We all rely on set routines and procedures that don’t require prior discussion. But we also need changes, and sometimes even conflicts, that shake up the day-to-day patterns we accept without questioning. 

The problem with established roles, however, is that they can become inflexible and start to weigh us down. And instead of leading to progress, conflicts often take us back to where we started. 

• reflect upon your professional situation
• pursue a new direction
• make sustainable decisions
• reach constructive agreements

I’ll gladly take the time for a preliminary meeting that involves no further obligations but gives us a chance to talk. 

Ralf Winning

• Team coaching (supervision)
• Individual coaching
• Cooperative coaching
• Mediation

I get a huge amount of pleasure out of living and working with other people! For me, contact and communication with others is the elixir of both private and professional life. And since the personality of a coach is always reflected in the way he or she works, I want to tell you a bit more about my approach to counselling.

Before our sessions even begin, I check whether the issues you want to address are compatible with the skills I offer. For one thing, we have to feel comfortable with each other. But at the same time we have to clarify that you are seeking assistance in resolving a conflict or require process-oriented coaching – or possibly need to seek expert consultation services from a different source.

The first meeting is dedicated to:

• Clarifying the task: what exactly are your needs?
• Diagnosis: a preliminary assessment of the problem.
• Contracting: what does the contractual agreement cover?

These aspects are indispensable to successful counselling.

• I find it truly fascinating to take up contact with people and create a trusting basis among them. And this process is helped greatly by my sense of humour. At the same time, I’m familiar with the professional or personal dilemmas everybody has to face and endure. Those feelings of being stuck in a dead end, of being unwilling or unable to move forward; gnawing doubts, arguments, conflicts – the realization that you’re in your own way.

   

  My respect for others creates space in which a critical slant and uncomfortable questions are possible: a space allowing reflection and communication.

• The benefits gained from coaching ultimately depend more on the way I shape our counselling relationship than on the technique or method employed. Of course, I have a wide range of problem-solving tools able to address problems of all different kinds. Ultimately, however, my craft and my method are my personality in combination with my perceptiveness, powers of listening, questions, viewpoint, language, intuition, rational intelligence, physical reactions, emotions.

  The most important objective is to constantly shift the perspectives – both my own as well as those of the client.

   

  Perceiving – where the problems lie

  Understanding – what the issues are

  Finding out – strategies for the future

   

  I’ll do my very best to ensure that all this takes place in a secure and confidential framework, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and esteem.

Supervision is a form of counselling that illuminates and reflects a system of professional interaction from various perspectives. Distributed over a medium-term time span, supervision suits:

• The underlying goal of supervision is to better understand the interdependence existing between individuals, their professional role, the organization they work in, and its clients. Once all these perspectives have been illuminated it is possible to restructure working relationships and to solve structurally conditioned problems.
• My task as your supervisor is to create a trustful working climate and to use my professional competence in order to support your problem-solving process.

The so-called soft skills, for instance flexibility, willingness to progress, ability to communicate, play an increasingly important role in working life. Taking its cue from these changing requirements, the supervisory process encourages participants to work on such skills on the basis of a specific issue. As a result, supervision has become an established quality standard which is being put in place by more and more companies and organizations.

• promotes cooperation
• facilitates communication
• influences your well-being and satisfaction, your motivation
• and efficiency guarantees and improves your quality of work

• Supervision is suitable both for teams working in an organization or a company as well as for groups interested in similar themes even if the members do not work together.

Coaching is a process of actively reflecting upon and developing your professional life, but is conducted with close reference to your personal situation. Coaching is also described as one-on-one supervision and is suitable:

• for the self-employed
• for executive personnel
• for employees with responsibility for managing staff
• for private individuals
• particularly in transition situations involving change and decisions (e.g. new job, new city, new challenges)

The objective of coaching is to provide intensive assistance in times when encouragement and stimulation from a detached outsider may be helpful. The concentrated work possible within a small team made up of coach and coachee is ideally suited to busy schedules. Our consultations give you an opportunity to pause for thought, to speedily identify the problems, to instantly try out new ideas and strategies. Completed within a relatively short time span, followed by a frank and open follow-up discussion, all this adds up to the very effective form of counselling known as coaching.

As your coach, I listen and question, point out routes not explored so far, provoke and reflect, challenge and encourage.

Cooperative coaching is a special form of group supervision aimed specially at the self-employed and freelancers starting up their own business or in a situation of transition. This networking-friendly package is suitable

• for groups of 5 to 10 individuals from different branches
• especially for freelancers interested in networking their skills
• and ideal for restricted counselling budgets.

Cooperative coaching initially takes much the same form as a group supervision. The participants become aware of their internal and external situations, which they analyze with a view to consciously shaping future developments. The results can be a change of tactics, or the reinforcement of proven strategies.

As well as supervising the above process, I go beyond the boundaries of my usual role and encourage participants to take on the role of the coach. In other words, cooperative coaching is about learning how to moderate a discussion, to document the process and the results, and to assess the outcome . Particularly the self-employed will find that many of these roles and capabilities come in extremely useful in social situations, too.

In addition, cooperative coaching fosters synergy – be it that the participants pass on jobs, or profit from the others’ experience with legal conditions, loan applications, or customer acquisition. In many cases, it is encouraging simply to learn that others have to cope with the same problems.

• participants acquire counselling competence
• members profit from the group-internal synergetic effects
• enhanced satisfaction and success is attained in the area of business
• the method functions in the long-term without external counselling

Cooperative coaching is a form that can also be used by teams within companies or organizations, e.g. in order to enhance the structure and efficiency of team meetings or case discussions. I also teach this method in compact further-education courses.

Mediation is a conflict-solving method following internationally recognized rules. It is suitable for cases in which

• the parties involved in a conflict are unable to resolve the situation on their own
• a conflict is threatening to escalate or become permanent
• contention is blocking important life-areas (e.g. work processes, family relationships)
• recourse to law appears to be the only way out

However, mediation can succeed only if all the individuals involved are willing to work for a binding solution and the process is professionally supervised by a neutral party.

As a mediator I manage the conflict-handling structure and create a climate of trust and security, but remain neutral in regard to the content and outcome. In this way, the conflicting parties are able to concentrate on target-oriented communication and, acting on their own responsibility, work towards a settlement acceptable to all sides. The conflicting parties take the decision as to when and how a mediation process ends.

The process of mediation is divided up into several phases:

1. Establishing contact and clarifying the brief Explaining the procedure and the rules
2. Defining the existing situation and the relevant thematic areas
3. Working out the divergent interests and needs
4. Working out binding solutions
5. (Written) agreement among all the parties

• the focus lies on the interests and needs of all the parties
• win-win settlements enable continued cooperation
• well-being and relief are accomplished on both sides – thus avoiding winner-loser scenarios
• mediation can take the place of legal proceedings
• collaborative solutions shorten the process

About myself

As a fully trained supervisor (DGSv), mediator and coach, I run a private consultancy in accordance with the standards of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Supervision.

Having obtained my Masters Degree in Education in Manchester, England, I can offer all of my specialized counselling services in English. This aspect is particularly helpful in teams with members from various cultural backgrounds.

I acquired my professional competence both through my formal education as well as diverse professional experience and supplementary qualifications:

• training as a mediator at Viadukt Berlin
• training as supervisor and organizational consultant at Iso Berlin (Institut für Supervision and Organisationsberatung Berlin)
• numerous advanced courses in counselling approaches based on methods of humanistic psychology
• team member and manager of a residential project for people with learning difficulties
• service in the crisis hotline of the Berliner Krisendienst
• social work at the counselling centre Treffpunkt am Mexikoplatz, Berlin
• social work at the psychiatric service centre of the district of Herzogtum Lauenburg, Schleswig-Holstein

I accept and appreciate the diverse capabilities and needs I encounter in the course of my interaction with my clients. Respect for others is an important foundation of my work. I consider professionalism and regard for others to be mutually complementary – and to be inseparable.

Contact

Ralf Winning M.Ed.

Supervisor und Coach DGSv

23883 Sterley

Tel. 04545 899 97 43

E-Mail: info@ralf-winning.de

www.ralf-winning.de