Creating Tomorrow

Dear Friends,

In the meantime, I’ve lived and worked in Germany for more than 30 years. I not only conduct workshops and coaching sessions in German with ease, I also (sometimes) write in German! This includes a selection of coaching tips on leadership skills for the Eventus Akademie.

Eventus’ principle, Mirko Schneider, has developed a unique perspective on leadership development based on the paradigm of soccer. The resulting 5:3 Method delivers an experiential training program that fosters entrepreneurial thinking within an organization and increases overall motivation.

Here are just a few of the topics I’ve written coaching tips on for Eventus:

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The list of companies and organizations that have already signed the Diversity Charta in Germany is impressive. These organizations - e.g. Dresdner Bank or Allianz Insurance - have taken their first energetic steps with a sharpened business sense and - in part - with a high level of PR visibility. With their committment to diversity they will open the doors even wider for more effective integration, while simultaneously securing important market and knowledge potential for themselves.

The Inofficial Hierarchy of Core Dimensions

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Dear Friends, 

In the May 6th entry on the weblog he co-hosts, Diversity Matters™, Richard Friend outlined six diversity essentials for people in leadership positions:

1. Inspire a shared vision of inclusion by knowing about others.

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Dear Friends,Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a forum on diversity management in Cologne here in Germany.Germany has historically been a much more racially and culturally homogenic country than the USA, and has its own troubled history to come to terms with. Therefore, the concrete challenges with which people are faced here vary somewhat from the situation in the States.

In the end, however, exclusion has the same innate sources no matter what the backstory, as well as the same negative impact on the groups that are marginalized by the mainstream - and on society as a whole.

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Dear Friends,

What happens to the culture of a company when the workforce becomes more diverse? Are employees from differing backgrounds made to feel comfortable being themselves within a supportive and challenging environment? Or are they expected to blend into the woodworks, have a tough hide to deal with the daily barbs of co-workers’ (or management) insensitivity, and be thankful for the sparse professional crumbs sprinkled their way?

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by Michael Soon Lee

Over the past twenty years it has become painfully obvious that the majority of diversity initiatives fail to achieve their stated goals and objectives. The reason for this failure can be made obvious by reviewing a recent job description for a diversity consultant at a major law firm. The company wanted a high-level person who was capable of working with powerful attorneys to attract a greater diversity of staff into the company, reduce turnover of minority attorneys, increase involvement of affinity groups throughout the organization, develop and deliver multicultural sensitivity training to offices throughout the world and to help each office with their own unique diversity challenges.

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Dear Friends,

Diversity has many faces, and it’s not only a question of racial, ethnic or gender differences.

The way in which the generations work together hasn’t been left unaffected. With the many rapid changes taking place in the workplace, traditional structures and formal hierarchies are no longer the most effective way to work.

The website Women For Hire features an insightful article called “Handling Generational Diversity” which pinpoints some of the generational myths still common in the workplace. The article also highlights areas in which people on either side of the age divide risk falling into the trap of stereotyping:

• Authority and Hierarchy
• Money and Advancement
• Technology
• Communication Styles

Trina

Dear Friends,

If you have a look at the tabs at the top of this page, you’ll see I’ve made a few changes. No, it wasn’t only to distract your attention from the fact that I desparately need to update my training calendar (it IS September already, after all!) and upload the new recources.

After piddling around a bit, I’ve finally come to temporary peace with an updated version of my standard credential presentation. I will probably make a few more tweaks in the coming weeks, but this is the new core presentation.

I truly welcome any comments or questions you might have about both look and content!

Also: Anyone interested in the German version can access it with a click!

Trina

P.S.: Transfering the presentation to zoho.com to make it viewable here has rode roughshod with the layout in some places. The original is ok, and I’ll smooth the edges on zoho.com as time allows.

Dear Friends,

I’m very proud and honored to be one of several foreign-born women in Germany highlighted as a female entrepreneur (or in my case: “solopreneur”) in a brochure published by the Ministry for Generations, Family, Women and Integration in the German state of North-Rhine-Westphalia. This brochure – entitled “Success in Two Cultures. Female Immigrants and Their Companies” - was introduced at the Day of the Female Entrepreneur 2007, which took place in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, 21 April 2007.

Let’s all hope that this brochure motivates and inspires other (not only foreign-born) women, and contributes to the continuing success of the ladies involved!

Trina