By the time you read this, our workshop of May 21st at the INC, “How are you ? Where are you going ?” will be a distant memory and our Congress 2019 will have worked its magic on us all. We do hope you were able to join us there for the last Professional Development workshop of the year, a gathering around the “Tree of Life” for a creative journey through the definition of our values and talents and what makes us tick both professionally and personally.  

Before I talk about our last two workshops, I wanted to thank you all, on behalf of the Professional Development team, so Alexandra Germeau, Nathalie Colin and myself, for your enthusiastic participation in our ten workshops this year.  220 of you fabulous driven women shared those inspiring moments of intimacy with us. And showed their appreciation. I also wanted to thank the 10 coaches involved for giving so generously of their time before, during and after their workshop. And I’d like to extend once again my gratitude to Muriel Janoir-Bessioud, Pierre Moorkens and the rest of the team for their warm welcome month after month at the INC. I am so very grateful too to Carole Cabrit and Karine Tarsitano, the staff back at the ranch, for relentlessly beavering away behind the scenes and answering all my qualms and cries for help at the speed of lightning and with a cyber smile !

To backtrack a little, and for those who weren’t there, just a few words on the workshop of May 21st “How are you ? Where are you going ?”:

• we first considered what we had chosen to do this past year to fuel our develop-ment : with the PWN and beyond : an experiential workshop, a dinner at the Se-nate, the Galette des Reines reunion, the PER, the Women and ambition confe-rence, a mentoring programme, activities with another network, a training course, a conference, an exhilarating concert, music lessons, sports, an exhibition, an exci-ting trip aboard, a thought-provoking book, etc.
• we then discussed our learnings from these different activities : participants were prioritised the activities which had the greatest impact on them, then worked in twos to identify their specific learnings.
• we subsequently explored what we’d decided to stop doing, what we’d decided to do less of, what we’d decided to do more of, what we’d decided to start doing, what we’d decided to continue doing. And of course what we’d achieved and completed !
• we went on to define our three most important dreams for the months ahead and decide what first steps would bring us closer to making these dreams come true, based on the learnings from our work together that evening.
• and finally - cherry on the cake -  we shared our personal action plan with our neighbouring “buddy” participant and committed to checking in with them in a few days, a few weeks do discuss how we’re getting on. Because today is a stepping stone to tomorrow. And together WE CAN !  

At the Congress, our experiential workshop was around the Tree of Life, where the tree is a visual metaphor for our life and our past, present and future. Participants started drawing the basic shape of a tree and illustrating it with roots : “where you come from, your culture, your childhood environment”, the ground:  “what you do on a daily basis”, the trunk : “your values and skills. The branches represent your hopes, dreams and wishes. And the leaves represent those who are important to you in a positive way. The fruits of the tree are the legacies : “what’s been passed down to you”, considering for example the people whose names you’ve previously written on the leaves. The flowers and seeds are those legacies that you wish to leave others. 

And we included - this is important - a compost heap where we’ll be able to symboli-cally discard anything that shapes negativity and that we no longer want in our lives : a complicated relationship, a source of trauma, places, problems, negative expe-riences. 

And the works of art of the Congress participants were either exhibited for all to ad-mire or safeguarded by their artists for further development :) 

These last two experiential workshops brought to an end our programme of workshops for 2018-2019 “Dare to Lead your Life”. We do hope they fulfilled their objective, and that is to help you enthusiastic and engaged members of the PWN to build your self-awareness, your understanding of others and beyond that your rela-tionships. Individually and with the support of your peers, in a safe and convivial environment, where sharing and respect are a given. For your empowerment and the development of your leadership skills and talents in the context of your career development. True to the PWN’s DNA.  

We wish you a fabulous summer and look forward to seeing you again next year !

Warm regards from the PWN Power Chicks !

Alexandra Germeau, Nathalie Colin and Romaine Johnstone