Career Development Program
Scientific research has shown that ambitious women, even if they are young, and without children, get stuck in their career.
This happens because many women don’t understand how to play the game of ‘building a successful career’.
If they don’t manage to grow in their own organization – they find another job elsewhere, but then they realize that the same type of game is played in any company or academic institution.
Our ”Career Development Program for Women” is a combination of 6 workshops, 6 group coaching sessions and 2 personal career coaching sessions. Pre- and post-assignments will be given for each session and participants will write a reflection summary after each session. Participants will be encouraged to interview one or more (female) role models and to find a mentor during the program. Participants will develop their vision and mission during the program. The program is given with a lot of humour and positive attitude towards both women and men.
The first time we organised the Dutch in-person version of this program was in 2007.
Lidy Hartemink, then female manager of the year, asked us to develop this program for 7 talented women. As a female role model, she wanted these women to have more impact. And she succeeded! All of these seven women became board member between one and four years after this program.
Since then we have organised this program about 50 times now, and it has proved its value!
Would you like to have this program as in-company?
Please contact us at info@intouchwrm.nl for more information.
Career Development Program
Would you like to:
- Understand the unwritten rules of ‘making the career’ game
- Learn to negotiate strategically
- Make personal branding strategy
- Develop your own field of influence
- Learn ways to fight biases
- Discover your levels of powers
- Learn practical tools and tips that you can directly apply
- Meet other growth—minded women
- Have more fun at work
Career Developmen Program
WORKSHOPS
Workshop ‘The unwritten rules of making the career game’
What this workshop covers
This workshop is about the unwritten rules and how to play the game of ‘building a successful career’ strategically and without losing your own identity.
Why it matters?
At first, many women have no idea that a sort of game is being played at. Their work. They expect the same transparent rules to apply as those applied during their school and study periods: you do your best and you are evaluated accordingly, in the form of higher grades.
In the office, however, the rules are much more diffuse. And since most of the organizations and companies were founded by men, these rules are adopted to masculine working style.
What you’ll learn
The participants will learn the differences between feminine and masculine working styles and how to adopt different styles to reach their career goals. The participants will have discussions about the unwritten rules they have to deal with at their company.
Workshop ‘Behavioural archetypes’
What this workshop covers
In total, 11 archetypes are described in detail: 6 female and 5 male behavioural styles. Dynamics between female and male archetypes is explained.
Why it matters?
All archetypes are present in each personality, but the way we grow up, live and work determines which ones are most dominant. No matter if you are working in business company or organization, all of them are present and relevant. With insights into the archetypes, it will take you less time to recognize their way of thinking, their (over)sensitivities, their pet subjects, their norms and values.
What you’ll learn
Participants learn how to adopt their behaviour at certain moments and respond in a way that might not feel natural to them. They become aware of the pattern in their own and other people’s behaviour. They will extend their own behavioural repertoire, or of choosing more well-thought-out strategy, instead of waiting to see what happens.
Participants will learn how to be in control of their own emotions.
Workshop ‘Field of influence at work’
What this workshop covers
This workshop is about identifying your area of influence correctly; the area within which you can exercise influence.
Why it matters?
The higher you get in an organisation, the less room there is for everyone. You have to push your way to the top. If you want to achieve your aims, it is very likely that they. Will clash with the objectives of other people in the organisation, simply because they also want to be the leader of that interesting project, or because, if you are in control of part of the budget, then there will be less for the manager to allocate.
What you’ll learn
Participants will draw their own field of influence around a strategic goal. They will analyse their own field of influence and reflect on the following questions: Who are the main ‘players’ in my field of influence? Who has formal and informal power? What position do I choose? How do I use my own power? Which strategies are used and what strategy will I choose? Participants will attribute the archetypes from previous workshop to the various players in their field of influence.
Workshop ‘Strategic negotiation for women’
What this workshop covers
This workshop gives insight in the negotiation process and goes deep into the dynamics at play among the various archetypes in the that process.
Why it matters?
To operate more effectively within our field of influence, we have to negotiate! To be able to do your work well, you need money, space and position. And so you negotiate budgets, (meeting) times to present your ideas, training possibilities, physical space and promotions, etc. Not without reason, negotiation is one of the most critical factors for success.
What you’ll learn
Participants learn different steps in negotiating: how do you prepare, what strategy do you choose and how do you play the ‘negotiation game’. We relate to the behavioural archetypes, and based on the checklist we developed, the participants will prepare and practice their own business negotiation case.
Workshop ‘Gender bias’
During this session, participants will understand what is gender bias and why people should be aware of it. Participants will hear about work situations and processes where gender bias can appear and they will learn practical tips on how to fight it. Inspirations on how to start organisational change with respect to gender bias will be presented.
Workshop ‘How to deal with the power’
What this workshop covers
The workshop covers levels of power, which are the path that people take in developing their own personalities. In fact, this is the same path they take when developing their business qualities. Anyone can step into this system at any level, but they can also get stuck at any level.
Why it matters?
Today’s successful leader needs to be able to assimilate all the levels of power and apply one or another at any given moment. Power, however, often has a negative connotation. Women in particular are often reticent about describing themselves as being powerful. They would rather think that others have power, than that themselves are powerful. But power is needed to ensure that you get things done. The ‘power to’ is the skill to start and substantiate something, but also to have the freedom and opportunity to do it.
What you’ll learn
During this workshop, the participants will get insight in the five levels of personal power. Participants learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the different levels and how to use them strategically. They will learn how to use more power in their verbal and non-verbal communication.
SESSIONS
Session ‘Get to know each other’s golden goals’
During this session, the participants will introduce themselves and explain why they joined the program. They will learn how to set ‘golden goals’ that they will reach using the strategy developed during this program.
Session ‘Private life as a glass ceiling in career’
This session tackles famous ‘work-life balance’ topic. Participants learn practical methods and get inspirational ideas ideas on how to ‘fit in the agenda’ both working and private life. They also learn how to recognize when someone’s private life becomes their glass ceiling.
Session ‘Imaginary obstacles’
Participants learn how to deal with imaginary obstacles that prevent them from getting the career they deserve and from daring to choose risky and interesting assignments. Some of the examples of imaginary obstacles are: “I don’t have enough experience”, “It’s only for men”, “I have to be always available” etc.
Session ‘Inter-vision’
Experience has shown us that participants can learn a lot from their peers. In this program, we will organize one inter- vision session. In this session, all participants will discuss their own field of influence with each other. This allows people to get input from their peers and trainer on issues and problems on their path to their career goals and the way they present them.
Session ‘Cultural bias’
This sessions shows some of the common working situations which are often refer to as cultural bias. Participants become aware of such situations and learn reasons why cultural bias occurs. Participants also hear inspirational tips on how to react and how to prevent cultural bias.
Session ‘Personal branding’
In this session, the participants learn how to build their personal brand in an effective way. We will discuss the mechanism of ‘disappearing acts’; relational work many women do and that becomes invisible in the work environment. Participants will develop their own branding strategy.
Career Development Program
Are you ready for your second or third step in your career?
Have you been offered a first-level managerial role, but wasn’t yet ready for it?
Do you want to break trough a “glass ceiling” that you encountered?
Are you interested in discovering the rules of “making the career” game?
Do you want to have more fun and enjoy at your work?
Then it’s you
‘Afrondingsavond Masterclass Stratego voor vrouwen 2019’
Career Development Program
Dr. ing. Mira Vasic is a senior partner at ‘In Touch Female Leadership & Career Academy’ and Senior Lecturer at MBA programs of Politecnico di Milano Business School. She holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (2015) and she has been a post-doc at Eucentre in Pavia and visiting scholar at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (School of Civil Engineering).
In the past ten years, she has been working as researcher and consultant for both commercial and governmental sector in Serbia, Italy and the Netherlands. Mira has passion for leadership development and empowering highly educated women.
She is trainer on topics of gender equality, female leadership and she is a career advisor for female expats living all around the World.
Next start: November 2021
| 1 | Get to know each other’s ’golden goals’ | 13:00-17:00 | 04/11/2021 |
| The unwritten rules of ‘making the career’ game | |||
| 2 | Behavioural archetypes | 13:00-17:00 | 25/11/2021 |
| Gender bias | |||
| 3 | Field of influence at work | 13:00-17:00 | 16/12/2021 |
| Personal branding | |||
| 4 | Strategic negotiation for women | 13:00-17:00 | 13/01/2022 |
| Imaginary obstacles | |||
| 5 | Inter-vision | 13:00-17:00 | 03/02/2022 |
| Cultural bias | |||
| 6 | How to deal with the power | 13:00-17:00 | 24/02/2022 |
| Private life as a glass ceiling in career | |||
| Personal coaching session | t.b.d | March 2022 |
Do you have a group of minimum 4 colleagues that would like to join such a program? Then we can organise it as an in-company and fit to your organisation.
Contact us for more information: info@intouchwrm.nl
Career Development Program
Online!
The maximum number of participants is 6. All activities will be live virtual sessions. This program is a long-term program that lasts for 6 months and is given in 6 separate days (+ 2 individual personal coaching session) distributed over the course of 6 months.
Career Development Program
The total investment for this “Career Development Program for Women” is € 2.350,= excl. VAT, incl. the e-book ‘Stratego for women’ and the e-book ‘The unwritten feminine & masculine rules’ for each participant.
If you would like to invoice your company or pay by a bank transfer, please send us an email: info@intouchwrm.nl
Career Development Program
“During this excellent program I became aware that working with my own personal values is something extremely valuable to me. I learned how to use my influence in different ways and that I am a lot more independent than I thought I was.”
Ines Plasmans, Director Communication and Public Affairs at Prorail
“This is really the best gift I could ever give to myself. It is a ‘must’ for every woman who wants to become more empowered and who wants to develop her strategic skills. This very intensive program and various workshops teaches you a lot about yourself, to put things in perspective, gives you time for a good laugh and you will realize you are not the only one facing career challenges.”
Mandy Hundertmark, HR Executive Director, JVN gaming & entertainment group
“I made huge steps during this program. Not only a next step in my career (and salary increase) but also as a person. I really recommend this program for any woman who wants to develop het personal leadership skills.”
Renate Beckers, Programmamanager Organisatieontwikkeling, Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland
“Due to this program I feel a lot more confident. I can now appreciate the political game and play by the unwritten rules. And I am a much better negotiator. This is a very practical program that guarantees direct successes. It’s inspirational, motivative and extremely useful”. Alinda Magielse, Territory Manager Surgical, Bausch + Lomb
“This program taught to experience my job more as a game. I can now play the game strategically and have lots of fun with it. I don’t get irritated by my male peers of managers, I now realize what they do, how they think and I use it! Working is so much easy now.” Marjolein Meulensteen, Portfoliomanager Responsible Investing, a.s.r. insurance
Interested in more?
Link to: Gender bias
Gender Bias
Workshop to become aware of both the feminine and masculine unwritten rules
Link to: Live and online workshops
Short online workshops
We regularly offer short online workshops several times a year on topics like:
- Gender bias
- Unwritten rules to play the career game
- Working in the Dutch business culture
- Negotiating skills for women