Landstede Transforms LLO into a Strategic Driver for Flexible Education

3. How did the execution come about?

The steering committee—also known within Turner as the “Execution Coalition”—played a decisive role. Vocational education directors and managers from the support services worked together to make real decisions. Miluska: “If the steering committee hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t be where we are today. One group can’t do without the other—it’s been an integrated approach.” Because the steering committee consisted of people in positions of responsibility, progress could be made quickly, says Theo Rietkerk. “Once you’ve had a good discussion in that committee, it means you can’t back out anymore. Then things proceed the way we’ve decided together.”

Another crucial role was filled by the LLO brigade. It consisted of people from various levels of the organization: teachers, staff members from the administrative departments (including Groei), and people who were willing to take the lead and handle the planning and preparation. The LLO Brigade held up a mirror to the advisory committee and prevented, for example, teachers from becoming too detached.

“The LLO brigade kept moving forward and figuring out how we could make LLO function as an organization as a whole,” Broekhuis explains. “The LLO brigade focused on the question of what the LLO process should actually look like. What steps did we need to take, and who was responsible for what? What role should the Education department play? What role should the service bureau play? And how would we hand it off to each other? That process was worked out in detail. And that input was consistently fed back to the steering committee, which could then offer its opinion: yes, we think this is the right direction, or: we want to think this through some more, or: we’d actually like to go in a different direction. The LLO team did crucial groundwork for the steering committee, enabling them to make real decisions.

From Discomfort and Uncertainty to Dedication and Engagement

In her role as interim head of the Growth unit, Annelieke played a temporary but important role in guiding the change. That change wasn’t easy, because it, too, involved divisions and new developments. Growth became part of the entire organization, and a new manager was appointed. “Still, we really pulled together to make it happen, even though things sometimes moved a bit too fast and we had to hit the brakes for a moment.” “The fear, uncertainty, and pain are starting to subside,” says Theo. “Annelieke wasn’t there the whole week, but the sense of commitment within Growth has continued to grow.”

Discomfort serves a useful purpose in a process like this, says Alex Crezee of Turner. “I’ve actually sensed discomfort in just about everyone, including you, Theo. And I see that as functional. That might sound strange, because you guys really wanted this change. But the discomfort helps you get into the right mindset to actually go through with it. After all, if it had been easy, it would have happened already. So we regularly brought up the hot potato: ‘Guys, what are you guys doing?’”

One of the main dilemmas Landstede faced during the process revolved around leadership and reflection, says Theo Rietkerk. “I’ve discovered that you have to set aside time to advance the strategy. That can sometimes be a bottleneck. The schedule is pretty full, given all the developments within vocational education, and finding time for the strategy—for the people, both in terms of relationships and content—can be difficult. The silver lining, though, is that we’ve become more aware of that. Annelieke van Schie recalls another dilemma, which concerns the pace of change. “How much leeway do you allow to take more time without halting the process? That’s certainly been a dilemma we’ve constantly had to address. Can we still handle this? Should we allow a little more time, or not? If I allow too much time, won’t things come to a standstill? That was a balancing act, one we were only able to resolve by approaching it mindfully.”