Playing cards? It’s a good way to learn about your own leadership skills
If we want to solve the complex issues now facing us as people and as an organisation, leadership is an absolute necessity: and then not only from supervisors and managers, but from everyone. You can use the set of cards and the animation developed specially for this purpose to gain insight into your own leadership.
Leadership is not only something for supervisors and managers; it is for everyone. You are, for example, part of a team or group where you work together with others. Do you ever consider what effect your behaviour has on others? Do you know what your talents are, and how you use them, and do you take control of your own development? What do you bring to your interactions with others? The leadership model will help you gain insight into your talents. Using these skills, we can together shape a safe and stimulating environment, in line with our core values.
Discover your own leadership skills with the set of cards
The leadership model has been developed with input from the Executive Board, in close collaboration with the Leadership steering group and various representatives from the organisation. The model was introduced during the strategic conference in 2022. It gives us a shared language about behaviour that reflects our core values: connecting, innovative, responsible and free.
The model is based on four leadership competencies: making connections, working together, taking responsibility and extending boundaries. This model has been translated into a set of cards.
Would you like to use the Leadership set of cards yourself? If so, ask your manager or HR adviser for a set. The video below explains how you can use the cards.
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An honest talk about leadership: ‘At first it felt very odd’
A new board has recently been appointed at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) To get to know one another better and to make collective plans, the brand-new board members took part in a kick-off day. Scientific Director and Professor Ludo Waltman explained how they made use of the leadership model.
‘We have known one another for some time as colleagues at CWTS, but we have never worked together before at an administrative level. During the kick-off day, we used the leadership model to reflect on our leadership competencies. Each of us had a number of cards with one of the competencies from the leadership model on each card. We used these cards to talk about our strong and less strong competencies. We each chose three competencies that we regard as our strengths and three that we would like to develop further.
‘Although it felt a little uncomfortable at first, we quickly arrived at a deep and honest conversation about our strong and less strong skills. We were also able to see how we can use our different skills to complement and reinforce each other. There’s no doubt that this conversation will help us as a board to work more effectively and to lead our institute in the best possible way!’