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Honours students consult on real-life cases in course on Public Leadership Consulting

It is not always easy for students to apply their academic knowledge in practice and get acquainted with the work environment of professional public organisations. Public organisations may struggle in turn to successfully address leadership challenges in their current way of working.

The Honours Course ‘Public Leadership Consulting’ taught by dr. Ben Kuipers combines the students' ambition to build their professional skills with the demand of organisations for a creative and research-based perspective on the leadership challenges they face.

In the Honours Course ‘Public Leadership Consulting’, students take the place of professional consultants as they deal with real-life cases that have been provided by client organisations. While making use of the leadership theories and academic insights they have gained, students diagnose, design, and develop the ways in which public leadership can play a role in solving the organisation’s case. Last Friday, 20 May, the student teams presented their findings, recommendations for solutions and implementation to the client organisations.

Client organisations

The client organisations where the consulting teams of students conducted their assignments are partners of the Leiden Leadership Centre. Client organisations and their respective leadership challenges were:

  • Avans University of Applied Sciences – How to establish leadership in a self-organizing team at a University of Applied Sciences?
  • Knowledge Centre Sport & Movements – How can leadership ensure an optimal connection between people from different teams?
  • Digicampus/ICTU – What creates an innovation climate in which there is enough room for failure and what role can public leadership play in this?
  • Derksen & Drolsbach – What interventions can a modern public leader make to integrate social added value into the decision-making process?

A unique experience for students

This course not only offered a unique introduction to consultancy and the skills that come with it, but this experience also helped students understand how academic knowledge can be applied in practice. Moreover, students gained insight into how they can contribute to optimising the work environment as well as enhancing the impact of organisations in the public sector.

Are you interested in becoming a partner organisation, or would you like to know more about the role of the Leiden Leadership Centre in connecting science and practice? Get in touch with us by sending an email to: LLC@fgga.leidenuniv.nl.

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