Can you introduce yourself?
INELISE Inelise Fröberg, 28 years old. I live in Rotterdam and started as a Young Executive about 4 years ago and am now Manager of Operations.
TYCHO Tycho ten Brink, 29, live in Utrecht on a houseboat with my girlfriend and work at Boer & Croon since March 2018. First I went through the Young Executive program and then started working as Manager People & Change.
How it all began ...
INELISE At the age of three I started skiing. For several years I had lessons every Saturday morning during the winter months on the brush track in Dordrecht. The best days were when real snow had fallen and you could 'make your first tracks' on this plastic slope. I also greatly enjoyed the children's races.
It was my childhood dream to teach in Austria or Switzerland and after my master I thought: it's now or never. First I took a 10-day course and then I spent four months in Austria. The love for skiing and the mountains only increased here. If at all possible, I still go to the Alps several times a year.
TYCHO As a little boy I already went skiing with the family, I was four at the time. I've done it every year since then. It's my favorite vacation of the year, because I spend the whole day outside doing active sports. In addition, there is a lot of fun around it.
What is the most special thing you ever made in sports?
INELISE The great moments of skiing were early in the morning when I taught ski lessons. I then got an occasional lesson myself at 7:30 in the morning. In the rising sun, fresh snow and the entire slope still untouched. That you could then completely go about your business with friends in beautiful surroundings. As soon as I get close to mountains I get hyper!
TYCHO In between my bachelor and master I followed the 'anwärter opleiding'. You then go to Austria for ten days and are drilled for good technique and posture. From that moment on I really learned to ski well, because you start to focus very consciously on certain techniques. I then taught for three months in Austria.
How do you apply experiences from sports to your work?
INELISE Development and resistance are indeed two interfaces that I see in work and skiing. Skiing is an individual sport, but teaching is also a form of leadership. How do you make sure everyone stays involved, keeps up, learns and develops themselves? Development is one of my driving forces, both in work and sports. If a child had never skied at the beginning of the week and went down the red slope with me at the end: really fantastic to see that development so concrete. I also learned to deal with resistance through teaching. A child who at the beginning of the week didn't dare to go on a ski course and kept crying, but at the end of the week said to his parents: 'I don't want to ski with you but with Inelise'. If someone doesn't want something, how are you going to get him motivated to do it?
TYCHO In a way there is a nice metaphor. When I taught ski lessons, I had just finished my undergraduate degree and I was one of the older ones teaching ski lessons because most people did it after high school. So I always got the slightly older classes (adults). People who have very much in their heads "if I fall I will break everything". What I do now as a manager People & Change is look at how to help people do their jobs better. Then you have to look at a lot of different things: the person themselves, the work, everything around it, what does the organization want, what pressure is someone under. I do think you can draw a parallel between teaching people to ski and helping people change in their work; so getting people to do something they can't do and that they might be a little afraid of.
