39 / 48
Finally one aspect of our working
lives linked to the increase in
leaders facing VUCA environments
is the growth of technology bringing
great benefits, but also ever more
rapid change and complexity in the
systems we deal with.
These sorts of challenges create
tensions for all involved: but in
particular for those who need to
exhibit leadership. Finding yourself
leading in a VUCA environment
appears to be a ‘new normal’. What
can a business school teach you
about succeeding in a challenging
VUCA environment? Well a good
start is having tools and models
with which to better understand
this type of environment, such as
those covered by our Cranfield
colleagues Professors David and Kim
Turnbull-James. But understanding
the environment isn’t the same as
knowing how you can best cope with
and achieve success within, a VUCA
environment. While new techniques
and new knowledge, such as tools
or models, can support how you
understand your environment, they
may not enough to make you able to
relate to it. That is less likely to come
from new knowledge but instead
emerges from a better appreciation
and connection with yourself.
Through our Praxis Centre for
Personal Leadership Development,
Cranfield School of Management has
worked successfully in this area for
many decades. A key figure in that
has been Drs Ido van der Heijden,
a renowned Clinical Psychologist
who has been teaching at the school
since 1981.
Over the last 35 years Ido and
The Praxis Centre for Personal
Leadership Development have
helped individuals, or groups of
individuals to develop themselves
in order to succeed in ever more
complex environments. The focus
has always been less on providing
external knowledge and instead
working to help people drive
their own internal change, with
consistently powerful results. “Rather
than teach you external knowledge,
which can be interesting but may
avoid the issues, we work with
people to access the rich tapestry
of their own experience. From this
they can improve the awareness
of self, from which we can help
them rediscover a sense of self-
confidence”. And it is from this sense
of personal strength – often referred
to as ‘resilience’ – is developed. And
all without a single powerpoint slide.
We have found that resilience is
something that emerges not just from
what you think, but also how you
think and how you feel, appreciate,
understand, conceptualise and
process your environment. And
no text book can teach you that.
But it can be developed, as Drs
van der Heijden outlines “Helping
people build security in themselves
is the key to a higher sense of
self belief.” When we have helped
people gain that foundation we are
able to support people in not only
understanding their environment, but
enhancing how they relate to it.
And from this comes the confidence
to deal with the inevitable paradoxes
within a VUCA world. Research has
shown time and again that helping
people know what to do is quite
straightforward. But helping them
have the courage to do it, when the
paradoxes are in front of them and not
in the classroom, lies at the heart of the
difference between developing leaders
in name, and leadership in practice.
“By working with people to help
connect
with themselves at a deeper
level, we are able to help
restore
internal connections that have been
lost from dealing with constant
organisational, or personal, crises”
Biographies
Drs Ido van der Heijden
Doctoral Degree Clinical
Psychology, Visiting Fellow,
The Praxis Centre
Ido has an
established
reputation for over
30 years, as an
expert in developing
Emotional
Intelligence in organisations. He
pioneered the in-depth personal
development work at Cranfield
since 1980 and later co-founded
The Praxis Centre.
Ido graduated as a clinical
psychologist from The University
of Groningen in 1976 and
since then received extensive
postgraduate training in different
forms of psychotherapy. His
knowledge and experience
covers a wide spectrum
of approaches to human
development ranging from
Freudian psychology to NLP and
Meditation.
Paul Hughes
LLB MBA, Head of Praxis Centre
Paul was appointed
Head of The
Praxis Centre
for Leadership
Development
in 2015, having
joined Cranfield as an Executive
Development Director in 2011.
His work is strongly focused on
leadership and management
development, organisational
change and supporting people,
teams and organisations
successfully implement or
achieve strategies.
Paul is certified in the use of
personal profiling instruments’
e.g. MBTI, Wave, 16PF, Belbin
Team Roles, Assess as well as a
number of proprietal tools. Since
2003 he has conducted over
10,000 hours of 1:2:1 capability
assessment, development and
coaching activities. He has
coached board level leaders as
well as functional heads.