PTFL materials

PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION FOR LEADERS REFLECTIONS FROM A GUEST TUTOR ON THE PRAXIS PTFL PROGRAMME by Hugh Lloyd-Jukes

B efore you read any further, google “personal transformation”. If you have an extra minute, try “transformational change” and “transformational leadership”. “Transformation” has too often been hijacked by self-help gurus and business consultants to hype up their services. The classic formulas include: “my personal transformation from alcoholic to inspirational speaker/top franchise seller of X/Y/Z in the Midwest…” or “Industry implement transformational change programmes that take the business from good to great.” I suspect, therefore, you may well have a gut reaction against a development programme called “Personal Transformation for Leaders [PTFL]”. So do I. As an analytically trained strategy consultant, I spent years disappointed by development programmes: I’d had my fill of groups offering stilted interventions using grossly simplified models and clunky honesty exercises. Research clearly shows that management quality and authentic leadership are powerful superchargers for a business but it seemed that developing them usually required an idiosyncratic, and often serendipitous, approach: there didn’t seem to be a reliable, universal shift? Merger? Cost reduction programmes? We help clients

Fathers have sent sons; bosses have sent subordinates (often one or two decades after they attended Cranfield themselves). A PhD thesis has been written on it. It runs three times a year over five days with a two day follow up. The attendance track record and consistent feedback suggest that Programme Director Dr Ido van der Heijden has developed a repeatable, reproducible process that helps almost any individual achieve a significant and sustained shift in personal performance. What does “transformation” mean? Take this representative feedback from the two most recently completed PTFL programmes at the time of writing: • “It does what it says on the tin: it does lead to personal transformation!” • “Life changing, challenging yet supportive and safe.” • “It has completely changed how I relate to people at work and in my life generally. I feel I have tackled issues now that free me up to develop in the rest of my life.” • “Unlocked a complete repressed

Dr Ido van der Heijden PTFL Programme Director

method that would deliver great results on a repeatable basis. I recommend you suspend judgment for five minutes because there is an institution hidden within Cranfield School of Management’s Praxis Centre whose track record has forced me to reconsider. The Personal Transformation for Leaders Programme has been running continuously for 34 years. Continuous records exist for the last 20 years in which 1,158 senior leaders from 40 countries have graduated from the programme. Very serious global brands including PricewaterhouseCoopers, BBC and Nissan have sent multiple senior executives and directors on it.

side of me. Gave me the momentum to push myself in new and exciting directions.”

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