Personal leadership with impact?
Masterclass program Stratego for women ™
For over 17 years, we’ve been organizing this unique program that has hundreds of women have followed and has been developed for women with ambitions. Within six months you will gain considerably more influence, you will learn to negotiate for yourself even better, achieve your personal goals, you will receive all the tools you need to make a career move and you will experience the humor in your work.
During the Masterclass program, you will develop your personal leadership and increase your strategic ability. From different perspectives, you’ll work intensively on increasing your influence within your organization. You’ll boost your self-confidence, learn to approach challenges strategically, and take greater control of your career. You’ll develop a personal vision, learn to position yourself effectively and be more visible, negotiate effectively, and deal with different levels of power and influence.
In our Masterclass program you will learn:
- Which tactics and strategies you can apply to achieve your objectives
- Which unwritten rules you need to know to have a career or just enjoy your work
- How you don’t have to work so hard to achieve your goals
- That you are not the only woman who does not always understand the game or does not feel like playing it
- How to identify your field of influence
- Understand with which type of players you are dealing with and how you deal with them strategically
- How you can position yourself powerfully and clearly
- Practical sentences to say at times when you would otherwise block or become very angry
- What effective negotiation strategies are for you
- What level of power others use and how you can influence them yourself
- Which ‘unconscious bias’ (which we all have) could stand in the way of your career
- How to o focus because you know what your personal vision is and from which values you work
- How to effectively use your masculine and feminine qualities and be seen as a ‘potential’ and serious discussion partner
In short, you gain more self-confidence, more strategic skills, more fun and more influence.
And what does your organization get? The business case.
The Masterclass program benefits not only you, but also your organization. They get:
- An employee who works for the organization with more pleasure and humor because she understands how the game is played
- Female talent that is ready to take the next step: ‘the pipeline’ remains filled
- And talent who knows that the ‘grass is not greener on the other side’, so they stay with the organization longer
- This puts more women in influential positions and leads to more innovation, better decision-making and a higher gross profit margin
- Because did you know that organizations with more women achieve an average of 30% higher returns?
Practical
During this program, we work with a group of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 12 women for six months. The participants contribute with their personal experiences and cases and the supervisors highlight the topics from the professional literature, research and own experience.
Do you want to know what the structure of the program is?
In-company
We also organize the Masterclass program in-company. If at least 5 female colleagues are also enthusiastic about the Masterclass, we will be happy to tailor the program to your organization.
Experienced trainers
The program was developed by women who have realized (almost) all their ambitions. We, Monic Bührs and Elisa de Groot, founded In Touch 27 years ago. Mira Vasic, Lisa van Blaricum and Aleksandra Majkic have joined as experienced partners. Together we have more than 135,000 hours of experience with gender diversity & inclusion and we have now trained thousands of women at hundreds of national and international organizations. We are also the authors of several management books, including the well-known classic and ‘ever-seller’ Stratego for Women, which is sold in more than 35,000 copies.
Masterclass program Stratego for Women ™
The aim of this female talent program is to increase the strategic capacity of women. The participants gain insight into the unwritten rules of the ‘political game’. They learn to deal with the strategic game in their own way and to use their feminine qualities while staying authentic.
Masterclass program Stratego for women ™
November 2024 – April 2025
The program consists of a kick off meeting, six workshops, two intervision meetings and a closing meeting. In addition, the participants conduct three individual conversations with one of the trainers (an intake interview and two coaching conversations). The afternoon meetings start at 12 noon with lunch. The kickoff and wrap-up meeting will take place from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. And all days take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the exception of the first workshop, which lasts until 6 p.m.
Individual intake and behaviour archetype
The program starts with an individual intake. During the intake interview we explain the program and discuss the learning wishes of the participants.
Kick-off and closing meetings
12 November 2024, 8 April 2025
The first joint meeting is a dinner. During this evening, participants and trainers get to know each other, the program is explained and practical matters are discussed.
The program ends with a closing meeting in which the participants present their personal experience and development during the program and their further ambitions.
The Masterclass program is based on the book ‘Stratego for women’, which was nominated for Management Book of the Year 2008. Second reviewed edition of the book was published in 2024.
In addition to the joint start and closing meeting, the structure of the program is as follows:
Workshop ‘Stratego for women’
26 november 2024, afternoon
“If a nice position becomes available, men approach it themselves. If they get no response, they simply try again a few days later. Most women are mainly concerned with the content of their work and think that they will automatically be rewarded with a promotion.”
From: Het Financiële Dagblad,“Slim spel in de wandelgang”
During the ‘Stratego for women’ workshop, participants gain insight into ‘the rules of the game’ and learn how to play the game strategically without losing themselves.
Participants gain insight into the different orientations of men and women and their impact on the way we work together in organizations. They make a field of influence analysis of their work situation. Who are the players and what are the formal and informal forces within your organization? What position do they choose in this regard? What strategies and tactics do others choose? We will also discuss the levels of personal power. What influence do the participants exert and what level of power can be effectively deployed towards the players in the force field?
The participants receive the book Stratego for women.
Intervision 1
12 December 2024 afternoon
Two guided intervision sessions take place between the workshops. The purpose of these sessions is deepening and reflection focused on the individual work situations and the behavior of the participants.
Workshop ‘Strategic visibility and positioning’
21 January 2025 morning
During this workshop we will work on a your visibility and presentation. The participants gain insight into the aspects that determine whether they are seen as a powerful personality. Which physical and verbal aspects are important to ensure that you present yourself powerfully?
We discuss the ‘invisible work’ that women often do unconsciously and for which they do not get ‘credit’. Participants become aware of the many types of ‘disappearing acts’ and receive suggestions on how they can make their contribution and results more visible.
Furthermore, intensive work is being done to actually achieve impact. In other words: How can you profile yourself powerfully without being seen as a ‘bitch’? Or how do you literally and figuratively take up ‘space’ and stay connected with others?
Workshop ‘Personal Branding’
21 January 2025 afternoon
Your Personal Brand is the most powerful marketing tool to achieve your goals. With Personal Branding you view yourself as a brand. From this perspective, you look specifically at yourself, your ambitions and the strategy with which you want to achieve your goals. It is important to distinguish yourself from others. During this session you will work intensively on the development of your Personal Brand and how to strategically position it.
Workshop ‘Unconscious bias’ en Intervision 2
11 February 2025 afternoon
This afternoon we start with a workshop about unconscious bias, the unconscious assumptions we all have. And fortunately, because that ensures that we can quickly process new information. This keeps us safe and helps us know how to behave in certain situations. The tricky thing about bias, however, is that it is ‘unconscious’. We all have unconscious thoughts, for example thoughts about what behavior is desirable for women and men or thoughts about what behavior ‘real’ leaders demonstrate. We judge people based on their appearance, how they behave, how they talk, what their background is, etc. In this way we unconsciously exclude people and not all talents within the organization are utilized. During the presentation we will take you through a number of forms of bias that hinder women’s careers.
We then have the second guided intervision meeting. The purpose of this meeting is deepening and reflection focused on the individual work situations and the behavior of the participants.
Workshop ‘Power and effective communication’
4 March 2025 morning
During this workshop, participants practice expanding their repertoire of actions based on the different levels of power. Furthermore, they practice archetypal goddess behavior that they would not naturally use in the first place. The participants determine which behavior they want to practice based on their archetype profile. The workshop will discuss the dynamics of the different levels of power and between the different archetypes.
Workshop ‘The Color Company’
4 March 2025 afternoon
Based on intuition, during this workshop you will gain insight into and tools for creating clarity with regard to your ‘higher goal’ and opportunities for personal growth. The workshop is given by Sabine Alblas from The Color Company.
Workshop ‘Strategic negotiations for women’
25 March 2025 afternoon
Many women find negotiating a difficult issue. A part they would rather skip. However, in order to exert influence, we must negotiate. To do your job well you need money, space and position. And so you negotiate about (meeting) time to present your ideas, training opportunities, physical space, promotions and so on. It is not without reason that negotiation is one of the critical factors for success.
The participants work in role plays with an actor, based on real cases that the participants themselves bring. During this workshop we will also discuss the different ways of negotiating with men and women and how participants can use them strategically.
Closing meeting
8 April 2025 evening
Coaching
Dates for coaching will be agreed with each participant
During the program, participants have two individual coaching conversations with one of the teachers of the master class. During these conversations, participants present personal case studies and work on personal development. The coaching conversations take place in Delft or online of your choice.
Masterclass program Stratego for Women ™
The program has been developed for women who have the ambition to develop further and get more influence and power themselves. From different perspectives, the participants work intensively on strengthening self-confidence and developing their strategic ability to exert influence in the organization where they work.
We work with a maximum of 12 participants.
The study load between the meetings is on average one and a half hours.
Alumnae reunion in Milan (2023)
Masterclass program Stratego for Women ™
Main trainer for this program is Mira Vasic, one of our Senior Partners. In case of more than 6 participants, Aleksandra Majkic and/or Lica van Blaricum will join as trainers as well.
During the workshop ‘Strategic Negotiation’, we work with an experienced training actor. And the workshop”Intuitive leadership” is given by Sabine Alblas from the ‘The Color Company’.
Mira Vasic PhD
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Aleksandra Majkic MSc
Lisa van Blaricum MSc
Masterclass program Stratego for Women ™
| Individual intake | October/November 2024 |
| Kick-off meeting and dinner | 12 November 2024 – evening |
| Workshop Stratego for women (incl. lunch) | 26 November 2024 – afternoon |
| Intervision (incl. lunch) | 16 December 2024 – afternoon |
| Coaching | date will be agreed with each participant |
| Workshop ‘Strategic visibility and positioning’ (incl. lunch) | 23 January 2025 – morning |
| Workshop ‘Personal Branding’ | 23 January 2025 – afternoon |
| Workshop ‘Unconscious bias’ and intervision (incl. lunch) | 17 February 2025 – afternoon |
| Workshop ‘Power and effective communication’ (incl. lunch) | 18 March 2025 – morning |
| Workshop ‘The color company’ | 18 March 2025 – afternoon |
| Workshop ‘Strategic negotiations for women’ (incl. lunch) | 14 April 2025 – afternoon |
| Closing presentations and dinner | 16 May 2025 – evening |
Masterclass program Stratego for Women ™
Location to be announced: live in-person in the Netherlands
Investment
The investment for the Masterclass program is €7,875, excl. VAT. This amount includes location costs, coffee, delicious lunches, two dinners, the book ‘Stratego for women ™’, behaviour tests ‘Behaviour archetypes’ and ‘Levels of power and influence’, annual subscription to the In Touch Online Academy and membership in our alumnae masterclass network.
In-person yearly meeting
Every year, we organise one in-person meeting for our masterclass alumnae.
Join us!
Online quarterly meetings
Our alumnae from all around the world
Link to: Contact
Question? Send us an email
Interested in more?
Link to: Gender bias
Gender Bias
Workshop to become aware of both the feminine and masculine unwritten rules