***NEW VENUE***
Wow! Ladies, nearly 50 of you! what a spectacular New Years Celebration we had in January. We are looking forward to welcome you back. We also welcome guests and members that were unable to attend in January.

Welcome back to Scheveningen Harbor. This time to the “other side” (near to the Gamma)

The Harbor Club
(upstairs)
The Steak Club Restaurant
Dr. Lelykade 5

Erika writes: For more details about the venue go to http://www.thesteakclub.nl/. There is plenty of free parking and if you are traveling by public transport, the closest bus station is Statenlaan Noord, the closest tram from Den Haag Centraal station is #17 (richtening Statenkwartier) and the stop Van Boetzelaerlaan.

The cost will be €12,50 per person which will entitle you to two drinks and canapes. You are asked to pay this upon arrival to your hosts,
Anna, Erika or Karin. You will be given a token which you can use at the bar for your drinks. Additional consumption will be at your own cost.

Please make sure you register your attendance via the EPWN website http://europeanpwn-amsterdam.net/events/borrel-in-den-haag or send an email to Erika at erika@bothassistanceandsupport.nl. Please de-register if you are not able to make it! We need to confirm the number of attendees with The Steak Club 48 hours in advance.

Updates will be sent to you directly with the email you provide in your pre-registration. And of course also available on Twitter. You can sign up to follow us on the EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam home page.

Congratulations to Karin who had a baby girl last week!

OBA (the Bieb)
Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam
Oosterdokskade 143
1011 DL Amsterdam

Happy New Year
This is your chance to come borrel with the Amsterdam board.
Ideas, brainstorm, feedback, questions are welcome.

We’ll all be on hand to talk with you about the organization, logistics, planning, future board positions, what’s happening with the federation, and how you can help to grow and to sustain the organization with your participation. “Club business” and updates.

We will meet in the New Library – next to Amsterdam Centraal Station
(same as last year). Join us on the top floor at the bar for tapas and beverages in the La Place Restaurant.

We have also reserved a meeting room – on the 6th floor.

We really enjoyed the productive discussions last year in this format.
Please join us again!

New Year, New Chances.

Proost!

In our training sessions, we regularly receive this type of question from participants: “Why is my Russian colleague always so negative? Is it something I did wrong?” asks Tom from London. Our answer is: “On the contrary Tom, your Russian colleague trusts you enough to share his concerns with you. Actually he is trying to be friends and bond with you.”

Bonding by complaining

In Western Russia, many Eastern European cultures and various cultures in Southern Europe and Latin America, people try to bond with others by complaining. Complaints about the boss or about tasks to be performed or simply about the food, places people ‘together’ in a common situation in which they can relate to each other - bonding with the suffering majority. These complaints are usually expressed with emotion. However, it is passive and is not followed by an action to change the situation that is complained about. An outsider will get the impression that something terrible has happened and that the complainer is deeply unhappy. This however is not the case. There are many reasons for such behavior depending on the context. Some of the underlying reasons may be uncertainty, risk avoidance, xenophobia, fatalism and the feeling of not being in charge as well as being unable to create or accept change.

Richard Kwakernaak, founder Institute for Communication Psychology and Transformation (ICPT);

Thursday, February 4^th, 2010

Location: Amsterdam Renaissance Hotel

Why is it sometimes a challenge to enjoy working together with others, men in particular, while it seems so easy at many other occasions? What role do emotions play? How do we recognize each other’s and our own emotions? And how do we consciously as well as unconsciously focus our attention, depending on how we feel?

During this interactive event Richard Kwakernaak will guide us to reveal our inner resources to communicate and cooperate as effectively as possible, even under difficult circumstances.

Richard graduated from Naval Academy with a specialization in Human Resources Management and founded the Institute for Communication Psychology and Transformation (ICPT) after fourteen years in active service of the Royal Netherlands Navy. During that time Richard acquired a vast amount of experience of communication in male dominated environments which he now also passes on in his work with various national and international companies and a number of seminars that he teaches for the military, especially at NATO’s Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence.

Discover how to benefit from the latest insights in social neurosciences, practically applied in the fields of Mindfulness, NeuroLeadership and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Learn what all people have in common and yet how different individuals interpret experiences, including specific characteristics of male and female information processing.

Afterwards you will have a thorough understanding why men sometimes act in a neglecting way, how emotions arise and impact your communication. During entertaining exercises you will practice how to maintain focus in order to communicate how and what you want.

Participants are welcome to network from 19:00 to 20:00. The program begins at 20:00.

Registration and Guest Policy: Registration is required for members (no charge) and guests (guests are welcome at a cost of 25 Euro which includes snacks and drinks). Guests are allowed to attend two EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam functions per year. Please contact Caroline van Leuven, our VP Membership.

Misunderstandings, irritations, feelings of exclusion and a sense of inferiority, are daily challenges for non-native English speakers trying to communicate in the language of global business. What exactly happens and how can global organizations help employees become more effective in this intercultural language and its various communication styles?

Vast amounts of skill, expertise and knowledge remains hidden in organizations because of language and cultural barriers. Native Spanish, German, Dutch, Turkish, Chinese or Bahasa Indonesia speakers all make a daily effort to understand, speak and write English. Native English speakers try to understand the many variants of non-native speakers.

Together we try to get used to each other’s accents and accept the language mistakes inevitably made. We try to figure out what a good translation would be for a particular expression and how the words are to be interpreted and valued in our own language. We get lost in translation.

On many occasions the native English speakers form the majority at international meetings. They patiently watch how non-native speakers demolish their native language and still praise them on their command of English. Are native English speakers aware of the difficulties non-native speakers face and how this affects their feelings and the dynamics of a discussion or debate?

An exciting and successful 2009 comes to an end and we want to use the holidays to thank you for your participation, support and dedication for EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam. Only with active members like you, were we able to host 12 main events, 6 workshops and many borrels in Amsterdam & The Hague.

Happy New Year Den Haag!

This year’s NewYear’s Borrel will take place on January 5, 2010 at the ‘Pasta Company’ in Scheveningen Harbour. We are looking to make this a joint EuropeanPWN/Connecting Women event members & all guests are welcome! The official time of the borrel will be from 7-9 pm. It will include drinks and nibbles.

So far the cost of the EPWN Hague Borrels have been around 10 euro a person. Those who drank more have been kind enough to pitch in extra. Since this is a special evening to celebrate the New Year, we have made a special arrangement with the PastaCompany.

This time the cost will be 12,50 euro per person – this will include a glass of bubbles to toast, tapas and one more drink. You pay this upon arrival to either Erika or Karin and you will be given a token, which you can use at the bar for your second drink. Anything after that will be at your own costs.

We know that the tapas will be quite substantial, however, you are most welcome to stay for dinner afterwards. Do check out their website www.pastacompany.nl for their menu.

The Pasta Company is located in the Harbour of Scheveningen, and although the address is Dr Lelykade 24a, for those of you who don’t know Scheveningen well, it’s best to go to the Schokkerweg and then take the stairs down to the restaurants;the Pasta Company is the last one in the row, after Het Brouwcafe, De ZouteZoen, De Dagvisser, Lemongrass and then the Pasta Company. There is plenty of free parking at the restaurant and if you are coming by public transport, take tram 11 to the Duinstraat stop.

Please make sure you register your attendance via the EuropeanPWN website (click on register above this post) or send an email to Erika at erika@bothassistanceandsupport.nl.

Please de-register if you are not able to make it after all; we need to confirm the number of attendees with the Pasta Company 48 hours in advance.

We are looking forward to seeing you all and have a sparkling evening!

Warm regards,

Erika Both & Karin Bosscher

EuropeanPWN / CW

Download the poster

A recent survey of global CEO’s found that leaders in every industry and in every part of the world are emerging from a period of retrenchment and moving towards a vision of sustained growth, and that innovation is the preferred path to achieving that growth. Innovation has regained its central place in corporate life.

Dr. Fons Trompenaars will show how a winning team is made up of individuals who can demonstrate different strengths and, in fact, if a team does not embrace these different strengths, then it will not have the important dynamic to move forward and to innovate. For twenty years Fons Trompenaars has been interviewing leaders around the world, conducting seminars and advising their companies. His conclusions demonstrate how successful leaders have developed cross-cultural competences, the ability to ride what he calls “the waves of culture” and to reconcile the dilemmas involved.

Fons Trompenaars will show how to make culture work for your business. Listed regularly as one of the world’s most influential management thinkers, Trompenaars is recognized internationally for his work as consultant, trainer, motivational speaker and author of bestsellers on culture and business. Captivating and thought-provoking in his presentation style and backed by rigorous research, Trompenaars has contributed many breakthrough ideas on the deeper understanding and reconciliation of inter and intra-cultural diversity, creativity and innovation. Participants will learn how to deal with cross-cultural challenges and dilemmas as well as how to embrace an evolving innovation culture. Leaders must adopt new approaches to make them, their teams and their business more sustainable in these ‘whirlwind’ times.

Fons Trompenaars is author of the seminal book ‘Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business’. His latest bestseller ‘Riding the Whirlwind’, is a blueprint for developing a supportive culture that reinforces creativity and innovation for long term sustainability.

Participants are welcome to network from 19:00 to 20:00. The program begins at 20:00.

Registration and Guest Policy: Registration is required for members (no charge) and guests (guests are welcome at a cost of 45 Euro or ladies can become a member for a little extra). Snacks and drinks included. Guests are allowed to attend two EuropeanPWN-Amsterdam functions per year.