Do you see:
Do you know why?
More is happening
beneath the surface
Processes within you, between colleagues, between groups
and across the organisation shape behavior
Become more sensitive to what is happening beneath the surface
Intervene with greater clarity and authority
Help colleagues work more effectively on the primary task
Why This programme
Designed for academic organisation
Focused on the leadership challenges that are characteristic of academic organisations
Built on an academic way of thinking
The programme builds on the curiosity, analytical thinking and research mindset that allready characterise your work. You learn to observe carefully, formulate hypotheses, seek evidence and alternative explanations, and experiment before deciding how to intervene.
Looking beneath the surface
You learn to recognise and explore processes within yourself, between colleagues, within groups and across the organisation that shape leadership, collaboration and decision-making.
Small groups, real depth
Small groups create the trust, time and space to explore your own leadership and organisational dilemmas in depth.
What will we work on
Person, role and system
Distinguishing what belongs to you as a person, what comes with your role, and what may be generated by the wider system.
Power and authority
Exploring the difference between having power and taking up, receiving or being granted authority
Group and organisational dynamics
Recognising patterns within and between groups and understanding how they shape collaboration, leadership and decision-making.
Organisation and Context
Exploring how dynamics within an organisation are connected to the wider context in which it operates.
How will we work
OBSERVE → REFLECT → HYPOTHESISE → EXPERIMENT → OBSERVE AGAIN
You learn to use what happens within yourself, between people, in groups and across the organisation as information. You explore how your own history may shape the roles you take up, formulate hypotheses about what may be happening, test alternative explanations and experiment with different ways of intervening.
Practical information
Eight-day programme of four two-day modules; Individual intake; Individual coaching after the programme.
Dates group one
28 & 29 January; 4 & 5 March; 8 & 9 April; 3 & 4 June 2027;
Dates group two
9 & 10 September, 14 & 15 October, 18 & 19 November 2027; 13 & 14 January 2028
Time
09:00–17:00 each programme day
Groupsize
4–6 participants
Language
English or Dutch, depending on the composition of the group.
Location
Het Coachhuis Oorsprongpark 7, 3581 ET Utrecht.
A quit and intimate setting for working in a small group
want to know more?
Would you like to explore whether this programme is right for you?
Feel free to contact me for a short conversation.
Niels van Steenbergen
niels@nvsc.nl
+31 6 51 80 33 76
Niels van Steenbergen
Niels van Steenbergen is an organisational psychologist, anthropologist and consultant specialising in leadership, collaboration and group dynamics. He previously worked as a lecturer and trainer at Utrecht University School of Governance (USBO), where he developed and facilitated the first Taking Up Leadership programmes for PhD candidates and professionals. Taking Up Leadership has evolved over almost twenty years, while retaining its original focus on understanding and working with the less visible dynamics of organisational life.
Over the years, Niels has designed and facilitated leadership programmes for NWO, KNAW, VSNU (now Universities of the Netherlands) and for universities in the Netherlands and internationally.
As a consultant, he has carried out in-depth organisational analyses in a wide range of settings, including the police, prisons, healthcare, IT and academic organisations. His work focuses on what happens beneath the surface: the less visible processes that shape collaboration, leadership and organisational life.
Rather than offering ready-made answers, Niels helps leaders investigate what is happening within themselves, between people, in groups and across the organisation before deciding how to act.
Niels is a Board Member of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO) and author of Stressvrij leiderschap – Succesvol samenwerken in 7 stappen.
the roundtable conversation
What do you see?
Is leadership different in an academic organisation? or not?
And if so, does it require a different approach?
Join the roundtable conversation to explore these questions in a small group, drawing on our experience in academic organisations this question
It is open to anyone interested in these questions - whether or not you are considering joining the Taking Up Leadership programme.
Date & Time & Location
5 November 2026, 4 pm-6.30 pm. Nieuwegracht 29, Utrecht
19 November 2026, 4 pm-6.30 pm. Niemeijerstraat 6, Wageningen
10 December 2026, 4 pm-6.30 pm. Binnenkant 24, Amsterdam
Pizza & drinks after 6.30 pm
Free participation - registration required