Leadership starts with you
Is personal leadership important? Yes, says our university. HR adviser Marieke van den Berg knows from experience just how important it is. She explains why – and what it can mean for your team, and for you personally. And no, it’s not just relevant for managers.
‘I still remember it clearly. I was part of a team that had been struggling for years. No one really knew who was responsible for what, the manager didn’t take the initiative to talk about it, and everyone complained all the time. We just couldn’t fix it together.
In situations like that (personal) leadership really matters. Not just for working well as a team, but also for developing in your job and as a person. It helps you find direction in your work and contributes to a safe and positive environment. And that doesn’t just apply to people in leadership positions – it’s just as important when it comes to leading yourself.
That’s why leadership is one of the key themes in our strategic plan. It’s closely linked to the university’s four core values: connected, innovative, responsible and free. Because strong leadership is essential if we want to keep growing as an open, learning organisation – and if we want to build a strong academic community.
In my work as an HR adviser, I often see what makes teams successful. It’s usually teams where colleagues communicate openly, where people are encouraged to use their strengths, where everyone understands both the team goals and their own role in achieving them, and where team members are genuinely motivated to contribute. A good team also has a leader who keeps the bigger picture in mind, but who also sees the individuals. In the best teams, everyone feels responsible for the end result.
How about?
What question should you ask HR, and when should you go to the PSSC? What exactly is the situation with leave and career development? In this section, an HR colleague answers a different question each time.
Of course, it doesn’t always happen automatically. You sometimes have to put in real effort. Besides being good at your job, it also takes skills like giving and receiving feedback, being open to each other’s perspectives (even when you don’t fully agree), and sometimes asking yourself what you could have done differently to get a better result.
To make our leadership vision more concrete, the university has developed a leadership model, based on 4 core competencies. These competencies are explained in 54 competency cards. Each card includes a clear description and examples of what the competency looks like in practice, along with possible challenges or pitfalls. The cards aren’t just for managers – they’re just as useful for developing personal leadership.
We get a lot of questions about how to use the cards. Some managers and staff use them to prepare for GROW conversations. I recently worked with a team that wanted more insight into their strengths and where there were gaps in team skills. The cards were a great tool for that – and we ended up having a really fun and productive afternoon. Curious about the cards? Feel free to contact our department or your HR adviser. We’ve got plenty in stock and can advise you on how to use them. We also offer team workshops to help you get started.
And that team I mentioned earlier? In the end, we did sit down together and talked about what connected us, what we found important, and what we needed from each other to do our work well. Only after that did we start dividing responsibilities. That approach made a huge difference. I’m now lucky to be in a team where we know what we can expect from each other – and where there’s room for honest feedback and improvement. You can feel it straight away: it’s a great place to work.’