Christina

I started my coaching with Insa 4 months ago because I felt stressed and discontent far too often. Primarily this concerned my work, but also private interactions. It was often not possible for me to identify the actual causes of my feelings. Sometimes I felt helpless, because I could only relate my negative emotions to the behaviour of other people. So, how could I ever change this?

Due to Insa's approachable, open and compassionate manner, I was able to open up from the very beginning without hesitation. She helped me to get to the bottom of my issues which helped me to connect with myself again. Through precise coaching and well thought-out methods, I not only learned to better understand my difficulties, but also I realised what I can actively do to create satisfying situations and interactions. 

Today I feel much more confident in my interactions, e.g. with my supervisor, and empowered to master even conflictual and difficult interactions. 

Danya

Insa is an exceptional facilitator and coach, as well as an extraordinary person to work alongside. Her positivity, professionalism, and “can-do” attitude is infectious, and organisations of all kinds could really learn from her practical and level-headed, yet creative and humanistic, approach. With years of working experience in academia under her belt, she skilfully navigated our interdisciplinary and culturally diverse group through our annual team meeting, ensuring everyone was engaged and able to actively participate. Insa provides well-defined structures to support effective team collaboration as well as keen insight into what must be shifted in order for more innovation, cohesion, and vitality to take place. Her passion for supporting individuals and academic groups in creating ideas that make a true impact in the world clearly comes through as demonstrated by her compassionate and playful way, as well as her high-quality sessions, and consideration to detail. I highly recommend Insa as a unique facilitator and coach who can apply her expertise to any field and bring about true transformation.

Elizabeth

When I came to Insa, I had some dreams and goals, but felt very overwhelmed by everyday life and all the tasks and never-ending to-do lists. Insa has made me realize my strengths and my ability to prioritize and re-organise my everyday life to make time for what feeds my soul. She is a brilliant mind and heart with a huge capacity to gently shift - not push - your view, and makes you move towards your dreams and goals taking small achievable sweet steps. It is as if the fog lifts and the sun comes out which makes you see all the options you have in life - and she makes you want to take these options

Goedele

Over the course of six months, I followed one-on-one coaching sessions with Insa. She has really helped me to better identify patterns in the way I think about my own work and about my interactions with colleagues and students. This has allowed me to realize when these thoughts can be counterproductive, and how to steer them towards more positive thinking and hence to effectively change my behaviour. I highly appreciated Insa’s hands-on, warm approach. She is a very good listener, as she provided the exact tools that I needed and sincerely cared about my professional and personal development. Her own experience in academia made that she was able to understand these specific challenges, which was of great help during the coaching. Therefore, I strongly recommend Insa as coach!

Irene

The self-confidence training with Insa was a truly formative experience, from many points of view. With her help, my colleagues and I could create a safe space where we were able to share our reflections, pressures and fears as novices in academia. This exchange was very valuable, as it made us realise that often our fears as individuals are shared by the people around us, who struggle with the same negativity bias every day. One of the major take-aways from Insa's workshop was precisely that it provided us with the means to recognise this negativity bias, to know how to live with it and also to be able to reshape it, with grace and kindness. In general, her workshop gave me additional motivation and tools to work positively on myself (individually and professionally), so that I can act with clarity in the academic environment - but not only."

Lieke

The training "Self-Confidence for early Career Academics" with Insa gave me the opportunity to reflect on how I view myself and others. I have gained experience in analyzing why I sometimes overthink and how I can keep my so-called ‘monkey mind’ (an ancient and anxious part of the brain) in check. Insa has done a great job at allowing my coworkers and I to share our personal stories and making us feel heard. Ever since having taken the training, I have been able to believe in myself more and I am less afraid about sharing my ideas and opinions. Moreover, it is especially nice to learn from someone who knows what the academic world is like and is therefore able to share experiences, too.

Nina

Insa facilitated a full-day workshop for our team that was very well-structured, enriching for our team dynamics and entertaining! Her enthusiasm and joy as well as her creative facilitation methods created a good and productive working atmosphere. The different workshop sessions perfectly built on one another and led to a useful workshop result at the end of the day and deeper group cohesion. I would fully recommend Insa as a facilitator for a team workshop!Insa facilitated a full-day workshop for our team that was very well-structured, enriching for our team dynamics and entertaining! Her enthusiasm and joy as well as her creative facilitation methods created a good and productive working atmosphere. The different workshop sessions perfectly built on one another and led to a useful workshop result at the end of the day and deeper group cohesion. I would fully recommend Insa as a facilitator for a team workshop!

Petros

The workshop “Level Up your Interdisciplinary Research through Conscious Leadership and Awareness” has been one of the life-changing workshops that I have participated in in an academic setup. It has helped me reflect, mediate, and challenge myself to focus more from being the best in a team to being the best for the team.

Through the workshop, I have realized that achieving goals in a team hinges on creating healthy systems that motivate each team member to make a full contribution and I have been given tools to create such systems. I am now ready to demonstrate a high level of humility and readiness to be guided by different cultural norms and appreciate more the good in other cultures. My gained self-awareness also engenders deep curiosity about people and their cultures and a desire to understand how they operate. This creates a drive to break down barriers, challenge traditional thinking, and fosters creativity and experimentation. Through conscious leadership I now know how to promote alignment among team members which helps everyone in the team to focus on the bigger picture. It provides opportunities for team members to weigh in (make contributions) before they buy in. It promotes coaching, mentoring, facilitating, probing deeper, and actively seeks out divergent thinking before aligning around a decision or goal.

Considering the enormous benefits that comes with having learnt about “conscious leadership and awareness” in this workshop, I have resolved to make deliberate efforts to develop and nurture the skills constantly observe, monitor and evaluate myself and how I react to situations as I interact with other team members. I have started to take the initiative to learn more and have an open mind about other team members. I highly recommend this workshop for anyone who wants to have a transformative experience to better deal with challenges of diversity and team work with more ease, joy and human connection.

Simone

I attended MOJE’s leadership training “Level up your interdisciplinary research through conscious leadership” which had some truly mind-blowing effects on me, my self-awareness and the way I choose to create work-related interactions. Since day 1 after the training, I have been applying the many valuable concepts and tools into my daily work life. The tools clearly relate to my previous and current experiences in work relationship interactions. Before the workshop, I have been looking for many excuses in order to avoid speaking up and share my ideas openly and to escape group interactions. In this regard, one of the most mind-blowing take-away from the workshop was to strive to be curious, to trust others, and to prefer learning over being right. I now actively seek feedback about my research ideas from colleagues and supervisors early on, I speak up with more candor to people, and share ideas openly. In sum, I am much more proactive and willing to learn and build human connection in my work teams, which proves to create extraordinary results in myself and in others. I highly recommend Insa as a trainer and this course in specific as it leaves you with a deep transformation about how to see life’s challenges and work teams.

Swantje

Working with Insa as a coach was my first experience in that regard, but I was immediately quite excited about the concept. Insa’s way of communicating, being super open and trust-worthy, allow me to be incredibly outspoken and honest from the very beginning. This, straightaway, has led to a great communication and we directly set off to work on both my concrete or very abstract problems. Besides the different coaching tools we used, it was also her own experience in academia that made this coaching so beneficial and helpful to me.

Vera

In a humorous, empathetic and inspiring way, Insa opened up new perspectives on my competences, interests and desires for a more fulfilling professional life.

Her coaching strongly reflects that she herself has many years of experience in science and the academic sector. This has made the coaching particularly credible and beneficial for me. She knows the science-specific context in dealing with the "human resource" very well and can therefore give targeted impulses on how to focus more on positive things, how to better master difficult situations and how to transform performance pressure into joy of accomplishing. The experience of defining my values and getting clear about what is really important to me - and living in accordance with my values - was particularly valuable.

Thank you Insa!