The 15-month Interdepartmental Management Course (IML) is co-convened by NSOB and Berenschot management consultants (www.berenschot.nl). It was developed at the request of the secretary-generals of Dutch departments. The program has been running since 1997 and has produced 21 cohorts of graduates.

IML focuses on the management and leadership skills of senior executives at departments, executive and regulatory agencies who are all members of the Senior Executive Service (Algemene Bestuursdienst). Leadership qualities emphasised in the program include the ability to take a step back from daily pressures in order to develop alternative problem-solving strategies, the ability to anticipate both intended and unintended consequences (positive and negative) of policy decisions and reform strategies, the ability to nurture constructive change processes, the ability to exercise influence both horizontally and vertically, and finally the ability to deal strategically with ambiguity, fluidity and crisis.

The program consists of five residential modules in which theory and practice are finely balanced. These comprise:

Module 1 State and society
Module 2 Europeanisation and internationalisation
Module 3 Managing and changing organisations
Module 4 Politics and administration
Module 5 Public sector transformations

The IML program is concluded by team-based research assignments, the content of which is supplied by the board of trustees of the program. Members of the board (top-tier executives in national government) and leading academics assess the quality of the final assignments and presentations.

The program is convened by professor Paul Frissen and Ludy Geut MA (Berenschot) and managed by Marije Plooij MA.