Team Effectiveness
How can you design an effective team? Just over five years ago I was introduced to the research work of Prof. Ruth Wageman. She has studied thousands of teams and has some remarkable findings: I love teams and I love research, so I quickly signed up for training with Ruth and her business partner Krister […]
A Brilliant Team
A few weeks ago, I was in a room facilitating a brilliant team. They work in a highly successful and profitable part of their organization, contributing to double-digit year-on-year growth. The team leader and members are motivated, diverse, experts in their fields, and genuinely capable individuals. Life seems good in this organization, and they are […]
Fully Alive!
I love teams! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve played soccer — and I still play today at age 53. On a soccer field I feel ‘fully alive’, and that’s such an amazing feeling. Feeling alive means experiencing many emotions: anticipation, excitement, joy, camaraderie, frustration, fear, persistence, exhaustion — and so many more. On […]
Togetherness
I’m not a psychologist. I worked as an engineer, became an engineering leader, and later transitioned into the world of learning and development. From there I shifted into coaching, leadership development, team facilitation, and team coaching — with a deep yearning for dialogue. At each step of my path, I’ve always loved learning — about […]
Learning
Learning. Where oh where to start with this topic? I set myself the target of one sheet of A4 text per blog. There is so much to share on this one, it willneed a series of blogs. Let’s start at the beginning. My parents were both teachers. My dad taught in the same primary school […]
Creating Value
A couple of years ago, I was presenting to a group of Team Coaching colleagues about my“philosophy” as a team coach. In preparation for the session, I first needed to get my head aroundthe word philosophy. I came across the explanation “a guiding set of beliefs, values, and principles”— which sits much easier with me […]
What is Skillful Collaboration?
Skillful Collaboration is what you’ve experienced in the best team you ever worked in—andwhat you missed in the ones that were good, ok, mediocre, poor, bad, or downright terrible. Like that experience in a cross-functional team developing a subsystem product for a high-endcar producer, and years later the Operations Director bumps into you and says: […]
Our Mission
I just sat down to write this blog post. I’m in my home office. It’s a beautiful sunny September dayhere in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It’s Saturday morning. I’m relaxed. Got the laptop open. Got a hot,dark, strong coffee. Just been running, so my head is full of ideas about what to write. I’ve got 30minutes […]
Our Vision
I was just in a conversation with a good friend of mine. We’ve known each other for over 30years. She is working for a large multinational company in the HR talent team and is leading astrategic change to upskill and re-skill the organization. We were talking about how the skills of collaboration (working together) seem […]
Welcome
Yesterday I was part of a Dialogue session with a group of colleagues from around the world, and aspart of the hosting team, I had the honour of welcoming everybody to the event. Just before the session, I’d been thinking about the word welcome and decided that it’s one of myfavourite words. What I like […]