Winner of Government Organisation of the Year 2024: One year later

Anyone who works with the municipality immediately recognises Heemskerk as an organisation of ambitious doers. The young team – one-third is under 35 – brims with energy to improve the lives of Heemskerk residents. And thanks to short reporting lines to the board and a good working relationship, ambition doesn’t get bogged down in endless bureaucracy.

This not only makes Heemskerk a wonderful place to live; it also earned the municipality the Government Organisation of the Year 2024 award. After Tilburg in 2019, it is only the second municipality to win this prize. Why is it so hard for municipalities to win? According to Linda Vos, municipal secretary and general director of Heemskerk, the victory comes down to a healthy dose of courage: “We have a lot of guts to think big even as a relatively small municipality.”

Where small can be big

“The organisations of our larger fellow municipalities are a bit like oil tankers,” says Erwin Baltus, physical domain manager at Heemskerk. “Course changes happen more slowly there. At Heemskerk, we’re more like a speedboat. That allows us to move quickly and try out innovative ideas.”

The relatively smaller scale creates the conditions for innovation, but that alone isn’t enough for real success. To bridge the gap from idea to reality, Heemskerk deliberately created roles that sit between policy and execution – a move that fit perfectly with a culture that wanted to allow experimentation. This led to projects like the water-retaining road, a type of water storage guided by policy implementer Jacco de Wit. “We’re lucky to have ambitious and creative people like Jacco,” says Baltus. “He saw that players in the market couldn’t deliver what we needed. So he developed his own system for this road.”

The water-retaining road was a big success and is now widely adopted by other municipalities. But it’s just as important to handle failed experiments positively. “If you want to experiment, you have to allow things to fail – as long as you learn the right lessons,” Baltus says.

Continuing even when it gets tough

Not being afraid of setbacks is another hallmark of Heemskerk – a mindset that has prevailed for years. Baltus recalls the COVID period, when many municipalities halted transformation projects: “We agreed to keep developing and adapt to the new reality.”

That resulted in accelerated digitization and a direct shift to hybrid working. The town hall transformed along with it. The old office layout was removed early in the pandemic, and an entire floor was leased to social organisations. “The town hall is now all about ‘meeting up,’” says Vos. “It’s where colleagues connect with each other. And it’s where residents can not only handle municipal matters but also access youth health care services, the cultural centre, and the library.”

Not just looking at today

Heemskerk prides itself on short-term problem-solving. “What we’re really good at,” says Baltus, “is fixing today’s problems to make tomorrow better. What we were less good at was thinking further ahead – like, how do we make the day after tomorrow better?”

This challenge was a central focus during a visit to PA Consulting’s Global Innovation & Technology Centre (GITC) in Cambridge. Together with experts from various sectors, processes and issues were (in Baltus’ words) “put through the car wash” to identify approaches and methods to help Heemskerk think more strategically. “It’s fascinating to see how far you can get in a day – with what would normally take six weeks,” Baltus says.

Heemskerk now breaks its fixed frames of reference by bringing in more external knowledge. “Our planning and control processes are tough and rhythmic,” Vos explains. “Normally, you’d try to improve these with a small working group. At most, you’d ask other municipalities – but you’d still stay within the same framework. Inspired by our session with PA, we now ask outsiders to think along with us. That different perspective revealed plenty of low-hanging fruit for improvement.”

Space for pride and talent

The Cambridge visit confirmed how essential the right talent is for innovation – and giving that talent room to grow. “We keep providing broad support for our people,” says Baltus, “by giving them more options to use their talents. The short reporting lines, the faster pace, the bridge we build between policy and execution through our policy implementers – these are examples of how employees can channel their ambition for the benefit of all Heemskerk residents.”

What they still need to get used to is that pride in their work deserves space too. “When we were nominated alongside 88 other organisations, I initially doubted whether we should go along,” says Vos. “What are the chances that a small municipality would win? We tend to be too modest. Now I think: ‘1 in 88? That’s a chance!’”

Heemskerk makes it clear that innovation isn’t a project but a mindset – a mix of action, strategic thinking, and space for people. “Whatever you do, go all in. No guts, no glory,” Baltus concludes.

Read the article in Dutch in Platform O.