'How do you convey the story well, regardless of all opinions and emotions?'

For over 25 years, we have been connecting organizations with the best marketing, communication, and content professionals. We find suitable assignments or positions for junior, medior, and senior professionals. In Spot On, we would like to introduce them to you. This time, Spot On: Lennart Wegewijs, Spokesperson (ai) at the COA.

The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) is in the news almost every week. Everyone has an opinion about the COA and opinions on asylum reception differ greatly. How do you keep a cool head as a spokesperson and know how to get the right information, at the right time, to the right place? Lennart Wegewijs took on this challenge as interim spokesperson at the COA. After various permanent positions in both the business community and the public sector, this is his first interim assignment as a self-employed person.

'For a spokesperson, the business community and the public sector are really two different sports,' says Lennart. 'My experience is that organizations in the public sector are even more under a magnifying glass. The attention is also more continuous in nature. Everyone has an opinion about what you do and everyone is allowed to have an opinion about it. After all, it is by and for all of us.'

'In the business world, the stakes are different and I have noticed that the marketing department, for example, plays a more important role than spokesperson,' Lennart continues. 'That is a completely different game. It is about support, social discontent and local and national political interests. And I noticed that people quickly longed for that environment again. And the COA is an organization with a communication challenge in that area. I do not expect in any way that I have the answer to the communication challenge of the COA, but I do hope to be able to contribute with my experience.'

Seth Grayson 2.0

Before we delve further into his role at the COA, let's first go back in time. Because becoming a spokesperson: how do you do that? 'Good question,' says Lennart. 'There is no fixed route to getting started in this field. I studied political science in Leiden myself. Graduating was different then than it is now: there was a lot less work.'

'The idea of ​​being a spokesperson appealed to me for a while,' Lennart continues. 'For those who watched the series House of Cards: Seth Grayson was my favorite character in the series. As a spokesperson for the President of the United States, he played an important role in the image of the president. And of course that is a romanticized image, but the work seemed very interesting to me. That is why I studied journalism after my master's degree. With that combination, I started at the Ministry of Justice and Security. At the time, the office was divided into three 'spots': social media, communication advice and spokesperson. I started in the social media department, but immediately found the spokesperson group very interesting. After a while, a position became available there and I got my first job as a spokesperson for the State Secretary with the portfolio asylum and migration.'

Happy with the short blow

Lennart how the transition from permanent employment to interim had been in the air for a while: 'I regularly got the question with my CV: “you were there for only six months, then 1,5 years and somewhere else you left again after 2,5 years, how does that work? For me it felt very natural – regularly changing environment, quickly mastering a new subject and achieving results in the short term. That just suits me. I also don't think you should give me multi-year communication projects. That doesn't make me happy. I'm more into short-term projects. That's of course the great thing about temporary assignments: you get to look inside many places. The COA was an old acquaintance from my work at Justice and Security. That makes this first interim assignment very familiar in that sense.'

From communications advisor to spokesperson

'I started at the COA as an interim Communications Advisor in one of the regions. Given my background, the transition to the role of national spokesperson was logical. After more than two weeks, one of these two positions became available by chance. So that was a great opportunity for me.'

A beautiful, but certainly also challenging assignment. 'There are so many images about the COA,' Lennart explains. 'There are many stakeholders: municipalities, media, politics. You have to deal with all of them. Everyone has an opinion about us and everyone has an opinion about asylum reception. And one thing is certain: you can never do it right for everyone and everything. That is an important challenge; how can you tell the story in such a way that it does get across. Apart from all the emotions and opinions. Involving journalists in this and creating understanding for the situation the organization is in is part of the game.'

Challenges and satisfaction

For Lennart, a lot of challenge also means a lot of satisfaction when things go well: 'In my first two weeks, I was still working in the region as a communications advisor. There was a situation that a municipality was not entirely happy with. While you are still very much searching for your new position, you are on the phone with a municipal administrator. On the one hand, you try to explain everything as well as possible and on the other hand, you collect the necessary relevant signals. As an interim, you are expected to deliver quickly. If you then notice that you are taking the right steps based on experience and are able to maintain a good relationship with - in this case a municipality - then that is satisfying. That means that I have done my job well and I am certainly proud of that!'

Babbage as an expert by experience

'As a starting freelancer, you naturally have to make yourself known and let them know that you would like to work. I started looking and very quickly I came into contact with Babbage Company. We discussed what you can do for me and vice versa and what experience I have. And then you have yourself assessed, as it were. I found that one of the most exciting things about starting my own business: how much demand is there for what I can offer? And what is your rate? I had no idea! And does a certain assignment suit me? Then it is very nice to discuss it with experienced experts.'

Useful ignorance

'You can fill the role of spokesperson in many different ways,' says Lennart. 'Some spokespersons are almost policy advisors and know everything down to the smallest detail, while others are naturally more involved in the political game behind certain developments. I personally think that as a self-employed person it is good to maintain a certain distance. You try to determine the broad outlines and turn them into a good story. It is up to subject matter experts to provide the details and up to you as a spokesperson to ask sharp questions about them. If you yourself take on the role of a policy officer, it quickly becomes too much. Especially if you are doing multiple assignments.'

Lennart has another tip for his colleagues: 'as a spokesperson you are hired to bring information out in the right way. But you are also a kind of mirror for the organization you work for. As an interim colleague you bring a fresh perspective from outside, not least. And I think you should use that. In that way you have a kind of useful ignorance that can be very valuable for an organization. A large part of the world outside the organization often has that ignorance as well.'

And the future?

'I hope to work for a large municipality, university or executive agency in the future. Or to return to a ministry. It's a bit of a cliché, but of course I hope for many different and great assignments!'

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