Way Beyond Inspiring Stories #30

2024, you're the one we're looking for!

We're dedicating the first newsletter of 2024 to sharing with you and remembering what we did in 2023. What for?

To thank every client who has worked with us for their trust. For us, each client is unique. That's why every project we've done together has been a unique and inspiring journey: we've asked, listened, challenged, collaborated closely to help people and teams achieve meaningful goals and thus drive their growth. Thank you for trusting us to be part of this transformation!

Congratulations to all our clients for investing in the development of their people and teams.

To provoke your curiosity! You'll get to know who we are, what we do and what you can expect from the way we get involved and dedicate ourselves to the people and projects we embrace.

So that your curiosity makes you want to explore possibilities with us. We believe that we grow more when we grow together. That's also why we've launched the "Are you the one we're looking for?" campaign. Click on the image and send news in the mail:

Spread the word. We're moving forward together!

The "Obsession" of the Month

This month our obsession is with the podcast "The New Gurus by Helen Lewis.
Everywhere we look on the internet we come across a wealth of advice that promises to transform our lives, from diet tips to strategies for getting rich and managing time.
Over the course of eight episodes, Helen Lewis explores the peculiar, powerful and sometimes hidden digital spaces created by the "new gurus" who know everything. Who are they, where do they come from and for what purpose? These are questions we should perhaps ask ourselves. The fact is that, because of these somewhat Promethean visions, many of us are turning away from the mainstream - in medicine, politics, for example - and welcoming the influence of these charismatic leaders instead. This movement is as intriguing as it is paradoxical in that it unveils a certain (false) imaginary of freedom and free choice, because, in reality, aren't we rather significantly conditioned by these gurus and their omnipresent influence? Now listen.

Projects and Clients

SONAE Capital was comfortable working without magic or predetermined recipes

Between 2021 and 2023, in partnership with SONAE Capital, we carried out the program LEAP: Leadership Acceleration Program which was born out of the desire to create and consolidate our own identity in line with a distinctive culture, taking into account the history and particular characteristics of the organization, namely the diversity and dispersion of its businesses.

We started from a basis of trust and mutual respect that was consolidated over the time we worked with around 200 people from 5 companies and 4 different geographies. From the design of the proposal to the diagnosis, co-design and implementation of the program.

This was one of the leadership projects that gave us the most pleasure. Find out more about what we did here. To find out more, talk to João.

Medinfar has sought to give meaning and purpose to what its leaders do

In 2019, Medinfar invited Way Beyond to design a program with the aim of experiencing culture more and better, both indoors and outdoors. And so the project went on until 2023 Leading Medinfar Culture.

With the top management and a group of around 70 "Influencers" and "Influenceresses", we worked together to ensure that the content of the "Medinfar Culture Charter" left the paper and the walls of the office and factory, and manifested itself in everything that people do on a daily basis. In partnership, we designed a program dedicated to clarifying, deepening and disseminating the culture, defined rituals and behaviors, wrote the lyrics and the song that helped bring the Culture Charter to life.

Because we believe that culture is not established by decree. It is made, every day, every day. Find out more here. Talk to Angela.

PLMJ, Zurich and Banco Santander Totta dealt with people and their evolution

While we had already been working on the subject of Mentoring in organizations in previous years, in 2023 we received several requests from different clients to design and/or implement Mentoring programs.

Partnerships have taken place at various levels - from designing programs from scratch, to redesigning existing ones, to contributing to the creation of matching processes, the registration and selection of mentors, and the design of mentor and mentee profiles.

PLMJ, Zurich and Banco Santander Totta made different choices in line with their needs. For each of them, we presented and continued with different programs.

In one case, mentoring was linked to the implementation of appraisal and career progression processes; in another it was intended to further improve the reception of new employees; and another represented the redesign of previous internal experiences. In all of them, we helped train mentors and raise awareness among mentees. We helped design matching processes, personalized manuals for mentors, and worked closely with the internal teams to bring the projects to fruition, trying to increase the chances of success and mitigating the mistakes that we know contribute to the non-adherence or sustainability of this type of practice.

At the end of the day, it's not about adding more to what people and organizations have to do. It's about doing things differently and with more awareness.

The Way Beyond School in 2024

WBCC 14 Introductory

WBCC 14 Introductory is happening! We have a full house and a full heart!

WBCC 6 Advanced

Starting on February 21, 2024, WBCC 6 Advanced will take place over nine months, between face-to-face and online classes, in which we combine the experience of our teachers and the contributions of transversal disciplines such as education, theater, music, psychology, history, linguistics, among others.

In a balance between theory and practice, our students can expect us to help them understand the coaching approach and, above all, how this practice can transform us and the world around us.

It is aimed at people who want to be coaches and who have successfully completed the Introductory Level of this program. It is aimed at anyone who wants to become certified in coaching and work as a professional coach, as well as entrepreneurs and managers in any field who want to put coaching skills and tools into practice in their organizations, with their teams and in other areas of their lives.

Learn more here and sign up.

Way to Lead: The Art of Facilitation - 2nd edition

On October 9, 10, 17, 23 and 24, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (location to be determined), the 2nd edition of our facilitation program, Way to Lead, will finally take place, a program in which participants experience the practice of facilitation.

From our perspective, facilitating can be a particular form of leadership that harvests, gathers and enhances the collective intelligence that results from the diversity of the people who make up a group or team.

In this program, in which each participant will have to design and facilitate a workshop in groups, registration will be open to the public in special editions of our Curtas.

There are 5 days spread over 3 weeks; 40 hours in person and an estimated 16 hours of autonomous work, accompanied by the Way Beyond team.

Learn more here and sign up.

WBCC 15 Introductory

The 15th edition of the Introductory Level of our coach training program kicks off on November 7th.

For those who are interested, this is an opportunity to get in touch with the fundamental bases of coaching, to practice the lessons learned and to experience the benefits of coaching first-hand.

November 7, 8, 12, 21 and 22, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., in Lisbon (location communicated after registration).

Learn more here and sign up.

In our "library"

This month we have selected for you:

Seeing clearly hurts, so we see in a blur
In this article, João poses two hypotheses: that we are seeing "all this" in a cloudy way; and that, in order to stop this kind of blindness, we should take our time, give ourselves time to look, listen, feel and reflect on ourselves, others and what surrounds us all.
Read here.

On the necessary reflections and actions for change
How many people do you hear saying "I can't today, I'm under water", "I'm running a thousand miles" and, less metaphorically, "I'm exhausted". Have we ever asked ourselves what we need? I'm sure we have. So what's stopping us from starting a (r)evolution in the world of work on our own?

Read here Cal Newport's article for The New Yorker.

E here Byung-Chul Han's interview with Público.

Other sights

This month we have selected for you:

The Goliards
The Goliards are wine, poetry and virtue. They were born in the Middle Ages and they value conversations, the long time spent discovering the other "around a table, swirling a glass of wine, we give time to time, we give time to the wine to reveal itself, at its own pace, without the pressure of the public, for an exuberant appearance at the feast of the final sip".
Being Goliardo isn't just about selling or talking about wine, being Goliardo "is a way of being in life". Pay them a visit and have a chat at Rua General Taborda, 91 (Campolide, Lisbon).

Snob
The Snob bookstore and publishing house was born from the hearts of Rosa and Duarte. It's a space and time to learn how to be.
Rosa will soon be running a "necessary" course: Women, literature and revolution - how women transformed the country during the democratic transition. Stay tuned, sign up!
Snob is at Travessa de Santa Quitéria, 32A, waiting for anyone who wants to share these reflections and many others. In and for freedom. Stop by.

See you later!

If you know someone who might be interested in this newsletter, feel free to share it! Here you can find the archive of past issues.

We always welcome feedback. So any comments you may have you can reach us by replying to this email or starting a conversation with us.

See you soon!