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Summer 2008

Fiona takes over
Following the retirement of Trish Stott at the end of last year, our new course coordinator, Fiona Mee, has taken full charge of the day-to-day management of our training centre at Peasholme House.

Autumn 2007

Farewell to Trish Stott
Trish Stott, a director and our centre coordinator, is retiring at the end of this year.

For 25 years Trish has been at the centre of York Associates, juggling with the many demands of running a small but complex business. She has been the rock on which our success has been built and we will
miss her greatly.

Spring 2007

Developing People Internationally: online and face-to-face conference
This event, aimed at both the business and academic world, starts with an online forum hosted by www.dialogin.com on Friday 4 May to be followed by a face-to-face conference at the Villa Rheinburg, Konstanz, in south-west Germany on 28 and 29 September. The conferences will include presentations, workshops and panel discussions on subjects such as intercultural coaching, communicating in virtual teams, international project management and post-merger integration. More information and registration details are available on our website.

Autumn 2006

International team development in Italy
York Associates continues to develop new ways to support those working in international teams. Bob Dignen recently ran a workshop in Italy for a virtual team of legal professionals working in Henkel’s northern and southern operations. The specific focus of the workshop was on developing greater understanding between headquarter and affiliate team members and enhancing international negotiation skills. A key component of the intervention was a post-workshop telephone debriefing with each team member to profile their international communication skills and create a personal improvement programme. For more information on how we can support your international team, please contact us at training@york-associates.co.uk.

Spring 2006

Coaching across cultures
Director Jeremy Comfort has been developing this side of the business. Clients who are going to be or already have been assigned overseas can benefit from our new intercultural coaching service. Ideally client and coach kick off with a face-to-face session in which objectives are established for the coaching ‘contract’. These may be dealing with current issues at work and / or developing specific competencies for their future career. We leave the first session with an initial action plan and then follow up on this in subsequent telephone sessions once or twice a month. The telephone coaching allows the coachee to report back on progress and also to set new objectives for their professional development. Recent coaching contracts have involved assignments in the US, UK, Sweden and Italy. The coach’s expertise is in understanding the cultural context in which the client is working – this usually means both organisational and country context. A longterm relationship with the sponsoring client also means a deep understanding of the business, its history and future opportunities. Working abroad is a big challenge and our intercultural coaches can help individuals to make the most of their experience in a new culture.