I want to brief you all about the Global Competency Model and how it determines the growth of skills in international professionals. As I also describe in The Global Mobility Workbook (2019): “Global Competency is the ability to work effectively in a global, complex environment with a high level of stress, while achieving goals sustainably and in accordance with your own resources”. It combines knowledge, attitude, skills, reflected experiences, and body learning. What are these skills? A diverse set of abilities can help your global competency, from developing your language skills (learning a foreign language is excellent!) to effectively using digital media (Social Media platforms & video conferencing).  Skills like analytical thinking, problem-solving, and communication also help cement your Global […]

  I used to once tell my colleagues that I sometimes feel that I am like an orchid. I would only blossom in the right environment and when I get a lot of love from the people working with me. As a creative person, I also need to feel safe and accepted and this is the hardest part because we often make connections between items that others will not connect. Also, connect people with each other who would not necessarily see why they should be connected.  On the weekend I attended a short workshop in a monastery of a Dominican sisterhood in Ilanz. There in the loving eyes of those sisters, I immediately understood why I would like my clients […]

Building Relationships is harder for Expat Spouses in Zurich.  As I sat on a panel, I just got as far as saying, “I think…” when the other panelist gave her opinion. She probably didn’t notice that I was trying to say something, but for a moment, I was annoyed and thought, “How rude…”. And it seems to happen more and more that I am waiting an instant too long, and then it is too late to say what I wanted to say. I now notice how I have become a “Swiss person.” I may have allowed a younger and shyer version of myself to take over these days. Having lived here in Zurich for over ten years, I prefer to […]

I’m sure you are aware that I have been championing body learning for inclusive leaders for over a decade now. I would like to focus on the work of the pioneering body learning coach and my former coach educator, Boudewijn Vermeulen. Vermeulen developed a holistic approach to executive coaching that meshed popular communication techniques with body learning. His method led to higher coaching efficacy and speed and is one of the most effective techniques for learning and personal and professional growth. Boudewijn Vermeulen developed a structured method to improve relationships: the Vermeulen Analysis Model (VAM). His approach involved several aspects that can be grouped into these four areas: structured communication, relationship work, body learning and reflection of experiences. The VAM […]

As I mentioned in this post during the early days of the pandemic my mother could not find yeast. Her village in Southern Germany had a yeast shortage. We don’t have a shortage of anything here in Zurich, neither toilet paper, nor yeast, even though demand for both was higher than in “normal” times. My mother likes to bake in normal times but I felt she needed to bake even more in these times.