Your schedule is overflowing. Your phone rings constantly. At the same time, your employees expect you to think clearly, listen well, and make the right decisions. Does that sound familiar? Then you are not alone. Many managers feel trapped in the daily grind, while knowing that something is missing: the space to be truly present.
Meditation might sound like something for yoga retreats, far away from the boardroom. But the scientific and practical evidence is now convincing: meditating regularly makes you a sharper, more empathetic, and more resilient leader. Not by running away from reality, but precisely by being more consciously present in it.
Check out books that help you out of this presssure prison. Including the book: Spirited Personal Leadership (in Dutch: Persoonlijk Inspirerend Leiderschap). On this Dutch Publisher Page of Management Book, you will discover what meditation can concretely mean for you as a manager, and which books will help you on your way — from neuroscientific insights to direct applications in your daily leadership practice: TAKE A LOOK HERE
Is that so? What would you yourself answer right now?
A question that has been raised as a proposition and book title (Most people are virtuous) in a book by fellow-countryman Rutger Bregman (translated to another title as: Humankind: A Hopeful History).
And what would I say in all honesty? This question puzzeled me.
For in recent years, it seems that society—and thus we as individuals collectively—are treating one another in a somewhat grimmer, more polarizing, more radical, more aggressive, and more divided manner. Not only among world leaders or leaders of influential organizations, but also as neighbors on the street, or on the road in traffic, or even within our own family. ‘Car-rage’ is one such phenomenon that was unheard of decades ago. Lack of virtue seems to prevail among many of us. Moreover, the author, as a brave warrior of truth, frequently raises matters that are not virtuous or decent.
And of course, we like to believe that most people are good. That offers a positive tone in these dark times, and that positivism is exactly what we need. In essence, I also believe that most people are good in essence, as you will see later in this article. But it is by no means always obvious. A positive outlook fuels a universal desire for peace that we humans ultimately all carry within us ‘deep down’: to experience happiness and peace in our lives and with one another. For we ourselves create our reality with the thoughts we operate from.
First, it is important how you define ‘virtue’. Is it fundamentally kind-hearted and friendly by nature, or having predominantly good intentions, or possessing a good moral compass to treat people kindly and not hostilely, or making actual behaviors and choices that have good rather than harmful consequences for others? For example, you can have good intentions (and in that sense be ‘virtuous’), yet still make choices in your behavior that are hostile or harmful to others (‘not virtuous’). Or vice versa, behaving in a socially acceptable manner, but still (continuing to) think badly of someone. Moreover, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is perceived and interpreted differently by people. So what one person considers good, another may consider wrong, fueled by the norms and values to which someone attaches importance. And what is a great good in one time or civilization is pernicious in another. So it is not that black and white.
For the sake of convenience, let us assume that ‘virtue’ embraces all the actual facets mentioned: a good moral compass, good intentions, being genuinely friendly and not hostile or aggressive, and manifesting in concrete behaviors and choices that do not harm others, but do good and give a good feeling.
Secondly, it is simply a matter of the perspective from which you view ‘virtue’ as how it comes alive and across. Three universal forces can be distinguished that shed a different light on ‘virtue’, namely: ego, soul, and spirit (or: universal consciousness). Forces that are explained extensively and with solid reasoning in the book ‘Spirited Personal Leadership – for more effective work, a meaningful life, and a better world’.
One way of looking at your ego is like a bus where some passengers take over the wheel, often without you realizing it. As you can see in ‘The Psychology of Selves & Voice Dialogue’ by Hal & Sidra Stone, in which I was trained in the USA. For example, you have an inner ‘pleaser’ who wants to meet the needs of others; a ‘perfectionist’ who strives for beauty in form and quality; a ‘pusher’ who delivers output and quantity; etc.
We often want to show the beautiful and constructive ego passengers of our ego, because they score well in terms of social desirability or work performance, and they provide us with recognition, status, money, and appreciation. However, within all of us there are also shadow sides that can pop out like a jack-in-the-box. Especially when you have never learned to know, recognize, and acknowledge these shadow sides. For instance, you may have been sweet for a very long time, but if someone gets on your nerves so much a destructive side suddenly emerges from the trailer of your bus and briefly takes over the wheel. And before you know it, you are behaving verbally, non-verbally, or physically aggressively. Are you virtuous then? At that moment, simply not.
You are structurally ‘virtuous’ at the ego level when you have learned to know your shadow sides and have managed to integrate them in a controlled manner. Or as Carl Jung said: "One is not enlightened by imagining all kinds of images of light, but by becoming aware of one's own inner darkness."
"One is not enlightened by imagining all kinds of images of light, but by becoming aware of one's own inner darkness." (Carl Jung)
Virtually everyone, myself included, is born with a number of natural talents and traumas that you bring with you in your soul baggage and acquire further throughout your life. Talents to develop and express, and traumas and negative karma to resolve and heal. If you do that, life becomes more meaningful and lighter, and you are fundamentally virtuous. Why? Because continuous self-reflection and development, compassion, and kindness have come to dominate as the natural overtones.
However, if you do not engage in this process (such as blaming others for discontent), you often repeat your behavioral patterns and do not truly develop fundamentally. Or worse still, if you continue to repeat negative or destructive actions stemming from traumas and negative thoughts, you actually build up negative karma. Your actions and choices reinforce hostility or harm others. In that case, there is soul regression instead of progression, and you are structurally not virtuous more often than you can be.
And how many of us actually put this into practice—what makes us truly virtuous?
A universal primal force from which everything originates and moves towards, among many other names, you can call ‘spirit’. It is a force that connects everything with everything, where everything exists on an equal footing. At this level, there is no judgment. There are only choices and behaviors based on free will that lead to certain consequences. Simply to learn from them oneself.
Virtuousness as an expression of judgment does not exist here. Only peaceful coexistence. At this level, with our individual or collective diversity, we are all the same, all a ‘human being’. Or as the Maya Indians used to say during mutual greetings: “In-Lakesh”, which means: ‘I am another you and you are another me’.
Then you live in harmony and peace with yourself and each other. If we were all to live and work from this perspective more, then we would all be virtuous in a certain sense. Essentially, I believe that all people are indeed all like that and are fundamentally good. In that sense, I fully agree with the author.
Only historical, emotionally painful soul experiences, unhealed traumas, and excessive ego have tainted people and separated them from this beautiful inner nature. Both individually and collectively, as a group, nation, or people.
To be honest, I sincerely do not know how many, or whether most people and humanity in general are decent or not, because I have not conducted extensive scientific research into this according to the given definitions. I do know, however, that the recurrence of wars, conflicts, and major and minor quarrels throughout history stems from: too much ego and/or unprocessed or unhealed soul pain. Both individually and collectively within nations and peoples.
“All wars, conflicts, major and minor quarrels throughout all history stem from too much ego and/or unprocessed or unhealed soul pain”
My heartfelt wish is that everyone is virtuous, but in my view, that does not happen automatically. We have to do something for it. And that lies not only with our leaders, but with each and every one of us. So, you too. I am not saying that you are undeserving or not virtuous. On the contrary. But I do think that each of us, and together, can be more virtuous. Which makes living and living together more pleasant.
“We have to do something in becoming more virtuous”
It requires you to regularly observe yourself and never stop doing so or think you are finished. The following steps can help you become more virtuous:
1. Be open to constructive feedback about yourself and take it to heart if many people say the same thing about you, even if it is unpleasant. Listen to and look at yourself, especially then.
2. Examine your own behavior (verbal, non-verbal, and physical) and see if it harms or has harmed others and learn from it doing things differenty.
3. Learn to know, acknowledge, and balance the shadow sides of your ego.
4. Confront your soul pain and heal your small or large traumas (that each of us have). If you have genuinely become gentler, more forgiving, and live and work more from your heart, from love and peace, then that is partly proof of that.
5. Create space and make choices that bring your natural talents more to light.
6. Live and work more from spirit: kindness, compassion, forgiveness, curiosity, and dialogue.
If you do this, I predict that we will indeed create a world where most people are virtuous, decent and good.
A heartwarming greeting, Martin
© 2026: Martin Thoolen
#demeestemensendeugen #ego #soul #egosoulspirit #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #spiritedpersonalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue # ego #ziel #spirit #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen
I was in the car with my wife on my way to take her to the shop for her clients on time. We were already running a bit late, and you’ll see just then shit happens: the road was closed, and we had to take a major detour and would likely arrive late. Before I knew it, I said out loud: “Shit!”
To which she immediately responded with the following words: “Stop saying that, especially in the morning when you want to make it a beautiful day!”
I sat strucked behind the wheel, and I knew she was thoroughly right.
Do you know that feeling, when you experience a setback and the first thing you do is swear? Instincts sometimes come like a spark of irritation over which we seem to have no control.
It is understandable that I was ‘pissed off’ for a moment, even though it was only fueled by my own expectations of what is supposed to be. Thank God I was able to quickly give it a self-compassionate spin this time, so that I didn't ruin the rest of the morning for myself and those around me.
But above all, the realization that I was actually getting in my own way and my partner's way with my grumpiness at that particular moment. And that is how you can infect yourself or those around you for a whole hour, a whole day, or longer. At work, too.
What mode do you stay in when faced with a setback? And for how long? Is there a choice?
Yes, there is a choice. Before and during!
The moment you notice in yourself (or have someone else notice) that you are feeling a bit grumpy because something is disappointing, you can choose, ‘during’ that circumstance, to accept what is ‘really’ there at that moment, and its consequences. Such as the fact that you might be late for a client once in a while, even though it is not your preference.
It is even better if you accept everything that is beforehand, or actually always, and that it comes to you in the here and now. For easy and beautiful things come your way, but so do difficult and unpleasant things. Both at work and in your private life.
The only thing that generates dysfunctional irritation or anger and can ruin your day and that of those around you are ‘your own expectations’. However, if you live and work without your own attachment to expectations, space and inner peace emerge from which you deal with setbacks much more relaxed. Then you accept whatever comes your way and look for solutions to tackle matters ‘differently’ than you had envisioned. Much more constructively.
Give it a try, and I predict: your day will become a lot brighter.
Best wishes, Martin
© 2026: Martin Thoolen
#ego #soul #egosoulspirit #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #spiritedpersonalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue # ego #ziel #spirit #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen
You can pull out the weeds, but if you don't tackle the roots, they will come back. Just like excessive negative work pressure.
A short while ago I gave an in-company workshop on this topic at the organization CINX, as an IT support provider for various markets and the healthcare sector. The importance of healthy employees/professionals who are sustainably employable is a top priority for them. And with that, effectively managing work pressure and stress themselves is also a priority.
Often, people look at the surface of how to eliminate negative stress without addressing the roots. As a result, negative stress persists and not infrequently leads to burnout and expensive reintegrations.
In my years of research, however, I have discovered that there are four levels that determine whether someone collapses or stays standing under high work pressure. As you can see in the model below on ‘Spirited Personal Leadership’ from the book of the same name:
1: Environment: controlled workload and efficient work systems
2: Behavior & skills including stress management & time management
3: Ego & the ego-bus
4. Soulfulness
© 2022: Model ‘Spirited Personal Leadership’
This particular workshop on ‘Personal Development & Work Pressure’ focused on the influence of your ego and soul on work pressure. Regarding the ego, this included the underestimated role of the three P’s: the inner Pleaser, Pusher, and Perfectionist, who, as ego passengers within your ego, are responsible for top performance but, in an excessive sense, also for burnout. Ego management is key. And what about soulless or over-passionate soulfulness? Or profound soul experiences that got under your skin and still cause a structural energy drain? Or, that your soul no longer fits the place where you currently work?
After short theoretical sections, participants were invited, using short questionnaires, to examine their own ego and soul. And subsequently, to exchange this with a colleague. What emerged was mutual inspiration and deepening, with an invitation to a practical follow-up. And this is what they reported afterwards:
“Drs. Martin Thoolen took us through a session on soul and ego. About what drives you, where you sometimes get stuck, and how you can deal with that more consciously. Not a New Age story, but surprisingly practical and confrontingly relatable. Exactly how we like to see it.”
Do you also want to keep your team or organization fundamentally healthy and save countless healthcare costs?
Then perhaps this is something for you: https://martinthoolen.com/en/service/in-company-services/
Your very welcome for a free exploration. Yours kindly, Martin
© 2026
#timemanagement #werkdruk #stressmanagement #duurzameinzetbaarheid #reintegratie #teamspirit #teamcoaching #teambuilding #ego #soul #egosoulspirit #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #spiritedpersonalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue #ego #ziel #spirit #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen
- a news item from Management Book Publishers -
Leadership has long ceased to be solely about strategy, targets, and organizational structures. More and more leaders and researchers recognize that sustainable and effective leadership begins with the inner self: with values, inspiration, consciousness, and connection. Spirituality – in the broad sense of the word – plays an increasingly important role in this.
But what exactly does spirituality mean in a business context? And how do you translate it into the daily practice of leadership? On this page, we explore these questions from multiple perspectives: from Benedictine wisdom and Taoist philosophy to mindfulness, intuitive leadership, and 'business spirituality'. We do this using leading books and articles written by authors who asked themselves these questions and found answers. Watch here.
Checkout the into English translated book: ‘Spirited Personal Leadership’ here and click on: Publications.
In the past 35 years that I have provided dozens of time management training sessions and thousands of coaching sessions on this subject, I have seen how much time is lost due to time-wasters. And how you can quickly create extra time by effectively managing your time-wasters.
What are 10 common time-wasters and how do you tackle them effectively?
1. “EASY DONE”
“Easy done” is perhaps one of the biggest time-wasters. Whether it is someone else asking you if you can do something for them ‘just like that’, or you yourself think you it is ‘easy done’.
In the first case, you might first consider the task and say a little later whether you can combine it with your other work, later, or not.
In the second case, you plan the time you really think you need to complete the task more realistically, or preferably even more generously.
2. INDECISIVENESS AND PROCRASTINATION
Especially if you are dreading a task or simply don't feel like doing it, you can do at least two things. First, you can start with an easy, not too long, task before beginning the difficult one. This allows you to get into a workflow faster, which makes continuing with a difficult task easier. Second, you can apply the ‘kitchen timer technique’. Set the timer for 20 minutes and give yourself the leeway to stop after 20 minutes and pick up the task again later. You will often find that you get the hang of it this way, and you will be eager to continue with the difficult task.
3. TRYING TO DO TOO MANY ACTIVITIES AT ONCE (INEFFECTIVE MULTITASKING)
Multi-tasking is een talent, maar ook een valkuil. Voor je het weet ben je aan het hagelschieten en verdeel je je energie op een ineffectieve manier waardoor alle taken waar je mee bezig bent langer duren. Blijf daarom focussen op een afgebakende taak en zorg bij afleiding van andere taken dat je ‘stop’ tegen jezelf zegt en jezelf terugbrengt naar die ene taak.
4. SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ON DISTRACTIONS
People walking in, getting phone calls, going on ‘social media’ when it’s not necessary, or dealing with private matters such as making shopping lists or preparing for the holidays. There are plenty of distractions at work. But they can keep you from working effectively and cause a huge energy drain.
What is asked of you then is to apply discipline and ‘bite the bullet’. Discipline might be a word you detest, especially when you have to do something you don’t feel like doing. And at the same time, it offers you the solution and, above all, relief when you have completed your task later on. Give it a try, and what often helps is agreeing with yourself to reward yourself with something nice afterwards.
5. ALLOWING TOO MANY INTERRUPTIONS (SAWTOOTH EFFECT)
If you are working on a difficult task and are interrupted multiple times, you have to restart each time to get back into the task you were working on. This creates a sawtooth effect, causing you to lose a lot of time. What you can do is indicate before starting your task that you are only available during a specific time slot if it is very urgent and important, and otherwise later. Sometimes a temporary "do not disturb" sign helps. Do indicate when you are reachable/available.
6. CONSTANTLY RESPONDING INSTANTLY TO MESSAGES (APPS/EMAILS)
Turn off sound notifications on your app and email so you are not distracted. View, reply to, or create incoming and outgoing messages in groups a maximum of 3 times a day.
7. SETTING INSUFFICIENT BOUNDARIES
Indicate that it is not convenient for you right now or that you cannot combine an extra task with the current tasks you need to do. Discuss how or when things can be done differently. Dare to be disliked, which is often quite a challenge for the inner pleaser .
8. NOT SETTING EFFECTIVE PRIORITIES
Start the week or day with an overview of tasks you need to do first. Use what is urgent and what is important in doing so. Urgent means it must happen this week, today, or this minute. Important means your mutually acceptable and realistically agreed-upon tasks, authority, and responsibilities.
9. INEFFECTIVE PLANNING
Schedule realistic activities in your calendar. Plan preparation and follow-up time around activities that also require time, such as countless meetings. Ensure that you schedule sufficient rest periods in the long term. Plan at least 20% buffer time per day for unforeseen matters.. Schedule intermediate activities to meet the final plan on time.
10. INSUFFICIENT DELEGATION
Delegating takes a bit more time at the beginning because you have to help someone get started, but it saves tons of time in the long run.
In short, ‘manage’ these 10 crucial time-wasters and you will quickly have tons of time left over.
Have fun and timeless regards, Martin
Are you still getting stuck despite this and do you continue to experience too much negative work pressure? Then there is something else that can help you. Watch: https://martinthoolen.com/en/service/coaching-vitaliteit-duurzame-inzetbaarheid/
© 2026: Martin Thoolen
#timemanagement #werkdruk #stressmanagement #duurzameinzetbaarheid #reintegratie #teamspirit #teamcoaching #teambuilding #ego #soul #egosoulspirit #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #spiritedpersonalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue # ego #ziel #spirit #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen
“Everything you think you are, you’re not, because being does not think”
Why do sports teams perform better when they're in the right spirit? Even if they seem less capable in terms of numbers, quality, or quantity than their opponents. How does this actually apply to your own board, management or executive team, your department, team, or organization? And what is team spirit, and how do you create it to lead to magical results?
Team spirit is a collective feeling of pride, loyalty, and connection within a group, which leads to mutual trust and a strong willingness to collaborate and support each other.
Research on team spirit shows that strong team spirit leads to better performance, higher productivity, and greater employee satisfaction, thanks in part to factors such as psychological safety, open communication, and shared goals.
To foster team spirit, it's crucial to cultivate trust and mutual respect, involve team members in decision-making, celebrate successes together, and invest in social activities and team building.
Many team-building and team coaching sessions focus on clarifying instrumental team goals and roles (such as the various colors of team members, which can also be polarizing). This has indeed led to valuable results for some teams and leaders, but not always. Why?
Because a lack of long-term vision, a realistic strategy, and concrete rationalizations, functional role ambiguity among team members, ineffective and time-consuming meetings, unspoken irritations or mistrust, fear, self-interest, or status, whether under or above the surface, persisted.
For example, a former team coach colleague once told me that during the evaluation of his team's journey before a Board of Directors, they commented: "We've gained valuable insights, but we still don't trust each other."
Over the past three decades, in which I've coached and trained hundreds teams in organizations, both indoor and outdoor, I've noticed that sustainably successful teams think, feel, and act based on "spirit." It may seem vague, but it's not with the concrete definitions, practical examples, and exercises you'll find in my book, "Spirited Personal Leadership." Moreover, I'll now show you ten characteristics of “spirit” that put team spirit into practice, allowing you to collaborate more enjoyably and effectively, leading to greater results for the team and your organization.
When do team members lift each other up? This isn't an exhaustive list, but it is a list of ten essential characteristics that, when applied, lead to team spirit and greater results. Team spirit becomes a reality when all team members:
If team members or leaders are unable or unwilling to sufficiently meet these characteristics, they consciously or unconsciously sabotage the genuine and effective team or organizational spirit. In that case, it's important to be willing to part with leaders and people who are not (yet) able or willing to achieve this.
Research also shows that heterogeneous teams work best. All team role theories or color specifications indicate that roughly three team roles are desirable for an optimal team: conformers (followers/followers-in-arms), mediators, and non-conformers (those who are critical of decisions or policies). If all these roles are not fulfilled to an excessive degree, you potentially have an ideal team. It is important that all voices are truly heard and are included in the final decisions. This also ensures broad support for the decisions and the direction the team or organization wants to take.
To give you a glimpse into the process, I'd like to explain one of the ten characteristics mentioned for achieving team spirit. This will give you an idea of how you can put things into practice to generally increase team spirit.
What does this actually mean? Communicating respectfully and transparently with each other. It means that, as a leader or team member, you:
I recently led another team development program, this time to the management of an organization whose new team wanted to strengthen connections and develop greater team spirit. A useful behavioral skill in this regard is giving and receiving feedback effectively and respectfully. But are you there yet? Is that sufficient? Often not! Because there's something else.
Transparency doesn't mean you demonstrate respectful communication solely through your behavior social and leadership skills. You can behave respectfully, socially competently, politely, or politically correct, and still think someone else is grandiose, a jerk, or a bitch. And don't underestimate the latter. Your thoughts subconsciously have a huge impact on others, even if you behave appropriately. Why? Energy follows thoughts.
"Energy follows thoughts"
People aren't just behaviors; they are energy fields that have a much greater impact than their behavior alone. So, if you think well of someone else, you radiate that, and that very energy field affects them. They feel safe, sense your true curiosity, and feel your genuine approach. But it also works the other way around. You can behave socially competently, but if you think even the slightest bit negatively of someone else, you radiate that too. Instantly, the other person feels less safe with you, more likely to doubt your words and intentions, because they sense something different about you. And then you don't have transparent communication, because hidden thoughts are involved in the communication. And then the communication becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And so you are the creator of your own reality. But it's different, because you are also the creator of positive energy and connection.
For example, when you change your thoughts and allow them to arise from spirit: with curiosity beyond your judgment, seeking and emphasizing positivity, and accepting and forgiving that the other person and yourself thought negatively about each other. Then team spirit becomes reality. After all, if you have nothing to hide and are honest, then true connection with the other can be established. Because both light and dark sides are given their place, transparently.
For example, when you change your thoughts and allow them to arise from spirit: with curiosity beyond your judgment, seeking and emphasizing positivity, and accepting and forgiving that the other person and yourself thought negatively about each other. Then team spirit becomes reality. After all, if you have nothing to hide and are honest, then true connection with the other can be established. Because both light and dark sides are given their place, transparently.
"If you have nothing to hide and are honest, then true connection with others can be established."
A challenging question in this context is: If everyone could read your mind, would you continue to think the same way? Imagine for a day that this is possible and see how you change your thinking. Catch yourself thinking negatively about others and yourself. What makes you feel better if you think differently about others and yourself? What would you be ashamed of if everyone could see how you truly think inside? What would you do differently? Try it out, especially with the people you tend to avoid and who could cause friction in your interactions.
"If everyone could read your mind, would you continue to think the same way?"
For example, one board member explained that in managing her own team, she encountered two employees who had spent 20 years building their own kingdom. From this informal position of power, they sometimes allowed themselves to behave dominantly and cynically, jokingly, towards others, which, including her own, as the new manager, was repulsive. As a counter reaction her tendency was to avoid these two people and she continued to think somewhat negatively about them. Her own thoughts and judgments about them had created more distance.
After the first few days of team training, she gathered the courage to speak with these two employees individually. She explained what she found challenging about their behavior, why that was, and what her sincere desire was. She also shared her vulnerability: "I'm also searching for the best way to approach you and respect yourselves." A sense of security opened up in their interaction, and hidden hostility gave way to friendliness.
In the example above, you see that team spirit can strengthen not only an executive team, but also the underlying levels and, consequently, the organization as a whole. Imagine if all leaders, board members, and management team members act and communicate more from spirit. The impact and spin-off of teamspirit of a board, management team, or management team for the entire organization could then be immense.
"Team spirit of the board or management team leads to organizational spirit"
What can teamspirit lead to?
Customized team programs that activate teamspirit can lead to the following responses, which I recently received:
Do you also want to go a step further with your team or organization than regular team coaching and truly activate team spirit? Then take a look here:
https://martinthoolen.com/en/service/teamcoaching/
© 2026: Martin Thoolen
#teamspirit #teamcoaching #teambuilding #ego #soul #egosoulspirit #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #spiritedpersonalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue # ego #ziel #spirit #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen
In recent months (November 2025 untill March 2026), I had the privilege of coaching a new Management Board from the Revoir Group (Beter Zien). Following individual intakes, a customized training program followed at beautiful locations like the Lauswolt Estate in Beetsterzwaag and the Carlton Beach Hotel in The Hague. Magic and true team spirit emerge in some teams who are so respectfully open and honest, with all the results that entails. Here are some of their experiences:
Curious about what I could do for your organization or team? Take a look here: https://martinthoolen.com/en/service/teamcoaching/
Last week I was in The Hague for coaching for one of my current customers, a Spanish Engineer Manager at his workplace. He is responsible for perfecting no fewer than 206 trains in one of the largest train fleet purchases for the Dutch Railways (NS). This is done by a Spanish company CAF that has a branch in the Netherlands: https://www.cafmobility.com/en/ [cafmobility.com].
What an impressive tour and what a challenge for him to achieve this in a multicultural team. Growing up from the profession of train engineering to a People Manager as well brings him new challenges. Some that he had not foreseen and sometimes making things difficult. That is why he sought my guidance as a business psychologist/senior coach to support him in this.
Would you like to know what I can possibly do for your team or organization? https://martinthoolen.com/en/service/expat-coaching/
© 2026: Martin Thoolen
#ego #soul #egosoulspirit #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #spiritedpersonalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue # ego #ziel #spirit #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen
