Introducing Petra Hoeksema
Petra is a design thinking leader, teacher and education designer with over 25 years of professional experience. In this interview, she shares her story about moving to the education industry after a long career working at a large technology corporation. She also talks about her ambition to transform the education system: to innovate and inspire students & colleagues to think like designers and become more human-centered.
What is your perspective on change?
“Learning new things and starting new adventures, that’s change I really like. But I wouldn’t call that change. To me that’s progress, exploration or learning. Change, such as moving to another country, that’s something different and something I would find difficult. Also, I have a negative connotation with the word ‘change’, as I associate it with organizational changes, restructuring, etc. So, I don’t necessarily link change to learning, being curious and exploring new things –.”
How often do you experience change?
“It depends. Sometimes I will experience big changes in my environment a couple of times a year – and sometimes none at all. But I’m truly aware of change when those are for example imposed on me or my direct environment. For instance, if we suddenly have new teaching schedules.”
When are you change averse?
“I’m truly change averse when there is a request to change and I don’t understand it or agree with it. And when that happens, I truly feel it in my body. I was once on a holiday with a friend in Thailand and we had everything planned out: where we would sleep, what we would do, and so forth. But when we were there, she suddenly got inspired by something she read in a travel book and suggested a completely different plan. I immediately felt stressed out and I kept saying to myself ‘no, no, no!’. I was already far from home and when things changed even more, I panicked. Luckily, we didn’t do it in the end. So, you could say that I negatively experience change or feel change averse when I’m being asked to do something I don’t want to do. Maybe that’s why the word ‘change’ has a negative connotation for me. When you are not being forced to change against your will, I see it as curiosity and wanting to experience and explore new things.”
"When you are not being forced to change against your will, I see it as curiosity and wanting to experience and explore new things."
How are you driving purposeful change?
“As a teacher currently working with young adults, I drive purposeful change every day. I’m happy when my students start feeling comfortable and start asking questions. It’s great to see them experience the freedom to try something new and make their own decisions driven by curiosity. I have the same with colleagues, as I want them to feel comfortable because of the environment I create for them.”
Could you tell us more about your career switch to education?
“Although it may seem like a career switch to some, education has been a part of my life since I was a child. In preschool I used to help younger children practice their reading. And in high school I was invited to join other classes to help teachers with their work. Also, later on while working at IBM, education was part of my responsibilities. To give some examples, I would go to events and get students enthusiastic about IT; I would assist schools in becoming more digital; I gave workshops on IBM Design Thinking, and more.
As I was facilitating an IBM Design Thinking workshop for a school, I chatted to one of the participants who later on contacted me about a job offer. She wanted me to become a Design Thinking teacher at a college. It sounded interesting, and after trying it out for a couple of days I was hooked. And that’s when it all started. At IBM I had reached a certain level of expertise, and I was eager to learn and grow again. This teaching position opened a whole new world of continuous learning and exploration. It gave me so much energy. So, this switch wasn’t something I was actively looking for, it was a logical next step in my personal journey for growth.”
How are you currently trying to transform the education system?
“When I made the switch to education about 3 years ago, they started a new type of school where they intended to try new things. As I learned about pedagogy, I started to see things that were contradictory. What we were doing and what we wanted to achieve didn’t match. They say they had the students’ best interest in mind, yet they were taking actions that were in the best interest of the organization. I wondered why people with the best intentions would take actions that didn’t benefit the students. After working at that school, I accepted a new position at the Hogeschool of Amsterdam, and also decided to start a new master’s program in Education. As a part of that program, I need to write a thesis and I want to see how you can introduce a more sustainable way of changing the education system over time. For a lot of new education innovations (such as making students responsible for their own learning path), you need a strong foundation. That foundation can be hard to accomplish and it is often ignored for different reasons. As part of the research, I want to understand why things are currently the way they are and how it could be changed. That’s my bigger mission: introduce a design thinking mindset into the education system so that changes to this system can be more sustainable.”
What inspires you to continue?
“Firstly, what truly inspires me is what I get back from the students. The feedback you get from students is very direct. If something is unclear for instance, the group will immediately start stressing out. But when you are doing things right, they are comfortable and the energy in the group changes for the better. So, when I start seeing more positive reactions, I get energized. Secondly, I’m also inspired when I’m able to get my fellow colleagues motivated and change their mindset for the better. I love encouraging them to become more curious, and focus on opportunities instead of challenges.”
"What truly inspires me is what I get back from the students."
Is there a particular resource that inspired you which you would like to share with others?
“There are two books I would like to recommend. The first is called ‘The Happiness Advantage’ by Shawn Achor. What I read in the book really resonated with my perspective on life. He says that when people are trying to achieve success, they usually experience the opposite. And when you turn this perspective around and focus on what truly makes you happy, success will follow. This gave words to what I had experienced. The second book is ‘The Gifts of Imperfection’ by Brené Brown; and this book really gave me more confidence. You could say that both books gave me the energy and determination to keep doing what I was doing. Despite sometimes feeling insecure, they helped me understand and believe that I was walking the right path.”
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If you could give 3 tips about embracing change and driving it purposefully towards a positive outcome, what would those tips be?
“My tips can be summarized into one sentence, which is also my life motto: ‘Stay curious and never feel shy to ask why’. Try to understand others and the world around you, keep asking questions, and don’t simply accept the status quo. That’s what I try to teach my students and what I teach in Design Thinking. It’s all about curiosity and asking more questions.”
Do you consider yourself to be a change misfit[1]?
“Rather than being a change misfit, I would say that I’m a misfit, in general. Because as I think of this question, and look back at past experiences, I realize that I’m simply different. For instance, as a child I enjoyed mathematics while most girls didn’t. Being different was hard growing up, but as you get older you think: it’s great to be a misfit! It takes some years to build up the confidence and believe it’s a good thing, but it truly is.”
Want to know more about Petra and what drives her? Have a look at these resources.
Petra’s LinkedIn profile
Link to podcast
Little Miss Curious video
Petra’s profile (to be downloaded below - in Dutch)
[1] A misfit is a term used to describe a situation where there is a mismatch. Human beings are hard wired to be change averse, yet some of us embrace change. We call this type of person a ‘change misfit’.
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