Inspirerende ontdekkingstocht tijdens Discovering Dutch Competence

[Maartje Rooker]

Een tafel vol kleurrijke snacks, van scones tot aardbeien en van Limburgse vlaaien tot Mexicaanse guacamole. Zo begon de workshop Discovering Dutch Competence in april in de Hub in Amsterdam. Eventuele niet uitgeslapen ogen klaarden direct op. Deze driedaagse cursus met enthousiaste deelnemers uit heel het land smaakte nu al naar meer.

Met het ontbijt nog maar net achter de kiezen was het echter nog geen tijd voor snacks. Wel voor vijf katalyserende vragen die de groep meteen aan het denken zetten:

Wie zijn we? Waar willen we zijn? Waar zijn we nu? Hoe komen we daar? Wat hebben we geleerd?

Grote vragen waar wellicht grootse antwoorden op worden verwacht. Antwoorden die heel wat hoofdbrekens kunnen opleveren en niet altijd worden gevonden. Deze workshop gaf ons inzicht in hoe groot of juist hoe klein onze dromen ook zijn, we hebben allemaal competenties om (een stukje van) onze ambities waar te maken. Je kunt meer dan je denkt, en je kent meer dan je denkt. Vaak doen we dingen niet omdat we allerlei drempels en onmogelijkheden zien. En herkennen we lang niet altijd dat de mensen om ons heen vaak eenzelfde droom hebben, of jou kunnen helpen deze te realiseren. We blijven te veel in onze rol of functie hangen – “als manager mag ik me niet bemoeien met die en die situatie” – en nemen niet altijd de tijd om na te jagen wat we echt willen.

Discovering Dutch Competence liet ons kennismaken met SALT. Met prikkelende oefeningen leerden we onszelf, onze omgeving en onze dromen te Stimuleren, Appreciëren, Linken en Teruggeven. Zo introduceerden we ons niet middels een aangekleed visitekaartje, maar door ons te presenteren via een zelfgekozen afbeelding. Er werd met geen woord gerept over onze professionele functie. We vertelden juist van wie of door wat wij blij worden en wat ons drijft. Dit zorgde voor mooie, emotionele verhalen die raakten. Een visualisatie van onze eigen community’s leverde inzichten op over de waarden die we geven aan de mensen om ons heen. Vaak waarden waar we helemaal niet aan hadden gedacht. Zo vulde een deelneemster zich met trots toen ze inzag hoe goed haar verschillende families met elkaar samen leven en hoe sterk hun onderlinge band eigenlijk is. Ze realiseerde dat er al veel was bereikt, en welke mooie mogelijkheden er hierdoor nog in het verschiet liggen.

Na het delen van onze snacks gingen we echt los met onze dromen. Waar willen we zijn? Op grote vellen papier, stiften en met een creatieve en idealistische geest ontstonden mooie ideeën over hoe wij onze wereld over een X aantal jaar zouden willen zien. En nu bleek dat we veel dezelfde idealen hebben, eenzelfde wereld nastreven. Prachtig om te ervaren dat wanneer we in een open sfeer onze dromen delen, we eigenlijk zoveel méér met elkaar delen.

Toch leken al die mooie grote dromen moeilijk in de praktijk te brengen. Klimaatneutraal leven, een open wereld waarin we ons veilig en verbondenheid voelen, er ruimte is voor persoonlijke ontwikkeling én iedereen begrip heeft voor elkaars zijn. Begin er maar eens aan. Maar pas op voor de valkuil idealen te abstract en onbehapbaar te maken. We willen vaak teveel. Denk groot, maar begin met kleine stappen.

We lieten ons inspireren door het succesvolle praktijkvoorbeeld van Rob van Veelen tijdens een SALT-bezoek aan het buurthuis 'De Meevaart' in Amsterdam-Oost. Deze ‘participatiemakelaar’ zet zich in opdracht van de Gemeente Amsterdam vol overgave in voor de Indische Buurt, ooit bestempeld als Vogelaarwijk maar nu een bloeiende buurt. Hij wist diverse sleutelfiguren in de wijk te benaderen en hun krachten te bundelen. Hierbij creëerde Rob een zogenaamd wijkweb waarin hij op concrete wijze mensen en hun talenten aan elkaar koppelde. Zijn praktische dadendrang en bevlogenheid om van deze wijk een prachtwijk te maken, motiveerde maar liefst tachtig bottom-upinitiatieven om mee te doen. Zo stimuleert een theatermaakster het taalgevoel van kinderen uit de buurt door middel van toneelvoorstellingen. ‘Schaak Mustafa’ initieerde een schaakcafé om zijn autistische zoon contact te laten maken met andere kinderen, met ruim 350 enthousiaste schaakspelers tot gevolg. De Indische Buurt is nu een van Amsterdams populairste plekken.

Wat hebben we geleerd? Begin in je met je eigen drive en kracht, durf te delen en te vragen door te sparren met je omgeving, je eigen community. En wees hierin salty. Waar bevinden we ons nu? In het hier en nu kun je zoveel bereiken om dáár te komen. Kleine stappen in de goede richting maken al veel los, zowel bij jezelf als bij anderen. Zo raakte een deelnemer van de workshop gemotiveerd om met haar familie en kennissen gedeelde idealen om te zetten in daden om verre familie in Indonesië actief te gaan helpen. Iemand anders zag door haar dromen uit te spreken mogelijkheden om eindelijk ruimte te geven aan de professionele weg die ze al jaren in wil slaan. Een ander zag nu kansen voor een nieuwe online theatercommunity waarin ideeën en ambities kunnen worden gedeeld en geïmplementeerd.  

Drie dagen Discovering Dutch Competence zorgden er niet alleen voor dat we weer gaan dromen, maar er werden ook concrete doelen en stappen geformuleerd om deze in de praktijk te brengen. Vol zin, motivatie én actiepunten sloten we deze inspirerende ontdekkingstocht naar onze competenties af.

En mochten dagelijkse beslommeringen dromen even vervagen, denk dan hieraan:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman)

 

[Marie Lamboray]

Dank u voor uw hulp, Maartje!

Inspiring discoveries during Discovering Dutch Competence

 

A table full of colourful snacks, scones, strawberries, Dutch pies and Mexican. This is how the workshop Discovering Dutch Competence began in April in the Hub in Amsterdam. Sleepy eyes, if any, brightened immediately. This three-day course with enthusiastic participants from across the country was already quite tasty.

 

As we just had our breakfast, it wasn’t time for snacks yet. Five catalytic questions immediately set the group in a thinking mode:

 

Who are we? Where do we want to be? Where are we now? How do we get there? What have we learned?

 

Big questions for which one might expect big answers. Answers may cause a lot of headaches and cannot always be found. This workshop gave us insight into weather how big or how small our dreams are, we all have competences to carry out (at least a part of) our ambitions. You can do more than you think, and you know more than you think. Often we refrain from acting because we see all sorts of barriers and limitations. And we do not always recognize that the people around us often have the same dreams, or can help you to achieve them. We continue to depend too much in our role or function - "I cannot interfere with such and such a situation as a manager" - and do not always have the time to pursue what we really want.

 

Discovering Dutch Competence introduced us to SALT. With encouraging exercises, we learned to Stimulate, Appreciate, Listen and Transfer ourselves, our environment and our dreams. We didn’t introduce ourselves with our business cards but by choosing one image of a huge pile of random images and we explained why this particular image appealed to us. There was no mention of our professional function. We only told whom or what makes us happy and what makes us tick. This caused beautiful, emotional stories. A visualization of our own communities brought on insights into the values ​​we give to the people around us. Often values ​we never thought about in our daily lives. For example, one participant was filled with pride when she realized how well her in-laws from Indonesia live together with her Dutch family and how strong their mutual bond actually is. She realized that a lot was already achieved and great opportunities still lie ahead.

 

After sharing our snacks, we put our dreams into practise. Where do we want to be? Using blank sheets of paper, markers and a creative and idealistic spirit, beautiful ideas about how we see our future world arose. And we found out that we are actually sharing the same ideals, we’re dreaming about the same kind of world we’d like to live in. How wonderful it is to experience that, when we share our dreams in an open atmosphere, we have so much more in common.

 

Yet all those beautiful big dreams seemed difficult to bring into practice. A carbon neutral life, an open world in which we feel safe and connected, with enough room for personal development and understanding for each other. How to start?! We should beware of the trap of creating ideals which are too abstract and unmanageable. We often want too much. Think big, but start with small steps.

 

We let ourselves be inspired by the example of the successful practice of Rob Veelen during a SALT visit to the community center "The Meevaart “ in East Amsterdam. This “participation broker” committed on behalf of the City of Amsterdam diligently to the “Indische Buurt”. Once labelled as a deprived urban area, now a thriving neighbourhood. He knew how to approach several key figures in the district and to join their forces. He created, as Rob calls it, a “neighbourhood web” in which he coupled together people and their talents in a tangible way. His dream and his practical dynamism to transfer this once deprived area into a beautiful district, motivated eighty bottom-up initiatives to join in. For example, a theatre maker stimulates the linguistic feeling of neighbourhood children through theatrical performances. 'Chess Mustafa' initiated a chess cafe so that his autistic son could get acquainted with other children. As a result his cafe draws more than 300 enthusiastic chess players. The Indische Buurt is now one of Amsterdam's most popular areas.

 

What have we learned? Start with your own drive and strengths, dare to share this with your environment, your own community. And be salty. Where are we now? Right here, right now, you can already achieve a lot. Small steps in the right direction make quite a stir, both for you and others. A workshop’s participant was stimulated to actively help distant relatives in Indonesia with her family and friends in the Netherlands. Another participant saw opportunities to finally make a career change of which she has dreamed for years. Another saw opportunities for a new online theatre community in which ideas and ambitions can be shared and implemented.

 

The three days Discovering Dutch Competence not only made us dream again, but also formulated concrete goals and steps to implement our ambitions. We concluded this inspiring exploration of our competencies fully motivated and plans of action.

 

And if our daily worries disturb our dreams, remind you of this:

 

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman)

[Boris Alberda]

Super Maartje, thanks voor het mooie verslag. Herleef zo het hele weekend!

[Jan Somers]

Hoe inspirerend jouw omschrijving Maartje - hoe hoopgevend ook het resultaat.

How inspiring the way you wrote about this Maartje - how hopegiving the result.

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Thanks for this fantastic blog, Maartje. i loved the way you have put the whole process across with photos. What are the next steps after this event? I am eager to know as we can apply it here in India competence.

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Google translate

 

 

A table full of colorful snacks, from scones to strawberries and Limburg pies to Mexican guacamole. Thus the workshop Discovering English Competence began in April in the Hub in Amsterdam. Any not slept eyes brightened immediately. This three-day course with enthusiastic participants from across the country are already tasted for more.

However, the breakfast just behind them it was not yet time for snacks. However, for five catalytic questions that the group immediately set them thinking:

Who are we? Where we are? Where are we now? How do we get there? What have we learned?

Big questions which might grand answers to be expected. Answers may cause a lot of headaches and can not always be found. This workshop gave us insight into how big or how small our dreams are, we all competencies (a part of) our ambitions. You can have more than you think, and you know more than you think. Often we do things not because we see all sorts of barriers and limitations. And we do not always recognize that the people around us often have the same dream, or can help to achieve them you. We continue to depend too much in our role or function - "I can not interfere with such and such a situation as a manager" - and do not always have the time to pursue what we really want.

Discovering English Competence introduced us to SALT. With provocative exercises we learned ourselves, our environment and to stimulate our dreams Savored, Links and Rendering. So we are not introduced us through a decorated card, but by presenting through a chosen image us. There was no mention about our professional function. We told exactly whom or what we are happy and what makes us tick. This created beautiful, emotional stories that were. A visualization of our own communities yielded insights into the values ​​we give to the people around us. Often values ​​that we all had not thought of. For example, one participant was filled with pride when she realized how good her several families live together with each other and how strong their mutual bond actually is. They realized that there was achieved a lot and what great opportunities there will still lie ahead

After sharing our snacks we really went loose with our dreams. Where we are? On large sheets of paper, markers and a creative and idealistic spirit arose beautiful ideas about how we would see our world. An X number of years And now we have found that many of the same ideals, pursue the same world. Wonderful to experience that when we share our dreams in an open atmosphere, we actually much more to share with each other.

Yet all those beautiful big dreams seemed difficult to bring into practice. Carbon neutral life, an open world in which we feel safe and connectedness, there is room for personal development and understanding everyone has for each other. Start just go. But beware of the trap abstract ideals and onbehapbaar make. We often want too much. Think big, but start with small steps.
We let ourselves be inspired by the example of successful practice of Rob Veelen during a SALT visit to the community center "The Meevaart 'in East Amsterdam. This 'participation broker' committed on behalf of the City of Amsterdam diligently for the Indian neighborhood, once labeled as Vogelaar District but now a thriving neighborhood. He knew how to approach several key figures in the district and to join forces. This created a so-called Rob wijkweb which he people and their talents coupled together in a concrete way. His practical dynamism and enthusiasm to make a beautiful area of ​​this district motivated whopping eighty bottom-up initiatives to join. As a theater maker stimulates the language sense of neighborhood children through theatrical performances. 'Chess Mustafa' initiated a chess cafe to get acquainted with other children, with more than 350 enthusiastic chess players as a result. His autistic son contact Indian Neighborhood is one of Amsterdam's most popular areas.

What have we learned? Beginning in with your own drive and strength, daring to share and questions by sparring with your environment, your own community. And taught it salty. Where are we now? In the here and now you can achieve so much to get there. Small steps in the right direction have been making quite a stir, both for yourself and others. Thus became a participant of the workshop motivated with her family and friends shared ideals into action to distant relatives in Indonesia actively go help. Someone else saw by speaking opportunities to finally give the professional path they want to hit. Many years in her dreams of space Another saw opportunities for a new online theater community in which ideas and ambitions can be shared and implemented.

Three days Discovering English Competence ensured not only that we are dreaming again, but there were also formulated concrete goals and steps to implement them. Practice Full meaning, motivation and action we concluded this inspiring exploration of our competencies off.

And if daily worries dreams just fade away, think of this:

"Do not ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. "(Howard Thurman)

[Joke D´haese]

Mooie samenvatting van alle gemaakte stappen Maartje!

Wil je jouw bericht ook op de Dutch Competence site plaatsen?

Dan kunnen nog meer mensen er van mee genieten...

Thanks! 

[Simone Mager]

Goed verhaal! Hoe gaan we de rest van de club deze kant op lokken zodat ze het ook lezen en kunnen reageren?

Ik heb daar sowieso nog contact met Joke over.

Groet, Simone

[Marlou]

Fantastisch Maartje`veel dank voor het beschrijven van dit weekend. Fantastisch ook dat velen van ons al volop aan de slag zijn met de toepassingen. Ik hoop daar ook veel meer van te lezen hier in de maanden die komen. Dank dank`