I create custom-made development and training solutions to suit the requirements and needs of the individual company or client. I provide clients with support, assisting in the clarification of development needs and goals for the organisation and help to design the most appropriate targeted training solution.

Where the scope of a project exceeds my own personal capacity, I offer solutions by involving other specialists – my colleagues.

Rank and Power consciousness training for leaders
Emotional Intelligence
Respectful, Effective and Non-violent Communication and Conflict Management
Systemic work for The Systemic Health of Organizations and Teams
Supervision Groups for Organizational Leaders and Specialists
Further Development of Company Internal Mentors, Trainers and Coaches

Rank and Power consciousness training for leaders

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. – Lao Tzu

One of the most puzzling side-effects of becoming a leader is not understanding the power of one’s new position. Whether we like to admit it or not, a leader’s position, just like any other rank, automatically grants additional power and increases our influence on those around us.  It is something that we are usually unable to recognize or of which we are aware after taking on our new role or rank.. A leadership role carries social meaning and expectations. If we are unaware of the power of our new position, we may commence our path with the best intentions, but often end up with the opposite effect – with ill-intentioned (abuse) or incorrect use (misuse) of power.

“The corrupting influence of power is not inherent in any one individual, and it’s not inseparable from the situation. Corruption is partly built into the role. It’s both a psychological and social phenomenon”, Julie Diamond.

During the training, we work on the following areas to develop an understanding of rank’s power and its influence on those around us:

• Understanding the anatomy of power in a socio-psychological, specific organizational, personal and team context
• Learning to recognize the critical role of rank privilege and empathy in the power context
• Rising awareness of personal blind spots brought by different ranks and discovering how this lack of awareness manifests itself in undesired behaviours around others
• Discovering leadership meta-skills which are required for surviving the daily crossfire of relationships and working on developing those meta-skills
• Behaviour and communication skills training, during which the leader comes to understand that the most important thing is not WHAT they do, but HOW (an aspect of personality)
• Discovering how the polarities of leaders’ own personalities influence their relationships on a daily basis and the overall dynamics of the organization
• Identifying the tension between leaders’ own internal and external diversity and learning how to integrate the polarities of personality in order to become a “fluid personality”
• Learning how to work with others’ diversity
• Doing some dream work on “How to Grow Further from Leadership into Eldership”

Training formats: seminars, workshops, experience groups, individual coaching sessions (also available in Skype)

 

Emotional literacy, or – intelligence

Most organizations that truly care about internal climate and employees’ engagement levels have included emotional literacy, or  -intelligence, in their leadership competence modules. Emotional literacy as as a value, has long been encountered in literature, ethics and philosophy. Aristotle, for example, offered a formula for wisdom [Wisdom = moral skills + moral will] and stated in his “Nicomachean Ethics”: “Anyone can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power”.

In discussing the skills and abilities associated with emotional intelligence, we talk about:

• the ability to accept oneself as a unique human being;
• the ability to recognize personal needs, values and boundaries;
• the skill to recognize personal feelings and to know what needs are hidden behind those strong feelings;
• the skill to manage feelings and express them appropriately and consistent with the situation;
• the ability to accept responsibility for one’s personal life and choices;
• the skill to set authentic goals and be disciplined in reaching them;
• the ability to accept others as unique creatures;
• the skill to recognize the motives and feelings of others, and to be empathetic;
• the skill to develop effective, working relationships with other people;
• the skill to resolve conflicts.

During the emotional intelligence workshops, we research what these skills actually mean for each of us, and identify personal strengths and pitfalls in each of them. We search for personal Achilles heels and find long-term strategies which help in nurturing and strengthening personal emotional intelligence.

Training formats: seminars, workshops and coaching sessions for groups and individuals (also available in online).

Respectful, Effective and Non-violent Communication and Conflict Management

Healthy workplace relationships are often sacrificed for getting things done when operating in a highly challenging business environment. At the same time, meaningful and positive employee relationships serve as a long-term base for sustainable business growth, and ensure that the workplace becomes the place where people want to, and can, perform their at their best.

I offer respectful and effective negotiation, communication and behaviour training solutions. The programme is adapted to the specific needs of an organization at a particular time.

Topics:

• The essence of respectful communication
• The significance of our own life position in how we talk to others
• The manifestation of aspects of personal emotional intelligence in communication and behaviour
• The principles and methods of non-violent, yet effective communication
• Strategies and practice for difficult negotiations and talks
• Passive-aggressive behaviour in communication and how to avoid getting passive-aggressive yourself
• Understanding the features of our own personality and temperament in communication – negotiating with people who are completely different to my personality type
• Giving and receiving feedback: situations, types and practice
• The meaning of conflict and ways of resolving it

Training formats: workshops and seminars for groups, individual coaching, directly and via Skype (Skype 1:1 only).

Systemic work for The Systemic Health of Organizations and Teams

The atmosphere within an organization is the result of systemic health. It is the first thing that we sense on entering a room. Is it possible to notice and evaluate systemic health immediately? The first signal is that you either feel that you want to work there or you don’t.

An organization’s overall system is made up of a number of elements: employees, customers, owners, products, services, the mission and goals. In a healthy organization, the employees at all levels feel good and are healthy and energetic.  The organization’s customers and cooperation partners are satisfied with their collaboration. The organization’s goals are clear and are being met, meaning is being conveyed by the mission, the  vision for the short-term and people’s responsibilities are clear and there is trust. One of the postulates that create the framework for systemic thinking is: the problem is not a problem in itself, but is a part of a larger process involving many other people, other behaviours, and other meanings.

In assisting owners and leaders to strengthen their organisational health, I offer:

• Consultations in the systemic diagnosis of an organisation or a department
• To facilitate systemic coaching sessions within the organizational leadership team to discover the elements in the system that need to be changed, included or heard
• To assist in identifying healthy and unhealthy everyday relationship dynamics and empowering people to deal with them

Formats: systemic coaching sessions, systemic constellations.

Supervision Groups for Organizational Leaders and Specialists

We learn most effectively as adults, if the topic resonates with our own experience, if it is relevant to our current work situation, and if the learning process’s atmosphere is open and safe. Professional group supervision and co-vision ensures just that – learning through sharing experiences here and now, in an open and safe environment, working on up to date job related case studies. Supervision is the reflection on issues related to work and professional activity. The main outcome of supervision is improvement of professional effectiveness.

Long-term effectiveness in the professional growth and personal wellbeing of group participants has been proven in countries where supervision for professional development has been used for decades. Some examples are: Holland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Historically, supervision has been used more frequently in medicine, social work, psychotherapy and other professions that are connected with helping other people and have a high risk of burnout. But isn’t the daily life of a leader or, or, for example, an insurance claims specialist, project manager, company internal trainer, or an incoming-call centre employee, directly connected with resolving complex relationships and helping others?

Formats: groups of 6-9 people, with the group working together 6-10 times, once every 4-6 weeks, individual supervision sessions face to face and Skype.

Further Development of Company Internal Mentors, Trainers and Coaches

The task of an organization’s internal trainer, mentor or coach is to support other colleagues’ professional development processes. Being a part of an organization in specific contexts, while at the same time maintaining the necessary independence to fulfil one’s obligations as a trainer/mentor/coach, and being non-judgemental and accepting, is a challenge. In supporting roles, just like in leadership, it is not the methods but the personality (HOW, instead of WHAT I do) that makes the difference in whether another person will feel motivated to plunge into self-development in the presence of the mentor/trainer/ coach or not. Only through being fully aware of our own blind spots and strengths are we able to provide an environment in which others want to, and can develop professionally.

As a professional trainer, coach and supervisor, I see it as my own responsibility – to work on my own personality blind spots, to sort out professional developmental needs and look after my professional moral hygiene. I also attend monthly group supervision for practicing supervisors and coaches and find this group to be extremely helpful for me in developing professionally.

To support organisational trainers, coaches and mentors I offer:

• Train the Trainer programs and supervision and co-vision groups for trainers
• Development workshops for mentors
• Training and supervision for internal coaches