The Choice: Un-box your PhD process & take charge of your performance

The Choice is an experiential personal leadership course designed to help you take greater control of your professional and personal life. You will (re)discover what truly matters to you and be motivated to take actions that positively shape your PhD journey. ~Includes physical exercises and box coaching~

Every PhD journey includes both productive, joyful periods and more challenging times. In The Choice, you will explore your values and learn how to lead yourself and others more effectively, enhancing both your impact and personal vitality. The course combines physical exercises (such as box coaching), group reflection, and theory to give you deep insights into your behaviors, communication styles, and their effects.

You will discover how to leverage your personal strengths and drives in collaboration with others, while overcoming recurring obstacles and increasing both your impact and enjoyment at work.

This course is ideal for anyone who learns best by doing and resonates with questions such as:

How can I…

• manage a workload that feels overwhelming?
• maintain or regain the joy I feel for my work?
• bring up difficult issues with my supervisor?
• pursue my own ideas while maintaining a good relationship with others?
• make better use of my own strengths and the strength of others?
• feel more satisfied with my achievements?
• become more perceptive when supervising others?
• find a balance between my working life and social life?

Approach

The Choice consists of three half-day group workshops and one personal coaching session. During the course, you will focus on your own personal leadership challenge. In the group sessions, you will explore your behaviors and patterns through physical exercises and reflective sharing. You will also learn the theory behind behaviors and gain practical tools to apply immediately. We reflect and share as a group, giving you the opportunity to learn from each other. In the one-on-one box coaching session, you will have time to explore your personal situation in depth. Boxing is a playful and powerful tool for understanding your behaviors and communication styles. You will explore questions such as: How do I relate to others? How do I behave under pressure? Do I prefer to lead or follow? How do I set boundaries? What are my unique strengths, and where does autopilot take over?

You will learn to listen to your body as a key guide for making choices and breaking limiting patterns. Individual and group reflections will help link these insights to your PhD work and daily life.

Experiences of participants

Curious to hear what participants have to say about the course? Check out the short video below

 

 

 

 

Programme

Day 1: Know yourself Define your learning goal. Become aware of your dominant (verbal and non-verbal) communication and conflict styles and effects. Discover your ‘auto-pilot’ habits, and explore and experiment with communication styles different from the ones you’re used to using.

Individual coaching session In a personal coaching session, you’ll deepen your insights and identify tangible follow-up actions that you can apply in your PhD work context.

Day 2: Lead yourself Become aware of your qualities and strengths. (Re)discover what is truly important to you using your core values. You will learn how about your own thoughts, feelings and behaviour and how to identify what limits you to act accordingly to your values. Together we will make a plan for a committed action.

Day 3: Yourself in relation to others Integrate the past sessions and help each other to apply and further integrate insights in your daily work practices. Learn about different leadershipstyles and the different roles you encounter in your PhD.

 Outcome

After completing The Choice, you will be able to:

• ✔ Identify what helps you progress in your PhD journey
• ✔ Recognize and make better use of your strengths and the strengths of others
• ✔ Interact and resolve conflicts more effectively with colleagues
• ✔ Make choices that help you maintain balance in your life
• ✔ Communicate in ways that maximize your impact
• ✔ Reduce and manage stress while improving workflow
• ✔ Build networks and resolve issues with fellow PhD students

Trainers

The Choice is facilitated by Linda Admiraal (cocooncoaching.nl) & Peter Slenders (relatiestroom.nl). Distinctive to their way of working is their personal approach, use of experiential approaches and the creation of a safe, pleasant learning environment.

General Information

Target Group:	PhD's
Group size:	8-12 participants
Course duration:	4 sessions
Language:	English
Credit points:	0.7 ECTS
Self-study hours:	low
Name trainers:	Linda Admiraal & Peter Slenders
When & Venue:	DAY-1 : Tuesday 4 November ( 13:00 - 17:00 ) at Kenkon DAY-2 : Thursday 20 November ( 09:00 - 13:00 ) at Kenkon DAY-3 : Thursday 11 December ( 13:00 - 17:00 ) at Wageningen Campus (room TBA) With an individual coaching session between day 1 & 2 at Wageningen Campus (room TBA)

👉How to prepare yourself The Choice is a personal leadership programme. During this training you will work on your specific personal leadership question or challenge. Kindly prepare yourself by reflecting on why you have subscribed for the training and what you would like to learn. We will use this as a starting point during the first workshop.

👉What to bring:

1. comfortable (sports) clothes
2. shoes are not needed, we will work bare foot
3. extra sweater and socks in case you feel cold between the exercises
4. bottle of water
5. notebook and pen

Fee

Reduced fee: • PhD candidates of Wageningen University with an approved Training and Supervision Plan (TSP) who are registered at one of the WU graduate schools (EPS, PE&RC, VLAG, WASS, WIAS, WIMEK) • Postdocs of Wageningen University who are registered at one of the WU graduate schools	€310
University fee: All other PhD candidates / Wageningen University postdocs and staff	€620
External fee: All other participants	€1240

Fee includes study and training material and coffee/tea.

Please note that with your official registration you are kept to the cancellation conditions, and that being present all 3 course days is obliged.

Cancellation condition

You may cancel free of charge up to 1 month before the start of the course. After this date you will be charged the University fee (€ 620). Unless:

• You can find someone to replace you in the course and supply the course coordinator with the name and contact information of your replacement.
  In this case you will only be charged a € 50,- cancellation fee.
• You (PhDs and postdocs of Wageningen University) have a valid reason to cancel (illness or death in the family 1st or 2nd degree).
  In this case you will be charged the reduced fee and your supervisor/PI must send a mail indicating the reason for cancellation.

Note: If you would like to cancel your registration, ALWAYS inform us. Someone else may still be able to take your spot.

Information

For more information please contact wgscourses@wur.nl