I proudly present ‘adPontis’ my bureau for:- Personal, team and organizational development- Consultancy- Training- Mediation- Facilitation of collaborative decision making processes.Primary focus and specializations:- Team development: team coaching, team building, team mediation, team decision making, progressive team meetings, feedback in teams, merging of teams, changing team culture and team intervision.- Training on various social skills such as: solution / progression focused coaching and leadership; train-the-trainer; leadership; breaking resistance (‘from no to yes’); feedback; non-violent communication; (conducting) constructive meetings; negotiation; conflict management, etc.- Theme days on any given subject or matter of choice.- Mediation between individuals or groups and within teams.Other specialisms:- Personal coaching: efficiently and with focus on both the individual’s ánd the organization’s needs, strengths and goals.- Industrial safety: improving safety culture and behavior; implementation of safety front runners or ambassadors; organizing safety days (fun, engaging ánd educational).- Organizational development: changing organizational culture, merging of companies or departments, implementation of core values, large scale interventions, ‘train-the-trainer’ or ‘front runners’ approach for sustainable change (top down as well as bottom up).Core values:- Progression focused and goal oriented.- Straight forward and transparent.- Creative and out-of-the-box.- No-nonsense and down to earth.- Client centered and high service levels.Network:For large scale productions (f.e. safety days) I collaborate with other senior consultants, who have earned their merits. Some of them are all-round while others bring in their own specializations. Together we work as a closely knit team.Language:I deliver training and other services in Dutch as well as in English. Hence my LinkedIn profile in English.

At Alfabeeld I delivered a wide range of services, such as training, consultancy, personal- and teamcoaching, workshops, group intervision, large scale interventions (i.e. org. culture), training-on-the-job, audits, creativity sessions, facilitation of meetings and mediation. A fair share of jobs was about improvement of safety culture in industrial companies. Other training or change topics were: service awareness, coaching (solution focused), leadership, presentation skills, train-the-trainer, (conducting) constructive meetings, feedback, nonviolent communication, influence, effective communication, negotiation, time management, ownership, personal effectiveness, etc.Thus I created solutions for many different issues in a variety of branches, such as social care, health care, musea, industry, banks, government departments, schools, logistics, (tank) storage, harbor, construction, ship-building, etc.Customers I worked for were usually very pleased indeed with my contributions, as can be concluded from the recommendations and endorsements from this period in my career.

Working for homeless people taught me more about patience, respect, humility and our responsibility to take care of each other. To put the best effort in all of our work….. as our gift to each other.I also trained and coached group workers and social workers to support them at their challenging jobs.

Teaching, training and coaching HBO pedagogy students and health management students at the School of Health. I learned about the importance of development step by step. After all every great journey consists of many individual steps. And every single step is evenly important as the others. I also learned how (groups of) people will change their opinions, insights and visions, just by acting different. And how to motivate people on(to) their path. Furthermore l grew a better understanding of politics in large organizations. And that sometimes people will only change their behavior, when we -allow them to- change their environment.

What were you doing at 9/11 ...? I was developing a course about tele-/datacom for employees (new comers) in the business. At the time it seemed like a logical career step on my way back to training and coaching. And so it was!

Working as a hired force at various ICT-related projects for different organizations taught me how to get things done through other people. That is without any hierarchical position or mandate…. It certainly wasn’t always easy to practice what I had preached in the years before as a social skills trainer. But it was very helpful in becoming more realistic and goal oriented in my approach as a consultant. It also made me understand that it can be tough, being a professional. Especially in large organizations. Thus I learned to truly empathize with people at all levels in organizations. To listen to them and –more important- make them listen to each other. Last but not least: I learned to manage large projects.

My first steps as a social skills trainer quickly drew me away from university into the real world. I took many different jobs, mainly on negotiation, conflict management, leadership, service and (conducting) constructive meetings.