Next Level

I'm John van der Steur. In my extensive career, I have learned a critical truth: even in the most technical projects, it is always the people who make the ultimate difference.
I specialize in facilitating team and leadership development, transforming group potential into peak performance.

My tenure as a mental coach to a Dutch Olympic team, which climaxed in a gold medal victory, underscored my belief in the power of well-led teams. This experience fueled the insights shared in my book, "The Power of Polarities," where I explore how effectively leveraging individual talents within teams can lead to exceptional achievements.

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Our Methodology

Our approach to creating high-performance teams hinges on embracing the polarities of human archetypes. We understand individual and collective personalities, define a shared purpose, allocate roles based on personality, manage polarity dynamics, and foster continuous feedback and adaptation. This method has not only proven effective across various sectors but also catapulted the Dutch women’s field hockey team to the pinnacle of success, illustrating our belief that 'Teamwork Makes the Dream Work'.

The Power of Polarities

Our methodology is based on the foundational principles of The Power of Polarities. It is the result of 20 years of experience with leaders and teams and provides a guide to the polarities in the personalities of yourself and others. It offers examples, programs, stories and online assessments for getting the results you need. The secret is that paradoxically polarities are intended to harmonize, not polarize.

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The Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ)

Discover our lightning-fast method to address any challenge or decision with ease. This powerful group exercise is straightforward yet impactful, whether conducted face-to-face or virtually.
Replace all open discussion or brainstorming with a structured process that leads to more ideas, clearer decisions, and better outcomes.
It only takes about 90 minutes to run and always leaves you and your team feeling involved, energized, and productive - and it gives you tangible, actionable results.

The Team Sprint

Is everyone in your team rowing in the same direction? Are you aiming to boost your team's performance? We've got the science to help.
Our Team Sprint workshop is tailored to revitalize your team and build effective chemistry for achieving outstanding results.
Before the workshop, we do a baseline assessment of the performance and personalities of the team.
In a single-day workshop, we guide your team through a strategic mix of exercises related to the science-backed principles of collaboration.
Participants create a unique game plan to initiate flow and boost performance.

The Team Charter

Are you looking for a way to bring your team together, realign their focus and set a winning course for the future?
Our Team Charter Workshop can help you outsmart the competition!
Through this workshop, we create strategic alignment among team members. By providing them with a platform to voice their opinions on the direction, goals and how to achieve them, we create commitment and foster collaboration towards shared success.
A Team Charter outlines what your teams stands for and how they will achieve success: Vision - Mission - Core Values - Goals.

Just had our biggest month ever and we've never been so productive at home and abroad.
So much of the new, bigger, better, badder ACG is thanks to our Team Coach, John van der Steur, who helped us understand ourselves and each other in a whole new way.
Thank you, John. Austin is lucky to have you.Matt Hinsley, CEO

Before the workshop, there was no team, no vision, no direction, no common agenda. With John’s method and program, we could quickly develop a common vision, direction, and agenda for the years to come.
He helped me with good and clear feedback on my own behavior, which helped me to further develop myself.
Polarity and John are capable, driven by results, and pleasant to work with.Cor Honkoop, General Manager

We were a new MT at NXP and we needed a better understanding of our differences in order to work more effectively as a team. We also needed clarity on our common purpose: our vision, mission, values and goals.
Before the meeting all participants are requested to complete a survey and at the beginning of the meeting John will hand out individual reports which will serve as the basis for a full 2-day session with different exercises. These exercises eventually led to the team being able to clearly formulate our vision, mission, vision, operating principles and goals. Something we hadn’t been able to do before.
We now use the outcomes of these meetings in presentations to our leaders and employees so that they all know where we’re heading.
John has a very deep knowledge of personality theory and applies his knowledge and his many years of experience as senior facilitator to make teams more effective.Ben Immink, HR Director

We always had very talented players. But the championships did not come until we started investing in our development as a team.Teun de Nooijer, Captain, Olympic Champion and 3x World Player of the Year

John's interventions had a lot of effect. You could see it and feel it. Giving and receiving feedback, making steps individually and as a team. The players started asking for more sessions to improve and work together better. And we did, both the staff and the players, and we became Olympic Champions.Max Caldas, Olympic Coach Field Hockey