Jacqueline van der Velden
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Before RYLA, Jacqueline says she was afraid, afraid of public speaking, afraid of meeting new people - but she knew that she wanted to be a better speaker, to meet new people and communicate with clients easier. She just didn't know how to achieve this. She had been attending a Business Networking International group for the topiary nursery that she manages. This had been helpful for communication and meeting people, but she still had a fear that she didn't have the wisdom or experience to talk in certain conversations.
Carmen had come to the group to let them know that she had a space to fill, and then came back a week later, and Jacqueline became really interested in finding out more, after encouragement from the group members. So Jacqueline signed up with just one week to go before RYLA started, and she had a million thoughts and fears on the drive to the camp. But on arrival, she found the people friendly and the atmosphere right, and she realised she had nothing to worry about. Jacqueline said that they did so much during the week, and she had picked out her favourite three highlights.
Firstly being when they went to Cambridge to interview a member of the community that was in a leadership role. Along with four others, she got to interview Sherry Herkes, the Director of Cambridge Real Estate. Before going, they had to make sure that they were prepared, as valuable time had been taken out of the interviewees busy life. They had a profile of Sherry's life, her work history, and then deciding to follow her dream to become a real estate agent. She said that Sherry was willing to share to help them grow. She taught them valuable life lessons, such as 'never burn any bridges', 'kindness costs nothing and comes back tenfold'. It is as simple as smiling, or talking to people while you wait in line at the supermarket. 'Work hard and take every opportunity that comes', 'write down goals, whether it is short or long term, even if it is putting a goal down for holidays or small things'. Jacqueline was inspired to do more, so since RYLA she has grabbed some opportunities. At their nursery they are expanding into landscape design. They went to the Home Show to see what sort of interest they could get, and Jacqueline is now in the process of designing four properties and really enjoying it. She is also doing a permaculture design course so that she can learn as much as she can about designing. Without RYLA she would not be doing this.
Her second highlight was the learning about different behavioural profiles which is a non-judgemental tool to understand people's behavioural differences. Once they found out the main categories that everyone fitted into, then they made easy connections. It helped them understand how their team communicated, when they wanted to be involved, or if they were happy with plans and ideas that they came up with. Jacqueline describes this day as one of those light bulb moments where eveything seemed to click into place.
The third highlight was the use of language, to help work on open-ended questions. Open-ended questions invite people to think, and explore possibilities. The closed question can only be answered by a yes or no, whereas the open-ended question invites responses and sows genuine interest.
Jacqueline says they learned a lot, and she feels more confident, and would do it again in a heartbeat.