5 Masterclasses on the following topics: 

• Psychological Safety - a precondition to speak up - Do you ever feel your chest burning or a rush through your body when you meet with injustice?
  Some people easily take the proverbial mic and blow off steam, naming what needs to be named. Pointing out what needs to be said. But more often than not, we stumble in our silence, looking for the right words, missing the moment or lacking the courage. Was it us? Or is it the room? In this first session we look at the difference between feeling safe, and feeling (un)comfortable. We reflect on situations within our organizations and work toward answering what it takes to build a brave space: environments where people dare to take the risk of sharing questions, concerns and mistakes for the sake of inclusiveness and standing up for what is right.

• Storytelling - how stories and the people that tell them move towards change - Why do some stories resonate more than others? Why do certain messages only get heard after certain people tell them? First steps to telling a powerful story is to understand how you show up and what you stand for. Also know as ‘innervism’, we dive into understanding our passion as well as our blind spots and privilege. We’ll use a selection of tools to see and practice what power we have and how we can wield it to tell, hear or amplify stories that matter.

• Dialogue for change  - listening with attention & speaking with intention - “Silence is the missing voice in a conversation. The sound of something being said but hasn’t been.” Authors Megan Reitz and John Higgins wrote a book about speaking up. Which ironically, dedicated a half it’s time to listening up. Finding the words is only half the work. We’ll work with different levels of listening, understand resistance in its many forms and recognize the positive power of conflict.

• Getting comfortable with the discomfort of conflict and facing power - Our pathway to change will be rocky and bumpy. Until we befriend conflict as part and parcel of the journey, it will be hard to speak up. But we also need to recognize the elephant in the room, namely power and unequal distribution of it. Our perception of who has it influences whether we are safe to speak up. And people who feel they risk losing power, can get personal. In this session, we’ll look at what it takes to ‘spread the no’ and make disagreement part of the culture in companies, so that we work toward what the world needs

• Cultivating change together - from us vs. them to ‘we’ - “Changemakers don’t make trouble. It’s trouble that creates changemakers.” Says fellow rebel and innovator Simone van Nerven. In all our advocacy and activism, we might forget our purpose. We are seeking change that is good for all. And that means we can’t use the same thinking - or behavior- that got us hear. We’ll hear from experts who have consistently found new ways to interact and guide the process of getting toward change - together. Because change is not only in the ‘what’ but in the ‘how’.

This course is for you if you:

• You are a professional in (for and non-profit) organisation who wants to explore capabilities needed to face and redefine power. 

• You want want to stand for what's right and get into necessary trouble

• You are fed up with the ways of working and leading and wants to channel that frustration constructively 

• You want to (un)learn how to navigate change processes

This course is not for you:

• If you want to keep the status quo 

• If you are looking for a quick-fix formula for change

• If you don’t think diverse voices are needed for decision-making 

• You want to shame and blame 

• You don’t believe change is possible and raisng your voice can make a difference