While I was Managing Director of Prorest, my boss made it clear in various performance reviews that I needed to take more business risks. Now, I may not be a big risk-taker but I am a high performer. I attach great value to stability, to customer and employee satisfaction, and, not least, to the bottom line and a healthy balance sheet - I like figures in the black rather than in the red! Actually, I'm not really risk-averse - many of decisions I took involved risk; so why did people perceive my entrepreneurial style as overcautious?

My boss suggested working with a coach, and I agreed. One of my colleagues recommended Huib. Together we explored the effect of different leadership styles using the Quinn Management model and, in the process, discovered that I needed to develop the facet 'creative mindset'. In order to tweak the prevailing perception of me as a risk-averse leader, I had to showcase the agentic side of my leadership capabilities to others because, as I said, I was actually taking risks. It was up to me to demonstrate that to others in the organisation.

Huib is someone who 'engages in battle', tackling issues head-on. While being thrust out of your comfort zone isn't always easy, I like that approach; he certainly held up a mirror to me. Huib had no qualms about direct confrontation - in a positive sense. Whenever I'd describe incidents about the workplace, Huib was never afraid to assert, 'You dealt with that in completely the wrong way.'

Huib proved to be an absolute master of facilitating self-awareness, both in relation to my own behaviour and to the impact of my communication on others.

My increased capacity for self-reflection and for putting things into perspective has been useful not just at work, but also in my private life. It has deepened and enriched the bond with my grown-up children and my wife. And my boss is completely satisfied with the results from this coaching programme. In short, winners all round.

Dick Bennink

Written by Jannie Regnerus, based on a telephone interview