Follow a leadership path | The People Group

Sustainable investment: leadership trajectory at The People Group

At The People Group we put our people first. Good people make the difference and take an organization to a higher level. This means investing together in each other's development through knowledge sharing and broadening. To encourage this, we offer our senior project managers a leadership program. In this article we speak with participant Johan Datema and coach Bert Overbeek to gain insight into their experiences and the impact of the program on the career development of employees.

consultancy
leadership trajectory
development

April 05, 2023
5 minutes reading time

From marketing to project management

Johan Datema has been employed by The People Group as a senior commercial project manager. He recently started the leadership trajectory. We asked him about his findings.

“During one of the traditional quarterly sessions, Bert Overbeek was present as a speaker. Marcel Menting, Business Line Manager Consultancy, told me that Bert also provided leadership programs. I indicated that I was interested because I would like to further develop myself in the field of leadership. Before I get to The People Group When I started working, I held a position as a marketer and was involved in completely different matters. Marcel has remembered our conversation. Some time later I was called and invited to the leadership program. That says something about the way it is done The People Group deals with its people; they listen carefully to what you say and most importantly, they take action to help you grow.”

It starts with learning objectives

Johan talks about the insights he has gained so far: “It is essential to determine your own learning goals, especially when it comes to your leadership style. The process of discovering your personal learning goals and working toward them is crucial to your development as a leader. If you don't know what the specific points of interest are, it will be difficult to improve them. That is why I found defining my own learning goals very important. During the training I learned how to create a safe environment. Being consciously aware of my own actions has helped me to recognize the different leadership styles and apply them in my daily work.”

Collaboration and results are central

We also spoke to Bert Overbeek, the coach of the leadership program. Bert is an experienced Management Development supervisor and specialist in collaboration and team development.

Bert explains the purpose of the program: “To strengthen the leadership skills of the participants. The emphasis is on achieving effective collaboration and good results within a team. In my view, a manager can add value if he or she is able to make progress at both levels. When the manager is absent and things are not going well, his added value becomes clear.”

He adds that participants develop various skills and competencies. “Attention is paid to dealing with resistance, which can be prevented on the part of employees as well as other managers within the organization. Participants are encouraged to be aware of the safety needs of employees and then learn to deal with them. They also learn about different leadership styles and how they can motivate people. In addition, attention is paid to political and strategic thinking. This can be a challenge for operationally minded people, because they are used to not dwelling on things for too long and prefer to take action.”