Everyone deserves personal development

Interview on personal development By René Janssen and Peter Kuperus, founders of Lepaya

How often have business training courses really helped you and your personal development? This question also sounds like a question we think: not that often. And that’s also true. During our years at TravelBird (Peter) and Lazada (René) we have seen how difficult companies find it to develop their people optimally.

Fortunately, we have also personally experienced how it should be done. We both started our careers at BCG. There we received extensive training, mainly focused on soft skills such as time management, communication, presentation skills and personal impact.

René: “The basis I laid at BCG was crucial for the rest of my career. I always found it easy to talk, but that is not the same as communicating professionally and effectively. For that you need the flexibility of different communication styles and a conscious use of body language and intonation, for example. I still benefit enormously from the intensive training I received in this during my first years. ”

Only after we took the next step in our careers did we realize how spoiled we were at BCG. Indeed, at TravelBird and Lazada, not only did we have facilities to develop ourselves in a focused way, we were also unable to offer our teams the personal growth they deserved. This was because there was no good training offer for our people, but also because we ourselves were not given the tools to further develop our leadership qualities.

René: “I had a super-smart analyst on my team who didn’t function well. Colleagues were only using him to make simple analyses. I discussed with him how he could be more involved with the underlying issues and thus be able to think along substantively and strategically. Once he got the hang of it, he enjoyed his work a lot more and did it better. ”

This may sound like a success story, but it is anything but. With the right training, this analyst could have solved his own situation much earlier. Because he did not have the right tools, he was dependent on an individual manager to help him.

This anecdote is – unfortunately – not an isolated one. In fact, we saw and heard this far too often. We not only felt that this should be different, but also believed that it could be different. With today’s huge development budgets and fantastic digital opportunities, professionals should be able to get everything they need to develop optimally. From that conviction we started Lepaya, determined to give everyone the development they deserve: applicable, intuitive and impactful.

Peter: “Based on scientific insights, an analytical approach and the latest technology, we designed a learning experience that is fast and challenging. A concentrated solution resulting in concrete behavioral change. ”

Recently, many companies are fully acquainted with the Lepaya method. They are extremely enthusiastic and tell us that their employees are more effective and complete professionals thanks to our approach. We also see this in the feedback from our participants. For example:

‘Lepaya has taught me some basic skills that I will benefit from throughout my career.’
This training has ensured that I now take a really critical look at my schedule and my current task list.
Before the classroom session started, the theory was already clear to me. I could immediately apply it in the role plays with the training actor. ‘
‘Working with an actor was enormously instructive and valuable. It made the session very practical and I could immediately translate it to my work context.’

We are very proud that we can now offer our learning approach to everyone. Through our website you can now sign up for a complete learning journey or just for a number of separate sessions. The offer is now aimed primarily at young professionals, content experts and team leads, but we are constantly adding new content. So now everyone finally has access to an optimal learning experience: efficient, fun and practical and one that helps you straightaway – on and off the job.

More questions?

Of course we are interested in your feedback and input on personal development, email (Peter, René) us directly.