Grow to Lead - Leadership & Teamwork
18 & 19 september (09h – 17h), 6 & 20 October (13h - 17h), 10 November (13h - 17h)
General context
A starting leader will learn the simple rule, to write down how you want to be lead, and then apply the same strategy for your employee’s. A great leader will learn that there are many different leadership styles and each style has its most opportune moment to use. The opportune moments depend on the situation and the employee. Do you know what style works best for your colleagues? Do you know what your personal preferred style is, and how it is being perceived by your colleagues / students / employees?
This training starts with a leadership survey, self‐identifying your personal style and receiving feedback from your colleagues on your style. Next we will cover the different leadership styles and when to apply them. For the 3 most important styles, we will go step by step when and how to used them. Putting theory in practice. Last we will cover how to recognize which personality types you have in your organisation and how you can best adapt your leadership style to empower your colleagues the most. Great leaders play chess, not checkers. Greatness of a leader is not measured by your personal success, but by the success of the people around you, by having interacted with you.
- Understanding the difference between leadership, managing, and coaching.
- Understanding the different leadership styles, and when to apply them.
- Understand and practice the tools for visionary leadership:
- Motivate and inspire others
- Value based teams.
- Leveraging different types of goal setting (performance, process, learning).
- Give clear result oriented feedback.
- Understand and practice the tools for individualised leadership:
- How to ask the right questions.
- Build trust and relationships via listening.
- Leverage coaching as a leader.
- Understand and practice the tools for participative leadership:
- How to delegate tasks and responsibility
- Create collaborative partnerships
- Understanding the power of moments.
- Understanding personality and the impact of leadership styles.
This training is designed to provide you with both the skills and the tools to become a better leader, manager, and collaborator. It helps if you already have leadership experience, but it is not required. However this training is more than a just a set of scientifically proven models, it is a leadership trajectory, where we will start with a 2 day deep dive, followed with 3 half day reconnects, each set about 2 weeks apart, to enable you to start implementing the training in practice. There will be substantial pre‐work and homework. So if you hope to follow this training to tick a box, it might not be for you. If you however want to start growing as a leader of others and are not afraid of working hard and learning a lot, this training will give you science, practice, and experience.
Prework
Before the training the participant will be asked to share their learning objectives for the training, complete an online assessment and ask managers, colleagues, peers, reportees or students to complete a leadership assessment about them.
- Learning objectives, which will be confirmed during the start of the training, will be checked at each relevant chapter of the training, to ensure they have been answered.
- A Leadership Styles self‐assessment (current and future objective), and a personality assessment.
- A Leadership Styles feedback assessment (current and future objective), and a personality assessment from their manager, colleagues, peers, reportees or students.
- A leadership case study; a challenge that they have faced or are facing that will be handled during the training.
Post training
8 sessions of sub‐team discussions
The sub‐group will start during the training and have 3 1h meetings with their focus group in between the 2 week intervals, to discuss how to apply the learning of the training in their daily work routine. After the training there are 5 additional discussion guides for a 1hour meeting available, to enable going deeper into the different tools from the training. So the training trajectory will be 8 weeks of training interaction, followed by a (non‐obligatory and free of charge) 10 weeks self‐led continuation of the training. The discussion groups will further be supported via an online discussion forum and a group facilitator to moderate the online forum and keep the drum beat. All activities are on a voluntary basis, with online material to facilitate the discussions. The trainer will be available for questions on the forum, or via email. While the last 5 agendas are not compulsory, from previous trainings it has been shown that when a group had 3 productive sessions together during the training, they are very motivated to continue (and in rare occasion still meet years later).
Course material
- PDF with pre‐work material (email 2 weeks ahead of the course).
- Training booklet (handed out at the course).
- Training Action Plan.
- Team Matrix; who is who in your team.
- Rapport on the 360 leadership and personality evaluation.
- Hand‐outs for case studies and examples provided via the pre‐work.
- Via the forum the PDF agenda’s for the focus groups during and after the training will be shared.
- Discussion forms and video material (online available after the course).
- 1 Page training summary.
VIB postdocs, staff scientists and young group leaders.
- This training is only open for VIB participants and is free.
- Note that upon no show without valid justification a fee of € 100 will be charged and you will be blacklisted for the VIB training program for 1 year. Click here for more information.
Trainers
Robin Lefebvre
Robin Lefebvre, PhD, offers the academic community over 10 years of evidence-based leadership development expertise, with a proven track record of empowering researchers and professors across leading Belgian universities (VIB, UGent, UA, VUB, and others). He translates his extensive experience as an R&D Leader and corporate trainer at Procter & Gamble into highly hands-on training approaches that effectively bridge theory and practice. Drawing on his background, which includes leading significant innovation programs for global brands and contributing to organizational restructuring, he delivers leadership training focused on inspirational leadership, adaptive leadership, and cultivating collaborative innovation. Robin is dedicated to equipping academic leaders with essential skills to maximize their impact and foster an environment of continuous growth.
Practical info
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
Technologiepark 75
9052 Zwijnaarde
Belgium
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
From Ghent Sint-Pieters station, you can take a bus to Technologiepark. Please check Routeplanner De Lijn for schedules.
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
Looking for a custom cycling route? Try the online cycling route planner to easily and quickly identify the fastest, safest and/or most scenic route to any destination in Ghent.
Cycling route planner
Shared bicycles:
Several providers are active in the area.
Take a look at their platforms:
- Indigo Weel Pro app
- Bluebike
- DOTT
- BOLT eBikes
- Donkey Republic
There are also some public bicycle pumps at the park.
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
There is only one entrance to Technologiepark. At the entrance, please take a ticket - Parking is only allowed in regular parking spots (for instance in front of the building) and in the parking tower. Parking alongside the roads or in other places where there is no regular parking is prohibited.
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
Room L4