Innovation Supportive Leadership and Performance Happiness

What is the secret of one of the world’s most successful companies? Google is well known as a best-practice for creating an extraordinary climate for innovation and performance happiness. In this course you will – together with other students – discover the key variables of leadership, their relation to innovation and how they stimulate workplace happiness and increased performance. Supported by a mix of lectures and company visits, students will work together and analyze ‘the Google way’ (as a best practice). During the second week of the course students will be applying their newly found insights, by getting out the door and working together with real companies in the Utrecht area.

The business world is changing. New regulations, competitive markets and globalization are just a few of the examples of the always and fast-paced evolution within business. Experts are in agreement that nowadays innovation is a key driver for growth, and recent research by McKinsey found that no less than 94% of senior executives feel that people and corporate culture are the most important drivers of innovation. In this course we will focus on the vital and key role of leadership in that equation. Topics like “how do leaders enable others to innovate?”, “how do companies benefit from happy and motivated staff members?, and “how do leaders incorporate and benefit from the disruptive qualities of technology?” will be discussed, and give students new and valuable insights into the role of leadership in long-term organizational success.
This course will start with an intensive two-day workshop on personal and servant leadership, helping you to get familiar with some of the individual characteristics of innovative supportive leadership, and setting the stage for the first assignment; Students will work in teams and gain all the relevant and available information on leadership at Google, supported by a simple method of modelling success factors of organizations. During the second week each team will be connected to a company in the Utrecht area, get out the door and translate what their newly found insights could mean for their company. During this assignment, teams will receive intense coaching from our lecturers combined with a workshop on the fundamentals of e-leadership and the growing importance of digital systems to business innovation. As a final assessment, each team will present their results to the company.

NB: This course is part of the track "Innovation in European Business"

Course leader

Etiënne Steens MSc

Target group

This course is an interesting challenge for students enrolled in programmes on Business Administration, Marketing, and Finance, but is also open to bachelor and master students from other fields, as long as you have some background or a strong interest in business innovation. A good command of English is necessary.

Course aim

This course aims to provide you the opportunity to learn about leadership characteristics, their relation to innovation, performance happiness and long-term organizational success.

Credits info

4 ECTS
Certificate of Attendance

Fee info

EUR 940: Course + course materials
EUR 350: Housing