What is a future center?

A future center is an informal place where people can jointly develop innovative ideas, strategies and projects. A multi-media theatre, workshops and creative design areas stimulate creativity and the imagination. This inspiring environment promotes the search for concrete solutions to the challenges thrown up by society.

What does LEF future center do?

LEF facilitates processes in a professional, tailor-made fashion. Has your project ground to a halt? Are your plans struggling to get off the ground? Are you failing to make decisions? Then call on LEF.

LEF will help you to:

What does LEF future center look like?

You really have to see LEF. A great deal of attention has been devoted to the interior, which was designed by Kossmann.dejong, a design agency for exhibition architecture. Everything at LEF future center aims to inspire and optimally stimulate creativity, thinking and collaboration in order to achieve the best result possible.

The rooms are flexible and can be organised to suit groups from five to eighty people. They can be laid out in all kinds of different ways and be given any atmosphere imaginable. In the multi-media theatre you are surrounded on all sides by images and atmosphere, which transports you in no time into a totally different world and mindset. The rooms take the participants away from their day-to-day routine. This creates space for new initiatives, ideas and collaboration.

Why have a future center for Rijkswaterstaat (Dutch Ministry of Public Works and Waterways)?

Rijkswaterstaat aims to be public-oriented and innovative. In our dynamic society the ‘traditional’ way of working no longer provides answers to everything. Questions are becoming more complex, matters need greater attention, and consequences have greater effects. Working on roads and waterways requires a different, innovative approach. Rijkswaterstaat wants to be a catalyst for this innovation. Hence the future center.

LEF future center helps Rijkswaterstaat to work faster, more flexibly and more innovatively in its search for solutions, thanks to the inspiring environment, the creative use of modern methods of thinking and new thinking techniques, and the support of its experts.

Who is LEF future center aimed at?

LEF is intended for:

What does participation in LEF programmes provide?

LEF’s approach saves time and avoids conflicts. All the people involved sit around the table together. Which means that decisions can be taken quickly. Something which could otherwise take months. Moreover, better collaboration with internal and external partners reduces the chance of (legal) conflicts.

LEF gives you a better view of and improved control over the project process. It also enables you to make better use of the talents of the project employees. It thus improves the quality of projects and of the people involved. The LEF approach stimulates decisiveness, flexibility and entrepreneurship among employees.

I would like to organise a session myself: what is the LEF procedure?

The approach taken by LEF future center consists of seven steps. Creative: to achieve innovation. Tailor-made: to fit seamlessly with the customer’s requirements. And thorough: to translate the result achieved into know-how that makes a lasting impression and that can be used as a basis for further innovation. 

The seven steps:

1: Familiarisation:
During an intake meeting an account manager from LEF future center decides with the customer what the question is and what the result is that he or she wants to achieve.

2: Contracting:
What is actually the question behind the question? A LEF account manager and the customer together discuss and look into the approach that will best suit the problem. Every aspect of the problem definition is covered and the background is looked into. This analysis sometimes throws up a different problem to the one that the customer started off with.

3. Design:
The facilitator and the customer jointly design the process. During the preparation attention is devoted to:
- the different target groups (market, government, research institutes, etc.)
- the layout of the rooms
- the use of tools
- the sharing of know-how with other people so that others also benefit from the insights.

4. Implementation:
Sessions held at LEF future center take place in inspiring, special rooms that can be given any desired atmosphere and appearance. All of this is supported by professional facilitators, who use surprising techniques to achieve the objective of the session. 

5. Evaluation:
Have we achieved what we aimed to achieve?

6. Application:
The results achieved during the sessions are translated into practical applications. 

7. Integration:
The final step in the LEF approach consists in making the fruits of the session accessible and anchoring them in the organisation. So that the know-how gained makes a lasting impression and can be used as the basis for further innovation.

Contact LEF about holding a session: lef@rws.nl or 088 - 797 1865.

Why is the future center called LEF?

LEF is the Dutch word for courage or daring. It means having the courage to push back the boundaries. It takes nerve to tackle things differently to the way you’re used to tackling them. LEF challenges you to broaden your horizons and use your talents.

Are there other future centers?

Yes.

The Dutch government