What does leadership mean in practice? Who really has influence? Who really has power in an organisation? During this webinar on Wednesday 24 September 2025, Drs. Mario Kieft will make you look differently at leadership and challenge you to revise your own assumptions.

During this webinar, Drs. Mario Kieft will show how organisations are not malleable according to fixed structures, but constantly arise in everyday interaction, meaning-making and fields of tension between formal goals and informal practices. Here, leadership is not seen as a function or style, but as a process of influence and co-creation within contexts full of uncertainty, friction and change.

The lecture invites you to look with an open, inquisitive attitude at what really happens in organisations. Who has influence, how decisions arise, and what the role of hypocrisy is in it. Using recognisable examples, theoretical windows and a lively narrative style, Mario challenges you to rethink your own ideas about leadership and organisational development. No prescriptions, but perspectives that invite you to think, doubt and do things differently.

About the speaker
Mario Kieft, Lecturer of the Year 2024, works as a senior lecturer in Organisational Change and Behaviour in organisations at the Open University in the Faculty of Management Sciences and also works as an organisational consultant at Zindering. He mainly deals with strategic change and development processes in public/non-profit organisations. His specialisation lies in the following areas: cooperation between organisations, operation of informal networks, triggering collective movements, change despite change management, dealing with power and breaking defensive patterns.

Mario's motive is to support managers and other professionals in the view that change is something continuous, which by definition cannot be managed, but at best can only be facilitated. Together with professionals, he examines the implications of this view and facilitates them in arriving at innovative ways of working.

Registration information
Everyone is welcome to attend this webinar on Wednesday 24 September 2025 at 8pm via Microsoft Teams. During the session, you can ask questions via the chat function. You can register by filling in the registration form. You will receive a reminder in advance and again the link to participate. The duration of the webinar is approximately 60 minutes.

Competency-based development with Open University and KIVI
Starting in 2025, the Open University will host an inspiring webinar every two months focusing on one of the five core competencies from the KIVI competency framework. These interactive sessions are designed to give you an insight into the practical application of each competency and provide tools to continue your professional development.

This is the fourth webinar as part of the offerings related to the KIVI competencies for Chartered Engineer and Young KIVI Engineers. This webinar focuses on competency C 'Leadership, responsibility and quality' of the KIVI competency framework.

The final webinar under the competency will follow in November:

  • Professional Commitment (E)

For more information on our in-depth courses per competency, see our Competency-based development page with Open University and KIVI.