Speaker

Lieke Geers is Senior Consultant at Oranjer, where she specializes in collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and value-driven project delivery. She currently also serves as Environmental Manager for the Natura 2000 Zuidwestelijke Delta programme at Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch directorate for public works and water management, applying the same stakeholder-first approach to complex environmental governance. She brings more than a decade of project and portfolio management experience, including nearly eight years as a consultant at Finext, followed by PMO roles at several transformation-focused organizations. She holds an MBA in Finance and Financial Management Services from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, alongside MSP, MoP, and P3O Foundation certifications. She is passionate about helping teams navigate complexity through meaningful dialogue and stronger day-to-day collaboration, an approach she brings into this workshop alongside Vanessa Rouw.

 

WOW, I Feel Gut! How to navigate complexity with courage When more governance, more reporting, and tighter control only slow a complex project down, Vanessa Rouw and Lieke Geers show what effective leadership looks like instead, in their workshop, "WOW, I Feel Gut! How to Navigate Complexity with Courage". This candid, highly interactive workshop explores what it takes to lead with courage when certainty runs out, at every level (personal, team, and organizational), offering fresh perspectives and actionable insights to navigate complexity without losing ownership, trust, or momentum. Vanessa and Lieke introduce Value-Based Project Management (VBPM), developed by Professor Nicoline Mulder, an evidence-based approach to leading from values rather than fear, bureaucracy, or the illusion of control. Through an interactive experiment called The Art of Miscommunication, small-group work, and guided reflection, participants apply two practical VBPM interventions to a realistic transformation scenario drawn from Oranjer's own PMO and programme governance work. The session closes with participants naming one concrete leadership behaviour they will start applying in their own projects.

 

Learning goals summary:

• Recognize that it's not just about tighter control and more governance; it's about the courage to lead when certainty runs out.
• Treat uncertainty not as a reason to add more process but as the moment courageous, values-led leadership matters most.
• Learn the core principles of Value-Based Project Management (VBPM) and how leading from values, not fear or bureaucracy, changes decision-making under pressure.
• Apply two practical VBPM interventions directly to a realistic transformation scenario, strengthening ownership, collaboration, and decision-making.