Unravel your corporate core identity
and invite true employee engagement
Unlock the collective brainpower, creativity, and drive of your employees
This online course learns you how to use Purpose, Values, & Clarity to invite engagement and boost performance
“In today’s complex and fast changing world your people are your most valuable assets.
If you know how to unlock that value…”
These are challenging times
We live in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and fast paced change. The business graveyard is filled with once seemingly rock solid names. A sustainable competitive advantage seems to have all but disappeared. Competition comes from unexpected places.
People are the answer to these challenges. In contrast to technology people can deal with unexpected challenges, cope with unpredictable outcomes, think out-of-the-box, deal with change, and discover novel solutions.
There’s just one problem: They are not engaged.
%
Only 13% is engaged
“Our organizations are not designed for engagement.
They are build for compliance”
Design for engagement, not compliance
Face it, we still design our organizations by and large like the days of the Industrial Revolution, while the environment and challenges we face have changed dramatically. A silo structure, specialization by function, a hierarchal top-down command structure, an abundance of ‘manager’ job titles, a daunting number of rules, procedures, and checklists…
Our workplaces smell like compliance, but then we ask for initiative…
Adaptive Leadership – Building Engaging Workplaces
Blended Learning Online Course: Learn at your own pace. Interact when you want to.
Learn to unlock engagement by creating a workplace that supports the universal human needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
What do you get in this course?
Learn anywhere, At your pace
Take the course at your convenience at your pace. Anytime. Any place. All you need is a pc or a tablet. And an open mind.
Life long access to the course
Buy once and enjoy life-long access to the course and community. All future updates included. Your initial investment will only become more valuable in time.
Enjoy Private Sessions
Have one-one communication with your instructor via the integrated messaging system. Ask questions. Bounce off ideas.
Join a community of likeminded
Make connections with other students. Get support. Build valuable long-lasting relationships with like-minded people from all over the world.
What will you achieve in this course?
After this course:
You know how to streamline decision-making based on distributed authority
You know how to create a compelling purpose and set of values together
You know how to unlock engagement, as well as attract and retain talent
You will no longer fear change and complexity. You will thrive on it
You master the art and science of disciplined experiments
You will be able to setup an environment for continuous learning
You know how to select the appropriate tools for your domain
You will have changed as a leader. For the better
Get up to speed with a new & proven approach to managing your organization. Get your employees ready for anything.
Don’t manage the people. Manage an environment around three basic psychological needs:

AUTONOMY
Autonomy is the need to self-regulate our actions in a way that allows our behavior and values to be aligned. Many organization experiment with this. Few are succesful. Learn the principles, pitfalls, and practical tools to master empowerment.

RELATEDNESS
Everyone has a need to care for and be cared for. Everyone wants to be able to contribute to a larger cause, and wants the be accepted for who they are. Learn novel practices to turn this into a win-win for organization and employees alike.

COMPETENCE
Everybody wants to be good at something and challenged within the boundaries of one’s competence. Continuous learning is crucial because skills and competences are volatile nowadays. Today’s skills are obsolete tomorrow.
Learn powerful practices to build an engaging environment
In this course you will learn to create a system and environment within your organisation where autonomy plays a central role. Where motivation and engagement are connected to purpose and values, en where continuous learning is a must. You will learn to create an environment that gives a whole new meaning to managing change.
The Building Engaging Workplaces course is also very suitable for managers within organizations that embrace an Agile way of working. You get to learn an effective form of leadership and management. Backed by science, but based on numerous years of experience..
Attend this course if you intuitively agree with the following. Walk away if you don’t…
Our organization's operating system is over 100 years old. It is time for a new one.
Today’s organization’s are still designed for stability, predictability, efficiency, and control. Unfortunately that is no longer the context we operate in anymore.
Digital has caused disruption. However it is not the solution. People are.
Carbon over silicon. Today’s context needs creativity, dealing with constant change, discovery and exploration. These are uniquely human strengths. Digitals tools are just… tools.
People want to do meaningful responsible work. We just need to get out of their way.
If people can responsibly buy houses and raise children there is no need to treat them like infants once they enter our organizations. So let’s stop doing that.
If people are not motivated we, the managers and owners, are to blame.
To thrive we need to radically increase the speed and quality of our decisions.
A crystal clear purpose works as a guide in an uncertain world

purpose as glue
A Purpose is the glue in a decentralized organisation: your people know exactly how to contribute to a higher common goal.

purpose as guide
A well defined Purpose is like a beacon: not a fixed plan but a common direction. Everybody can spot and judge new opportunities.

core values as checklist
Core values are a checklist in daily decision making. Give your team and employees the tools to decide for themselves whether a decision is the right one.
Let’s be clear: A Purpose is not a slick advertising slogan, engraved in a copper plaque hanging at the reception. A good purpose is an absolute condition for engagement. A good purpose provides everybody the opportunity to contribute with heart and soul. A good purpose tells which new business ideas match and which ones don’t. It is a guide in an uncertain world. Plus it is a pre-condition for distributing authority.
And you will find out it is not easy at all to define a good purpose. Luckily we will help you with a proven method to define, implement, and live by purpose and values. We have seen wonderful inspiring things happening when participants work on the purpose of their organization during the course. And that’s why we are doing this.
Core values are uncompromising. Yes, really. Volkswagen listed ‘sustainability’ as one of their values on their website. Enron ‘integrity’. We all know whether they meant it or not.
That’s not the way to do it. Grant your employees and teams the checklist to decide for themselves which decisions are in line with the company values and which ones are not. Discover powerful ways to assess alignment between performance and values.
We will show you the influence of purpose & values on a diverse set of processes like engagement; decision-making, appraisals, hiring & onboarding.
Modules we cover
In this model we set the stage. What is going on in our organizations and their markets that we need a new way of management & leadership? Is this a one-size-fits-all model?
You cannot change anything without changing yourself first. So let’s start with a good look in the mirror. What leadership style to you prefer at the moment? What’s your default way of dealing with conflict? How comfortable are you with new leadership characteristics we will be presenting? Will they fit your mental model?
[/et_pb_blurb_extended]In this module we lay a solid scientific foundation. Using Complexity Theory you will learn the impact of looking at an organisation as a Complex Adaptive System. Systems Thinking shows you the surprising consequences of the short-term efficiency focus most organisations suffer from.
You will learn that lineair short-term thinking can lead to sub-optimal or even outright wrong decisions. Discover the patterns that stand in the way of success for your organisation.
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Build the engaging workplace that makes your organization thrive
This module covers the concept of building an engaging workplace based on the three fundamental psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
We cover the state and importance of engagement and the sometimes surprising way motivation works.
Embrace Transparency – give them the information they need
Transparency is an important driver to engagement. And by keeping everybody informed we directly support autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
Learn powerful ways of embracing transparency like town hall meetings, open-door policies, and more.
Let Purpose & Values Guide you – let everyone contribute
Purpose-driven organizations perform better according to research. Discover the reasons why. Learn the ingredients of a worthy purpose and practice with that of your own organization. You will probably be surprised how much room for improvement there is.
Learn how to define core values and use them as a checklist in daily decision-making.
Promote Dialog – better ideas & better decisions
Open dialog means we actually listen to and try to understand each-other’s point of view and reasoning, which might make us rethink our own. In doing so we can collaboratively find new and better ideas that none of us would have come up with individually.
Learn new methods and tools like Mental Models, the Ladder of Inference, and Appreciative Inquiry.
Set Mutual Constraints on Autonomy – make empowerment work
Promoting autonomy by distributing authority is crucial to speed up decision-making and improve the quality of decisions. But as paradoxical as it may sound, autonomy needs constraints to work.
Learn the requirements for successful autonomy in your organization. Learn helpful tools like the seven Delegation levels, and the five levels of Authority.
Build Apprenticeship – implement continuous learning
A practice that supports all three fundamental needs is an apprenticeship, a system where the employees of a team or department decide for themselves which skills they need, who adopts which skills and then coach each-other in building necessary skills.
Complexity makes skills volitile: develop a system for continuous learning.
Encourage Experimentation – discover your future
In a complex world you cannot predict and control your future: you need to discover it. A culture of experimenting is a much better tool for this than traditional forecasting or big upfront plans.
But don’t be fooled: a disciplined process of experimenting is elite sport.
About your trainer
Apart from great content we value great trainers that combine knowledge, practical experience, and didactic skills.
Sjoerd Kessels is an acknowledged expert in organizational design and complexity with an extensive background in agility.
A particular strength of Sjoerd is to explain the principles behind practices which enables learners to develop new fit-for-purpose practices themselves. This also shows in his style as a trainer: he combines explaining theory with many practical examples from his own experience. Sjoerd’s ability to take a strategic helicopter-view of things serves him well in researching the practices of the adaptive organization.
Nicole Peereboom
In depth knowledge, sincere, he was able to keep you focussed on all lessons and had the ability to bring the group together.
Marije Witvliet
Perfect balance between theory and practice. Ensured the right tempo was obtained. Ensured we learned from each other’s practice. Pleasant to listen to.
Daniël van der Starre
About the trainer: Calm, clear and took plenty of time to explain things.
Why I joined: Wanted to learn more about motivating and empowering people.
My biggest takeaway: Move the organisation away from silo’s.
Why should you attend this course?
Face it, the way we structure and lead our organizations is over one hundred years old. Times have changed. Tools and practices have hardly. If you want to be inspired with new ways to structure and lead your organization, then this is the course for you.
If rising complexity and fast change is threatening your organization, and I bet it is, then this course will teach you new practices designed for complexity.
If you believe in empowering your employees but you find yourself struggling to implement empowerment successfully, that this course will teach you the science and art of successful empowerment.
If you have sleepless nights how to guide your organization to a thriving sustainable future, then this is the course to put your mind at ease.
Get in contact with participants from all over the world. Learn from and support each-other. Establish valuable new relationships.
If you are a Team Manager, Department manager, Frontline manager, Development Manager, Product Manager, Scrum Master, Product Owner, Human Resource Manager, Change Manager, or Innovation manager, then this course will for sure sharpen your skills.
If you are an Agile Coach, Organization or Management Consultant, or a Change Consultant this course will bring you new insights and tools to help your customers thrive.
Many courses try to learn you tricks. They give in to the understandable wish of people who want simple answers to complex questions. While we try to make things as simple as we can, complexity just remains…complex. But we will make you help sense of it, and adjust tools to your context.
100% Money Back Gurantee
If you’re not completely satisfied at any point in the next 30 days after the purchase of this course, we’ll give you a full refund. No requestions asked.
Frequently Asked Questions
In what language is the course?
The language is English.
In what language are the course materials?
The course materials are in English.
Can I get a discount if I join the course with multiple participants?
Yes, you can. Just contact us for details.
Can I license this course for our company?
Yes, of course. We wil gladly discuss licensing solutions. Just contact us.
What formats are being used in the course?
We use a combination of video, articles, exercises, quizes, and a variety of support materials.
Some exercises can be done online, some reruire you to really put theory to practice in your organization.
Is there an exam?
At the moment there is no exam. We are considering it, though.
Get up to speed with a new & proven approach to managing your organization. Get your employees ready for anything.
