Unique Sources

03/07/2024

Some impressions of the SIETAR Europa congress Lille June 2024

* meeting dear old friends and colleagues as well as new warm encounters
** new insights, confronting videos and stories as well as lots of inspiration
*** sharing deep knowledge and experience
**** wonderful celebrations with food, music and dance 🎶💃🏼.

* Wonderful to re-introduce colleagues and make new friends, Tan Jaden, Jamal Nassar Ph.D., Jyotika Dalal, M.A., Sibylle Ganz-Koechlin, Rama Saïdani, Shannon Murphy, Bruce BACH, and ...(forgive me not to mention everyone).

** Two sessions with videos that really hit me, because both of them showed how much work still needs to be done and can be done, in different ways.
Ljiljana Simic and the absolute sexist and caricatural promo videos for the European Union.
And the session with the film Less Walls about Brussels: connecting different worlds within Brussels

*** Sharing our knowledge in the deep dive with Maurice Snackers on Saturday afternoon about our 20-30 years of experience providing intercultural training for military attracted around a very interested and curious group of around 30 colleagues. We enjoyed the questions, the dialogue, the suggestions and the critical approaches. Thank you!

**** Special: Thank you for your birthday song Dionne Lambert! And thank you for dancing and celebrations Natalie Lutz, Bjørn Z. Ekelund, Sue Shinomiya, Vincent MERK, Natasha Aruliah, Christine Wirths, Clair Aghassipour and many many others on the floor on Saturday night!

Again, Grant DOUGLAS, you and your team have hosted us in your beautiful IESEG location, and Bastian Küntzel, Papa Balla Ndong, Christine Longé and other SIETAR Europa organizers: congratulations on a special congress!

10/05/2024

"How does cultural understanding help the military?"

WELCOME to join our DEEP DIVE on "Contributing through Intercultural Encounters" at SIETAR Europa congress in Lille
on Saturday June 8th from 14.00 to 15.30, room A126!

Maurice Snackers and I have been working together for more than 30 years at the Netherlands Defense Academy, with international military from all over the world, for example in Partnership for Peace programs as well as other international military courses, with a focus on increasing intercultural understanding. Maurice Snackers has also extensive experience running gender workshops for the military.

We will explore in the DEEP DIVE with you what the specifics are of military culture and how Intercultural Encounters can lead to dovetailing strengths, and our experiences and insights. For example how stereotypes have changed over the years about Europeans.

We are curious which prejudice or judgements people may have about military or which tools or concepts you would like to share with us, especially hoping to hear from you SIETAR Europa congress attendants!



©pictures: Collectie: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie.

05/04/2024

Recognition is about standing on other people’s shoulders
Receiving this Reward of Recognition in January of this year immediately took me back to the foundation of SIETAR Europa in 1991 in Haarlem. SInce then I have been a member, active in different roles in SIETAR Nederland, and co- organising the 1997 SIETAR conference in Curaçao, (a combined tour de force from SIETAR International, SIETAR Europa, SIETAR Nederland, SIETAR Curaçao i.o.)

How did this come about? In 1983, during a CIP program exchange in Atlanta, Dr. Donna Goldstein had introduced me to SIETAR International. In 1991 in my work I encountered a complicated intercultural challenge at a women's organisation in Rotterdam, and asked Donna for her advice. I ended up with an invitation to the founding of SIETAR Europa from Janssen-Matthes, who was elected the first president of SIETAR Europa! I consider myself fortunate to have been attending that meeting with about 60 other people. A very important moment in my life and the development of Unique Sources.

More than 30 years later, I thank all these intercultural SIETAR Europa pioneers, (some in very fond memories ) who lifted me up:
Mieke Janssen-Matthes (the Netherlands), André Cresson (France), Leslie Guggiari (Italy), Susan Vonsild ( Denmark), Andreas J. Harbig (Germany), Oyvind Dahl (Norway), Philip O'Connor (UK), Wolf Bernhard Emminghaus (Germany), roberto ruffino (Italy), Liisa Salo-Lee (Finland), Frank Oomkes (the Netherlands), Krys Markowski, Bernd Kappel (Germany), Kathleen Dameron (France), Liliana Gagliardi, George Simons, Adrian Pilbeam (UK), Bernadette van Houten, Sarolta László, Robert Gibson, Nel Jessurun and and and and many many others who are now my international family.

Looking forward to seeing you in June at the SIETAR Europa congress in Lille, when I will present on Intercultural Encounters with the military!

Thank you Papa Balla Ndong and Christine Longé, hope to continue the learning with SIETAR Europa.

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19/10/2023

Gun het jezelf en kom naar dit pracht event op 4 november in Utrecht!

Intercultural chronicles of PAST PRESENT FUTURE, georganiseerd door Vincent MERK, Henning Zorn, Sander Warffemius, Pim Warffemius-Rhodes, Bridget Rona en Monika de Waal.

Een levende bibliotheek vol verhalen, presentaties van indrukwekkende vrouwen van NU, en een kijkje hoe de toekomst van ons mensen onze interculturele ontmoeting beïnvloedt.

Het wordt een ontmoeting tussen de meer ervaren professionals en nieuwkomers in het interculturele werk, met een inspirerende groep van vrouwen die impact hebben in het heden, PRESENT-ers, onder andere Chevaly Riebeek, Danaë Huijser, Chesney Giersthove, Nora Akachar, Annemiek van Boeijen, Chiara Treglia, Katrina Antezana, ondermeer werkzaam in geestelijke gezondheidszorg, in alle vormen van business, in academia, in migratie en asiel.

SIETAR leden krijgen €10 korting op de prijs van €75 (na inschrijving).
Mocht je meer informatie willen, neem dan contact op met ons!

Sponsors als TIAS Business School en SIETAR Nederland maken dit mede mogelijk!

Informatie en tickets: www.pastpresentfuture.info

31/08/2022

YES! The second print of the book (dissertation) Third Culture Kids as Unique Sources: their intercultural competences and cultural identity at work is available NOW with a re-written chapter on Cultural Fusion Identity.

With (Adult) Third Culture Kids and (Adult) Cross Cultural Kids as the main focus group for the book, you will read more about what you can learn about cross cultural people by using two lenses:

‘What are you capable of [doing] and who are you [being]?’ (Ryff & Singer, 2013).

Philosophers argue that doing and being are intertwined, by means of phrases such as “We are what we repeatedly do” (Aristotle, rephrased by Durant, 1926, p. 87) or that both are connected, by a question such as “Does your identity define your actions?” (cf. Akerlof & Kranton, 2010).

When Adams, at the public defense in September 2021, asked Monika de Waal the question of how she could separate these two inseparable parts that make up a human being. At that time, she struggled to find the answer.

After much thought, she can now answer:
Take the lens of Doing to identify your intercultural competences (like intercultural sensitivity), and behavior (as in transformational leadership), especially at the workplace. And then take the lens of Being to explore your own cultural identity and your origins more deeply. The illustration shows how these two lenses together form the base of the studies described in the book.

We at Unique Sources are about people, looking closely at what they do, think, believe, where they come from, how life has shaped their cultural identities, and how this all shows in their DOING and BEING.

Interested to read and hear more? Please get in touch with Unique Sources.
You can order the book by sending a mail to Pimvipha Warffemius-Rhodes: [email protected]

14/08/2022

Meet a woman of the academic tribe who deserves the spotlight: van Boeijen works as an Assistant Professor at the Delft University of Technology, at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. At Unique Sources, we recognize the inspiration of the work of Dr. Annemiek van Boeijen. As she states in her latest book, [in addition] “to the functional, technical, and economic requirements, it is primarily culture that defines how any designed object and service will perform and prove itself: a process that largely takes place outside the domain and control of the designer”. Therefore, Understanding the importance of Culture Sensitive Design is becoming more and more essential.

How cultural groups are developing in society pushes us to have a closer look at values, norms, symbols, and use of forms and colors. This helps to avoid mistakes, enlarge creativity, and learn from all different cultures. Already in 2015, Annemiek van Boeijen finished her dissertation and research on Crossing Cultural Chasms. Her research contributed to understanding a more culture conscious approach to design. More information about the dissertation and the card game that was created for this, can be found here: https://designandculture.info/

Her international students embrace her clear guidance and enjoy the wide range of topics to research, such as Issue of skin tone in product design (Jantji, 2021); Developing a storytelling tool to building a family culture (Mooij, 2021); Support the elderly immigrants with a Chinese background on the end-of-life preparation in the Dutch context (Wang, 2020); A study to design museums to support visitor’s immersion into the culture of Curaçao. (Heyligar, N. 2018). Her expertise and teaching is valued around the globe, from University of Milan in Italy to University in Shanghai in China.

On top of this she is a singer, with a beautifully trained classical voice.
I love working together, as well as singing together with the accompaniment of .

05/08/2022

We call it teamwork, when this small mystery of working together relatively smoothly takes place. When trying to unravel this mystery, negative aspects and destructive processes of teamwork are often found. Adequately described in the book The Eleventh Conspiracy, (translated in Dutch as the eleven conspirators). It describes the team dynamics of Department Five - a fictitious administrative department within a large organization -which threatens to slowly collapse as the work process within the group is seriously disrupted. Mutual power relations, designating scapegoats, peer pressure and rules that are never discussed play a major role in this.

Lencioni’s approach with the five levels of team dysfunctions also takes a negative approach at first, Unique Sources wants to have a positive focus: so Leadership needs to work on trust, having spirited dialogues, with a shared commitment, and increasing ownership, because this will lead to team results!

29/07/2022

Keeping Organizations alive

With interruptions caused by political and economic developments, multinational companies are struggling with keeping a profitable balance between the constant interdependencies around the globe. How to keep their organizations alive needs acknowledging that organizations should be seen as social living organisms. These organizations have lifecycle stages, recognized as phases of organizational development, as seen in Greiner’s Model of Organizational Growth here.

At Unique Sources we believe that organizations consciously need to reinvent themselves and transform regularly, to keep the spirit alive. Change can become uncomfortable, and when leaders have a different perspective on the impact of the change than their people, the organizations suffer from this friction.

With Unique Sources as an external consultant who facilitates this process provides you with the very much needed 3rd perspective.

11/07/2022

Julie A Kennedy with her company Kennedy Connection has been running for some time now the series Fabulous after 50, having dialogues with women 50+ about important developments in their lives.

It was special to contribute to the series, and it underlines one of the principles that Unique Sources has: life long learning never stops.

Explore the podcast that Julie A Kennedy made, and other podcasts, learn from strong women.

Join us as we discuss self- development, passion, long-term determination, and the fulfilment it brings!

FABULOUS AFTER FIFTY! EPISODE 64 - MONIKA DE WAAL - PHD after FIFTY and Third Culture Kids - The Kennedy Connection

https://thekennedyconnection.com/2022/07/07/fabulous-after-fifty-episode-64-monika-de-waal-phd-after-fifty-and-third-culture-kids/?fbclid=IwAR3sRR8tzCqZKNq01QnWfABEQMaxWvJrvkSGSwVwJhs9AOh28RSdBZUB_qY

FABULOUS AFTER FIFTY! EPISODE 64 – MONIKA DE WAAL – PHD after FIFTY and Third Culture Kids Jul 7, 2022 Podcast: Play in new window | Embed Doing a PHD after Fifty is our topic today! I met Monika de Waal, specialist in organizational development, change and strategic management, with a long-term...

27/05/2022

Joined by many other SIETARians and people interested in the intercultural field, SIETAR Europa members were in Malta and re-thinking Interculturalism in many different ways!

One important message in a Keynote: Let’s become less WEIRD!
Our current academic knowledge is based on WEIRD (Western-Educated-Industrialized-Rich-Democratic) samples, and those samples are representing only 5% of the world population!

Hosted in the beautiful University buildings of the University of Malta in Valletta, the program was a continuous FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) with many parellel parts; such as a welcoming reception, keynotes, workshops, presentations, a film festival, dancing, meetings, and a closing on Saturday. There were constantly positive vibes with meeting an exchanging again.

I was very honored to have contributed every day as Unique Sources:

On Thursday I joined the living library of Vincent Merk where each one of the living books was asked to tell parts of their life story. As a living book titled “A True Third Culture Kid?”, my book had chapters about (1) Being a Missionary Third Culture Kid, (2) the first encounters with SIETAR and how it started with Donna Goldstein in 1983 and (3) doing a PhD at mid-career. And of course, I was a workbook with reflection exercises.

On Friday, I presented in the academic track with the development of a new concept: Cultural Fusion Identity. Whereas Cultural Identity can be recognized in the elements of Affect, Behavior and Cognition, Cultural Fusion Identity shows us how the cultural experiences lead to a combination of Shifting, Parallel and Blended components.

On Saturday, Julia Wilsch and I gave a fun workshop on how to recognize our levels of Cultural Fusion, or even Friction in Affect, Behavior and Cognition. The interactive workshop provided the first steps to look in the mirror of your own cultural identity, while recognizing that each Cultural Fusion Identity balance is as it is. No need for an idealized version of yourself.

04/05/2022

Intercultural encounters.

We from Unique Sources believe in the power of people and organizations. In individuals and teams. What does this mean for you, personally or as a member of a team and organization?

As the wheel of differences shows (Adapted from “Diverse Teams at Work: Capitalizing on the Power of Diversity” by Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe), individuals differ in many aspects. We must recognize and deal with all these differences that happen in intercultural encounters, daily life situations, work and home.

Helping you recognize your own unique possibilities and the consequences of the choices you can make in the layers of external and organizational dimensions, is what we do. It is often an intense and satisfying path with a number of tools, and exercises to unfold the power of the intercultural encounters, with yourself and others.
Development is our mission. Unique Sources can help you make the next steps and grow.

04/05/2022

Team phases and dynamics.

How to work more effectively in a team is a topic that continues to be discussed and researched over the years. Researcher Bruce Tuckman named the team dynamics the “Tuckman’s Stages” in 1965. It identified four stages of development all teams move through over time: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Later a fifth stage called adjourning was added.

Like with the invention of the paperclip, Tuckman’s concept is still very useful to reflect on the process of teams, as well as coach individual team members in recognizing their roles and impact during the different phases. Teams can get stuck in the forming phase, when the rhythm of team members leaving and joining the team is high, or teams can get stuck in the storming phase, when topics are not adequately dealt with. New leadership can have a very positive impact on the team development process, with attention to onboarding processes and insights on team phases.