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Road to self-improvement in Brussels

22:22 29/08/2014

Many people arriving in Brussels have already done pretty well for themselves. They’ve secured a good job with a European institution or one of the numerous non-governmental organisations in the city, or their foreign company has expanded and they’ve taken on the task of setting up operations in Europe’s capital.

But just because you are at the top of your game, doesn’t mean that there’s no more room for improvement. Ambitious people rarely want to sit still, after all, and instead are continually searching for new things to learn and new skills to acquire. Of course, self-improvement can mean different things to different people. Some are looking for more personal or spiritual development. Others want to probe the limits of their creativity. And still others want to learn more practical skills, from languages to instruments. Luckily Brussels has a wide array of resources for those seeking to expand their horizons.

Get some coaching

Professional and life coaching is very popular in Brussels, both receiving coaching and undergoing training to become a coach. Some people do it to get ahead in their jobs by improving their weak points – for example, delegating workload, giving constructive feedback or managing teams.

A number of businesses and individuals in Brussels provide both coaching services and training. While all focus on personal development, some are more geared towards professional growth. Recognised by the International Coach Federation, The Coaching Square uses John Whitmore’s famous GROW model to instigate behavioural change through concrete steps to help business leaders become more self-aware and agile in dealing with the demands of the workplace.

Others are in it for a more personal exploration. BAO provides three levels of coaching training that focuses more on the interior journey of the individual and explores a range of different approaches to self-knowledge and interpersonal skills development, including neuroscience and cognitive-behavioural approaches, neurolinguistic programming, Taoism, emotional intelligence and transpersonal psychology. 

Getting creative

Most people want either want to be more creative or to fine-tune their creativity into productive outlets. If you are drawn to the pen, the Brussels Writers’ Circle is a vibrant community of creative writers in Brussels. Meeting three times a week, poets, novelists, memoirists and anyone else devoted to the written word – professionally or as a hobby – gather to share and discuss their work with one another. The group also holds regular writing worshops and retreats in Brussels and around Belgium.

If your someone who is always coming up with hair-brained ideas and wants to test them out, the Imagination club might be the place you are looking for. Members run 90-minute workshops on anything and everything, from laughter yoga, to radical approaches to leadership, to an introduction to imagination and contemporary physics. The idea is to provide an open space where anyone can try out their new ideas – no matter how unorthodox – on a friendly audience that can give feedback.

Public speaking

Despite often being a necessary part of their jobs, public speaking still strikes fear in the heart of many people, especially when you have to speak in a language that is not your mother tongue. Toastmasters is a club that provides a space for members to come and improve their communication skills through speech-making, trainings and debates. In member-run twice-monthly meetings, participants practice giving prepared or impromptu speeches as well as constructive evaluation of others’ speeches. Also, many non-native English speakers use it to practise speaking in English and to prepare for specific presentations.

There are also clubs that meet in other languages, including Dutch and French, but also Spanish, German and Gaelic.

Interesting miscellany

Of course, who says that self-improvement needs to be focused only on things you use for your job? For those looking to take up more miscellaneous hobbies, La Gaumette offers a wide array of year-long, summer and weekend courses and workshops. The more typical ones are there, like cooking courses, along with sewing and embrodery, knitting, and painting and illustration. Then there are your home-improvement courses, including furniture reupholstry, leather crafts and learning to build a car. Finally, there are the truly bizarre that  you might not have realised were things people wanted to learn, such as a course on learning to cut grass with a scythe,  ‘wild basking-weaving’ and accordion lessons.

Photo courtesy baogroup.be

Written by Katy Desmond