into a methodology for managing digital transformation.
And I have also conducted a study among other CEOs and their employees about the changes they notice so that this methodology can serve them better.
If you feel stressed, that you have too many things to do, that there is too much resistance to change, that you want to accelerate the digital transformation, that problems are becoming more and more complex or you want to become more agile as a company, I can support you or at least inspire you.
Active participation is vital to me, and I thrive on feedback and continuous learning. So please sign up to my blog, give feedback on my book or contact me directly.
I speak French, Dutch and English, and I’m looking forward to talking to you!
Get in touch
Do you want to know more, meet me or do you have a question? Please leave me a message, I will be delighted to get in touch with you.
