#16 Lieteke van Vucht Tijssen: Courageous executives - realising a cultural turnaround in a collaborative manner

What is the role of executive leaders in a collaborative change process? In this inspiring episode, we sit down withsociologist and former university executive, Lieteke van Vucht Tijssen. She takes us back to a pivotal moment in her career: stepping in as interim board member at a Dutch University of Applied Sciences in crisis. With financial instability and declining educational quality, Lieteke faced the challenge of turning things around—without resorting to yet another costly reorganization. Instead, she championed a bold cultural shift: moving from a rigid, top-down management style to a participatory, quality-driven educational ethos. She takes us behind the scenes of a pivotal moment—the 2010 “Craftsmanship andMastery” conference, where 300 staff, students, and leaders came together for a one-day large-scale intervention. Through carefully designed dialogue, clearframeworks, and inclusive participation, the university community began to reimagine itself—not as a “bachelor production machine,” but as a true house of education. Through her story, we explore the power of intrinsic motivation, professional responsibility, and the role of co-creation in building sustainable change. She also shares practical lessons on executive leadership, student engagement, and sustaining change through follow-up actions.

Chapters

• Introduction to Lieteke and the executive perspective
• A university in crisis: Challenges for the interim board
• Turnaround to a quality culture in education, engaging the whole system
• Applying the Large Scale Interventions approach for whole system change
• Establishing clear boundaries for the playing field for collaboration
• Forming a stakeholder steering commission, including a governor  
• Challenges at the top, fear of losing control
• Courageous leadership to overcome fear and misunderstandings
• A one-day large group conference to initiate the turnaround
• Clear frameworks forcollaboration
• Follow-up actions to sustain change and growth
• As a governor, take daily sorrows and small results into account

More info

• Lieteke van Vucht Tijssen on LinkedIn
• Article ‘Enhancing the Impact of Co-Creation Research: Large Scale InterventionsWith a Stakeholder Steering Committee for Whole System Engagement’  
• Article ‘Kwaliteit als cultuur. Ruimte voor de innerlijke drive van HBO studenten’ (Dutch)