Bots van Ravenhorst - team development

"I see the partnership with InContext as a type of insurance that helps us to optimize our chances"

Jan van Ravenhorst, Lawyer

"Maybe you yourself are the jerk in the group." It was that remark, made while enjoying a good glass of wine, that brought the Utrecht lawyer Jan van Ravenhorst to the decision to do an assessment. After the fact, he is very pleased about the whole thing.

It all started with the search for a new partner for the Bots van Ravenhorst Law Firm; someone who could take over the firm in the future. With a painful partition of the estate in the not so distant past, nothing could go wrong this time. "If you make a mistake and take on the wrong person, before you know it you are a few years further along", says Van Ravenhorst. The selection was therefore outsourced to a selection agency. "That resulted in a good candidate. Nice guy", says Van Ravenhorst, "but I wanted to be overly cautious, not take any risks. That’s why we decided to have an assessment done, a psychological evaluation."

A report with an excellent analysis of strong and weak points and the associated characteristics

They tendered four proposals. Van Ravenhorst had a preference for InContext: "InContext had the most attractive website and their proposal very clearly outlined what they wanted to do." The new partner was submitted to the Facet5 personality evaluation. That produced a report with an excellent analysis of strong and weak points and the associated characteristics. He was taken into the partnership.

The results are especially easy to measure

Van Ravenhorst told a friend about his intentions regarding InContext during dinner. She was the one who cuffed him with that confronting remark. "I thought her remark hit the nail on the head and said that I would also participate in an evaluation. The next day I still wanted to go ahead with it", he says looking back. "All three of us had to go through the assessment to see if we really were suited to one another." Under the leadership of Jeroen van Berkom from InContext, the two existing partners of the law firm went through the Facet5 questionnaire. At the end, there were three reports lying on the table. "It is my nature to be somewhat cynical about this type of thing", says Van Ravenhorst, "but what came out of it was actually quite positive. The results are especially easy to measure."

I see the partnership with InContext as a type of insurance that helps us to optimize our chances

"If any kind of irritation comes up, it is easier to tell if it’s you or the other person. We are familiar with each other’s reports and that helps us to see how we can best deal with the situation. If you know that someone is not so good at something, or that he just doesn’t have any ambition in that direction, you can take that into account and ask if you can help or if someone else needs to lend a hand." That conscious level of communication was however not achieved because the reports offered such deep insights immediately. Jeroen van Berkom from InContext, who had supervised the assessments, came to Utrecht a few times to supervise the process. "Jeroen comes by on a regular basis," says Van Ravenhorst. "That is positive, because he keeps stimulating us to work on our skills of working together. As stubborn lawyers, that’s what we need."
" I see the partnership with InContext as a type of insurance that helps us to optimize our chances."