The power of connection at KNRM
At the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM), the bond between people is crucial. In a high-stress environment, being able to trust each other is literally a matter of life and death. This creates a particularly close bond. Whether it's about saving lives at sea or the collaboration between the rescue stations and the headquarters – the connection makes the difference.
Own working method
At KNRM, over 1,500 volunteers work spread across 45 rescue stations along the coast from north to south and from salt to fresh around the large inland waters. Each rescue station has its own methods and systems for communication and documentation.
Richard van der Hammen, a professional skipper at KNRM IJmuiden, explains it like this: “Each rescue station has its own way of working and communicating on land. Sometimes it's emails, sometimes WhatsApp groups, sometimes local newsletters, or a combination of these. This makes it difficult to work efficiently together and share things.”
Blue shirt
There is a strong sense of solidarity among KNRM members, even if you don't know each other.
Richard: “When you come to another rescue station and you wear that blue shirt, that's a connection you have. It gives a sense of pride and connection with each other. It's a shared passion and calling that binds us.”
This solidarity and passion are clearly present between and at the different rescue stations, but the tools to communicate effectively with each other are lacking. During a national skippers' meeting in the spring of 2023, the desire for an accessible online platform was expressed, to be used both within rescue stations and among them.
Collaborating as one team
How do you ensure that volunteers, spread across 45 rescue stations, communicate as one team? KNRM, fully according to its DNA, took action. On the suggestion of an involved volunteer, Map de Haas, process development employee at KNRM, discovered HSO's CSR project on LinkedIn, and that turned out to be the missing link. “HSO offers solutions that perfectly match our culture and needs. That's how our collaboration began with one clear goal: to create a digital home base that connects all employees and volunteers, regardless of location or role.” How did HSO and KNRM approach this?
Map explains: “The project team started with 8 members: three from HSO and five from KNRM. We began with a number of work sessions in which we looked at how we could shape our approach from various disciplines, such as communication and IT. I was able to contribute by bringing together insights from the different disciplines with the wishes of the volunteers as a working project coordinator.”
Feedback as a compass
At KNRM, the insights of volunteers are essential for the further development of the platform. Map explains: “Our volunteers are indispensable to KNRM. Their experiences and insights are therefore of great importance - they are our compass. For this reason, we also want to determine the course for this platform together with the volunteers.”
Really getting to know each other
The new intranet will strengthen KNRM in collaboration, predicts Josefine Zeinstra, internal communication employee at KNRM. "The intranet will create connection. We have many people doing the same work, but who cannot directly find each other. That is going to change now."
In the new digital home base, everyone comes together in one place. Josefine continues: "The intranet helps us function as one team. Think of organizational news, a central agenda for events, documentation for PR expressions, a knowledge base full of tips, and a place for our images and stories. The digital platform will strengthen involvement, and as a result the connection as well.”
Further development
The platform will always be in motion and therefore never finished. Map sees the strength in this: "What I find beautiful is that there is plenty of room for flexibility and development within the Microsoft365 standard, and we absolutely want to continue pursuing that further development. This applies both to the rollout of the platform and to the setup of its content.
What we greatly appreciated in the collaboration with HSO is that they offer us knowledge and time that we did not have ourselves. This has enriched us as an organization and enabled us to build the desired communication platform together with HSO, making us ready for the future.”
