Training philosophy

The professionalisation concept of the association.

The members of ÖGGO form a diverse, interwoven learning network in which a large part of their own professionalisation takes place alongside their work. In essence, joint learning takes place through changing forms of cooperation within the framework of specific practical projects, be it internal or external training projects, or consulting projects in a variety of organizations. The problems taken up at these work events present ever-emerging challenges, the handling of which, in both practical and theoretical terms, promotes joint development. This process is supported by accompanying opportunities for reflection, which repeatedly create the possibility to systematically evaluate the practical experience gained, to review one’s own qualification level and to further develop the association’s professional standards.
In order to stimulate the joint theoretical work, an extensive, international network of cooperation with scientists from different disciplines has emerged over the years. In a variety of internal workshops and forums, in the course of specialist conferences and symposia, we explore the latest state of knowledge development in the specialist areas relevant to our profession.
A number of members of ÖGGO take an active part in the production of knowledge through their own publications and are thus integrated into a larger “scientific community”. Through the above-mentioned forms of knowledge production and know-how transfer, the association aims to take on a trend-setting function in its own specialist field, and far beyond Austria’s borders, on the way to a mutually stimulating, lively learning community.

The purpose of the ÖGGO training course.

The various training course offers made available by the association present all interested parties with the opportunity to blend into this professional learning network and to become an active part of it. The training is based on the steps set out in the course regulations, which – with the exception of the required theoretical acquisition – must be completed in the same way by each candidate. The individual steps are carried out independently.

The course creates occasions for a step-by-step development of competencies along one’s own, highly personal qualification level and the resulting need for further development. The basis for this is a realistic assessment of one’s own potential, the already pronounced strengths, but also the specific learning areas that require further work. The individual steps of the ÖGGO course offer multiple opportunities to test one’s own potential assessments again and again, to try them out in practical projects, and to review them together with experienced colleagues. In this way, one can build and develop more and more confidence in dealing with oneself in complex, insecure situations.
ÖGGO expects everyone to independently shape the timing of the individual steps within the framework of the specified course phases. In the course of their practical projects, practice steps and theoretical discussions, everyone has to find out for themselves which “level” they have reached and which next activities could usefully follow. The members of the association involved in training activities offer the necessary opportunities for discussion and any accompanying support required for such decisions.

Completing a trainer or consultant training course within the framework of the ÖGGO programme does not mean acquiring a formal professional qualification, but rather proving that you are a competent member in the society’s extensive learning network. Full membership confirms this fact internally and externally.

This network of experts for the implementation of process-oriented training and consulting projects lives from the fact that new knowledge is jointly produced by being willing to pass on knowledge to others. We learn when we are cooperating with others, primarily through practical work and its challenges, as well as through joint reflection on the way in which we cope with these challenges. This requires the ability to learn to move in a conflict-ridden, constantly renewing network of competitive and cooperative relationships, and to be able to develop an independent professional profile in the process. The association provides the necessary framework conditions for this with its course regulations.