Theo van der Westhuizen

I'm a learning architect and organisation development consultant based in Pretoria and Johannesburg. I design facilitator-led (instructor-led, face-to-face) training and leadership programmes that sit inside OD and change initiatives, built so that what people learn still shows up in their work months later.

Most corporate training doesn't stick. People leave a good course and return to a system that pulls them straight back to old behaviour. Most designers work on the individual; most OD consultants work on the system. I design for both: the hidden commitments inside each person, and the team and organisational dynamics around them.

I work with L&D leaders, HR directors and OD practitioners in multiple industries, including banking, engineering, manufacturing and founder-led businesses.

Thirty years inside complex systems

1. 2025 to now · theovanderwesthuizen.com
   Learning architect

   Designs facilitator-led training and leadership programmes that sit inside organisation development and change initiatives, built so that what people learn still shows up in their work months later.

2. 2021 to 2024 · Large retail bank
   Head of ecosystem optimisation

   Led the design and implementation of an agile-based team performance model for the bank's national sales organisation.

3. 2016 to 2021 · Large bank
   Enterprise agile coach

   Designed and deployed culture-change interventions that reached more than 2,000 staff. Four flagship programmes shifted the IT division's culture and spread into broader business units.

4. 2010 to 2012 · Large bank
   Global programme lead, organisational design

   Facilitated the executive-level redesign of a large global organisation, partnering with senior leadership to translate organisation development principles into live structures.

5. 2008 to 2010 · Large bank
   Head, people performance

   Workforce analysis and performance improvement for 14,000 staff in customer channels, including competency profiles, flexible staffing models and forecasting tools.

6. 1997 to 2003 · Engineering company
   Head of leadership development

   Built and led the global centre of excellence for leadership development, serving 20,000 employees. This is where developing leaders, rather than merely training them, took root.

7. 1992 to 1997 · Technical and vocational college
   Director of curriculum development

   Designed one of South Africa's first outcomes-based learning frameworks, in partnership with the National Department of Education and a UK consortium, as project director, lead curriculum designer and lead external verifier.

Where the thinking comes from

• Tavistock Institute of Human Relations
  Certification in organisational consulting, 2019 to 2023
• Systems psychodynamics
  Training in systems psychodynamics consultancy
• Immunity to Change
  Certified facilitator
• Psychosynthesis
  Psychosynthesis coach training
• International Coach Federation
  Coaching certification, executive coaching, 2013
• Narrative therapy
  Certification in narrative therapy, 2005

Degrees

• University of Pretoria
  MBA, Business Administration, 1999 to 2002
• University of Johannesburg
  Master of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, 1996 to 1999

The System Always Wins

Why training doesn't stick. True stories and the SPIRAL model, for L&D leaders, HR directors and OD practitioners. About the book

Languages: English and Afrikaans. Elsewhere: LinkedIn