“We really lifted everyone to a higher level and created a sustainable change.”

Michiel Does (32) Accenture – Manager R&D Digitization participated in the Rebel program in October 2022.

“When you lead well, your people will take action and show initiative because they believe in the shared goal. That's how I see it, at least. Part of that is giving space to everyone's unique contributions and personality because a good team is not a uniform group with a direction spoon-fed by the leader. The more diverse, the more inventive, and the greater the results, as people complement each other. I can sometimes be a bit directive and not always take the time, but because Rebel really forced me to look inward, I now see how important it is to give that space. That allows me to better anticipate and align my choices with that. In my eyes, this is crucial to becoming the best leader for yourself and for the people you lead.”

I believe there is still more that can change, but maybe in practice I am already approaching things differently. Very recently, we had a workshop where the feedback was, well, quite decent. It was a solid workshop, but it could have been better. Normally, I would have quickly looked at where the improvement was, how we would approach it, and told my team about it. Instead, this time, I asked them how they felt it went and let the team speak. Then, they came to certain conclusions themselves.

At that moment, it took more energy because I took the team out of their comfort zone and it took time, but I went home with a good feeling: we really took everyone to a higher level and achieved something that is structural.

From here, we can keep building. The time and energy I gave the team, I also need to make room for myself, to give myself the space to look inward so that I can keep passing that on to my team.