From ambiguity to action — An interview with Govert Mellink

Some people bring structure to organisations. Others bring calm. Govert Mellink does both, often at the same time, and usually when things are at their most complex.

With a career spanning Europe, Asia and Australia, Govert has built a reputation as a transformation leader who steps into ambiguity and somehow makes it make sense. From government and defence to large-scale organisational change, he works where people, strategy and reality collide, and where outcomes actually matter.
Equally comfortable in Dutch directness and Australian pragmatism, Govert brings a perspective that fits perfectly within the DutchSA community: connecting ideas, cultures and people to move things forward.

Interview by Vasco Bontje, DutchSA

You’ve led complex transformation programs across government, defence and the public sector. What parallels do you see between organisational transformation and building strong cross-cultural business relationships between the Netherlands and South Australia?

At the end of the day, it’s all about how you want to show up at work. The cliche of ‘change being the only constant’ remains true. That means that you have to show up willing to see alternative ways of doing things. This is true in businesses that have to transform just as much as building and managing strong cross cultural relationships. If you are stuck in your ways and not willing to change, both are going to be tough. 

Having worked internationally and across different systems, what differences and similarities stand out to you between Dutch and Australian business culture — and how can those differences become strengths rather than barriers?

Culture is the sum of the rewarded behaviours. What works well in one place - you can win if you behave in a certain way, may not be rewarded somewhere else. Figuring out what works requires curiosity, time and willingness to compromise. I think the Dutch and Australians both have these characteristics, and I have found that those that are successful overseas from our cultural background have it in spades. 

DutchSA exists to connect people, ideas and opportunities. In your experience, what makes a professional network genuinely valuable rather than just another LinkedIn connection?

It comes back to the above. Truly connecting to people is a sensory and sometimes tactile experience. Although we have become much better at connecting through technology, nothing beats looking someone in the eye, shaking their hand, discussing the little things that make life and being curious. Doing that on LinkedIn is impossible.

You’ve described yourself as being comfortable with ambiguity (inexactness) until clarity emerges. In cross-border collaboration, ambiguity is often unavoidable. How do you help teams navigate uncertainty without losing momentum?

Dealing with ambiguity is something you can learn. I learned it by working with great leaders that empowered me to come up with my own answers. Many of them failed but I was given the opportunity to learn from them, provided with guidance on how I could look at things differently and apply those learnings. Over time you build a great toolbox with lots of experience that you can rely on. I always say to my teams that they have the answer, but might not know where to look YET. Yet being the key word. If you back your team, allow yourself and them to learn and be comfortable ‘with a good enough for now’, ambiguity becomes a friend that allows you to find the art of the possible.

Stakeholder engagement has been central to your career. When working between two countries — each with its own expectations and pace — what is the most important ingredient for alignment?

If you can agree on the outcomes - and please spend time to make sure you actually understand what outcomes you are agreeing on - it shouldn’t matter how you get there. This is how I have found the middle ground many times, in business, cross culturally and otherwise.

Dutch organisations are often known for directness; Australians for relationship-driven collaboration. How can we combine “Dutch clarity” with “Australian pragmatism” to create better outcomes?

This comes back to the reward for what works. If you explain to a Dutchman that he will be rewarded for spending time on the relationship, and to an Australian that the Dutch build trust by testing how open and clear you are, matches can be made pretty fast.

You’ve also worked extensively in environments where complexity and competing priorities are the norm. What advice would you give Dutch and South Australian organisations looking to partner across sectors such as government, defence, culture or innovation?

Oftentimes we are looking for perfect answers; the solutions that fix all the problems and removes all the pressures. These are only found quickly on rare occasions. There is however one advantage: How things are done is different in our countries. That is where the learnings are. Not that one is better than the other, but what can we learn from the why we chose those solutions. That is the conversation that has an opportunity to add one and one to an outcome of three or more. 

Beyond business, DutchSA also builds social and cultural bridges. From your perspective, how important is the social layer — the informal conversations over coffee or a glass of wine — in strengthening serious economic relationships?

Super important. If you understand what makes people tick, what is important to them when they are not at work, you get to understand their values. Respecting and aligning on values is what makes for long term trusted relationships in my experience. Socialising makes that easier. 

Looking ahead, where do you see the greatest opportunity for deeper collaboration between the Dutch and South Australians in the next five years?

We have a number of significant challenges ahead of us: Defence, Infrastructure, Critical Minerals and resulting expected population growth, in South Australia driven by the ambitions of our National and State Governments. Many of these require innovation and new ways of thinking and working. Learning from both our skills as I described above would be good. 

Finally, if you could design the “ideal” DutchSA event that truly sparks collaboration and opportunity, what would it look like — and should we expect structured strategy sessions, open debate, or gezellig chaos?

The risk of a good idea is that you get asked to help set it up. So here are my two cents - The Dutch love a good debate, maybe even a bit too much. Australians like to connect, and experience things from overseas but they don’t like being told that things are better elsewhere, which the Dutch are particularly good at. So here is my thought:

Beer en Bitterballen and SA Wines at an AFL game preceded by a conversation of where we would like to learn from each other across the fields mentioned above. An ‘ask and tell’ more than a ‘show and tell’. A Chatham House rules event where we openly discuss our opportunities and challenges where we are insecure. Openness to set the scene for building long term relationships. This would require some prep and investment to build a coalition of the willing.