You want to gain insight into your strengths and pitfalls, learn to recognize and break through patterns, build effective professional relationships and stand up for yourself. In short: strengthening your personal leadership. We spoke to trainer Ankie van Lint about the essence, impact and concrete practical application of the highly valued Personal leadership training, aimed at technical professionals.
How did you end up at PAOTM as a trainer?
“I am involved in PAOTM’s leadership program through Ale Riedstra (also a trainer at PAOTM). We have already worked together a lot through The LMS Group and originally knew each other from our studies in business administration and later at Unilever. During my studies in business economics in Rotterdam I started to delve more and more into sociological economics. That's how I rolled into the HR profession, with a focus on training and education. At IHC Caland I gained a lot of experience with training for mechanical engineers. As an HR manager at Unilever I mainly worked for factories. I have a heart for the technical world and still enjoy working with technical professionals. I have now been an independent entrepreneur for 21 years in team coaching, personal coaching and leadership development. I work for a wide range of clients, from municipalities and educational institutions to industrial and production companies.”
You provide the Personal leadership training within the leadership program, what is the purpose of this training?
“Personal leadership is a somewhat hollow term. But in essence it is about getting to know yourself, learning to manage yourself, but also being able to do your task in context with others. You and your task, you and yourself, you and the other. You start from those three angles. Getting to know yourself better, with the aim of guiding yourself in the daily hectic and many impulses and of course in relation to your task. In this training you will learn how to do that in connection with others, what the impact is of your behavior and what the consequences of your choices are.”
The program is aimed at technical professionals, does this group need its own approach?
“I don't think it really matters that much. After all, we are all people with our own laws and patterns. As long as you take appropriate examples, context and language into account. In essence, the approach and themes do not differ that much, but we do adjust the order of the program; With the target group of technical professionals, we usually start from the task, after which we go into depth. That would be different with comparable training in healthcare, for example.”
The composition of the group is small, but diverse. Why was this chosen?
“For the training, it is less desirable to have direct colleagues in the same group. As a participant you must be able to talk freely, without being hindered by possible interests between participants. A diverse composition of a group of technical professionals provides different perspectives from everyone's industry. That is enriching and enlarges your world.”
What do participants take away from this training after the training?
“After this training you will know yourself better. You have insight into the impact of your own beliefs. You know how to deal with triggers, such as work pressure or dominant behavior from others. You understand how your motivations influence your behavior. That may all sound a bit abstract, but the question is actually: what do I need to do my job well and how do I have to interact with others to achieve that? Building relationships inside and outside your organization and then keeping track of this is very important.”
“After this type of training you are never done with the development you have started. I always conclude with the translation of what has been learned into daily practice. Although the training is extensive, thorough and sometimes confrontational, fun with each other is central, in a relaxed environment.”
Do you also want to further strengthen your personal leadership?
Register here for the next edition of this four-day training on October 6, 7 and November 10, 11, 2022.
