DURING
Preparations
Our time together in France is coming to an end: here are some of the things you need to do to get yourself ready for Module 2.
01 Reflection Form of Module 1
Deadline: 8th of March
As a first thing, we would like you to fill in an online reflection questionnaire on the first weekend. As much as this is a gift to us (as we are then able to assess the progress we’re making), this will also be a gift to you. It’s an invitation to take a quiet moment, gather your thoughts, and reflect on the weekend’s impressions. It’s very important that you complete this before the deadline, so that we can take it into account as we finalize the planning for the second module.
02 Behaviour Assessment Survey
Deadline: 8th of March
You are instructed to complete an online behaviour assessment survey. The self-assessment is aimed at providing you with some insights about your behaviour and how it relates to others. We will use your results as a basis of discussion for a particular session in Estonia. The survey won't take long, but make sure you do it in one sitting. We want it to be up to you who you want to share your results with and for you to be completely honest, which is why the survey will be done anonymously. Before starting the survey you need to generate a randomised number between 1- 100 000 at https://www.random.org/ and save this number somewhere where you can access it before the course. Generating a number is done on the right hand side by entering Min: 1 and Max: 100 000 and then Generate. Lastly, make sure to enter your identification number when you're asked to in the survey. Remember to read through the instructions in the form before you get started. Stay on top of the deadline - otherwise you won't get your results before the course. Good luck!
03 Friendship Survey
Deadline: 8th of March
We have a nice surprise cooking for the next module, but for that we’d like you to take a moment in the spirit of an old “friendship book” and answer a couple of questions about yourself.
04 The VALE Challenge - Group Project
Deadline: 24th of March
Over the next 5 weeks, you will work on a project together with your Spirit Group. We expect you to put your leadership and teamwork skills to the test, leveraging the knowledge and competencies you've gained thus far. The team work is organised and led by the group - you have free hands to structure it. Concretely, your group will be working on a solution to a specific open-ended leadership dilemma. On Monday 24th of March, the first night of the second course module in Estonia, your team will get together on stage to pitch your answer to this dilemma before a jury of professionals and your VALE colleagues. The jury will look at the quality of your proposed solution/answer to the dilemma as well as your presentation – so be creative and show us the work you’ve done! Your team will have a maximum of five minutes for your presentation followed by some time for follow-up questions. You will not be allowed to go past the time limit. You will be assessed by the following criteria: 1. Quality of Proposed Solution - The group clearly identifies and analyzes the key tensions within their chosen dilemma - The identified answer is concrete, specific and properly explained - The group draws not only from external research but also your own experiences. - The answer is creative and innovative 2. Quality of Presentation - The chosen medium and structure of the presentation is well-suited for the group and the proposed solution - The presentation is well-planned, vivid and engaging using effective storytelling techniques - The key points are clearly highlighted and easy to identify The work is completely yours to direct, but if needed the Spirit Guide is available for a quick check-in. We encourage you to be ambitious and think beyond the obvious - the payoff will be worth it. We can't wait to see what you create!
05 Habit With a Buddy
Deadline: Bring to Module 2
Changing an individual action is one thing, but implementing or replacing a habit takes time. We challenge you to work on forming the habit you identified in the habits session. To help keep each other accountable, you and your habit buddy should send each other a picture update / evidence every time you do it.
06 Work on a Focus Value
Deadline: Bring to Module 2
At the end of the Vow of Silence, you named a focus value. This value will be an extra important one that each and every participant will work with actively until the next course weekend. “Working actively” means putting some extra thought into how this value affects you in your daily life, and what changes into actions and behaviours that you might want to make in order to let it truly take hold in. Once or twice while doing your check-in with your buddy regarding task 5, remember to check-in on your focus value as well. There are some optional exercises in the interim booklet that support you in maintaining a connection with your focus value. (The brown pages marked with +).
07 Drawing my lifeline
Deadline: Bring to Module 2
In the prep task with TED videos, we asked you to watch the TED talk by Brené Brown about the Power of Vulnerability. Having this video in the back of your mind, as well as our guiding principle of “Dare to Jump”, we will now encourage you to be vulnerable with yourself. The task is for you to draw your personal “Lifeline” where you identify key experiences and reflect on how they have affected you. Start by drawing a line on a paper where the starting point is your earliest memories and the ending point is where you are today. Maybe you even want to tape multiple A4s together to make space. Then add the events, critical choices, phases and relations that you think have been of importance. Finally, think through how these might possibly connect with some of the core values you identified. Can you find any connections? You will have the opportunity speak about chosen parts of your Lifeline with your Spirit Group, so make sure to bring it!
08 Weekly Schedule Task
Deadline: Bring to Module 2
Create a detailed overview of what a realistic week (Monday - Sunday) looks like to you in a schedule / timetable format. Be as detailed and concrete as possible and add activities as well as times. You don’t need to write down your life in one specific week but you can rather create an idealised (but realistic!) weekly schedule. We will use the schedule in one of the sessions but you will be working with it individually (i.e. you won’t need to share the details with anyone else).
(Optional) Weekly exercise packages (Booklet)
Deadline: Optional
As you know, the interim period between the modules is a part of our educational program – it moves the learning back to your everyday environment. Therefore, to help you pass the time (as if you needed help, but anyway!) we have prepared –with love – some thematic exercises that are optional but recommended. The idea is that the first week, you check out the theme number one, and do 2-3 exercises that spark your interest. And week 2, the next theme etc. Of course you can do more or less, or pick whichever chapter you want.
(Optional) Virtual teamwork video
Deadline: Optional
One of the central team working themes of our age is working with others virtually. Whether you work with an international project, a local event, or in a company or organisation (not least post-pandemic), it has today become very common that we conduct much of our work and collaboration either online or in a hybrid format. Outside of “traditional” team working skills, this puts different demands on you both as a team member and as a leader that are crucial for you to master. For this reason, we have put together an online module on Virtual Team Work that you complete at your own pace. The topics and leadership lessons covered are aimed at being as concrete as possible, giving you useful tools and perspectives to implement straight away in the work you will be conducting in your Spirit Groups. The online module is available on Udemy, featuring (a younger) trainer Erik as well as another founder of The VALE: Tulle. Link: https://www.udemy.com/course/the-vale-virtual-teamwork/?referralCode=8799E4E783E064B264E0 If you don’t already have one, you will need to register an account on Udemy in order to access the content. The whole module should not take more than ~90 minutes to complete and can either be completed in one sitting, or done in multiple smaller sessions. This is an optional task, that we decided to share as we believe these learnings are as important as ever and may be highly useful to you. Check it out!
Service & Care 2025
Welcome to Service & Care!
The Six Cares & Services
-
Self-care
-
House-care
-
Testimonials (Second module only)
-
Reporting
-
Group care
-
Travel Desk
In the schedule, we have allocated 40 minutes daily to tasks that have service at its heart. For that time, you will either individually or in your Spirit Group pay special respect to yourself, each other, or the surroundings that we work and learn within.
Here, you will find The Matrix for the Service & Care sessions allotted to your Spirit Group. Each Service & Care is described on this page and instructions are listed, but in essence, the tasks are what you make of them. If you keep in mind to serve yourself and others, the specific tasks you do can take many forms and your imagination can take it to many places.
Trainer & group ownership
It is you, the participants, that take ownership over these sessions. Based on the information here, you should be able to take initiative yourselves. Should you, however, need special permission or are in great need of guidance, a person to contact has been assigned. This is the person to contact for all Service & Care sessions of that day.
Reporting Instructions
1
Self-care
Individual
The aim is to create a space for yourself where you can focus or relax to foster your mental, physical, and emotional well being during the training. This is your time for yourself to focus on your personal needs. It is important that you do not use it to make considerations for others, but use it to create a “me-space” and build on the relationship with yourself. Focus on what is good for you. If you need to combine it with others’ company, it should be motivated by a decision that it’s right for you. The session can take a mindfulness direction, but can also be used to complete private tasks not related to the course. Kick-start the process: - What is my current state of mind? - What do I need right now to create balance and a surplus of mental energy?
2
House-care
Spirit Group
The aim is to take care of and improve the learning and free time environment to facilitate well being, productivity, and stress-free conditions. It’s about taking ownership of our location and making it “our” space. Your Spirit Group is assigned to enhance our physical environment to improve working and living conditions, create a better mental and creative space, and enhance the personal feel or group ownership of the venue rooms. The tasks can be practical: tidying, cleaning, washing, or could focus on creating ambience or atmosphere. You should assess the current collective needs and choose accordingly. Kick-start the process: - What is the current state of the venue? - Within the venue rooms, what initiative can we take that will have an impact on a stress-free and tidy environment? Inspiration: - Clean up & take out trash - Tidying up in general - Organise used materials - Find better ways to sort, store, and access materials and furniture - Create more inspiring surroundings: art work on walls, plants, candles - Look after the (most used) bathrooms - Tidying up the common and seating areas - Recycling initiatives - Make the kitchen sparkle! (with the consent of our Maitres de Maison) Since we are the ones tidying the house up anyway before departing on Sunday, we might as well make our jobs easier then!
3
Testimonials
Spirit Group (2nd module only)
In the second module, there will be a slot for a spirit group to coordinate testimonials. For that, some participants are asked to provide a testimonial of their experience at The VALE Course. The purpose is to create an anchor for our shared experience – and a chance to share our thoughts on the course with the world!
4
Reporting
Spirit Group / candidates
The aim of reporting is to create a shared log of learningful insights via a day-by-day account of the themes and happenings of the course. This has previously proven helpful and fun to participants and trainers alike. They have been able to use it in application of learned practices, review of theories, as helpful reminders for evaluations, reminiscence of good memories, and for project work in the aftermath of the course. You can work together as a group, divide segments between group members, or select candidates for the task. Write down an account of what has happened yesterday since the last Service & Care up until now. Highlight things that you think are important, useful, fun, or memorable. Aim to include more than your own perspective, but you don’t have to be objective. We say yes to good memories and humour as well as reflections and thoughts. Groups can add to previous reporting log texts if they had a different perspective on something or feel that events are missing. Some helpful questions: - What happened in yesterday's Service & Care? - What sessions did we have yesterday afternoon/evening? What were the key themes and learnings? Any learning activities that stand out or we particularly enjoyed? - What happened at dinner? How was the food? - Any highlights of evening activities? - "Regarding yesterday, I/we want to share feeling grateful for..." - How was the morning? What happened at breakfast? - Which sessions were held? What were the key topics and what did we learn? - What happened between sessions or at lunch? Are there things that we want to mention? - Any honourable mentions of funny moments that had the whole group laughing out loud? Did someone do something special?
5
Group Care
Spirit Group
The aim is to positively influence and foster the group’s physical, mental and emotional well-being during the on-site training; adaptable in accordance with the group’s current needs. A small group of participants will have the responsibility for their S&C-slot to take initiative with one or a few methods to improve morale in some form. This can be achieved through services (e.g. bringing snacks), group activities (yoga/ games/ energizers, g2k, group building, …) or other related ideas. The methods should be drawn from an assessment of the whole-group’s needs at that moment/ day and chosen accordingly. Kick-start the process: - What does the group need right now? - How can we support the others? Inspiration: - Organize shopping list / Brainstorm great snacks - Energizers - Delivering snacks/food/coffee - Ambiance i.e. music during meal times - A praise wall (inspired by the praise session) - Survey group needs and forward them to the trainer team
6
Travel desk
Spirit Group (with Louisa, first day of each module only)
A designated group of participants in the rotation of S&C will help set up a travel desk and organise the collection of relevant documents. Inspiration: - Collecting boarding passes - Any reimbursement issues - Information about local transport - Reminders to check-in on time - Collecting signatures for the Erasmus+ Sign-up sheet for the activity