Every journey follow its own unique path that unfolds thanks to the interplay amongst participants & ourselves. Of course there are basecamps along the way, a limited set of theoretical frameworks that we offer as “glasses” to look through and change our perspective in a future oriented way. However, we never visit these basecamps for a long time. The frameworks are meant to apply as we continue our journey, not to discuss endlessly. They support & challenge participants in finding innovative
ideas on how to tackle the leadership challenges they’re facing.
It is always a challenge to explain beforehand what an “academic leadership journey” will look like. Often participants, certainly when they are academic professors, have prejudices concerning this type of training. One participant to our last journey told me during the intake “I hope you don’t come with any management mumble jumble, these things don’t work in our context”. No need to say he started the journey in a rather sceptical way, systematically challenging the frameworks that were offered. It was fascinating to see how, also with this participant, prejudice was gradually replaced by eagerness to learn more throughout the different experiments we offered during the journey. When, during the last session on “positive politics”, he asked whether he could use the framework we presented in his classes with students, we were assured that also this journey has opened new paths forward for each participant.
Our next Academic Leadership Journey takes place form February 4 tot 7 februari in 2020. Visit our website for more information!