Why Sustainable Learning is an Essential Element of Corporate Enterprise with Christian van den Bosch

Business Habitat with Sam Dean

In Episode 111 of The Business Habitat podcast, Sam is joined by Christian van den Bosch, Organisational Leadership Coach and Change and Efficiency Advisor, to talk about the need for sustainable learning in the work environment and the difference between a service mentality and a peer mindset. In this compelling conversation, Christian relates his background as an officer in both the Netherlands and Australian Armies, comparing the two and noting how the Netherlands Army was run similar to a commercial operation, particularly in its approach to people, organisation, productivity and performance. In contrast the Australian Army is much more bureaucratic in nature with less emphasis on career development pathways. It was in witnessing these two different styles of organisations and having led soldiers and officers in the field, that Christian identified what he terms 'sustainable learning', the concept of ongoing learning, both from a personal perspective and also an organisational one. Christian left the military in 2016 having achieved his goals and moved into the corporate world, where his military background has informed his beliefs around leadership and productivity. In this conversation, Christian shares what he has learned around building strong client relationships through creating parity, and gives practical examples of how he utilises a peer mindset to better engage with his clients. Negating the popular concept that a leaders' role is to serve their people, Christian puts forward his view that leaders are not servers, which talks to a submissive approach. Rather he notes that they are responsible for the learning of their people and working with their people to generate a healthy culture within the workforce. Sam and Christian round out the conversation by discussing how the workforce has changed in recent years and why the concept of sustainable learning is a critical one. In this era of staff shortages and retention issues, Christian emphasises the next generations' desire to learn and grow, and work in a way which promotes balance and avoids burnout. Here at BlueprintHQ, we are here to help. We are super passionate about the professional services industry and supporting you with what you need. We are offering a 30 minute consultation call to help you with this process. Go to https://www.blueprinthq.com.au/consultation