Management book / Leadership / Psychology
Date Published: May 10, 2022
Publisher: Serapis Bey Publishing
Drs Lies Wouters, international organizational psychologist, advisor, trainer and team coach, based in the Netherlands, introduces her unique Metaphor Map and Metaphor Model of Psychological Safety in this, her first book published in English. She shines a new light on how all leaders across the world can use specific learnt skills to create teams where people thrive, when they understand that it is up to them to create the circumstances where people feel motivated, have fun and grow. She explains the neurobiology of our behaviour and its impact on performance, collaboration, creativity, happiness, productivity and so much more. Backed by relevant science, comprehensive research, real life examples and practical exercises this book takes you step by step through the underlying processes in your brain and body to develop the skills that ensure high performance. She reveals the significance of applying these skills in the world and how we can all play an important role in making this world better, where not only teams, but everyone can thrive.
What was your main drive to write this book?
I wrote this book because I want to help as many leaders
as I can to develop the skills they need to lead themselves as others in a way
that they feel happy, healthy and successful. The world needs people to realize
their responsibility in this world and I want to support these people by
helping them understand what they need in order to take this and help them
develop that.
What do you hope readers will learn by reading this book?
I hope that readers learn that people mostly have good
intentions but so much gets lost in communication. When people respond
negatively, we often take it personally while a lot of times this negative
response comes from that person feeling threatened or tired or unable in some
way. I hope that leaders will learn how important it is to first make sure that
their own basic needs are being satisfied and will learn how to support
themselves in a way that they feel ready to open up and connect to others. In
my book I explain the neurobiology of this process and this makes it clear that
there is no opening up to others without supporting ones self first.
Did you do much research when planning this book?
Yes, in fact, I have been doing research into this topic
for four years. When I started the research I had not thought of writing a book
about it yet. I had done a great deal of research to simply understand the
process of psychological safety and to help organizations build it. When I
later decided to write this book I already had a solid basis and still I did
much more research as I was writing to make sure that the theory is well
founded. Also I have experienced in my training and coaching practice that
scientific research often helps people understand better why things go as they
go. I wanted to offer the reader a good combination of theory, practice and
exercises to help them apply what they learned.
Did you have any main people who helped you in the process
of this book or influenced you to write it?
There were many people who helped me. To begin with the
many leaders from across the world that I have had the privilege to train and
coach. They opened up to me and shared their experiences and their stories were
the first to inspire me to write this book. When I was much further in the
process I had a wonderful book coach who was an enormous support and really
helped me in structuring the book better. She calls herself ‘the book angel’
and I completely agree!
How long did this book take you to write from initial
thought to hitting publish?
This book took me two years to write. Initially I had
hoped to finish the book much sooner, but it was a necessary process for me and
as I wrote each chapter I developed my own knowledge and understanding even
further as I was writing it.
Do you have plans to write more about this topic or new
topics?
I do feel there are more books in me. However, at the
moment I have my focus on my research and my work as executive coach and
trainer. I train teams and leaders in international organizations, both online
and offline on the skills that are mentioned in my book and participants
receive a copy of the book at the end of the training to support them in
further developing those skills. I look forward to supporting many more
organizations in this way in the future.
About the Author
Drs. Lies Wouters is an international positive psychology expert, work and organizational psychologist, advisor, trainer and team coach, based in the Netherlands. In addition to the comprehensive research, she has conducted about happiness and resilience, she assists organizations in the areas of: mental health; optimal functioning; motivation; and positive communication. Her mission is to contribute to reducing the number of burnouts in the Netherlands by helping to make people within organizations healthier and happier; and ensuring that they thrive in psychologically safe team environments. In 2018, she published her first book in Dutch, Hoe Dan (So Then How) together with a businesswoman who wrote about how she overcame life’s struggles. In their book, Lies responds to her explaining the psychological theories of what helped and why.
Lies is the founder of her own international business, OMG! which stands for tailor-made leadership and specializes in providing leadership training and coaching. For more than ten years, Lies and her team of fellow experts have been facilitating online and onsite leaders and professionals with business related workshops. Their work is underpinned by their professional knowledge that each individual is unique and each organization is unique. Thus, they only deliver custom work.
Lies is PhD student at the Open University in the Netherlands where she is researching the topic of psychological safety. The title “Drs” stands for doctorandus which is Latin for he/she/they who should become a doctor. Her first article about psychological safety will be published in the spring of 2022. When Lies is not pursuing her professional career and helping other people to thrive at work, she loves to spend time with her husband and two children. She enjoys being outside in nature at all times of the year. She also loves dancing and enjoying good, healthy food with family and friends.
Contact Links
Email: lies.wouters@omgadvies.nl
Purchase Link
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