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All about Dignity

What they talked about

About Donna Hicks

Dr. Hicks was Deputy Director of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.  She worked extensively on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and as a member of the third party in numerous unofficial diplomatic efforts. In addition to her work in the Middle East, Dr. Hicks founded and co-directed a ten-year project in Sri Lanka. 

She has also worked on the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Colombia and conducted several US/Cuba dialogues. She is the Vice President of Ara Pacis, an Italian non-governmental organization based in Rome.  They are currently involved in a dignity restoration project in Syria and Libya. Dr. Hicks was a consultant to the British Broadcasting Company where she co-facilitated encounters between victims and perpetrators of the Northern Irish conflict with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The encounters were made into 3 television programs, Facing the Truth, which were aired throughout the United Kingdom and on BBC World.

Dr. Hicks has taught courses in conflict resolution at Harvard, Clark, and Columbia Universities and conducts trainings and educational seminars in the US and abroad on the role dignity plays in healing and reconciling relationships in conflict as well as dignity leadership training. She consults to corporations, schools, churches, and non-governmental organization. She is the author of the book, Dignity: It’s Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, published in 2011 by Yale University Press.  Her second book, Leading with Dignity: How to Create a Culture That Brings Out the Best in People, was published by Yale University Press in August 2018.

The invisible danger: AI BIAS

Soon our coaching sessions can be held in the new MagnoliaTree Refuge in Vienna directly on the Danube in a beautiful cabane.

For quite some time we have been looking for a suitable coaching space that is well located but at the same time in pleasant and inspiring surroundings. The newly built cabanas at the Kuchelauer Hafen, directly on the banks of the Danube, in Vienna’s 19th district on the border to Klosterneuburg, meet exactly these criteria and we can soon call ourselves proud owners and invite you to work with us there. The Kuchelau harbor is a Danube outpost in the north of Vienna. The harbor is just over 1.5 kilometers long and about 50-80 meters wide. It has an excellent water quality and therefore invites you to swim. Vacation feeling directly in front of the door, has a high recreational value for many people. Not only the water offers peace and relaxation, but also numerous hiking and biking trails are in the immediate vicinity; including a “wine hiking trail” that leads to numerous Heurigen.

What is a Cabane?

Cabane is a term used in the eastern part of Austria in the bathing industry, which should not be confused with changing rooms. It was originally used to refer to cabins or rooms in summer pools that were accessible by bathers outside of the pool’s opening hours. The newly built cabanas make use of this original idea, charm and positive association – in fact, however, these are multimodal spaces that satisfy a current office, meeting architecture and creative work environment, but at the same time are suitable as restful places of retreat.

We are very happy to be able to conduct our individual coaching sessions and intensive coaching in this enriching atmosphere.

MagnoliaTree is growing. We have brought a wonderful and above all talented woman into our team and would like to introduce her to you.

???? ????????? has a strong background and substantial experience in Accounting, Finance and Marketing. She holds a Master in Trade, is fluent in German, English, Spanish, French; lived in different countries and is managing 3 teenage children. This is just the right skillset to keep me organized and our Financials in order. She will lead our office management going forward.

Sabine Gromer was interviewed for the series Pardon The Introduction by Leonidas Marin.

Pardon the Introduction profiles humble leaders of businesses in their infancy, and details the motivations and aspirations behind their work. This series shines the light on the significance people make as they pursue their goals.

In her first article, she focuses on the topic of STEREOTYPE THREAT. She writes about the three phases that characterize the path of women with career ambitions and why many women give up just before breaking through the glass ceiling and how women nevertheless make it to the top in male-dominated leadership worlds.

Three broad topic areas where discussed

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1. What are the advantages of consulting in a virtual environment?

• There is something liberating in a virtual environment
• The screen allows us a form of interaction that in-person doesn’t allow
• Advantages
  • What you notice that is obvious on a screen that may be less obvious in person
  • Have found that virtual work is more effective
  • Clients can be more vulnerable with me 1:1 into a camera in their home with no one around
  • After the pandemic is over, not sure I’m going to change it up much – laser skills around coaching
  • The virtual environment can be a magnifier – for better or for worse (background)

2. What are the challenges of consulting in a virtual environment?

• How did we have to change to make this work. (Example of manager workshop delivered live vs. virtual – changed the way I saw it)
• Collaborating in a group is harder
• People get confused about their role in a virtual group
• People may script themselves more
• I draw energy from the room and may not be able to do that in a virtual setting

3. What types of changes have you seen since you first started doing this today?

• I have to contract for and prepare differently for a virtual meeting
• I find I have to spend a lot of time thinking through the details of activities for my class
• Can’t be as spontaneous as I might be in a classroom

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Sabine Gromer talked on the 5 principles by Edgar H. Schein

1.           Always try to be helpful. And do so in inner freedom! 

2.           Always stay in touch with the current reality. Name what is!

3.           Access your ignorance. And find the power in it – as the right questions at the right time.

4.           Everything you do is an intervention.

5.           It is the client who owns the problem and the solution. – Energy check.

Bayer has set itself clear inclusion and diversity targets and aims to raise the average gender ratio across all combined management levels in the Group, including lower and middle management, to 50/50 by 2025. At Bayer Austria, the proportion of women in management is already balanced at 69 percent.

In three parallel virtual rooms, the speakers gave impulses. Heidrun Kopp, founder of the Institute for Sustainable Finance, addressed the topic of Women & Finance, Sabine Gromer, founder of the management consultancy MagnoliaTree, spoke about Stereotypes, Role Models & Beliefs, and Britta Bürger, Medical Advisor and Medical Information Officer at Bayer Austria and formerly a gynecologist, addressed Women’s Cycles in the Workplace.

pwc Austria event for the International Women’s Day

March 8 was International Women’s Day. The Women Network of PwC Austria took this as an opportunity to organize a virtual event on the topic of “The Happiness Advantage”. The happier we are, the better every aspect of our lives is, and the special thing is that we can influence happiness ourselves.

Sabine Gromer of MagnoliaTree did her part and talked about the Happiness Advantage.

It was an incredible pleasure for her to create and design this event together with three such inspiring and competent change leaders. The lively and interactive exchange with so many participants despite the virtual circumstances gave us a sense of community. And community and the strength of our social ties is the basis of a content life. What really anyone can do to bring themselves to a more positive state:

For the next 21 days: 

• Write down every day 3 things you are grateful for.
• Random acts of kindness (praise, recognition, donations…).
• Invest in your social network (send a message, build connections).
• And a video suggestion: https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work

Increasing the quality of being through dignity in change