Learning in exchange with others

Can regular exchange with peers help me accomplish my career goals?

Wie oft treffen andere Doktorand:innen ihre Betreuer:innen?

Which planner will help me organize my life?

Workshops deal with the questions that are currently on your mind.

Workshops deal with participants’ concerns and with possible solutions everyone can try right away – creating an open, trustful and productive atmosphere.

I teach workshops on topics regarding self-leadership and career orientation. My offer is primarily directed at academic and research institutions that offer professional skills training and career counselling for students, early career researchers and research managers. I am happy to adapt my seminars to your needs – your target group, your time budget and your staff development program.

Self-Leadership

I facilitate workshops on topics related to time management and self-management. My workshops take into account the freedoms and uncertainties of scientific work. I motivate participants to adopt a resilient approach of self-responsibility. Most workshops include changing perspectives and the communication of own expectations and needs. The following topics lend themselves well to a workshop format:

Work organization

How does perfectionism foster procrastination? How can I distract myself less? Self-organized work processes are prone to disturbances. We find solutions in the workshop.

Time- and Task-Management

How do I use my time effectively? How do I set priorities? How much can I work? In the workshop we apply fundamentals of time and task management to the own work.

Leadership without authority

How do I achieve my goals with others without a hierarchical leadership role? In the workshop, I teach the resources of lateral leadership and we practice communicating one’s own expectations.

Peer Coaching

I am not alone! Peer coaching plays a key role in all of my workshops. I am happy to support peer-mentoring programs and founding success teams.

Would you like to empower your new PhD candidates to have a successful start?

In my workshop Making it Happen, candidates learn central principles of time- and project-management and plan their PhD phase individually. The PhD candidates reflect the relationship with their supervisors and build a sustainable peer network.

Do you want to prepare postdocs to take on leadership responsibilities?

In my workshop Reaching Goals Together, postdocs, tenure-track professors and junior research group leaders learn the fundamentals of leadership. The participants practice communication and change of perspective. Inputs and exercises on team development illustrate the value of diversity.

Do you think your PhD candidates could benefit from additional mentoring?

Let them form success teams in which they meet regularly to communicate their goals, report progress and difficulties and support each other. I facilitate founding such teams.

Career Planning

I offer career-planning workshops for early career researchers. PhD candidates and postdocs can use the courses to decide if they want to follow an academic or a non-academic career path. They get to plan their careers. The workshops encourage structured self-reflection and inspire active career planning. If there is interest, the work in the seminar can be prepared by the LINC Personality Profiler.

Recognize competencies

What are my skills and strengths? Which talents do I want to utilize in my professional life? What am I good at that is valued for a non-academic career?

Determine values

When do I consider myself professionally successful and happy? We explore this for instance with the career anchors by Edgar Schein.

Develop options

What do people do for a living who are like me? What could my life look like? Participants research and develop visions in exchange with each other.

Determine next steps

Where do I go from here? Successful occupational change happens in many small and big steps. We determine the next ones.

Hands-on workshops

My workshops offer the opportunity to immediately put the presented techniques to practice and to adapt them to individual needs. Participants engage in individual, partner and group exercises. This gives me the opportunity to respond to individual inquiries, allows participants to learn from each other and enables participants to provide each other with feedback. I also encourage the participants to support each other beyond the workshop. Exercises, continued feedback and reflection of the seminar’s contents support transfer into everyday work.

I create substantial handouts for individual work during the workshop. Throughout the course, I visualize the contents on flipcharts and pinboards. My table-top flipchart, document camera, and easy-to-use online tools complement the PowerPoint presentation in virtual workshops. After the workshop, all participants receive a photo summary with added tips.

I offer my workshops in English and in German.

Contact me

About the workshops

Two years have passed since the workshop, and my success team still meets regularly. The open exchange with my group is a great source of motivation.
PhD Candidate (32), Workshop “Making it Happen”

Participating in the workshop “time and self-management for your PhD” right at the beginning of my PhD definitely helped me develop the necessary skills for the upcoming years. I am still using many of the techniques mentioned in the course for the organization of my weekly tasks.
PhD Candidate (30), Workshop “Making it Happen”

I felt very comfortable in the workshop. Christiane clearly structures the workshop, both temporally and thematically. That is especially helpful when working in a virtual setting.
PhD Candidate (27), Workshop “Interpersonal Relationships”

The course was well-structured and well-prepared. It provided a great overview of many highly relevant aspects of the PhD journey, to which I can go back and reflect on my work again anytime. The hands-on approach and peer feedback rounds were really helpful to apply the methods to my own work and to create a constructive atmosphere during the workshop.
PhD Candidate, Workshop “Making it Happen”

Our instute collaborates successfully with Ms. Kasack, especially in accompanying our mentoring programs. We appreciate her warm, sincere and competent ways, her open and cheerful communication with the participants, and her uncomplicated professionality regarding our internal accounting procedures.
Career Center, Max Delbrück Center

Our conclusion: successful all around! Uncomplicated, competent instructor, cool, very active and open participants and many practical tips!
Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BIG), University of Bamberg

With her appearance and a well-structured kick-off workshop, Christiane Kasack helped the DZL Academy Mentoring Program to a successful start. A balanced mixture of information, group work, and incentives for self-reflection provided the mentees with important impulses for a successful mentoring experience.
DZL Academy, German Center for Lung Research

Collaborating with Christiane is a pleasure! Our researchers value her expertise and profit from her excellent approach as a trainer and coach. Judging from an institutional perspective, we are also very satisfied with Christiane’s tailor-made courses and her professional handling of organisational matters (e.g. billing).
Adviser for career development, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society