We are Angelique van Geerenstein and Brigitte van Birgelen. We are advisors, coaches and trainers in the field of personal and organisational development. Twenty-five years ago, we started studying psychology, driven by our fascination with people. Following this, we familiarised ourselves with the subject in all its many facets, first through a decade of working for well-known agencies and then as freelancers. Gradually, we have learned to focus on the precise issues and problems that hinder the processes of performance, communication and collaboration within an organisation. What we have mastered as well is the way to translate this comprehensive analysis into a detailed and tailor-made action plan and subsequently implement it. Our clients, most of whom are directors, managers and HR professionals in both the public and private sectors, see us as their collaborative partners. We provide useful input and real support.
ABOUT US
Get to know Human Perspective
We find it easy to connect with, and thus gain the confidence of, people at the various levels within an organisation. This is why we are able to intervene at the level of both the individual, the department and the organisation, and to actually change behaviour in practice.
In our role as equal discussion partners, we offer you a new perspective, and know how to encourage you in a respectful, constructive and inspirational way.
Angelique
My clients and colleagues describe me as someone whose inquisitive, open and patient approach makes it easy for me to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds. In addition, I often hear that I possess the qualities of being sparkling, creative, inspirational and flexible. I am pleased with the feedback that I confront others in a respectful way and know how to encourage them to actually change their behaviour in practice.
After my Master’s degree in Social and Organisational Psychology at Utrecht University, I started my career as an external advisor and coach at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where in my role as advisor and coach, I was able to amass a great deal of experience in a short space of time. Another decisive step in my career was my role as in-house advisor at a British merchant bank (Abbey National Treasury Services) in London, where in addition to my substantive role as coach and advisor, I also developed the requisite political instincts. Once returned to the Netherlands, I carried out assignments for a range of HR agencies (SHL, Berenschot, Leeuwendaal, Boertien), educational institutions (HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, University of Wageningen), non-profit organisations (Bronovo, Medisch Centrum Haaglanden) and for-profit organisations (ABN AMRO Bank, Rabobank, AlpInvest, IBM).”
I believe in life-long-learning, and enjoy being amazed and surprised. In addition to learning through practical experience, I have continually taken courses in order to gain the in-depth knowledge that I need for my work, these courses including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Integrative Psychotherapy, Transaction Analysis, Rational Emotive Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Solution-Oriented Therapy, Provocative Coaching, Body-focussed Working, Consultancy Skills, Coaching & Mentoring, Train the Trainer, Project Management, Strategic Personnel Management and Change Management. I am certified to work with the most commonly used assessment and coaching tools.
Brigitte
Colleagues and clients often describe me as someone who listens with genuine interest and who knows how to quickly create a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. I am known for my playful, creative and spontaneous approach. I encourage and inspire people with both humour and inquisitive questions in order to obtain deeper insights and to make progress. What others often say is that I am open-minded: I rarely find something strange or ridiculous.
I started my career as a junior consultant at a small consultancy firm, while I was still graduating as an Industrial and Organisational Psychologist at Utrecht University. In addition to coaching outplacement candidates, I was also responsible for acquiring new clients. I soon learnt what it takes to run a consultancy business, and I enjoyed the many roles I had.
I really learned how to be an advisor in the years following this, while working at Compaz IJsselstreek and Luteijn as an assessment psychologist, coach and trainer. However, I also had the desire to work as a manager in an organisation myself, so I took the plunge and became site director at Stichting Welzijn Oost, a childcare organisation in Utrecht. As the manager of thirty childminders, I was the contact person for a couple of hundred parents and responsible for the care of dozens of babies and toddlers each day. I really found out what it means to manage and guide the often complex and challenging processes of collaboration and communication.
With this experience under my belt, I subsequently started offering my services to larger and smaller HR agencies such as SHL and Leeuwendaal, to municipal organisations such as the Municipality of Rotterdam, to rehabilitation agencies and to various other organisations in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
I enjoy using both my head and my heart and want to encourage others to do the same. I am qualified as a professional user of the psychotherapeutic tool ‘Psychodrama’, partly to get more in touch with what really motivates me and with who I am, but primarily to tackle the more serious subjects that are part of the coaching programmes.
"We go as deep as required, not beyond "
OUR VISION AND WAY OF WORKING
Your organisation is in a constant state of flux. Continuous improvement and adapting to changing conditions require constant coordination between the organisation’s strategy, structure and culture, as well as between the financial objectives and the internal and external requirements imposed on the business.
This places high demands on you and your colleagues. After all, the direction in which your employees develop have to be continually coordinated amidst these dynamic conditions. Both the individual and the team have an essential role here, if change is to be actually realised. This means that you are a very important part of the efforts to achieve the organisation’s long-term success. We would welcome the opportunity to assist and support you in your efforts to develop your people in such a way that they can realise actual changes and implement real improvements.
In all cases, we start from your organisation and its strategy, as this determines the skills and behaviours that your employees and teams need to possess.
We look closely at your organisation’s objectives and translate these into objectives for each level of the organisation.
Our competitive edge is that we are able to deploy a range of methods and tools in order to both start and maintain the process of developing individuals and teams. Examples of the methods we use include a range of coaching techniques, organisational theory, assessment and training, and development centre work. In this way, we are able to take a tailor-made approach for each new assignment.
In order to prevent the risk of ‘paralysis through analysis’, we only do what is necessary. This is to prevent a situation where all the available time is used for analysis and where insufficient time remains for implementing an appropriate solution. In our experience, it is not always necessary to ‘go in-depth’, although our approach does lend itself to intervening at all four relevant levels we can distinguish, namely the subconscious, (‘who am I?’), values (‘what do I think of this?’), skills (‘what can I do?’) and behaviour (‘What is it that I am doing?’).
As members of the Netherlands Institute for Psychologists (the NIP), our work complies with the rules of conduct laid down in the aforementioned Professional Code.