Ineke Vermeulen

We like to think that groups/teams outperform individuals, yet there is more to it than that to make a team positive, efficient and performing. It is more than luck and "chemistry", although it may prove very hard to put our fingers on what is causing this. I shed some light on common pitfalls of teams and possibilities to create true "dream-teams".

The world is at our feet, we rejoice in the many flavors of foreign foods, exotic drinks and music types. Yet, when it comes to understanding the differences in human behavior we either hide in fear from anything "other" or over-indulge in acceptance of differences. The recent migrant/refugee crisis has once again proven that fear is often the result: either fear of the flood of new people, or fear of saying/thinking anything which might be considered a prejudice or worse: racist. During my talk I share how we can stay open for others without losing ourselves, starting by trying to understand where differences come from. This knowledge will help us better understand where prejudices, stereotypes and fears come from and why these aren't necessarily bad. Better understanding can lead to preventing potential pitfalls and misunderstandings by openly addressing them and figuring out a way to work with them rather than ignoring the elephant in the room or even letting things implode.

This talk is a compilation of topics from the areas of group/team behavior, entrepreneurship and intercultural communication. I call it "Intercultural Business Dynamics" . It will give participants insight about the magic that makes businesses thrive in an international context - whether as a one-(wo)man show, or as a large corporation - understanding differences in approaches to things like decision making, negotiating and conflict resolution go a very long way.