As an associate professor you are expected to support the governance and management of your department, along with your other tasks as a researcher and teacher. You will probably maintain your own line of research, but also contribute to the quality management and continuity (existence) of your department. And of course you’re trying to maintain good relations with your colleagues, partner, kids and friends.
The most popular courses and workshops among assistant professors are therefore Time management, Project management, Scientific happiness, negotiation, networking, Supervision of Phd students, and media training. You will find these courses and workshops below – and more.
The management of scientific research, departments and organisations isn’t easy in an academic world where freedom is needed and appreciated, and unclarity in responsibilities, tasks, conditions, and agreements is common. In this category you will find training in project / risk / crisis management, supervision of PhD students, time management, and much more. We will help you to make management and leadership easier and more effective!
During your work you have many conversations with your employees, colleagues and others within the organisation. An important aspect of cooperation between people is how to deal with friction or arguments. Therefore, having the right communication skills to deal with conflict can increase your effectiveness.
During the training we explore the different aspects of peaceful cooperation. Our convictions, the way we deal with feedback, how we handle our and others’ emotions, our ability to separate emotions from the issue at hand – these things all play a role. We further introduce different strategies to deal with conflicts and reach your goals.
How do you stand up for yourself but still show respect for the other? How do you deal with someone who is angry with you? How do you express anger and still keep a good (working) relationship? With a training actor we practice with your own cases and give each other feedback. These communication techniques are applicable to formal conversations like performance reviews, as well as during general communication in your daily work,
ElroyCOM tailors this training to your personal needs with the help of intake interviews and/ or intake forms. In this way we can guarantee that the training addresses the personal issues and cases of the participants. If desired, we also offer coaching sessions either parallel with or after the training sessions.
Supervising PhD’s is hard enough as it is. Supervisors and promotors experience the supervision as even more difficult when there is a large geographical distance between the PhD and the supervision team. Maybe you are supervising a student that spends most of their time in Africa. Or you are supervising a ‘sandwich’-PhD (someone who is doing their PhD at two universities). Or the PhD is detached to another scientific department. Or maybe you are supervising an ‘outside’-PhD, who is working at an HBO institution. This can create issues for the communication between you and for your grip on the PhD and the project: you see each other less often, most communication is done by email, phone or video conference, and it is harder to see what is being done with your feedback. Possibly there are more supervisors involved who all have their own interests. How do you deal with this distance and complexity?
During the training/ intervision we explore the success factors in the supervision of PhD’s and share issues around supervising from a distance. We map out who is involved in the project, and how tasks and responsibilities are arranged. We also discuss agreements around the communication between you and the PhD. In exercises with the actor we practice difficult conversations and situations, e.g.: the PhD doesn’t keep in regular contact, they don’t incorporate your feedback or do it much too late, or the other partners and supervisors don’t do what they have promised. You choose your own case and decide on your own learning process and conclusions.
How can you apply or develop leadership skills to help your staff and students perform, but also to maintain their resilience and wellbeing under the current work pressure?
Recent studies on this topic in The Netherlands show that scientists are struggling to deal with the ever-increasing work pressure. This leads scientists to suffer from worrying, depletion of energy, physical symptoms of stress, and having trouble balancing work and private life. Monitoring positive and negative signals, organizing support and cooperation, putting stress on the departmental agenda, and coaching your
group and individual employees: All of these aspects demand knowledge of both psychology and leadership.
In this module, trainers who specialize in the psychology and leadership of wellbeing offer you knowledge on the subject. They follow recent studies by TNO and base their work on the science of stress. The main focus is:
In addition to sharing experiences, we practice relevant conversations that you would need with your employees – such as progress or job evaluation meetings – with the help of a specialised training actor.
Cooperation with stakeholders and partners in scientific projects and consortia is increasingly important in today’s scientific arena. They can be scientific partners, industry, NGOs, patients, museums, government bodies, and others.
When you are dealing with stakeholders, the following questions are important:
In this module we will focus on your specific questions concerning engaging with stakeholders and deal with them in the form of peer consultation. In small groups you exchange experience and ideas and learn from each other’s practice. Where applicable, some theory and background information will be given or we can do some exercises. Thus, the content of the module will be tailored according to the needs of the participants.
Practicing and sharing experience and advice with your peers helps you to set up projects and hold them together. Facilitating the needs of partners and stakeholders involved helps to run such projects smoothly and effectively.
Academic leadership is a 5 to 10 day package of workshops on various topics. Many of our employees choose topics such as situational leadership, strategic and organisational influence, supervising PhD students, team building and team management, coaching personal development and the happiness of employees, media training, selling science, professional networking and negotiation, and personal time management. The workshops will be planned over the course of a year. An electronic learning environment can help the participants online to share knowledge and ideas, discuss and ask questions, and to practice skills. This is a cost effective way to help the participants to stay actively involved during period of the course.
Due a number of recent cases of fraude and plagiarism in the Dutch (and global) scientific society, attention for this subject has increased. Connected to this is the growing criticism on the scientific system as a whole (see for instance the website http://www.scienceintransition.nl/). During this course the participants discuss their views, experiences, possible risks and how to deal with them. We use real cases to analyze what the forces, causes and solutions are. Together, we choose strategies to prevent fraude and plagiarism, for instance by clear agreements with co-authors and project partners.
Especially for associate and full professors, the relevant question thereafter is: how do I manage the scientific integrity of my department? How do I get this on the agenda, how do we develop a common view or guideline? What are the effects of my vision on scientific integrity, on the cooperations in which my students and staff are involved? Sharing cases, views, and solutions helps the participants to develop a view on the management of scientific integrity.
Once you have found interesting and willing partners to cooperate with, how do you consolidate this into a productive scientific and manageable (international) cooperation? A workshop for senior scientists.
In this course or workshop we discuss the definition of commitment, and map interests of the project partners involved. By analyzing and translating interests into ‘what do partners bring to the table, and what do they want in return?’, it is easier to clarify roles and responsibilities. Agreement by all partners involved about tasks and responsibilities is vital to capitalize on commitment. Risk analysis is also an important element in setting up cooperation: where lie conflicting interests among stakeholders, how do we deal with ‘secret’ scientific information and ownership and how can we prevent or circumvent such issues? Which cultural differences may play a role?
Such management tools create clarity and open the road to progress, since everyone knows exactly what is expected in terms of roles and tasks. This then translates into project planning and monitoring progress parameters. We will address the use of user committees, interactive science production, and discuss individual cases of participants, their problems, solutions and successes. The very interactive nature of this course offers the opportunity to share experiences among participants, who are also (future) scientific leaders.
At the start of a new and challenging project, you know that more will be demanded of you as a leader. But right when you are taking up new or more tasks and responsibilities, your personal development is under pressure. What are efficient and novel ways to develop your leadership, and to strengthen you for the bigger tasks at hand? In this course you get insights from management science and practice.
What got you here won’t get you there. In this interactive lecture we share several strategies with which you can accelerate and strengthen your own leadership development. Among other things, you will discover how great leaders develop themselves, how to know what to develop, how to get the type of feedback that helps you develop and how to learn more from your daily leadership experiences. Because when leaders grow, teams develop and projects succeed. Actively practicing and sharing with other participants makes this more than just a lecture.
Working in a changing scientific environment, with a variety of different scientific colleagues, puts specific strain on your social intelligence and cooperation skills. How can you influence others effectively? How can you create commitment? How can you become a pleasant but effective colleague? How can you deal with difficult people and situations? We look at the science behind influencing people, communication styles, making clear agreements, convincing, creating commitment, giving feedback and conflict management. In an interactive training we help you to find ways to get what you want while being a team player!
We discuss your strengths and share difficult scenarios. Based on several science-based models for interpersonal communication, conflict and feedback, we practice a variety of skills. We will bring the knowledge of scientists such as Robert Cialdini, Pacelle van Goethem, Kerry Patterson, Manon Bongers and others to the test.
One of our professional training actors will help you practice certain types of people and situations. With playful games and serious conversation exercises you can investigate your own styles and new solutions. Based on the wishes of the individual participants we can add tests to examine your styles, flexibility and effectiveness.
Become a master communicator and team player!
How can you apply your leadership skills to have your people perform, but also to maintain their resilience and wellbeing under the current work pressure? Recent studies on this topic in The Netherlands show that scientists are struggling to deal with the ever-increasing work pressure. This leads scientists to suffer from worrying, depletion of energy, physical symptoms of stress, and having trouble balancing work and private life. Monitoring positive and negative signals, putting it on the departmental agenda, and coaching your group and individual employees, demands knowledge of both psychology and leadership.
In this course, trainers who specialize in the psychology and leadership of wellbeing offer you knowledge on the subject. The main focus is sharing experiences with your peers (participants), and creating an action plan that will help you implement healthy work habits in your department. In addition, we practice relevant conversations that you would need with your employees – such as progress or job evaluation meetings – with the help of a specialised training actor.
As an associate or full professor you are involved in the governance of the faculty or university, through your influence in boards and committees. In this course package (4 days) you will be trained in the skills needed to optimize your effectiveness.
We discuss the place and role of universities and the theories of for instance Birnbaum, as well as the current changes therein. We practice skills in leadership, management roles (Quinn), time management, communication styles, influencing your organisation, lobbying, negotiation, chairmanship, decision making.
With a mentor or buddy you will work on practical assignments to apply what you learn directly. During the training, the actors support exercising situations from the practice of influencing your organisation through governance.
Influencing decision making in your organisation demands strategic sensitivity and thinking. Without direct power, you need a sensitive approach to the attitudes within your organisation. Who is for, who is against your plans, who can you for coalitions with and who is your downright enemy? How do you convince, connect, collaborate, exclude, avoid or embrace?
Developing this sensitivity partly depends on your stye and personality, and partly on methods to map the ‘force fields’. You will share experiences with participants and analyse and map these force fields in concrete examples. The attitudes towards you plan are based on arguments, but also on personal interests and individual affection.
Develop the skill to know what to say when, to whom and how: convince, avoid, ignore, charm, and maximise your influence in your scientific organisation!
Every manager has many crucial interactions with people. This training is all about judgement of human nature. Managing people demands insight into their character. This is not a talent that you either posess or lack: it is about collecting relevant knowledge about your people: what drives them? How do they view their role and that of their colleagues? How do they deal with conflict? What gives them job satisfaction? Where lie their allergies? With such knowledge and psychological insight it is possible to effectively interact with them.
Another important element is self-knowledge. In interhuman communication, all involved influence the process. Including you, that is. How do you view your position and the roles of your employees? How do you communicate?
During the course we map your qualities by using personality tests and by discussing them among the participants. We invite you to analyse your employees and we discuss the consequences for your communication with them. In individual cases with an actor we apply this knowledge and we practice how to use this in order to motivate, direct, convince or help your people.
One of the most frequently asked questions by managers is: how do I motivate my people? What they mean by that, however, differs. Some intend to influence their employees to show a certain work attitude, others would like to see their people happy. Analysing and setting the right goal is therefore crucial. What do we mean by ‘motivation’? How do we find out what motivates them? How can we influence their motivation by external stimuli? What can we do when our employees lack internal motivation? This calls for knowledge of psychological processes as well as communication skills.
During the training we share individual experiences among the participants. We analyse the aspects that construct the employee’s motivations, and add some of the views from psychological and communication theory. This wil show different communication strategies needed for different goals. We invite the participants to interview one of their employees between the course days. With the help of an actor we practice individual cases and look for the best way to help the participants to have the effect that they desire.
The course applies to both formal (job evaluation interviews, personal development plans) as well as informal communication.
Assistant and associate professors want to select PhD students who will be equipped to do research and communicate effectively. For instance, you probably want them to have sufficient knowledge of the subject, and a high enough level of English writing skills. But how do you select the right student, en how do you test the criteria that you have?
Some professors say ‘I just suddenly had a PhD student, I didn’t really choose’. Even they will benefit from this training: making a conscious decision about supervising a PhD student (or not), helps to effectively supervise them and prevents unwanted situations.
In this course we help you to define your wishes and criteria, by sharing ideas with other participants and suggesting to you scenarios from our experience. Such positive and negative scenarios give you an idea of what you may want in a student, and what not. You may seek a student who is – besides clever and educated – self-sufficient, proficient in written English, proactive, assertive, result oriented and capable of making his or her own decisions. What is it that you look for in a student?
When you have defined your list of criteria, how do you then test if a candidate matches them? Just asking the candidate directly isn’t enough, we want proof. Like in any job application interview, it isn’t enough to hear them say ‘yes, I am very independent’, but you want to hear concrete examples to prove that. The STAR model helps you to create testing tools for the wishes and criteria you have. In exercises with the actors, we help you to effectively apply it.
After the course, you will go home with your own list of wishes and criteria for selecting the right students, and the tools to properly test those criteria in new PhD candidates.
The aim of the course is to enhance the success rate of PhD-projects and research projects in general by focusing on the role of the supervisor. During the course we discuss and share views, problems and solutions. We provide participants with practical tools for effective leadership and management of researchers. Some basic theoretical models for leadership are discussed.
With the aid of an actor we then apply different leadership styles to various cases involving motivation, feedback, conflicts, negotiations, and other subjects tailored to your personal situation. Practising leadership styles and conversation skills helps to sensitize the manager to adapt to the requirements of the situation at hand, and make his or her job easier and more effective.
Participants will gain insight into their leadership qualities from a number of tests. A personal coaching session will help participants to formulate a personal development plan according to their wishes and needs.
The end result of this course is a personal Action Plan in which the outcomes of the tests and coaching session is described and an agenda is set by the participants themselves, on how to further develop their skills. All participants will receive an ElroyCOM certificate for completing the course.
As an academic manager you have different roles to fulfill. Management is not just about facilitating, directing and deciding. A large part is about your role as a coach to your employees. How can you help them develop and grow into content and self-relient employees? This calls for a management style that is focused on asking the right questions, listening, supporting, negotiating and motivating.
During the course we make an inventory of coaching situations from the experiences of the participants. Problem analysis, deciding between instructing, coaching, delegating, or negotiating are all important parts of coaching leadership. We practice such situations with an actor and apply various communication and management models. The course applies to both formal conversations (job evaluation interviews, personal development plan) and informal conversations in your daily work.
Supervisors and managers need to be likeable to some extent. It is impossible, however, for everyone to like you all of the time. Some managers tend to prioritise likeability to a level where it impedes rational decision making. This may become a pitfall that is often described as ‘love junky’. Many managers recognise this to a certain degree, and describe it as ‘getting stuck in between’. In some situations this may lead you to make the wrong decisions or to delay decision making. At the same time it is a quality: you invest a lot in positive and strong relationships. How do you stay effective and maintain good relations whilst being able to make difficult decisions that are sometimes painful to or in disagreement with others?
In this training we focus on your communicative qualities and we look at how you deal with resistance and negativity. A test will give you insight in your natural communication styles. In individual cases with an actor we then practice how to deal with difficult situations: how do you bring bad news? How do you deal with resistance or disagreement among your employees? What do you do when you fail to convince others?
After this training you can separate rational decision making from emotional processes. You will be able to make necessary decisions unaffected by the opinions and feelings of others, whilst maintaining a good relationship with your people. You can make tough decisions and still be sensitive to the emotions and wishes of your employees. They may not always like you, but they will understand and respect you and acknowledge your authority!
A powerful personal charisma has great effect on your capacity to captivate people. It helps you to stand out and be noticed. Improving your personal charisma will aid you in network conversations, job interviews, management skills and professional presentations. Work on these skills and make people believe in you!
In this workshop we look for competencies to improve your charisma. We illustrate the effect of non-verbal communication, movement, the use of your voice, active and self-confident language and conversation skills.
We practice these skills with a professional training actor in situations in which a powerful charisma is necessary. The participants create an elevator pitch that presents their strengths and qualities, practice a network conversation and various other situations.
We share tips and tricks that help you to captivate your audience with your powerful presence. How to be authentic, open, accessable, trust-worthy and how to speak with self-confidence. A workshop you won’t easily forget!
This training / coaching is all about the effectivity of decision making in meetings. Depending on the employer’s wishes, we focus on the chairman, the participants of the meeting, or both.
Being a chairman demands many skills at the same time. How do you stay in charge of the meeting? How do you involve the participants in the subject? How you guide and guard the decision making process?
And what about the participants in the meeting? What is their role? What do they contribute? How can we prevent hearing always the same voices? How do we create an effective meeting without boredom and with fruitful input and discussion? Can we release knowledge and experience and learn form each other?
This training/coaching is always set up according to the specific wishes of the employer. We usually attend one or more meetings before we make an inventory of the required training, coaching or advice. We carefully listen to the wishes and needs of all involved, and help to make meetings effective, happy events.
This training in time management helps you to organize your research, supervision, writing, teaching and other tasks and activities. When the pressure is mounting and more is asked of you, it asks of you to get organized and decide what to to do when. But it also requires you to decide what you are – and what you are not – going to do.
In this training we help you to organise your work, plan your day/week/month, set priorities, map stress factors and solve periods of overload. There are a lot of methods you can use to make your work more effective whilst creating room to breathe! Less stress creates room for creativity.
A part of time management is assertive cooperation with colleagues, making clear agreements, dividing work, negotiating with colleagues or superiors and saying ‘no’ to others and saying ‘yes’ to yourself. We practice such communicative aspects with professional training actors.
This course aims to help scientists to set up, supervise and manage research projects. How to maintain control and assure success, both in terms of project aims and people management? Participants work on their individual projects and share experiences. The course combines both methodical skills and conversation skills.
In the course we include an introduction to management roles: the Competing Values Framework (Quinn et al. 2010). We also discuss formal and informal clarity in tasks and responsibilities. Other subjects are dealing with time, risks and crises, and managing people.
The communication skills in this training involve monitoring and managing the projects in situations with project participants or stakeholders that we simulate with an actor. In these simulations we challenge the participants to stay in charge, monitor, decide, negotiate, convince, instruct, coach, stimulate and motivate and assure commitment.
In between course days the participants work on assignments of their own choice, possibly concerning agreements with stakeholders and participants, setting up planning schemes, practicing difficult conversations or changing the risk factors.
This module aims to help scientific researchers to set-up, supervise and manage multiple research projects. How maintain control and assure success? Participants work on their individual projects. The module combines both ‘hard’ skills and conversation skills.
The key difficulties project managers in academia face are:
The definitive contents of the module will be fine-tuned to the individual context and wishes of the participants by means of intake forms, filled in before the module starts. The heart of the course focuses on the following elements:
The communication skills in this module involve monitoring and managing the projects in situations with project participants or stakeholders that we simulate with an actor. In these simulations we challenge the participants to stay in charge, monitor, decide, convince, instruct, coach, stimulate and motivate.
In between course days the participants work on assignments of their own choice, possibly concerning agreements with stakeholders and participants, setting up multiple planning schemes, practicing difficult conversations or changing the risk factors.
Management of scientific projects involves dealing with risks and crises. Which occurences can hypothetically and in reality undermine the progress and success of your projects? How can you prevent them from happening? How do you create alternatives and action plans? And what exactly do you do when the **** hits the fan?
In the training you define clear projects goals and conditions in one of your projects. You estimate the risks and their impact, and calculate or estimate the chance they will occur. Based on a risk matrix you determine when to take action and what to do when risk becomes crisis.
When a crisis actually occurs, who do you involve in solving them and how? How does the crisis affect your project goals, conditions and planning? How do you change them to the new reality?
In this training you practise all of these skills, and after it you go home with a lot more scientific project security.
The course helps you to discover your strengths and offers possible directions for development: is leadership right for you, and how can you apply it?
Leadership demands a lot of different roles with different skill-sets. As a leader, you support and facilitate research (innovation) but you are also a people manager, a coordinator, a producer, a governor. In this active course day we help you to define your strengths and personal development wishes based on Professor Quinn’s Handbook “Becoming a master manager”. We will share experiences and tips among participants. You will build your own personal development plan – in which areas do you think you could improve and how can you do it? – based on your personal wishes.
With the help of a professional training actor, we use Situational Leadership as a framework to practice various situations within the context of leadership. You can suggest a situation you would like to practice, such as: how do I delegate?, what if my employee lacks skills?, what is the difference between coaching and teaching, and how do I apply this?
With leadership comes delegation: you will have to delegate certain tasks and manage them. But how? Who do you choose? Will they be able to do it? Do they want to? Does delegation lead to less control? How do I monitor and maintain a grip? How do I let go of that task mentally, how do I stop worrying about it? What does delegating cost, and what are the benefits?
In this training you will share experiences with other participants, and we discuss hierarchical agreements, cooperation, task distribution, task description, task maturity, willingness, monitoring and control. The actor helps us to practice situations, based on the information that you give us.
If you can delegate and let go, you will become more effective in your work, without losing any sleep!
This integrated 1-day workshop focuses on the supervision of PhD students. The supervision of PhD-students is an important factor in the success of the PhD-projects. In many cases, the formal and informal conditions are unclear to both the PhD-student and the supervisor, and are insufficiently clarified even in Training and Supervision Plans. Difficulty with planning and monitoring cause most of the Dutch PhD-projects to suffer delay and sometimes lead PhD’s to quit their project before it is finished. In this course we help the supervisors to maintain a good relationship and invest a minimum of time and effort while making the project a success.
Investing in the start of the project and clarifying project conditions and expectations, setting up effective planning and monitoring, and creating a help network for the PhD-student all promote effective project management. Inbetween the course days, the participants are invited to discuss these subjects with one of their PhD-students. With the help of an actor we simulate indvidual situations regarding progress meetings, motivation, resistance, and we display various types of PhD-students.
This training helps supervisors and promotors of PhD students to make supervision effective and easier. Effectively, this training has proven to make supervision more relaxed and to save time.
The key factors causing frustration, delays, miscommunication, and lack of progress can easily circumvented. That is, provided you invest in the start-up, make clear agreements and express expectations, manage and delegate the planning, coach effectively and make management decisions.
You want PhD students who become independent and self-sufficient researchers, who are happy, give you results, and finish on time. This course helps you to do that.
Each one-day workshop starts with sharing experiences, some theory and exercises. In the afternoons, we practice applicable situations with a professional training actor. We adjust these situations and the contents of the workshop to your intakes forms, which you are requested to fill in before the workshop.
During the start-up of a PhD candidate and his/her project it is crucial to make clear agreements on the responsibilities, roles and tasks of all involved. We inform you of formal rights and procedures at your university and supplement this with ElroyCOM guidelines to start up a PhD candidate. We also help you to set up a help network for the candidate, relieving pressure on supervision and making the PhD student self-sufficient as early as possible. In the afternoons, we help you effectuate this in conversations with a professional training actor, based on the Situational Leadership theory (Hersey & Blanchard 2004).
This training helps supervisors and promotors of PhD students to make supervision effective and easier. Effectively, this training has proven to make supervision more relaxed and to save time.
The key factors causing frustration, delays, miscommunication, and lack of progress can easily circumvented. That is, provided you invest in the start-up, make clear agreements and express expectations, manage and delegate the planning, coach effectively and make management decisions.
You want PhD students who become independent and self-sufficient researchers, who are happy, give you results, and finish on time. This course helps you to do that.
Each one-day workshop starts with sharing experiences, some theory and exercises. In the afternoons, we practice applicable situations with a professional training actor. We adjust these situations and the contents of the workshop to your intakes forms, which you are requested to fill in before the workshop.
Save time and maintain control over project progress! After the start-up, the PhD project demands close monitoring. The main aim is to gain control over the project’s progress in an effective way. Good and simple planning helps to anticipate and make management decisions, whilst leaving room for flexibility and creativity and for the stimulation and growth of the PhD candidate. We therefore help you to make an easy and flexible planning, which can then be delegated to the PhD candidate. Since planning is not an aim in itself, the focus is on risk management: how do you maintain control over project progress when things change or setbacks occur? In the afternoons, we practice conversations on the topic of planning and monitoring with a professional training actor. It is strongly recommended you follow Effective Supervision Part I before subscribing to Part II, although it is possible to subscribe to Part I, II and III individually.
This training helps supervisors and promotors of PhD students to make supervision effective and easier. Effectively, this training has proven to make supervision more relaxed and to save time.
The key factors causing frustration, delays, miscommunication, and lack of progress can easily circumvented. That is, provided you invest in the start-up, make clear agreements and express expectations, manage and delegate the planning, coach effectively and make management decisions.
You want PhD students who become independent and self-sufficient researchers, who are happy, give you results, and finish on time. This course helps you to do that.
Each one-day workshop starts with sharing experiences, some theory and exercises. In the afternoons, we practice applicable situations with a professional training actor. We adjust these situations and the contents of the workshop to your intakes forms, which you are requested to fill in before the workshop.
Make sure the project ends, with quality work and little delay! The goal of the PhD project is contributing to science, educating the PhD candidate, and his/her timely graduation. This phase need not be stressful to supervisors and PhD candidates. Wrapping up the project demands a timely and sharp look at the end criteria (contents of the thesis, publications, etc.) and following formal procedures. It also takes communicating with all project partners involved (e.g. manuscript committee, promotor, partners, industry, etc.) and coaching the writing process. We briefly devote attention to supervising the PhD student to the “afterlife”: do you want them to stay as post-docs, or how can you help them to a next job? We practice situations with a professional training actor that helps you lead the PhD candidate and the project to successful completion.
Scientists and their departments need money for research, and they increasingly depend on funding from outside university. So they apply for funding from (inter-)national funding agencies, or cooperate with industry, external employers, or businesses. They may also want to make money out of the results, or spread results through the media to make sure their results get know and used.
This asks specific skills of you and your department, such as convincing non-experts, business negotiations, consulting skills, marketing your results, and dealing with the news media.
What exactly is the need for knowledge or applications by your external partner? How do you translate this to your research questions? How do you create an effective cooperation in which your and their needs are satisfied? How do you spread your results, make sure they get noticed in the news media?
That is what Selling Science is about!
Making your work understandable to others than peer scientists is becoming increasingly important. Not only because the media play an important role in the imagebuilding of your work environment and are crucial for public education, but also because inter-. multi- and transdisciplinary research demand clear communication among people of various backgrounds. How do you explain your conclusions to a journalist, a policy maker, a patient, or a representative of civil communities?
The participants learn to prepare for an interview with the news media (radio, TV or newspaper) and a presentation for ‘laymen’. With an actor, the participants practice how to make their message understandable to a broad audience, how to present a core message, how to deal with difficult questions or downright attacks, and how to deal with ethical or societal questions. In a realistic setting you will convince the actor (reporter, patient, layman) and the audience of the importance of your message, whilst keeping in charge over the conversation.
Never again will you be lost for words!
Communicating with non-experts
The modern scientist needs to be able to communicate with non-experts about his or her scientific work, in order to increase their societal impact. These non-experts may be civilians, farmers, patients, policy makers, journalists or others. A specific message, using understandable language and colourful examples, presents an appealing vision of the future of your research and its meaning to society. This frame of mind even has a positive effect on your cooperation with multidisciplinary colleagues and on writing grants and presenting for funding agency committees. It is therefore the start of the series of training days on acquisition skills.
In this intense, relaxed and practical course day you will practice defining your specific news for a specific target group and embellishing it with strong metaphors and examples. The chief trainer will give an introduction on acquisition, valorisation, knowledge transfer and societal impact. The participants then interview each other and help each other filter out the most important elements. We test the quality of your story using the 6 Cs.
We will put our stories to work with the help of a professional training actor: how do you apply this in the interaction with civilians, project partners, journalists and others? How can you use your pitch in a dialogue with non-experts? How can you deal with critical questions? How do you keep people interested? How do you avoid misinterpretation? You can choose your learning goal and the situation yourself. We record your 10-minute finale with the actor on DVD, and give it you for self-analysis after the course day.
Hundreds of scientists have attended this successful training. You will experience that such skills increase your impact, while it is fun to do!
Science is a creative profession, and scientists are generally very creative and innovative in their work. But some commonly used techniques have been proven ineffective. Even though creativity is crucial for innovative research, applications, and to get research proposals granted. In this workshop we will focus on enhancing your creative process by making use of science based techniques, such as zapstorm, brainwriting or deviators. We will help you try such techniques and apply them to your own context. Also, we will look at myths about creativity, and check what is counter-creative according to scientific research. This probably changes your view on your creative effectiveness!
Learn how to stimulate creative thinking and innovation! The trainer is a psychologist in creativity and innovation techniques. He uses techniques based on recent scientific research, such as Kaufman & Sternberg (2010), Rex Jung (2013), and De Vos (2013).
Optimize your creative effectiveness and apply it hands-on during this inspiring course!
Valorisation is currently a hot topic, while professors and academic managers ask themselves: why should I do it?, what is it?, how can I create and voice my vision on valorisation and stimulate my employees?
We prefer to use the broader term impact, and the chief trainer – a former assistant professor in Science & Society – will discuss with you the possibilities within different fields of science. Making money of research is a natural step to some fields of science, spreading knowledge via the news media or advising a museum is more obvious for another. There are many ways to increasing the impact of your department. The first part of the course consists of peer-to-peer sharing and coaching and creating your own vision.
We practice effectuating your vision in conversations with your employees, who are represented by one of our top academic training actors. Can you convince your employees to adopt your vision of valorisation, and coach and activate them to undertake activities within that scope? Yes, you can!
Some people have great charisma. They fill the room with their presence, are able to make others listen and know how to convince them. They give great scientific presentations, are effective networkers, get selected in job interviews more often, convince funding agency committees and have impressive careers. How do they do it? A charisma like Barack Obama can be taught!
In this course we investigate what charisma means and how we can improve it. We use scientific knowledge about the effects of body language and discover how to use it consciously. We will show the effects of pose, movement, gestures, and the tone and pitch of your voice. For instance, did you know that body language has a significant effect on whether applicants get hired or not? Do you know that power positions can instantly boost both your self-confidence and your performance?
We practice situations in which charisma is important, with a professional training actor. For instance: a presentation for a funding agency, a job interview, a network conversation, etc. Of course, you choose the situation you wish to practice. Know how to look credible, trustworthy, confident and likable and show the world who you really are!
Acquiring sufficient funding has become a prerequisite for scientific research and a crucial competency for academic scientists. But before acquiring any funding, a career strategy is needed. Random funding acquisition is not just ineffective; it has shown to impede academic careers.
During this course day, we will help you to form a career strategy, based on your CV and past results and activities, what you are good at, and what you enjoy doing. With the help of a simple self- evaluation tool, you can choose and define where you want to go. The second step is to create your own development plan, which states which competencies you would like to develop, which (types of) courses you want to follow, and which kind of grants would fit your career profile. Take a good hard look at your desired career path, and design a framework for the type of acquisition you aim at!
By sharing with your peers in this course, you will inspire each other to define and choose an acquisition strategy in line with your career plan and personal objectives. We will take your individual wishes into account by using an intake form.
Acquiring sufficient funding has become a prerequisite for scientific research. After designing a career strategy, writing grants and getting them awarded is crucial for your survival in academia.
In order to succeed you need to effectively connect to the aims of the grant, excite the reader, convince with a clear style and structure, and raise realistic but brave expectations of the results. During this course, we will share tips and tricks on successful grant-writing skills and show you how reviewers look at your work. We will also discuss the requirements of specific funding agencies like NWO and ERC.
In this training you will receive feedback on your own – previously written or prepared – grant application texts. You will learn how to write your proposal convincingly by clearly stating the problem you will work on and showing a future solution. We will discuss how to make your text easy to read. Reviewing each other’s texts is also part of the course day. We will take your individual wishes into account by using an intake form. This course aims at beginner to advanced level grant writers. Write better, get funded!
This workshop is all about Networking as a conversation skill. An effective network increases your visibility and chances on cooperation, jobs, and professional friends. Having a large and interesting network makes you more hireable.
We distinguish between two types of network conversations: 1. You meet a stranger at for instance a conference, and want to make acquaintance and find out if you could be of professional interest to each other; 2. You know whom you are going to talk to and you have a specific goal. Both types of conversations require very different preparation and execution. We use the perspective of negotiation to practice both variations, in line with your career and acquisition strategy.
With the help of a professional training actor, we practice various elements. For instance: how to approach someone at a meeting or conference; how to break into a conversation among people; how to create interest in what you do and who you are; how to persuade someone to set up a cooperation; how to capitalise on such encounters. Your individual wishes will be taken into account with the use of intake forms.
This fun and slightly chaotic workshop will help you to increase your professional visibility and networking effectiveness!
Once you have found interesting and willing partners to cooperate with, how do you consolidate this into a productive scientific and manageable (international) cooperation? A course for senior scientists.
In this course we discuss the definition of commitment, and map interests of the project partners involved. By analyzing and translating interests into ‘what do partners bring to the table, and what do they want in return?’, it is easier to clarify roles and responsibilities. Agreement by all partners involved about tasks and responsibilities is vital to capitalize on commitment. Risk analysis is also an important element in setting up cooperation: where lie conflicting interests among stakeholders, how do we deal with ‘secret’ scientific information and ownership and how can we prevent or circumvent such issues? Which cultural differences may play a role?
Such management tools create clarity and open the road to progress, since everyone knows exactly what is expected in terms of roles and tasks. This then translates into project planning and monitoring progress parameters. We will address the use of user committees, interactive science production, and discuss individual cases of participants, their problems, solutions and successes. The very interactive nature of this course offers the opportunity to share experiences among participants, who are also (future) scientific leaders.
Effective networking needs a strategy. Who should be in my network? Who could help me with the next step in my career? How can I grow my network in the right direction? These strategic questions go hand in hand with a career strategy.
In this module you will determine your career strategy in rough strokes. If you pursue a position at a certain institute, your network needs a different approach than when you want your next job to find you. And if you, like many, are open to different career options we’ll help you think about your values, qualities and even happiness to develop a fitting network strategy. Together we’ll figure out who is interesting for your network today, also if your career is still very unclear.
You’ll learn how to decide who to add to your network, how to develop a career strategy, how to deal with the uncertainty in your career and create a path to grow your current network. It’s good to notice that this is a strategy module. We will not be practicing the network conversations themselves.
By sharing with your peers in this fun and active module, you will inspire each other to rethink your career path and network strategy.
In this training we help you to explain in simple terms what your research is about, what messages are likely to get printed in newspapers, and how to connect to today’s news items. We practice this with a media trained actor, so you will experience or see what works and what does not. We try out the wrong way, which is usually good for a laugh, and we show you the right way.
For instance: you are at a conference. A journalist with a camera unexpectedly shows up and asks you to give your expert opinion on a news item. How do you respond?
Or: a phone call from a journalist, he starts interviewing you about your research. How do you make sure the story gets printed right?
Or: you would like to give more attention to your work in the media. How can you make your topic interesting for the media?
In fact, dealing with such situations is widely applicable to dealing with non-experts in general. Researchers increasingly work interdisciplinary and communicate with civilians, journalists, policy makers or stakeholders. In all cases you need to be able to describe your scientific point of view understandably, whilst inspiring, convincing, reassuring or informing them.
When you hire an entrepreneur or business to do paid work for you, you need appropriate knowlegde and skills.We give you information about the Dutch situation: what are the formal things you need to check, how do you make clear agreements, and how do you negotiate about quotations and prices?
We inform you about this in different scenarios, and practice skills with the actors. When do you need to check their “VAR”, or Chamber of Commerce register? How do prevent any surprises? How do you compare quotations and negotiate a price down? Have you thought of cancelation conditions? How do you define the quality of the work or the assignment? What do you do when you are unhappy with the service?
This training is also open to personell department employees.
When you cooperate with an industrial partner, or have an assignment from an external employer, or interact with end users of your knowledge, you need to define clearly what it is they want. What does the surgeon want, for whom you develop an instrument? What kind of advice does the local government ask of you? What are the precise functionalities does the end user want in the software? It is not always easy to see the real problem and translate that to your project aims.
In this training you work with cases (ours or your own) to practice preparation and questioning. With the aid of an actor you try to get to the heart of the matter, the employer’s problem and wishes. Questioning schemes help you to define the end ‘product’. We also look at the consequences of those project wishes in terms of money, time and people: you need to choose if you are able to do it, or downsize it to something feasable. This is also part of expectation management: making clear agreements about what will be the output, and what not.
This is a professional skill that you can use widely in scientific research, project management and people management.
Communicating with non-experts and news media
This two-day training integrates “Talking to non-experts” and “Media training”, and was developed especially for NWO. It helps researchers to communicate convincingly with non-experts and the news media. The knowledge and skills gained form this training can be widely applied: in speaking with non-experts, dealing with the press, making research results public, and for effective communication in a multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary cooperation. The skills we practice will also help you in presentations for and conversations with committees, which often contain members with other specialisms than you. These aren’t just essentials skills for any modern scientist, it is also a lot of fun to do!
In this two day training we spend time on getting to the core of your own individual research, and how to communicate that clearly and with conviction. Which message do you want to communicate to different target audiences? What is interesting to them? How do you use metaphors and examples? How do you deal with resistance or criticism? What can you expect in contact with the media? Professional actors help you practise conversations with non-experts and journalists.
Many ex-participants have presented their work in the media after this training and others have reported they gained fruitful network contacts and even got job offers when applying what they had learned during the training.
Negotiating is a skill that we all apply every day, even without knowing it. These skills are therefore widely applicable. Finding a compromise is not always the ideal solution, though we seem programmed to go for it too easily. What can we do to get thet maximum out of a negotiation, both for yourself as well as for your conversation partner? How can we get the optimum, and maintain a good relationship at the same time? The basic principles are the same, whether we deal with negotiations regarding salary or when we decide which movie to go to in the cinema with our partners.
Negotiation is about knowing what you can give and ask for (currency), exchanging wishes and needs rather than positions, dilemma’s or stale mates. It is therefore not so much about winning as it is about asking questions and showing respect for your conversation partner.
We explore various negotiation strategies in situations handed to us by the participants from their own context. A test gives us insight in the natural negotiation qualities of the participants and their pitfalls. In cases with an actor we then try these styles and strategies.
After this training you will find it easier to stand up for yourself and get what you really want, as you wil have tools to negotiate while maintaining a good relationship with everyone.
Whether your career moves away from scientific research or not, consulting skills are needed nowadays in both arenas.
What is ‘advise’? How you translate the problem or question, and the conclusions, to advise? What do you do when you have ‘unwanted’ advise? How do you make sure they understand and accept your recommendations?
In this workshop we practise such skills with actors. In this way you can see what a consultant really does, and acquire some of the necessary skills.
If you want to stimulate the use of your knowledge, scientific expertise or product, you need a good definition of it. Scientists sometimes struggle to find what they mean to society in a practical way. But social scientists are usually valuable in giving advice to institutes, civilians or local governments; history departments can help shape information centers or exhibitions; computer scientists can help develop software or sell IT products. So, valorisation or knowledge transfer is not only about money.
In this training we help you to determinewhat you could offer society, whether that is a service or a product, and for whom this might be interesting.
Together with the other participants you will make a product map, where you brainstorm what you know, what skills you have, what ‘products’ you make. We also create and act out a commercial, with the help of an actor. We combine this with a network analysis to gain insight in the possible knowlegde users or product buyers. Through the interaction with the other participants and the help or creative methods, you will get inspired to build direct and practical relationships with society!
Creativity is a condition or atmosphere that gives birth to surprising ideas. ‘Seeing the light’, or having ‘Eureka!-moments’, is an indication that you are at the end of the creative process. But how do you start it, and stimulate ‘out of the box’ thinking, without feeling the urge to “yes,but…”? And how do you make sure you and your colleagues do not return to the old ways at the end?
Based on research by for instance Delnooz, Byttenbier or Mieras, we do exercises with the actors that open up your mind. Changing the context or the decor of the situation or research question, you will start seeing new ways. A little craziness stimulates the mind to see amazing possibilities!
Einstein said: ‘logic brings you from a to b, imagination brings you everywhere’. We will teach you methods to imagine more, and innovate like an artist.
A scientist who spreads his or her knowledge, expertise, services or products to a wide audience, is actually doing marketing. Therefore, we can learn a lot from the field of marketing: what is effective, and how can we maximize effect without spending too much time?
This training helps you to create a concrete marketing mix of activities and steps that you can undertake. We brainstorm about the goals you are trying to achieve, what audience you are trying to reach, and which instruments (“channels”) you could employ. Putting something on a website, for instance, does not necessarily reach your audience, since the internet is a search medium and not a send medium. So what can you do to make you efforts effective?
In the training you work with participants on ideas to spread your knowledge, inform or educate, or sell something. What is the right tool?: organising events or debates?; making youtube clips?; emailing your network?; distributing flyers?; activating end user networks?; creating or contributing to internet communities?; contributing through social media? All of these activities help your career and benefit your department, as well as society!
In this introduction we discuss all aspects of the process called valorisation. This contains two objectives:
1. Making sure society uses your knowledge. This can be done by lectures to non-experts, cooperating with museums, but also by spreading your knowlegde and news in the news media.
2. Making money from your research. Starting a business, or selling patents or products or knowledge and advise, or services.
Both can go hand in hand, but they do not have to. In this course you will see various steps you can take to get your knowledge and results ‘out there’, and all the skills needed to do that. Some of them require reflection on what you mean to society, what your news is, why your service or product could be useful and for whom. But there are also tools like market and network analysis, and skills like convincing, selling, advising, selling, managing, marketing.
This module focuses on presenting for funding committees. In the competitive world of science, the modern scientist needs such skills to get funded and acquire research projects. Who is in a funding committee, and how is presenting for such a committee different from other presentations?
You prepare and exercise presenting for funding committees. A funding committee does not only consist of experts in your field, and their questions will not be exclusively about the contents of your work. Rather, they may ask you to explain the importance and future impact of your research, as well as to convince them that you are the right person for the job. How do you sell yourself and your research all at once?
Come and find out in this very active and fun module!
We share positive feedback and look at room for improvement. Do you come across as inspiring? And are you convincing them to select you, as a professional, researcher and person? Or are you just convincing them of the quality of your research?
Another essential part is dealing with specific types of reactions and questions. A lack of understanding or misunderstanding, criticism, detailed questions, silence… we practice such scenarios with the help of a professional training actor.
Scientists and scientific departments or instutes start businesses as student projects, to sell an application that sprang from their research or to sell their knowledge and services.
First of all: starting a business is technically very easy! Knowing what to sell (knowlegde, a service, a product), finding your possible clients, communicating your message and generating business, is not. And how do yo organise such a business?
We help you to understand a few formal practicalities in The Netherlands about starting up a business. Mostly, we focus on defining the product or service, and connecting and communicating with your possible clients. With a sales plan and network analysis, we help you to take the necessary steps to actually contact the people who could buy or use your product or service. Part of the training is to work on a small scientific business case, and practise client conversations.
The modern scientist must be able to explain herself or himself to non-experts, such as cooperating scientists from a different field, or funding agencies, user committees, policy makers, external employers, industrial partners, or citizens. That requires a compact and simple message. But it mainly requires your understanding of your audience: what is the interest of your listeners?; what do they understand?; what do they know?
In this course we practice talking with the actor, who plays various roles from different audiences. Avoiding jargon, keeping it simple, using examples and metaphors, help to explain what you do and what your organization does. It may sound simple, but scientists struggle to explain in 1 minute what the heart is of what they do and what its importance and impact is or may be.
You can apply this immediately in network conversations, cooperation with non-expert scientists and employers, but also when convincing funding agencies or industrial partners.
As a policy researcher at PBL you are often working in a consulting or advising role. You want the person you are talking with to do something with your knowledge or your research results, and that isn’t always easy. How do you get them to listen to you, to take your knowledge and your arguments into account, and maybe even to act on your advise?
We take the formula E=Q*A as a starting point: the Effectiveness of your communication is determined by the Quality of your message multiplied by the Acceptance of your message by the other. With the help of a training actor we practice your preparation and approach to the conversation, your message (Q) and the acceptance by the other (A). You will see that consulting with conviction is a game of listening and asking questions, of connecting and convincing. You are always working on your relationship with the other while at the same time your are convincing the other with your expertise. A good consulting session is not a ‘yes, but…’ discussion, but a cooperative conversation.
Do you want to practice and learn from each other how to consult with conviction on behalf of PBL? Then come to this relaxed and active one-day training!
Scientific self-presentation (Personal branding I)
You may have a clear view of your career ambitions, or you have designed a career strategy in the course Career Strategy. Personal branding adds everything you need to present yourself in a way that is consistent with your career strategy. Your self-presentation influences how people remember you, why they call you, and whether they select you or not. Such skills are important in network conversations, communication with project partners, policy makers, scientific presentations, and when presenting before funding agency committees. In any of such interactions, you need to have a clear and concise message that presents your qualities and unique value. Most scientists pay insufficient attention to this, leaving others to perceive you as unfocused or unclear.
In this course day we start from your desired image, in terms of values and competencies. We discuss and check how you act and present yourself in various forms of professional communication, and look for inconsistencies. We practice your brand pitch, which paints a coherent picture of your skills, research and value. Who are you and what can you offer? This has an effect on your business cards and website(s), emails, flyers and other materials, but also on how you communicate to for instance funding agencies. We practice how you can make your pitch elements work for you in interpersonal communication. Your individual wishes will be taken into account with the use of intake forms. Strengthen the contents and consistency of your self-presentation and make sure you stand out!
References:
Dr. Phil Dee, 2006: ‘Building a successful career in scientific research’
Gulfo Adele: ‘Personal Branding: It’s not about self-promotion, it is a leadership imperative’. Huffington Post, 2013
This training presents a broad view of how science makes its way to the newsmedia, and how we can control the attribution of meaning to the message: what will people conclude from your message? We review a number of current ideas about the use of newsmedia and the effect it has on the audience. How do you make your message important enough for the media to pick up on it? How do you convey that message in a convincing way? How do you anticipate and act on misunderstanding, or resistance?
During the training you learn how to write a press release and a newspaper article regarding your own scientific work. With the help of an actor we practice how to express yourself clearly and confidently in a conversation with a layman, patient, policy maker or journalist.
In the end, communication is a large part of your work. Whether you talk about your research, planning, supervision, or about the weather in social interactions: we could not do without communication. Communication is also a skill: you can prepare, analyse, and influence communication. Personal styles and goals of the other person and yourself create an interaction and define the outcome. Learning how to apply different techniques helps you get what you want, and maintain positive relationships. In our experience, our scientific participants learn eagerly and enjoy communication training a lot!
A powerful personal charisma has great effect on your capacity to captivate people. It helps you to stand out and be noticed. Improving your personal charisma will aid you in network conversations, job interviews, management skills and professional presentations. Work on these skills and make people believe in you!
In this workshop we look for competencies to improve your charisma. We illustrate the effect of non-verbal communication, movement, the use of your voice, active and self-confident language and conversation skills.
We practice these skills with a professional training actor in situations in which a powerful charisma is necessary. The participants create an elevator pitch that presents their strengths and qualities, practice a network conversation and various other situations.
We share tips and tricks that help you to captivate your audience with your powerful presence. How to be authentic, open, accessable, trust-worthy and how to speak with self-confidence. A workshop you won’t easily forget!
As a leader, we want our employees to grow and perform optimally. Feedback is a tool to help them reflect on their behaviour. Sometimes we want them to take your feedback into consideration; sometimes we want them to simply do what you tell them to do (or not to do). But we always want to maintain a good relationship. E = Q * A: The Effect (E) of your communication equals the Quality (Q) of your message times the Acceptance (A) by the receiver.
In this module we discuss the various goals in feedback, depending on the situation. Using a 4-step feedback model, we practice giving feedback in situations suggested by the participants. With the help of a professional and academic training actor, we display the various options and practice feedback behaviour. How can you address performance, behaviour, needs and emotions in a way that the receiver accepts, and that leads to changed behaviour? What do we do when the response is quite emotional? How you we deal with resistance and ‘yes, but…’?
This module is an excellent inspiration for effective feedback skills for leaders of all experience levels.
A good presentation technique is an essential instrument for every successful researcher. Presentations, in addition to publications, form an important tool in order to propagate insights and research results. Moreover, presentations are important in the quest to find partners and funds for further research. This does not solely confine itself to the academic world but also outside of it. Researchers are also increasingly asked to present their work or expert opinion before general non-scholared audiences.
In this workshop we enhance presentation skills by sharing feedback from both the participants and the trainer. We discuss the structure and contents of the presentation. The participants are trained in formulating their core message and how to get it across. Personal style, how to tell a captivating story, the art of convincing, dealing with resistance and answering questions are all part of the workshop.
With various exercises revolving around presentation technique, this is an active workshop. This one-day course will end with a final presentation by each participant, aimed at an audience at choice.
Communicating with non-experts and news media
This two-day training integrates “Talking to non-experts” and “Media training”, and was developed especially for NWO. It helps researchers to communicate convincingly with non-experts and the news media. The knowledge and skills gained form this training can be widely applied: in speaking with non-experts, dealing with the press, making research results public, and for effective communication in a multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary cooperation. The skills we practice will also help you in presentations for and conversations with committees, which often contain members with other specialisms than you. These aren’t just essentials skills for any modern scientist, it is also a lot of fun to do!
In this two day training we spend time on getting to the core of your own individual research, and how to communicate that clearly and with conviction. Which message do you want to communicate to different target audiences? What is interesting to them? How do you use metaphors and examples? How do you deal with resistance or criticism? What can you expect in contact with the media? Professional actors help you practise conversations with non-experts and journalists.
Many ex-participants have presented their work in the media after this training and others have reported they gained fruitful network contacts and even got job offers when applying what they had learned during the training.
Testing your communication skills, personal style, assertive behavior, conflict style or leadership qualities help you to gain insight in your qualities and possible pitfalls. You can use this to reflect on your professional effectiveness, and focus on qualities or how to handle difficult situations.
In this workshop you will fill out a number of tests – depending on your wishes and context – that ElroyCOM provides. Comparing yourself with others, and helping and advising them gives you grip on yourself and grows confidence.
With the actors we will see how you can employ your qualities in interactions, and help you to overcome possible difficulties.Test yourself and get stronger!
The modern scientist must be able to explain herself or himself to non-experts, such as cooperating scientists from a different field, or funding agencies, user committees, policy makers, external employers, industrial partners, or citizens. That requires a compact and simple message. But it mainly requires your understanding of your audience: what is the interest of your listeners?; what do they understand?; what do they know?
In this course we practice talking with the actor, who plays various roles from different audiences. Avoiding jargon, keeping it simple, using examples and metaphors, help to explain what you do and what your organization does. It may sound simple, but scientists struggle to explain in 1 minute what the heart is of what they do and what its importance and impact is or may be.
You can apply this immediately in network conversations, cooperation with non-expert scientists and employers, but also when convincing funding agencies or industrial partners.
It isn’t easy to handle criticism. People who give you negative feedback may want to help you get better in your work, or may want you to change your behavior. They may not say it in a way that you can accept, or you may feel attacked or hurt. How can you listen to what they have to say, find out exactly what they mean, and not be emotional about it?
In this workshop we look at situations that you suggest to us, and analyze what makes them difficult for you to handle. What do you do when you only receive negative feedback from someone? What if you don’t understand what they mean? What if you disagree? What will you do with their advice or critique? And why do you react so strongly to it? What assumptions did you make? What are you afraid of? How do you rebut it?
With the help of an actor and a number of reflection and feedback models we help you to listen to negative feedback, understand it, and how not to let it affect you so deeply. Also, we focus on how to make people give you contructive feedback, as well as positive feedback. Feedback is more about them, than it is about you. But you can learn from it! Become a stronger and greater person by doing this workshop!
This inspiring training helps you to communicate convincingly with the news media. The knowledge and skills gained form this training can be widely applied: in speaking with non-experts, dealing with the press, making research results public, and for effective communication in a multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary cooperation. These aren’t just essentials skills for any modern scientist, it is also a lot of fun to do! Many ex-participants have presented their work in the local and national news and in educative TV programmes. Other ex-participants have reported they gained fruitful network contacts and even got job offers when applying what they had learned during the training.
What do you do when a journalist calls you? How do you prepare for such an interview, be it live or before publication? What would a journalist find interesting about your work? How do you make sure you get published or broadcasted in the news media? And when you succeed, how do you then maintain any control over what is published about you and your research? The participants help each other to create individual pitches containing a specific message about your research, plan, prize or result. Professional training actors help you practise such skills, with different types of journalists.
In the morning we discuss experiences and theory. In the afternoon we practice different situations with a professional actor. Based on intake forms we adapt the cases to you individual context and wishes.
Academic managers indicate that they have difficulty executing formal conversations, such as ‘bad news conversations’, job evaluation interviews, and personal development plan meetings. What is important in which type of conversation? How do I prepare for them? What should the outcomes be? How do I gather information? Moreover, academic managers show great interest in the conversation skills needed: how do you give feedback that will be accepted? How do find and use proper arguments for my decisions? How can I address and change certain behaviour? How do I translate the conclusions into result oriented agreements, and how do I gain commitment?How do we handle friction or conflict? How can I motivate my people? How can I help them develop and reach their dream goals?
Formal conversations are guided by rules and formats. Adequate preparation and communication skills are needed to make them fruitful.
We invite the participants to choose a particular type of conversation that they would like to practice and to bring the forms and instruments that they use in their work environment. We discuss the success factors of various types of formal conversations. The participants are asked to practice a formal conversation with one of their employees inbetween the course days. During the training we simulate individual cases with the help of an actor.
Dealing with conflicts is not easy for anyone. What creates a conflict? How can they be prevented? How can we deal with them? Is avoiding the matter always a good solution?
In conflict situations it is important to focus on the needs of others and to be able to apply various conflict management strategies. Right when you need it the most, it becomes difficult to really listen to what the other is saying and to ask exploratory questions. Especially when your mind rages with emotions. How do you protect your own boundaries? What is it that the other person really wants from you? How can you have them understand and acknowledge your needs? How can we translate that to the ingredients for a calm and reasonable conversation? A conflict is nothing more than a negotiation gone wrong.
In the training we practice various conflict situations and apply different conflict management strategies. A test helps to discover your natural style of conflict management. We translate your qualities and pitfalls to a case with the actor in which you will learn effective ways to get what you want and still keep the peace. Both realistic as well as absurd and fun situations help to gain insight in the practice of conflict management.
Effective networking needs a strategy. Who should be in my network? Who could help me with the next step in my career? How can I grow my network in the right direction? These strategic questions go hand in hand with a career strategy.
In this module you will determine your career strategy in rough strokes. If you pursue a position at a certain institute, your network needs a different approach than when you want your next job to find you. And if you, like many, are open to different career options we’ll help you think about your values, qualities and even happiness to develop a fitting network strategy. Together we’ll figure out who is interesting for your network today, also if your career is still very unclear.
You’ll learn how to decide who to add to your network, how to develop a career strategy, how to deal with the uncertainty in your career and create a path to grow your current network. It’s good to notice that this is a strategy module. We will not be practicing the network conversations themselves.
By sharing with your peers in this fun and active module, you will inspire each other to rethink your career path and network strategy.
Cooperation with stakeholders and partners in projects and consortia is increasingly important today. They can be scientific partners, industry, NGOs, patients, museums, government bodies, and others.
When you are dealing with stakeholders, the following questions are important:
In this module we will focus on your specific questions concerning engaging with stakeholders and deal with them in the form of peer consultation. In small groups you exchange experience and ideas and learn from each other’s practice. Where applicable, some theory and background information will be given or we can do some exercises. Thus, the content of the module will be tailored according to the needs of the participants.
Practicing and sharing experience and advice with your peers helps you to set up projects and hold them together. Facilitating the needs of partners and stakeholders involved helps to run such projects smoothly and effectively.
Talk, talk, talk. Conversation in many forms is crucial in order to understand, support, influence and convince people. Everyone knows situations in which your (non-) verbal communication does not always have the required effect. How do you give feedback that is acceptable to others? How do you deal with criticism yourself? How do you convince, influence, negotiate, and fight constructively? How do you bring bad news, how can you gain commitment, how do you motivate and support? There are a million different goals you may have that require adequate (non-) verbal skills.
In this training it is all about the participant’s wishes. It is an introduction to conversation skills. The intake forms, filled in by the participants beforehand, are the guideline to the training. A case is especially devised for each particpant. We apply practical communication theory to different situations. With the help of an actor we simulate these cases and share advice and experiences with each other.
Would you like to know why some people make a good impression even without saying a word? Do you want to know what your own body language tells other people? Do you want to learn to use non-verbal signals to influence others? Body language – non-verbal communication – has a major effect on people’s first impression, connection, communication, credibility and general effectiveness.
In this workshop you will see how you can use expression, gestures, timing, pose, etcetera to mirror, connect, and open up. These skills can be used in network conversations, presentations, conflict, negotiation, leadership and general communication. Work your body in a way that impresses more!
In our research, 420 scientists in the Netherlands said they need and miss courses that have to do with happiness: their workload and private life is overloaded and they suffer from stress.
In the workshops and courses that we offer, we base our knowledge and exercises on scientific studies. What we do is therefore no-nonsense! We help you to deal with stress, relax and clear your mind. A lot of simple techniques have proven to work in clinical studies.
Treat yourself to a happy life, and choose a training from our range!
Our training courses are based on scientific research. An overview of all references used for training courses in this category can be found here.
Dealing with conflicts is not easy for anyone. What creates a conflict? How can they be prevented? How can we deal with them? Is avoiding the matter always a good solution?
In conflict situations it is important to focus on the needs of others and to be able to apply various conflict management strategies. Right when you need it the most, it becomes difficult to really listen to what the other is saying and to ask exploratory questions. Especially when your mind rages with emotions. How do you protect your own boundaries? What is it that the other person really wants from you? How can you have them understand and acknowledge your needs? How can we translate that to the ingredients for a calm and reasonable conversation? A conflict is nothing more than a negotiation gone wrong.
In the training we practice various conflict situations and apply different conflict management strategies. A test helps to discover your natural style of conflict management. We translate your qualities and pitfalls to a case with the actor in which you will learn effective ways to get what you want and still keep the peace. Both realistic as well as absurd and fun situations help to gain insight in the practice of conflict management.
This module aims to strengthen your mental resilience: how can you stay effective, strong and happy under stress? We offer you some of the newest insights from psychology.
During the module, we will inform you, challenge you, and help you. You will apply strengthening techniques such as ‘Expectations’, ‘The Gratitude Attitude’, ‘The Perfectionist in Me’ and ‘Finding Flow and Energy’. Try out some of these techniques, choose which you find helpful, and go home with some new tools.
Stress can be your friend, if you know how to apply traditional psychology and positive psychology to your thoughts, feelings and physical state. Find more concentration, more creativity, calm energy, and a clear mind.
It will definitely be an active and fun module!
How can you apply or develop leadership skills to help your staff and students perform, but also to maintain their resilience and wellbeing under the current work pressure?
Recent studies on this topic in The Netherlands show that scientists are struggling to deal with the ever-increasing work pressure. This leads scientists to suffer from worrying, depletion of energy, physical symptoms of stress, and having trouble balancing work and private life. Monitoring positive and negative signals, organizing support and cooperation, putting stress on the departmental agenda, and coaching your
group and individual employees: All of these aspects demand knowledge of both psychology and leadership.
In this module, trainers who specialize in the psychology and leadership of wellbeing offer you knowledge on the subject. They follow recent studies by TNO and base their work on the science of stress. The main focus is:
In addition to sharing experiences, we practice relevant conversations that you would need with your employees – such as progress or job evaluation meetings – with the help of a specialised training actor.
As an academic leader you want your employees to perform on an optimal level, but the work pressure in academia is high. Recent research shows that scientists experience a high work pressure and stress and often have (pre) burn-out symptoms like worrying, sleeping problems, reduced ability to concentrate and make decisions. In some cases the stress may lead to burn-out.
It is important that academic leaders are able to identify causes of work pressure and obstacles for the employee, recognize symptoms of stress in their employees, are aware of the impact of their leadership styles and are able to have conversations with their employees to find solutions for the experienced stress. This module offers you the right tools to be able to do this.
There will be a lot of opportunity to share experiences and solutions with colleagues. We will look for causes and solutions on the level of work pressure on different levels of the organization. And we will practice conversations about stress with an actor to put the theory into practice.
It will be an active and interactive module!
How can you apply your leadership skills to have your people perform, but also to maintain their resilience and wellbeing under the current work pressure? Recent studies on this topic in The Netherlands show that scientists are struggling to deal with the ever-increasing work pressure. This leads scientists to suffer from worrying, depletion of energy, physical symptoms of stress, and having trouble balancing work and private life. Monitoring positive and negative signals, putting it on the departmental agenda, and coaching your group and individual employees, demands knowledge of both psychology and leadership.
In this course, trainers who specialize in the psychology and leadership of wellbeing offer you knowledge on the subject. The main focus is sharing experiences with your peers (participants), and creating an action plan that will help you implement healthy work habits in your department. In addition, we practice relevant conversations that you would need with your employees – such as progress or job evaluation meetings – with the help of a specialised training actor.
In this course we offer a tastery of various evidence-based techniques to cope with work pressure and the symptoms of stress. Studies show that stress is most damaging to people who lack coping skills and the self-confidence to aply them. This practical, no-nonsense course aims to be your first step to more focus, concentration and relaxation.
First we will discuss your tasks and activities and the pull-and-push forces in your environment. We analyze the causes of stress and perceived pressure. We investigate assumptions, possible solutions, and share alternative solutions. Reflecting on your attitude toward time, we discuss the positive sides and pitfalls of for instance perfectionism or impatience. A large part of the workshop is about coping strategies: how can you deal with the mental and physical strain? The increased work load and pressure on scientists leads to often reported effects such as: ‘I have difficulty to stop thinking about work, I have worrying thoughts a lot, I have trouble sleeping, I can’t concentrate, I regularly feel tired, I feel like I’m about to explode sometimes, sometimes I feel I am not present in my private life’. These experiences may coincide with a variety of physical signals that are not always recognized as stress-related. Under stress, people may feel tired, jumpy or grumpy, headaches, stomach aches or other intestinal problems, sweating, skin conditions, loss of concentration, forgetfulness. Being aware of such thoughts, feelings and symptoms helps you to make timely decisions. Also, there are many science-based techniques available to relieve such symptoms. In exercises and a coaching carousel we practice various techniques to focus, relax, and maintain your energy levels. We will also refer you to interesting books and practical guides.
Scientists are faced with increasing time pressure. Trying to balance research, supervision, writing, and teaching can be daunting, especially when trying to maintain a healthy balance with your private life.
In this training we help you to organise your work, plan your day/week/month, set priorities, map stress factors and solve periods of overload. There are a lot of methods you can use to make your work and life more effective whilst creating room to breathe! Less stress creates room for creativity, concentration and focus.
A part of time management is assertive cooperation with colleagues, making clear agreements, dividing work, negotiating with colleagues or private partners and saying ‘no’ to others and saying ‘yes’ to yourself. We practice such communicative aspects with professional training actors.
Your job may cause you many worries. This can lead you to feel mental obstipation and may arouse a myriad of emotions. It can therefore be difficult for you to stop thinking about your work in your spare time. Your head could be full of too many things, or you may feel insecure about your performances, or you may loose sleep over it. Depending on the causes we can apply several techniques to help you relax mentally.
In the training you will map the symptoms and the causes of your worries. We then apply adequate techniques such as Rational Emotive Training, learning how to set priorities, gathering feedback, managing the worrying process, or others.
Additionally, individual coaching sessions will help you analyse the precise causes and provides you with exercises as part of an Action Plan. Do you want to go to your work with a smile on your face? You can!
This workshop helps you to clear up negative thoughts and to focus on the positive, without loosing touch with reality! Negative and sometimes untrue or unrealistic thoughts can hold you back when making important decisions. They can also be a barrier to enjoying all the things that go right at the same time. In this workshop we closely look at reality, change our filter and then happily return to this wonderful world!
We make a mindmap of things that go right and wrong in your work and private life. We also look at your personal qualities and pitfalls. You will learn to look at yourself, including your pitfalls, positively. In a ritual we say goodbye to all negative thoughts, fears, and barriers. The combination of Rational Emotive Training and Core Quadrants works well, here. With the help of a co-trainer we practice how to deal with insecurity, negative past experiences, and fears in a positive way. We accept negativity but focus on the positive.
You can use the techniques from this workshop when you need relaxation or when you need to lift your spirits, without loosing touch with reality. We also recommend this workshop for teams who will start to work together or who want to enter a fresh new phase!
This training shows you a large variety of what we have to offer in Happiness training. Depending on the wishes of the participants we give you tips and show you exercises to help you become more relaxed, focused, without worries, rested, relaxed, full of energy and positive! Flower power dreamy soft non-sense? No: the tips and exercises are all based on scientific research. And of course, they fun to do!
Studies by for instance Ruut Veenhoven, Martin Seligman and Sonja Lyubomirski show that happy people experience freedom, are grateful, are able and willing to develop themselves, help other people, give meaning to setbacks and sorrow, and have a positive view on life.
In this Happiness Tasting you will experience all kinds of techniques: from breathing exercises to sportive exercises, from mindfulness to cognitive analysis to clear you mind, from exercises to laugh and change your perspective to relaxation exercises.
A fun and diverse workshop that will make your day!
‘I disagree with the decision the group making now; Do you mind not interrupting me?; That was not the agreement; I can’t take on any extra hours of teaching right now; I don’t like the way you say that; It seems you are not taking me seriously’. Can you relate to any of the situations or sentences? Try setting boundaries to people, without any nervousness or anxiety before, during or after. It is not easy for anyone!
The simple formula I / YOU = 1 (I devided by YOU equals 1) dictates that reasonable and respectful communication should have equal focus on your interests and the other person’s interests. Over-assertive behavior (>1) then says you have too little respect for the other person or his/her wishes. Sub-assertive behavior (<1) implies that you easily give up your own goals. Both strategies have a different effect on your emotions and on the relationship with the other person, depending on the combination of characters.
During the training we practice a lot in adult, assertive, equal and respectful communication with our actors. In simple and funny situations we practice the differences in behaviors. And in situations that you choose or suggest to us, you will practice assertive behavior whilst maintaining low blood pressure!
Do you find it hard to concentrate and focus on one task at a time? Because you are distracted in your mind, or because people and iphone apps demand your attention?
We help you to treat concentration as a limited resource that cannot be forced and must be treated with respect. You will check your environment, personality and biology as well as your concentration skills in this training. In which conditions do you concentrate best? With or without music? With people around you? In light or darkness? With a good chair? Coffee? Sweets? At work or at home? And what disturbs your concentration? When do you see the signals that your started to run out of concentration?
What are the right times in a day for you to concentrate? What stimulates your concentration? To talk with people first? To do sports first? Or promise yourself a reward? Or convince yourself of the necessity?
And how long are you able to concentrate anyway? And how is this different, with different tasks? What to do when my focus is gone? And is that a disaster? How do you refuel?
We offer you tips and exercises to find out more about your Concentration skills, conditions, and personality.
Are you often to tired after work to go and do something fun and relaxing? Do sleep endlessly or fall ill when you start your holidays? Or do you simply wnat to know how to prevent getting overworked? In this workshop we see what energy sources and leaks are, in your individual situation, and share these experiences and solutions with the other participants.
You will reflect on what you think, feel and do in various situations when you feel you are loosing energy or experience stress. By looking at common energy leaks and sharing with other participants, you will become conscious of the steps to take. Practical tips that support your energy level are shared, such as sufficient light during the day, plants in your office, focus and concentration, changing negative thoughts, positive interaction with people, focusing on what you have accomplished, etc.
At the end of this workshop you know what to do to get and maintain more energy in your life!
If you always go the extra mile where others think it is ‘good enough’, you want to be perfect as a mother, father, researcher, colleague, friend, there is probably a perfectionist inside of you. Does that help you, drive you and get the best out of you? Congrats, you are a stable perfectionist. But if it drains you of pressures you, it is time to stop and think. Perfectionists are more likely to get burned out. Putting too much time in the last details may not be effective, causing your time management issues. And maybe you are very hard on yourself when you make (a little) mistake?
Why do you do this? What are the benefits? Are you competitive, or afraid to hear it is not good enough? Could you be mild to yourself?
With a number of playful exercises we demonstrate where perfectionism is a strong trait and when in goes wrong. We investigate what the voices in your head say, and we challenge wat they say. Mental relaxation may also help you to accept that enough is enough, and that other tasks and repsonsibilities also demand your time and devotion. This is a workshop that may free you of the load you’re carrying!
A good night’s sleep hels us to refuel energy, relax, let go, and process reality. If you have difficulty falling asleep, if you wake up regularly during the night, and therefore do not sleep enough, you’re in trouble. We hope you care enough about your mental and physical health to take sleep – and sleep problems – seriously.
In this training we share problems and collect scientifically tested tips surrounding sleep. We start with your perception of sleep: a lot of people suffer more from worrying about the shortage of sleep than from the shortage of sleep itself. We help you to identify the causes of you sleep deprivation, and refer you to other courses, coaching or literature depending on the cause. Then you will make a Sleep Plan.
In your Sleep Plan, you choose to try a number of science based tips and tricks to sleep better. These tips can be about your daily rhythm, sports, food, light regime, relaxation and more.
We suggest and practice a number of simple exercises to empty your mind, park your worries, and relax. We wish you a very good night, sleep well!
Do you get nervous before presenting in front of a group? Or before a job interview? Or do you feel – lately or chronically – that you find it difficult to relax mentally and physically? Then it is worth to try a few scientifically tested techniques that will help you relax. Both for yourself and for your organization: a relaxed employee is a productive one.
When you are relaxed, you can concentrate better, smile more, worry less, sleep better and you feel good about yourself and others. Breathing exercises, concentration meditation, muscle tension exercises and mindfulness are all effective techniques. Cognitive exercises such as Must-to-Want analysis may als help you to change what you think you Must do into consciously choosing what you Want to do.
From the exercises we practice, you can choose which ones you feel suit you best, and how and when you will practice them after the training. Relax!
If you feel you need more hours to properly nourish your work, your family and friends, or yourself, then you will definitely benefit from this training.
A lot is asked of you as a scientist, and then there are private responsibilities for partners and kids. Optimizing your time while being relaxed and happy starts by looking at how and where you spend your time. We create clarity in your task description, en help you to delegate or say no to managers and colleagues, as well as to make agreenets with your partner. Prioritizing, developing routines, and organizing also help.
And then there is you: are you a little too demanding of yourself or over-ambitious? Do you feel you have to be perfect in every part of your life? Do you need to be more assertive? What gives you energy? We will practice communicative aspects – such as conversations with your superiors, colleagues, or partner – with an actor.
After this training you will know how to make decisions that help you to lead a feasible and realistic life, with enough space to enjoy it!
During your education and career you will find out who you are, what you want, and how to get the job you desire. You can use the advise of others, reflect, and practise the skills needed to discover these aspects.
In this category we make sure you exchange a lot of experience with the other participants. We stimulate you to see and employ your qualities, and help you to make yourself visible. In a creative way we help you to practise the skills needed to do the job you want, and to get it.
At the start of a new and challenging project, you know that more will be demanded of you as a leader. But right when you are taking up new or more tasks and responsibilities, your personal development is under pressure. What are efficient and novel ways to develop your leadership, and to strengthen you for the bigger tasks at hand? In this course you get insights from management science and practice.
What got you here won’t get you there. In this interactive lecture we share several strategies with which you can accelerate and strengthen your own leadership development. Among other things, you will discover how great leaders develop themselves, how to know what to develop, how to get the type of feedback that helps you develop and how to learn more from your daily leadership experiences. Because when leaders grow, teams develop and projects succeed. Actively practicing and sharing with other participants makes this more than just a lecture.
Acquiring sufficient funding has become a prerequisite for scientific research. After designing a career strategy, writing grants and getting them awarded is crucial for your survival in academia.
In order to succeed you need to effectively connect to the aims of the grant, excite the reader, convince with a clear style and structure, and raise realistic but brave expectations of the results. During this module, we will share tips and tricks on successful grant-writing skills and show you how reviewers look at your work. We will also discuss the requirements of specific funding agencies like NWO and ERC.
In this module you will receive feedback on your own – previously written or prepared – grant application texts. You will learn how to write your proposal convincingly by clearly stating the problem you will work on and showing a future solution. We will discuss how to make your text easy to read. Reviewing each other’s texts is also part of the module. We will take your individual wishes into account by using an intake form. This course aims at beginner to advanced level grant writers. Write better, get funded!
Acquiring sufficient funding has become a prerequisite for scientific research and a crucial competency for academic scientists. But before acquiring any funding, a career strategy is needed. Random funding acquisition is not just ineffective; it has shown to impede academic careers.
During this course, we will help you to form an acquisition strategy, based on your past results and activities, what you are good at, and what you enjoy doing. With the help of a simple self-evaluation tool, you can choose and define where you want to go. The second step is to create your own development plan, which states which competencies you would like to develop, which (types of) modules you want to follow, and which kind of grants would fit your career profile. Take a good hard look at your desired research line, and design a framework for the type of acquisition you aim at!
By sharing with your peers in this course, you will inspire each other to define and choose an acquisition strategy in line with your career plan and personal objectives. We will take your individual wishes into account by using an intake form.
What are the factors that give you satisfaction in your work? From research (e.g. Harter etc al. 2003) and the SCARF model (David Rock 2008) we can derive factors such asjob security, fairness, growth, positive interactions, appreciation, autonomy, status, and authority. But how do you define job satisfaction?
You share these factors with fellow participants and discuss positive and negative influences. The actors help to practice positive interactions with superiors and colleagues.
During and after the training you apply your personal action plan to get more satisfaction out or your work and work environment.
During network conversations or job interviews you need to be able to explain why they should be interested in you. But what are your qualities and competencies? How do you formulate and present them? What do others think about your qualities, and what do you think yourself? And what about that feeling that you are not authentic anymore, or boasting too much?
Honesty is key to presenting your qualities: just as you will be asked to say what you are not so good at, you must equally be able to present what you are very good at! We analyze your qualities and help formulate them in a factual way, while using a model that helps you prove that you possess that competency. It helps to present yourself in terms of ‘transferrable skills’, so you can convince people why you could do the next job. Not ‘I have shown that I can do scientific research’, but ‘I have managed a large project’, and ‘I have experience with international cooperation’.
Presenting yourself with convidence, based on true and proven qualities, will be practised with our actors and the other participants. We even make it into a hilarious contest!
Building a career starts by being able to express who you are, what your competencies are and which job you aspire. This requires both verbal and non-verbal skills in self-presentation. A career pitch helps you to convince others that they should stay in touch with you, keep you in mind for upcoming job opportunities, or hire you today!
In this workshop we focus on presenting a short story (pitch) that explains to others why they should remember you or hire you. We practice different situations in duos and with a professional training actor. We then apply the career pitch in a networking conversation, a job interview, and in a job evaluation interview. We look for a convincing story, but also help you to display a trustworthy charisma.
This fun workshop will give you a tool that you can immediately apply. It aims to convince the world to pick you: get noticed, get chosen, get hired!
A strange title for a training in the Career category? Well, it has all to do with finding out what you really want in your career. In this workshop we use a unique angle to find out what drives you and makes your eyes shine. Being conscious of what inspires you helps you to find and keep up your motivation, and look for it in your current or future job.
In this very playful workshop we find out what made you light up during your childhood, what makes you giggle today, and what wonderful fantasies you dream of. You will do exercises with the actors that help you to experience ‘flow’, make you laugh, or simply find out what makes you feel free or peaceful. At the end of the workshop you translate such experiences to the conditions that fulfill you in your current or future job.
So they want you? Then it is time to negotiate with your new employer about the conditions – including your salary. How can you maximize the result, while maintaining an good relationship with them? You may fear loosing the job altogether when you negotiatie assertively. This is one of the reasons women have much lower salaries in the same jobs, they may have to negotiate stronger. But salary is not the only thing you can negotiate about!
With the other participants and actors we determine your room for negotiation: salary, travel costs, child care, computers, etc. While applying different styles we try to influence the outcome of the conversation and maximize the result.
Negotiation is a game, you better know how to play it!
Whether your career moves away from scientific research or not, consulting skills are needed nowadays in both arenas.
What is ‘advise’? How you translate the problem or question, and the conclusions, to advise? What do you do when you have ‘unwanted’ advise? How do you make sure they understand and accept your recommendations?
In this workshop we practise such skills with actors. In this way you can see what a consultant really does, and acquire some of the necessary skills.
Creating and maintaining a network and using it to your benefit is helps of your career. How do you persuade a party to take part in a project? How do you make new professional friends and have them remember you? How do you approach a difficult conversation partner? How do you deal with resistance?
All of these questions will be answered in this course. We discuss several communication models and practice them in different situations with the actor. Learn how to present yourself better and improve your networking skills!
Are you thinking of changing your career or trying to move up? Do you not have a clue as to what to choose? Or do you have a specific direction you want to go, but do you not know how to go about it? Then this career training is what you need!
In this training we apply a 5-phase model:
1. Who am I? With the aid of tests and excercises we look at your personal qualities. What are your strongest personality traits? What is your style of communication? How do you function in teams? How do you deal with difficult situations, stress, and conflicts?
2. What do I want? What gives you satisfaction in your work? Is it working with people? Getting quick results? Or is autonomy your number one requirement? Do you need to be creative in your work? In this phase we analyse what makes you happy in your work, and we create an ideal picture of your current or future job.
3. What are my competencies? Based on your CV and experience we analyse your competencies. If you should aspire a total career change, we focus on transferable competencies, meaning the things that you have learned that are of use in any other job. We will also determine what you are at present unable to do but would like to learn, which defines your need for personal development and education.
4. How can I find that job? What kind of jobs fulfill your wishes and needs, as defined in the before phases? Where can we find such jobs in databanks and adverts?
5. How can I get that job? In the final phase, we help you to write job application letters, and train you to ‘sell yourself’ well in job interviews, as well as how to negotiate a good salary.
The participants will actively reflect and search and make choices inbetween the training days. If needed, ElroyCOM offers additional personal coaching during or after the training.
Many people struggle with this question. A personal crisis commonly described as the quarterlife crisis often revolves around unhappiness with the current job or circumstances. Others simply want to re-evaluate whether they are on the right track. In the vast array of possibilities, how can you choose? How do you find out what it is that you really want in life? Which circumstances are needed for you to enjoy optimal job satisfaction? Does your ideal demand a career change? It is not surprising that many of us find it hard to find out and decide what we want: society seduces and directs us in a direction of development based on our competencies and talents, rather than on our wishes and desires.
In this course we combine training and coaching to rediscover your emotional compass, your drives and passions. We create a profile of elements of your current and ideal job that gives you energy and satisfaction. What is important to you? Do you like to work with people? Are you result-oriented? Do you aspire a management position? How do you value autonomy?
A number of excercises and tests will give you insight into your deeper desires. Both among the participants and with the individual coaching sessions you shape a picture of your future: what should your current or future job entail in order for you to be inspired and happy? Which steps can you undertake to reach such goals? Which competencies, needed to move into that ideal position do you lack and how can you develop them?
The profile and action plan, which are the results of this course help you to have a clear scope on what you are looking for. You may bring these results into the broader course ‘Moving up or moving on?’.
After you have found out what kind of a job makes you happy, and you have mapped or developed your competencies, it is time to go and look for a great job! How will you assure that you will get hired in a job interview? This training is helping you to accomplish precisely that!
Before the training, we ask participants to collect adverts of jobs you would like to apply for. We discuss how you can present yourself convincingly during a job interview. Which qualities and competencies do you need for this job? Which do you have? How can you prove that? Can you make the employers believe that it is in their interest to choose you for the job?
After preparation each participant practices the job interview with an actor, who plays the part of your future employer. We help you to improve you charisma as well as your ability to present yourself convincingly. With the STAR-method we test if you are able to give your employers a strong image of your capacities. This training helps you to approach the next job interview confidently!
Women all over the world are underrepresented in management positions. The Netherlands are not doing well compared to other European countries. In the Dutch academic society only some 12% of the full professors are women. This percentage is even lower in executive and governing positions. Change is needed in organisations, for instance in scouting and selection procedures, male:female ratio in selection committees, and in gender bias awareness.
But women can do al lot themselves! They need to invest in their visibility, and in their skills in networking and leadership. In cooperation with women’s networks, ElroyCOM has developed training for academic women who want to make it to the top.
Dealing with conflicts is not easy for anyone. What creates a conflict? How can they be prevented? How can we deal with them? Is avoiding the matter always a good solution?
In conflict situations it is important to focus on the needs of others and to be able to apply various conflict management strategies. Right when you need it the most, it becomes difficult to really listen to what the other is saying and to ask exploratory questions. Especially when your mind rages with emotions. How do you protect your own boundaries? What is it that the other person really wants from you? How can you have them understand and acknowledge your needs? How can we translate that to the ingredients for a calm and reasonable conversation? A conflict is nothing more than a negotiation gone wrong.
In the training we practice various conflict situations and apply different conflict management strategies. A test helps to discover your natural style of conflict management. We translate your qualities and pitfalls to a case with the actor in which you will learn effective ways to get what you want and still keep the peace. Both realistic as well as absurd and fun situations help to gain insight in the practice of conflict management.
As a scientist you want to build a network around you of people who can help you, of people you can collaborate with and of people who can help you to meet important people for your research. Successful scientists use their network well. To build a network you need to know what you need and want from the other and what you have to offer.
In this training you are going to connect with other female scientists to figure out if you are interesting to each other and if you can broaden your network. We help you to create an appealing pitch about your interests, your needs and the skills you have to offer. We will help how to interact with potential scientific friends by practicing how to make contact, sharing ideas and experiences and making agreements on how you are going to use this connection.
In this fun and active training you will practice with a professional training actor so you can try all different kinds of behavior. By the end of the afternoon you have made new scientific friends, you know how to express your needs and you now how to be clear about what you have to offer.
ElroyCOM developed this training especially for academic women who want to have a career in science and move to management and executive positions. Women are represented by a low percentage in the academic field: in The Netherlands only some 10% of the full professors are women. Beside other factors, women in tend to present themselves differently from men and are generally less visible as ambitious employees. Stereotypically, men will easily boast about their accomplishments, while women will modestly downplay theirs. In terms of charisma men generally tend to radiate authority, while women put coming across as likeable first. Psychological research displays such average trends, whilst confirming that both in individuals as well as in groups, a combination of ‘male’ and ‘female’ behaviours are the optimum. In a world that is predominantly ruled by men, women who want to move up need to strengthen their presentation and charisma.
During the training we make a quick inventory of our leadership competencies and try to convince each other of the importance of your qualities. We determine ambitious goals and translate them into an elevator pith, which we practice with the help of an actor. Furthermore, we practice how to enhance our charisma and stand firm in difficult situations such as resistance, criticism, or distrust.
Internal conviction, body languae, verbal expression and a clear message all influence how you come across. Even the rythm and speed of your speech, reaction time, and the pitch of your voice add to the effect you have on others. We invite participants to try these techniques during and after the training.
What kind of qualities do you need as a manager or executive? Especially when working in a male dominated environment, you need to have insight in the general differences in communication between men and women. Show your results, say ‘I’ instead of ‘we’, show both ‘female’ and ‘male’ qualities. State clearly what you want, handle conflicts but do not avoid them, openly disagree with others if necessary. As a manager, be a warm and kind personality, whilst being able to convey painful decisions.
We test your strategy of leadership and share experiences among the participants. With the help of an actor we practice the possibilities of adapting to different strategies of leadership when necessary. How do you deal with resistance, conflict, opposition, or negotiation? How can you coach someone to become a self-sufficient and happy employee? How do you stand firm in a competitive environment?
After this training you will be able to apply various leadership strategies and apply them to realistic situations. You will have insight in a number of communication styles and know how to deal with them.
Low voices are generally perceived as a sign of seriousness, trustworthiness and authority. Women have the disadvantage of a vocal apparatus that produces a higher register. Women can add to their charisma and personal presentation by discovering their lower voice. Margareth Thatcher is the classical example of a high profile woman who was adviced to speak lower. Other factors affecting a strong presentation are tone of voice, breathing and control, openness of tone and more.
Chief trainer Elroy Cocheret is a classical tenor who studied at the Dutch Conservatory in Arnhem. In this workshop, he focuses on relaxation exercises, loosening up the vocal apparatus, supportive breathing and control, posture and personal presentation.
A workshop full of new discoveries, strange noises, song and tips for a strong personal presentation!
Psychological research shows that women have more difficulty than men to ask for what they want, on average. They experience internal barriers to be assertive and negotiate openly, often because they invest in the relationship more than in their own needs. The quality that women posess more than men on average (social skills and maintaining the relationship) sometimes goes at the expense of their personal goals and needs. This partly appears to explain the differences in salary between men and women, and the lower number of women in high positions. Women who want to move up therefore appreciate this course highly: negotiation skills can help you find the balance between getting what you want and maintaining good relations.
Finding a compromise is not always the ideal solution, though we seem programmed to go for it too easily. Forcing it may cause friction, and giving in will cost us our own objectives. What can we do to get thet maximum out of a negotiation, both for yourself as well as for your conversation partner? How can we get the optimum, and maintain a good relationship at the same time? The basic principles are the same, whether we deal with negotiations regarding salary or when we decide which movie to go to in the cinema with our partners.
Negotiation is about knowing what you can give and ask for (currency), exchanging wishes and needs rather than positions, dilemma’s or stale mates. It is therefore not so much about winning as it is about asking questions and showing respect for your conversation partner.
We explore various negotiation strategies in situations handed to us by the participants from their own context. A test gives us insight in the natural negotiation qualities of the participants and their pitfalls. In cases with an actor we then try these styles and strategies.
After this training you will find it easier to stand up for yourself and get what you really want, as you wil have tools to negotiate while maintaining a good relationship with everyone.
Creating and maintaining a network and using it to your benefit is helps of your career. How do you persuade a party to take part in a project? How do you make new professional friends and have them remember you? How do you approach a difficult conversation partner? How do you deal with resistance?
All of these questions will be answered in this course. We discuss several communication models and practice them in different situations with the actor. Learn how to present yourself better and improve your networking skills!
Supervisors and managers need to be likeable to some extent. It is impossible, however, for everyone to like you all of the time. Some managers tend to prioritise likeability to a level where it impedes rational decision making. This may become a pitfall that is often described as ‘love junky’. Many managers recognise this to a certain degree, and describe it as ‘getting stuck in between’. In some situations this may lead you to make the wrong decisions or to delay decision making. At the same time it is a quality: you invest a lot in positive and strong relationships. How do you stay effective and maintain good relations whilst being able to make difficult decisions that are sometimes painful to or in disagreement with others?
In this training we focus on your communicative qualities and we look at how you deal with resistance and negativity. A test will give you insight in your natural communication styles. In individual cases with an actor we then practice how to deal with difficult situations: how do you bring bad news? How do you deal with resistance or disagreement among your employees? What do you do when you fail to convince others?
After this training you can separate rational decision making from emotional processes. You will be able to make necessary decisions unaffected by the opinions and feelings of others, whilst maintaining a good relationship with your people. You can make tough decisions and still be sensitive to the emotions and wishes of your employees. They may not always like you, but they will understand and respect you and acknowledge your authority!
This training has been especially designed for women who want to make it to the top of their field. Women are still underrepresented in management positions. There are several reasons for this, such as an HRM policy that leaves very little space for women’s time-management as a mother, and the male culture in which women are working. But the ambitions of women are also often less visible and are expressed differently. To generalise for a moment: men go for the person who most assertively convinces them, while women tend to look for consensus and they tend to emphasise their qualities less. While research shows that both teams and managers benefit from a good mix of ‘female’ and ‘male’ qualities.
During this training we make an inventory of our qualities and practice with getting them across in a convincing manner. We decide on ambitious personal missions that we then share with each other using an elevator pitch. We also practice how to stay strong during heavy criticism, resistance or distrust. Inner conviction, body language and verbal strength all play a role in this. Even the tempo of your speech, how quickly you respond to a question, and the pitch of your voice can add to the impression you make. We challenge the participants to test the effectiveness of some simple techniques in their daily life.
We will practice different cases with a professional training actor and give each other feedback. We will use your own situations from your intake forms. The communication techniques are applicable to formal conversations such as job interviews and acquisition, as well as to general communication in your daily work.
Would you like to know why some people make a good impression even without saying a word? Do you want to know what your own body language tells other people? Do you want to learn to use non-verbal signals to influence others? Body language – non-verbal communication – has a major effect on people’s first impression, connection, communication, credibility and general effectiveness.
In this workshop you will see how you can use expression, gestures, timing, pose, etcetera to mirror, connect, and open up. These skills can be used in network conversations, presentations, conflict, negotiation, leadership and general communication. Work your body in a way that impresses more!
