Creating New Habits and Beliefs

Thanks to the women in the current open programme - today was exceptional! You worked earnestly and with enthusiasm. Here are some reminders of a few resources we used.

The video we watched was a TEDmed talk with the inspiring Aimee Mullins.

 We talked about how interconnected our thoughts, feelings and behaviours are - Amy Cuddy's TED talk offered some further input when talking about Faking it until we Make it! And them become it (see video in a previous blog post).

The parting words came from Maya Angelou. You can read the poem at Susan Macaulay's site: Amazing Women Rock.

And watch the video again here

Powerful Body Language

In addition to Amy Cuddy's wonderful TED talk, here's a link to an article talking specifically about the correlation between feminine body language and passive, defensive body language.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/09/10/gendered-and-the-body-language-of-power/

Thoughts To Take Along on the Next Steps

Friday 19 July was the last workshop on the current Hochschule Reutlingen Springboard Programme (the third programme held at the University!). On a gloriously hot sunny day, the women in the group celebrated their last session together with thoughts on how to maintain the momentum initiated by their Springboard experiences.

To help the thinking process along, Amalia came and led a relaxing, mind-cleansing mediation session. She had been our guest speaker in the first workshop, a wonderfully warm and sharing person with a thoroughly touching story to share.

Amalia J.Lorenzo, Artist, Designer, Mediation Leader

And later in the day, this month's guest speaker (and former Springboard participant) Regina shared her highly inspirational life story. As an added-bonus, she stayed a little longer to share a glass of celebratory Sekt and to offer expert voice-coaching feedback.

Regina Toth, Speech Coach, Rhetorik Trainer

Closing the day, I read the following quote from one of my favourite authors, Laura Berman Fortgang. She wrote the wonderful, "The Little Book on Meaning."


"At the core of our discomfort... lies the truth that we don't know ourselves very well. When we feel okay within ourselves, we are less impatient for answers. We can find our center and wait. We can tolerate mystery and maybe even revere it. It's just so different from how we've been trained and conditioned to live.

   We continue to insist that the outside world reflect something at us that tells us who we are. Whether that comes in the form of success or failure is beside the point. To attempt a meaningful life is to embrace that which can measured only within ourselves. The yardstick is not our life picture. It is rather how we feel about the person staring back at us in the mirror and how we feel about life." 

Michelle, Nicole, Susan, Kerstin, Eva & Antje - Hochschule Reutlingen Summer 2013

Special thanks to Jessica for organising the programmes for staff at the university AND for making sure we had wonderful refreshments throughout each workshop. Looking forward to the next programme!

An evening with Jenny Daisley

Springboard in Germany has been quietly and gently making headway over the last three years. The fifth open programme is due to start in September this year. I am very pleased to be holding the workshops in the highly professional and simultaneously warm and welcoming offices of the Fundus Institut in Leonberg.

Even more exciting, Jenny Daisley - co-originator of Springboard - is visiting us here in Stuttgart. And of course, I want to show her off to as many people as possible. So. We have arranged an evening whereby anyone can come by to find out more about how Springboard could be helpful for them. Directly from Jenny! Check your calenders for Wednesday 10 July. If you're free, it would be lovely to see you at Fundus from 6.30pm.

You can see all details at the invitation page here.

And all about the programme starting in September here.

Springboard Annual Conference 2013

What a wonderful conference it was! At beautifully situated Horwood House Hotel (near Milton Keynes) Springboard, Navigator, Spring Forward and Fresh Steps trainers came together for the annual boost from the Consultancy team - and from each other!

I was über happy to have my proposal for one of 2 workshop slots accepted. The brief was to facilitate an interactive workshop under the title: Determination is the Key to Success.

Here you can see the slides I developed as part of the session.


As ever, I felt quite nervous at the start - anxious to do a good job of engaging my colleagues. I really wanted to give them something worth their time and effort; to give them some food for thought.

Judging by the results of the group, pair and individual work, this was a group with a good idea of what it means to be determined. And there was plenty of generous sharing.

 

This was only my second conference and while it was different from the first (where Michael -"flip it"-Heppell spoke), the best aspects remained. The collegial exchange, the element of fun, the general openness to hearing and learning from one another. So, not having a highfaluting, celebrity plenary speaker was actually really good. The consultancy's plan to have us speak to each other paid off brilliantly. Listening to stories from our peers - and participants - was refreshing and inspiring at a grass roots level.

For me personally, listening to Jenny and Liz was especially inspiring. They are truly at the heart of what Springboard does. They are the role models: hard-working, creative, innovative and DETERMINED!! 

I so hope to make it back again next year. Mind you, as so many of us have proved, with a good dose of determination, there's not much we can't make happen.

Watch this space for news on Jenny's imminent visit to Germany. She will be guest speaker at a special event on July 10th. If you any where near Stuttgart / Leonberg, please do stop by!