El Olivo Business Retreat
Personal and professional development in a private setting
A path to more productive and enjoyable work
Improving teamwork in a peaceful environment
El Olivo offers a safe, private environment for personal and professional development in a group setting, whether it’s your day-to-day team or a ‘community of practice’ that has a shared interest in a certain subject.
Learning in a group
Learning always works best in a group. Together you encourage each other to dig deeper or reach higher and further to achieve self-actualisation.
It starts with the self
The journey towards improved performance and increased joy at work begins with the self. El Olivo creates programmes that help you develop into an expanded version of yourself. It offers a space for people who want to help each other achieve their purpose.
Working with shared purpose
For many people work adds meaning to their lives. Working in an organisation means working in teams. Good teamwork, with everyone working together in alignment, leads to increased performance, satisfaction and well-being for all team members.
El Olivo
El Olivo is a boutique business retreat located in a renovated farmhouse on a hill near the historic village of Medina Sidonia in southern Spain.
Tailored programmes
The retreat has been created as a tranquil place to conduct tailored personal and professional development programmes. These programmes are based on personal well-being and responsible leadership in an open, friendly and relaxed atmosphere away from home.
Complete privacy
El Olivo is an ideal place to work on personal and professional development since it offers complete privacy for your party. You are free to co-design your programme with us and we are flexible in planning repeat visits.
Comfortable group sizes
Your team or group can be any size up to twelve people. We can comfortably host up to six participants on the premises. For extended groups, we can advise you on accommodation and dinners at one of the hotels in the village which is within walking distance of the retreat.
Easy to reach
El Olivo can be easily reached from anywhere in the world using the airports of Malaga, Seville or Jerez de la Frontera.
Judy van Zon
MSc, PCC, ORSCC, CPCC
About the founder
El Olivo has been created by Judy van Zon, an ICF-accredited coach, faculty member of CTI and CRR Global and teacher for the Art of Living. In designing development programmes, she draws on a wealth of experience working with teams in companies and organisations throughout the world. She also has access to a wide network of professionals.
Achieving your full potential
In Judy’s experience, many teams and meetings waste time and only partly achieve their objectives due to lack of leadership by team members and the inability to reach beyond one’s ego. She strongly believes in the enormous potential for improving the experience and output of teamwork in organisations.
Improving teamwork
Every improvement in your teamwork is a further step towards excellence. Judy is committed to helping you to achieve this in a relaxed way with a personal and flexible approach. .
‘I started my company with a great deal of passion last year. But although my heart and soul were in the company, it wasn’t ‘flowing’. To get an insight into why, I asked Judy to use her expertise in system constellations to work with my employees for a day. What we learned were the things that were invisible. By making them visible we could make important choices and decisions. Judy’s work is characterized by a nice balance between intellect and intuition, between head and heart, with respect and attention for everyone in the team.’
Judy van Zon
MSc, PCC, ORSCC, CPCC
Three pillars of personal and professional development
Judy van Zon brings together established techniques and frameworks that form three inter-related pillars. These pillars form the basis of her programmes. She takes an experiential learning approach, involving a small amount of workshop teaching and a large number of practical exercises.
Manage your mind
The well-being pillar
The Art of Living philosophy involves taking better care of your body and mind. It provides tools to manage the mental and behavioural habits that feed stress. These tools include yoga, meditation and breathing techniques that help silence inner chatter and foster greater mental clarity and agility.
You will learn to manage your intellect and memory to improve listening and achieve connectedness with others. You will also discover how ego and emotions affect your interpersonal relationships and environment. The result is greater health, happiness and productivity.
The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Operating in 155 countries, its goal is to uplift people by reducing stress and develop leaders so that human values can flourish in people from all walks of life.
Everybody is a leader
The leadership pillar
Business magazines and scientific journals often give the impression that a successful leader is some sort of superhero. The fact is that leadership is actually a common attribute.
The Co-Active Leadership Model of the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) offers a new perspective on leadership. Here, leadership is about each team member taking responsibility for what is needed in the system. This type of leadership goes beyond ego.
By moving beyond a one-dimensional view of leadership, team members will understand that they are capable of different leadership roles based on their skills and the situations in which they lead.
The Co-Active Leadership Model was developed by CTI, a global coach training and leadership development company.
Relationships matter
The teamwork pillar
Working with the Relationship Systems Intelligence model developed by the Centre for Right Relationships (CRR Global), you will become aware of what’s needed in particular situations. This is based on understanding the dynamics both within your team or organisation and around it.
With greater self-awareness, mental clarity and emotional intelligence, you will learn to use authentic communication to build trust and create a safe environment in which team members can take risks and make mistakes. This fosters better cooperation and results.
Based on Systems Inspired Leadership (SIL), you will learn to guide a diverse group of people with differing views and perspectives to find solutions to complex problems. The members of the group learn to put aside their narrow self-interests and discuss matters openly and collaboratively. Key to SIL is that everyone in the group has a leadership role to play, sharing responsibility for what needs to happen. It is deeply rooted in the belief that relationships matter.
Relationship Systems Intelligence and SIL were developed by CRR Global whose flagship professional training programme, Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching, offers cutting-edge training and tools for coaches and consultants throughout the world.
The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Operating in 155 countries, its goal is to uplift people by reducing stress and develop leaders so that human values can flourish in people from all walks of life.
The Co-Active Leadership Model was developed by CTI, a global coach training and leadership development company.
Relationship Systems Intelligence and SIL were developed by CRR Global whose flagship professional training programme, Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching, offers cutting-edge training and tools for coaches and consultants throughout the world.
Programmes
At El Olivo, all programmes are based on the principles of the three pillars. Together with you, we can design and tailor any programme, applying one or more pillars to fit your needs.
You and your team or ‘community of practice’ can use the Living Teams experiential learning programme as a basis for the design. It helps teams and individual team members improve their performance and enjoyment in work in order to achieve common goals.
Depending on your requirements, we can also invite co-facilitators. For most programmes we recommend a duration of around three or four days.
You can also choose one of the off-the-shelf programmes we offer:
- the Living Teams Programme
- the Art of Living’s Happiness Programme
- the Mind Matters programme
- the TLEX Silence Retreat, or
- RSI@Work from CRRGlobal
Sample schedule
A typical day at the El Olivo retreat could look like this:
Daily
09:00 – 09:45 Yoga and meditation
10:00 – 13:00 Development session
13:00 – 14:15 Lunch & nature walk
14:15 – 15:45 Development session
15:45 – 16:00 Tea break
16:00 – 17:30 Development session
17:30 – 18:00 Close
18:00 – 19:00 Alone time
19:00 – 22:30 Dinner and/or evening activity
Medina Sidonia and around
Famous for the beauty of its distinctive white buildings, latticework balconies and windows, and rich gastronomy, Medina Sidonia is one of the most important historical towns in the province of Cádiz. Among its streets you will see traces of the different civilizations that form the history of this 3000-year-old town.
The Alcornocales National Park is a group of mountain ranges with the largest cork oak forest in the Iberian Peninsula. Here you will experience the sounds and aromas of the local flora and fauna. The park’s wildlife includes large animals such as the roe deer and fallow deer as well as smaller mammals like badgers and mongooses. The park offers a range of different activities.
The Costa de la Luz offers over 200 kilometres of amazing beaches with fine, golden sand. Some of the beaches are indescribably beautiful. And with 300 days of sun per year, it’s no wonder the coast is a major tourist destination. As well as sun and sand, you can also enjoy its historical monuments, seafaring tradition, and hospitable people.
The Ruta de Toro is a tourist trail in the province of Cadiz that traverses the cattle ranches where fighting bulls are raised. The enormous size and number of these ranches reflects the importance of livestock in the region. Along the trail, you can observe these iconic animals in their natural habitat, the scenic beauty of the countryside and the myriad points of historical and cultural interest along the way.
The Ruta de Tabancos in the city of Jerez takes you along small shops where Jerez sherry is sold and consumed. Some even serve tapas and play flamenco music. There aren’t as many as there used to be, but they are still the best places to have a glass of good-quality local wine at a great price.
For more information, availability and fees
To find out more about El Olivo and its programmes or to organise a programme for your team,
Please contact Judy van Zon by email: judy.vanzon@gmail.com
or call Judy on +31 615418700
or feel free to use the contact form below.