PICS Belgium invited Ann Wauters for a lecture on Thursday evening, 22 February. The former basketball player was able to inspire those present with her experiences from top-level sport and applied them to business.
On Thursday 22 February, members of PICS Belgium, a training and networking organisation for supply chain professionals, gathered at De Montil in Affligem. Guest speaker was former top athlete and current basketball coach Ann Wauters. The Sint-Niklaas-based athlete can boast an impressive record, ranging from several titles as national champion to the quarter-finals at the Olympics with the Belgian Cats.
“This time we wanted to bring something completely different from just supply chain,” explained PICS Belgium chairman Albert Pegg. “With our national pride Ann Wauters, we can nicelydraw the parallelbetween success in top sport and success in business. The intention is that we can learn from each other.”
Teamwork
At the time of her playing career, Ann Wauters travelled around the world and got to know different cultures. During her inspiring speech, she stressed the importance of teamwork. “We always try to win together so that at the end of the season we can hold up the trophy together. You work on something together and you have the same goal in mind.“
“But just because you wear the same shirt doesn’t mean you trust each other,” Wauters continued. “To create a bond of trust, it takes more. It helps to do things together, but giving feedback and feedforward also strengthens mutual trust. If you are as specific as possible in your feedback, you create a safe environment in which trust can grow. If there is then enough trust, people dare to give their opinion, in a respectful and constructive way.Feedback is the breakfast of every champion.”
Courage and guts
“We often talk about success, but we should also dare to talk about loss,” Wauters continued her discourse. “We have to teach our children to be resilient. This is all about self-knowledge: looking at yourself and learning. Self-knowledge leads to self-control, self-confidence and ultimately self-leadership. With the right mindset, a lot offlexibility and an open mindset, you can make good decisions.”
It also takes courage and guts to leave your comfort zone. “That is where the growth lies and where you learn the most,” told Wauters, who also stressed the importance of having people around you who support you through everything. “My social support system for me was my family. My children cost me a lot of sleep, but they gave me a lot of energy.”
PICS
“What has stuck with me the most is her story about the flexibility you have to have as a person so that you can adapt anywhere in the world,” said chairman Albert Pegg, who himself played basketball for many years, after the presentation. “She has shown that flexibility in her own role too, from top-centre to the leader of the team, and then afterwards a secondary role serving the team. That’s fantastic!”
PICS Belgium was founded in 1972 as a Belgian non-profit organisation. “The original name was ‘Production and Inventory Control Society’. From the beginning, we have also been a representative or ‘channel partner’ of the American APICS whose curriculum we started teaching. Actually, it involves three certificates: CPIM (Certified Planning & Inventory Management), CSCP (Certified Supply Chain Professional) and CLTD (Certified in Logistics, Transport and Distribution).”
“Today, that is still the case and we still teach those curriculums, awarding our own certificates as well,” Pegg said. “Our members are a mix of academics and companies. Through our activities, we emphasise how to put together a good supply chain. With various international events ranging from the Ever Given to the Houthi attacks, its importance is clear to all.”
“This year we are focusing in particular on two topics that can reinforce each other and these are digitalisation and sustainability. This manifests itself especially in training courses focused on these,” Albert Pegg adds.
