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How to motivate people – and have fun with NFGL

Galyna Paliychuk, the Head of the NFGL Lund Network, made a video about the group's recent trip to Bosjökloster. Now she tells SI News about the motivation for the video, and how to encourage others to be more active and make positive change.

Published: 23 September 2015 10:47 CEST
How to motivate people - and have fun with NFGL

My passion is to give, and to motivate people around me.

That’s what I love, and that’s why some people hate me. I have been a leader since kindergarten and there always were people who didn’t like me because of that. There always were, and still are, people who just don’t appreciate when you give something to them for free.

But, c’est la vie, and I am used to it. Thanks God, they’re in the minority.

So, my passion is the reason why the NFGL Lund network started being active so shortly after summer holidays – I’ve been just making into reality the plans which were announced in the NFGL evaluation session taking place in Stockholm (Si) in June.

Thus, we have planned four events for September, and had already done three of them.

The purpose of the guided tour to Bosjökloster was to show that the NFGL community is something bigger than just formal events, when you’re sitting in a chair and listening to some wise lectures and wise people.

It is also about team-building, and the foundation for friendship which will last for years!

As you can see from the video below, which I created after our visit, there were a lot of situations in which we needed support from each other.

For example, some people were really scared to try zip-line for the first time. But other students encouraged them, helped with instructions and showed how to overcome fear and make the jump. The same thing I noticed when we got to the boat and began losing control…Through cooperation, we overcame panic and managed to move to the shore.

I should say that many people who were registered for that event just didn’t show up because of the light rain (though there was no rain in Bosjökloster). That’s what I mean when I say that usually people don’t appreciate what you’re doing for them (because I booked a guide, the caretaker and the host of the castle, who was waiting for 20 students and met only 8 instead…). But they regretted it once they saw the photo report after the event.

So, this time we’ll have more than 20 students for our next tour to Hamlet’s Castle in Denmark, on September 27th. And I am sure that everybody will show up.

This is what is leadership about –encouraging people to make the first step, to move forward, to create lifelong useful connections with people around them. And, often, you need to show your own example to inspire them to make this move.

Life is too short and too good to be passive.

Enjoy the video and… Go ahead!

– Galyna Paliychuk

TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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