The European Workshop Series That Made a Difference
Never stop learning: that’s my motto! Flashback to a few years ago. The company I worked for had a brilliant idea—to launch a workshop series for high-potential talent across a few of its European locations. This wasn’t your typical run-of-the-mill training; it was about team orientation, work methods, synergy generation, and communication in a high-pressure environment.
We assembled a dream team of six top-notch coaches from both inside and outside the company. At the time, I was knee-deep in coaching classes when suddenly—plot twist!—they asked me to join the coaching squad. Super pumped, I accepted the part-time gig on top of my day job as Head of IT of the company.
The workshop format was genius in its simplicity. Picture this: 20 bright-eyed students per series, mostly with engineering and economics backgrounds. They’d come together for two intense one-week sessions, separated by a six-week break. During the break, they got remote projects to tackle in smaller groups, using all the cool “work smarter” tools we taught them during the first part of the workshop. The goal? To have them master the art of remote collaboration. We ended up coaching around 200 folks through this fantastic program.
I don’t know how many post-it notes, posters, moderation walls, markers, and big white papers we burned through, but it was a lot. And each student was put into the zone because of the high energy in the room.
Now, imagine being whisked away to a remote hotel, totally cut off from the daily grind. That’s where the magic happened. After the six-week hiatus, everyone would reconvene for the workshop’s second act, presenting their remote projects and getting ready for more new ways to work smarter and more successfully in teams.
We were all about work efficiency, problem-solving, visualizing issues, and boosting communication skills. Armed with a treasure trove of work method tools, our students quickly got the hang of things, solving problems and tackling tasks with their newfound skills. These workshops were intense, with long hours that created a bit of stress—but that was the point. It mirrored real-life pressure.
And guess what? Our students LOVED it. They raved about meeting new colleagues from different locations, learning innovative problem-solving techniques, and becoming more efficient in their jobs.
For me, it was an incredibly rewarding time, watching people grow and learn. Fun and fulfilling—a perfect combo!
TASK - Workshop Series, Europe
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