The Beyond – Experience!

At five to two I walk into the Impact Hub, an inspiring location behind the Tropenmuseum and a five-minute bike ride from our office. Everyone is already there, even though we don’t start until two o’clock. “Right on time, Fleur!” calls Bart. “Yes, yes, bunch of show-offs” I joke back. It’s a nice group.

Coaching for Success is our fifth session together. About five months ago we started Beyond! to train our leadership styles. Even though we all work for the same company, I didn’t know my training mates yet. I quickly realised it was instructive to hear how others deal with leadership challenges and also a nice way to increase my network. In addition to our monthly training sessions, we see each other every other week. During a lunch or a drink we discuss what we encounter and how the preparation for the next session is going. Very instructive to hear each other’s perspective.

After I shake hands with Jelle, the trainer, I find my chair. Nice to step out of the daily flow. Especially because the training takes place so close to our own office and only lasts three hours. This way it fits easily into the agendas, I still get a lot done today, but we do have the opportunity to really dive into it.

Jelle introduces us to two actors he has brought along. Just like a few months ago, when we practiced having difficult conversations, today we’re going to start role-playing. I was a bit skeptical about it before, but now I’m completely over it. Playing a scene with actors is fantastic, much more powerful than if you were practicing with colleagues, for example.

Today is all about Coaching for Success. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been preparing carefully through the Lepaya app. Thankfully not with lengthy theoretical treatises, that style of learning is not my favourite! Instead it was very short, snappy assignments that specifically make you think. Movies, short articles, reflection questions, etc. I usually do them on the train on my way home. One of the videos showed how I should and should not coach my team members: not immediately give my advice, but ask questions to get to the core of the problem. A few days later I received an article about the GROW coaching model, the theory behind that approach. Thanks to the video I was able to understand it right away.

Today’s session fits seamlessly into the series of previous training courses on leadership, leading meetings and team productivity, among other things. Each and every one of the extremely useful topics were ones I could not have predicted in advance and compliment this stage of my career. For several months I have been in charge of a team of three people. Empowering them to the fullest is quite different from doing your own work well. Thanks to Beyond! I feel much better prepared for that. I now also have a much better understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses and look forward to seeing how I have developed in a month’s time – when the program is over. I have a feeling that the lessons from the program will help me for years to come. Next month we will close with Strategic Thinking & Goal Setting. I can’t wait to get started with that via the app in the coming weeks.

* Based on conversations with and feedback from our previous students. Interested in Beyond, or other programs? Check out www.lepaya.com/trainingprograms, or send us a message at info@lepaya.com.

Start today- give your employees the Beyond! experience