How Schiphol builds a learning culture with small daily interventions

Everyone on Board

Changing a company culture can feel like a massive task that requires years of work and huge strategic shifts. But according to Hester van Breda-Verduijn, Head of People Development at Schiphol, real change often starts much smaller. In an environment where every minute counts, her team is focused on microinterventions: small, simple adjustments to the daily workflow.

The problem: no time to stop

The biggest challenge at Schiphol was not a lack of will, but the intense pressure of the daily operation. In a high-stakes environment like an international airport, safety and efficiency always come first. This culture focused historically on formal compliance training, which often meant that other types of development were seen as ‘extra’, or ‘nice to have’. Learning was something optional for when things were quiet, but at Schiphol that moment rarely came.
To make a good learning culture thrive in this environment, Hester realized, learning had to be brought directly to the workplace.

The solution: micropractices and GROW talks

The solution was to make learning so small and practical that it became impossible to ignore. “We addressed this by developing simple, directly applicable interventions that require minimal time but have high impact,” Hester explains.

One of Schiphol’s most effective tools is closing every meeting with a quick rating and a keyword. This moment of reflection takes less than two minutes and immediately makes clear what went well and what did not. It shows to everyone that learning can be practical, fast and beneficial to daily performance.

Beyond these daily habits, Schiphol introduced structured GROW (Goal, Reality, Obstacles, Way Forward) conversations four times a year. These conversations are open dialogues between managers and employees about development, energy levels, and personal goals. They ensure that even in a busy operational environment, there’s a fixed rhythm for growth.

The result: from optional to essential

This approach has started to shift the perception of development at the airport. By focusing on communication, collaboration and decision-making, soft skills have become just as important as technical expertise.

“We wanted to move from learning as something optional to learning as something essential,” says Hester. The result is an organization where leaders are active and visible in their own learning process, signaling to everyone that development is a strategic priority for business continuity.

Lessons from Schiphol

The case of Schiphol shows that you do not need to overhaul your entire organization to see progress. Hester’s advice is to start where you are:

• Integrate, don’t add: Do not schedule new meetings for learning, use the last few minutes of the ones you already have.

• Focus on the ‘why’: Help people see how these small habits actually make their daily work easier and safer.

• Make it safe: Encourage a mindset where mistakes are considered useful data rather than something to hide.

By turning learning into a steady part of the daily operation, Schiphol is building a workforce that is resilient and ready for the future of aviation.

Ready to see how small changes can lead to a big impact?

Download our full whitepaper, Cultivating a learning culture and discover how organizations like Schiphol and IKEA are leading the way.

About Relevance

Relevance is the in company training partner of Schouten Company and has been a specialist in leadership and talent development for over forty years. With an international network of more than nine hundred facilitators and over one hundred thousand participants each year, Relevance helps organizations make leadership tangible, applicable, and future-ready. Always personal, always adaptive, and always evidence-based.