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transform your business today?
We offer a scalable employee training solution. It lets you continuously upskill your people and expand their capabilities.
Plan a meetingJames Colgan, a seasoned international product executive, has joined Lepaya's Advisory Board, bringing a wealth of expertise in building high-performing organizations, transformation and business impact, product strategy and execution, and global leadership. With a background that includes impactful roles at industry giants like Microsoft, hyper-growth companies such as Slack, and scale-up unicorns like Spendesk, James will significantly contribute to Lepaya's growth.
Leveraging his experience in guiding companies through the startup to scale-up transition, James is committed to supporting Lepaya in increasing team productivity, effectiveness, and overall well-being. The aim of this strategic decision is to accelerate growth while delivering enhanced value to Lepaya's customers.
Continue reading to learn James's perspective on why he has joined Lepaya's mission.
Why are you joining Lepaya’s mission?
There are three reasons why I joined the company, and the first is edTech. Across the world, in every industry and at every level, there is a shortage of skills. While artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a tool for knowledge workers, it does not diminish the importance of the human aspects of a role and the need to uplevel them.
The second reason is leadership under transition. Lepaya’s focus on the leader's journey is particularly interesting to me. In uncertain times, leadership is crucial to bring clarity to teams experiencing ambiguity, and this is essential for the success of every company on the planet.
Lastly, artificial intelligence. Lepaya’s smart application of artificial intelligence to augment human training is an incredible differentiator. I am eager to learn more about how Lepaya applies this new technology to ed tech applications.
What makes you believe in Lepaya’s product, vision, and mission?
First and foremost, it's the team. René and Peter, as co-CEOs, have built a formidable team with well-rounded skills and experience, coupled with hard work across the organization. It's Peter and René's leadership that will enable the company to capitalize on the opportunities ahead of us.
What will be your role at Lepaya’s Advisory Board?
There are three main contributions I look forward to making. First of all, Lepaya itself is a company in transition from a start-up to a scale-up. This is an extremely challenging maneuver, requiring clean tactical execution and medium to long-term strategic formulation. Having done this before, I hope to provide experience that the team can learn from.
Secondly, it's the formulation of the product strategy. Lepaya has a strong vision and a good execution rhythm. I look forward to working closely with Peter and the team to help create a product strategy that connects that vision and the product execution.
Last but not least, it's to help Peter and the team up-level research and development in general. Drawing from my experience at Microsoft, Slack, and Spendesk, I look forward to working with Lepaya’s team to help them be more productive, more effective, and happier as an engine of growth and delivery of value to customers.
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About Lepaya
Lepaya is a provider of Power Skills training that combines online and offline learning. Founded by René Janssen and Peter Kuperus in 2018 with the perspective that the right training, at the right time, focused on the right skill, makes organizations more productive. Lepaya has trained thousands of employees.
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Your leadership style is: Democratic
DESCRIPTION: Monkeys have fascinating, complex social structures and hierarchies that involve decision-making, communication, and conflict resolution. Macaques, for instance, are known for their ‘majority first’ approach when deciding where to forage for food. They come up with different suggestions, reach a consensus, and then follow the monkey with the most followers: regardless of its age or status. This is exemplary of a democratic leadership style. Democratic leaders allow everybody’s voice to be heard. They consider the ideas and insights of their team members, giving them the chance to show their strengths and share their knowledge. This leadership style drives participation, teamwork, and personal accountability, leading to higher levels of employee engagement, retention, and workplace satisfaction, as people feel empowered and valued.
STRENGHTS: You are Creative, Stimulating, Innovative, Empowering, Collaborative, and Energetic.
CHALLENGES: When you’re a democratic leader, you might be faced with a risk of inefficiency as it takes longer to come to a mutual consensus. Also, this popular leadership style slightly suffers from the new, hybrid workplace because of the lack of spontaneous encounters at the office.
WORKS WELL IN: Startups, Scale-ups, the Creative Industry & Knowledge-based Industries
RECOMMENDATION: Lepaya training to develop your leadership skills: Collaboration & Influence, Storytelling, Analytical Thinking
Do you want to upskill your team? Request a FREE TEAM SCAN!
Your leadership style is: Coaching
DESCRIPTION: When you look at horses in the wild, you’ll see that the lead mare will guide the others in a certain direction and sets the pace. If a younger horse compromises the safety of the herd or wanders off, it will be gently and patiently corrected by the mature horses, and taught what type of behavior is preferable. Providing guidance, sharing constructive feedback, helping others learn from their mistakes and improve their skills: these are all typical traits of a coaching leader. Coaching leaders believe in identifying and nurturing the individual strengths of employees, so they can develop and achieve their true potential and contribute to the success and unity of the team. These leaders are all about mutual respect, long-term individual growth, compassion, and two-way communication.
STRENGHTS: You are Supportive, Patient, Loyal, Authentic, Compassionate, Reliable, Inclusive.
CHALLENGES: Coaching leaders aim for long-term success instead of quick wins. That requires a lot of commitment and energy, and it can take a long time to see results. Another challenge for you as a coaching leader is that you might focus on individual development rather than team goals, and you tend to become too involved in day-to-day tasks and micro-management.
WORKS WELL IN: Consulting, Sales & Marketing, Education
RECOMMENDATION:Lepaya training to develop your leadership style: Resilience, Analytical Thinking and Taking Ownership
Do you want to upskill your team? Request a FREE TEAM SCAN!
Your leadership style is: Transformational
DESCRIPTION: The eagle is known for its ability to soar high above the landscape, its sharp vision, and clear focus that allows it to spot prey from great distances. This powerful bird nurtures its young carefully, teaching them the skills they need before they spread their wings and leave their nest. This imagery is often used to represent the transformational leader's ability to see the big picture and inspire others to work toward the organization's goals. One of the other key aspects of transformational leadership is that it emphasizes the importance of empowering others to be successful in their own right, allowing their teams to perform beyond expectations. They usually create an inspiring and motivational atmosphere, providing individual support and challenging their team to always reach for the sky.
STRENGHTS: You are Confident, Bold, Fearless, Analytical, Inspiring, Visionary.
CHALLENGES: You can be dominant and tend to concentrate on the bigger picture which can lead to a lack of focus on details. Being a high-flier, you set your own standards high. However, you can also be demanding for your team. Be careful not to create a high-pressure work environment, because that can lead to employees feeling like they can't keep up.
WORKS WELL IN: Agile companies that require thinking outside the box and a shared vision, like start-ups, the tech industry, design & media
RECOMMENDATION: Lepaya training to develop your leadership style: Empowering Leadership, Collaboration & Influence, Diversity & Inclusion
Do you want to upskill your team? Request a FREE TEAM SCAN!
Your leadership style is: Servant
DESCRIPTION: Elephants are highly intelligent and social creatures. They live in tight-knit family groups that rely on communication and cooperation. The image of the matriarch leading the herd to find water and food is a great metaphor for managers who like to lead by example without putting their personal ambitions first. This is common to the servant leadership style. Here, your primary role as a leader is to serve your team members by empowering them, supporting their growth and development, and creating a healthy and safe work environment. A servant leader emphasizes collaboration and inclusiveness and seeks to create a culture of trust, empathy, and respect. With their calm and steady demeanor, they focus on building solid relationships with their team, listening to their needs and concerns, and working together in an emotionally intelligent way to achieve shared goals.
STRENGHTS: You are Understanding, Calm, Determined, Responsible, Committed, and like to lead by example.
CHALLENGES: As a servant leader, you’re sometimes so focused on the well-being of others that you tend to lose sight of your own needs and responsibilities. This can ultimately lead to stress and can slow down decision-making processes. Also, you might find it difficult to confront others and hold them accountable for their actions.
WORKS WELL IN: Service industry & non-profit organizations
RECOMMENDATION: Lepaya training to develop your leadership style: Resilience, Storytelling, Taking Ownership
Do you want to upskill your team? Request a FREE TEAM SCAN!
Your leadership style is: Affiliative
DESCRIPTION: Dogs are known for their loyalty, honesty, and their ability to provide emotional support. They are usually outgoing and full of energy. You’ll find that these characteristics are similar to those of an affiliative leader. The main goal of these types of leaders is to create a company culture that is positive and dynamic. It’s a people-first approach that especially younger generations relate to, as it highly values happiness, purpose, and the sense of belonging to a tribe at work. These leaders celebrate success with their teams and encourage creative thinking. As an affiliative leader, you like to foster a culture of teamwork and inclusiveness. You are open in your communication and aim to create an environment in which everyone feels valued, respected, and supported. You also value personal growth and development, and encourage your team to take ownership of their own career paths.
STRENGHTS: You are Flexible, Calm, Positive, Dynamic, Empathic, Inclusive and Trustworthy.
CHALLENGES: As you highly value a positive and harmonious atmosphere within your team, tackling complex situations can become a problem if you focus too much on avoiding conflicts and negative feedback. This might reduce productivity, lead to underperformance, and losing sight of the organizational goals and objectives.
WORKS WELL IN: Service-oriented industries like hospitality, healthcare, retail, banks & insurance companies
RECOMMENDATION: Lepaya training to develop your leadership style: Taking Ownership, Collaboration & Influence, Resilience
Do you want to upskill your team? Request a FREE TEAM SCAN!