Our clients
We’ve been privileged to work with a wide range of clients, including social profit organizations, private corporations and departments at every level of government. Below is a partial list of past and current clients and what they say about us.
It was an absolute pleasure working with Georganne. She was thoughtful and purposeful in her approach to working with our leadership team. In addition to that, she genuinely cared about our team, our organization’s mission, and in helping our team succeed; all pieces anyone should want and hope for in a leadership consultant.
Mebrat Beyene, Executive Director
WISH Drop-In Centre Society
Georganne has been an invaluable support to me through my leadership journey as a coach, a facilitator and a mentor. I have utilized her services with multiple teams for strategic planning, team building and leadership coaching sessions, as well as on a more personal level as a leadership coach for not only myself but for individuals interested in building their leadership skills. I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone or any organization looking for support.
Katherine Treloar, General Manager
Kathryn led us through complex and critical conversations, asking the right questions, listening and keeping the process on track while respecting all participants. We were inspired by her graceful guidance, compassionate ear and tenacious pursuit of sharp, thoughtful conclusions. She allows room for everyone in the conversation and quickly earned the trust of our members so that we could have frank dialogue in a respectful, productive way. It is our great pleasure to endorse Kathryn Thomson’s services and we believe you too will enjoy the same benefits of her masterful facilitation skills that we have.
KS, ED Lookout Emergency Aid Society and JS, VUCCWA
Kathryn and Georganne are outstanding coaches and mentors and have facilitated team training for our organization that enabled us to be voted in to the Top 40 companies to work for in BC and in the Top 100 in Canada. It was through the workshops and team training days created and facilitated by LeadershipMind that our company is the best workplace and has the strongest culture.
Marnie Stariha, CFO ParkLane Homes
Exceptional facilitation! The extensive DiSC and team dynamic experience you brought to the table shone through in how you managed the day, teased out the nuances, and stitched together the impacts on each individual and on our team. As a group we came away feeling that it was time well spent – we each learned something about ourselves and we learned how we each contribute to our team dynamic. We continue to refer to the DiSC exercise and want to build on it to continue to develop the team.We have limited resources for this kind of training and I think for the overall cost, it was exceptional value.
We continue to refer to the DiSC exercise and want to build on it to continue to develop the team. We have limited resources for this kind of training and I think for the overall cost, it was exceptional value. Ideally, this type of session would be done with you physically in the room but with our distance / budget available, this option [skype facilitation] worked well, and gave our group strong outcomes.
Ben YuSchott, Director of Communications
The Respectful Workplace training that Georganne and Kathryn designed and facilitated for our organization was delivered with both grace and power. They successfully created a space in which authentic dialogue emerged and a shared vision for new ways of interacting was shaped.
They are masterful in helping organizations and individuals understand and work with change, and bring a deep and up-to-date understanding of people and systems — of why and how we operate the way we do — coupled with a powerful ability to make these concepts accessible, relevant and immediately useful.
To watch Georganne and Kathryn work with groups is a lovely reminder of the potency in balancing a strong and confident sense of what you bring as the facilitator/educator with a deep spirit of curiosity and desire to learn from the group. These are truly talented women, individually and working in tandem.
Sheelagh Davis, Education Coordinator
BC Nurse’s Union
Kathryn and Georganne bring a great depth and breadth of knowledge to their facilitation and teaching practice. They’re empathetic, compassionate, and funny – qualities that shine through in every interaction I’ve had with them. Our team continues to reap the benefits of the team-building workshop Georganne and Kathryn tailored specifically for us. We have a better understanding of how we work and communicate together, more tools for effectively managing conflict, and an appreciation for how the sum of our team is greater than its parts. We’re happier and more high-performing! I’d recommend Kathryn and Georganne to any individual, team, or organization seeking to foster their capacity to excel, and to do so with mindfulness and heart.
ZS, Assistant Director
UBC Research Dept.
It’s been my pleasure to work with Kathryn and Georganne at the JIBC for the last 6 years. As core instructors in our Certificate in Applied Leadership, they bring incredible creativity, dedication and skill to every class they teach. Their deep knowledge of leadership and organizational issues and commitment to facilitating positive change shows in the excellent feedback we receive from both individual learners and contract clients. We are so glad to have them on our instructional team!
Allison Felker, Past Program Director
Centre for Leadership
Justice Institute of BC
Georganne has been an invaluable support to me through my leadership journey as a coach, a facilitator and a mentor. I have utilized her services with multiple teams for strategic planning, team building and leadership coaching sessions, as well as on a more personal level as a leadership coach for not only myself but for individuals interested in building their leadership skills. I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone or any organization looking for support.
Katherine Treloar, General Manager
Thank you Kathryn for your heartfelt session with the Elsa Net team. As usual your warmth and sincerity really allows us to dig deep.
BL, Elsa Net
We reached out to Kathryn on very short notice to help us with developing and training leaders n our Ministry. She created a presentation that not only contained a great deal of concrete information but also led to a tremendously moving and emotional discussion. Kathryn’s presentation truly excelled in three important areas: She created a safe environment for us to share our own personal leadership strengths and challenges; her content fit perfectly with our work within this Ministry, and her passion for leadership was infectious and really inspired our team. Her ability to compress so much content and resources in just over an hour without it feeling rushed or compressed was impressive.
TR, Field Education
Ministry of Justice
Vancouver Coastal Region
I first had the privilege of working with Georganne when I was the Program Coordinator at the Justice Institute of BC in the Center for Leadership. Georganne was not only instrumental the development of a new leadership and management training program, she was by far our strongest facilitator. Georganne consistently brings new ideas and concepts into her training sessions. She exposes the people she works with to leading trends and thinking in the areas of leadership and management. Georganne has an amazing ability of connecting with her audience, no matter how diverse.
JA, Past Program Coordinator
Centre for Leadership
Justice Institute of BC
My first experience working with the LeadershipMind team was when I held the role of Director of Learning and Development at the British Columbia Nurses’ Union (BCNU). At that time I was asked by the senior executive team to implement a respect in the workplace initiative to support culture change. [could have a read more button here?] I engaged LeadershipMind early in the process to assist in gathering information around what current issues there might be, what would be the best approach to implementing this training. They began by conducting confidential focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders in the organization. Their high level of professionalism and ability to connect with people at every level of the organization allowed them to gain the trust of all employees. They were able to quickly grasp the nature of issues and put together a comprehensive report with recommendations in a reasonably short amount of time. They successfully delivered one-day sessions to over 150 employees in the organization within a three month period with extremely positive evaluations. By choosing innovative delivery methods such as graphic recordings and creative ways of allowing employees to commit to making change, they were able to leave a lasting impact on the organization. From the success of this experience Georganne and Kathryn became trusted facilitators for resolving conflict and building teams. They continue to provide coaching and team building support to BCNU staff.
BCNU Learning and Development
In my role as the Manager of Learning and Development at Pacific Blue Cross (PBC), I was asked to assist in a project of enhancing a psychologically healthy workplace. I invited Kathryn and Georganne in to conduct confidential interviews and focus groups to help us define what a psychologically healthy workplace meant for employees at PBC. Out of the work they did and the report they wrote, came a three year roadmap for the organization on enhancing its performance in five key areas. [click here to read more] In addition, I was asked to work on a project to close competency gaps that had been identified after the implementation of some new technology. Considerable change had occurred within the organization as a result of the new technology. Georganne and Kathryn were instrumental in helping PBC identify and create a core competency framework and a series of short training opportunities to begin closing the competency gaps. Their ability to conduct research with an organization and then move from creating recommendations, to developing strategies and then delivering high value learning opportunities – all within a relatively short amount of time, demonstrates their high and extensive level of experience, skill and expertise.
PBC Learning and Development
Georganne and Kathryn have the remarkable gift of being able to engage with an organization and its people and quickly establish rapport and trust. As a result of this gift they are then able to listen and really understand the needs of an organization and its state of readiness. They then are able to greatly assist an organization to design strategic, specific learning interventions that leave a high impact and achieve remarkable, lasting results.
Janet Amos, Learning and Development Specialist
Kathryn is a warm and engaging facilitator with an ability to quickly establish rapport and connect with people at all levels of an organization. Her brilliance in the areas of course and program design showcase her immense skill and strength in the area of communication, both written and spoken. She genuinely cares about the people she touches through her work. Helping people develop and supporting organizations to change and adapt seem to fuel her. When you work with Kathryn you feel like you have someone alongside of you every step of the way, supporting you, offering words of wisdom when needed and flexible willing to change directions to make sure you are successful.
JA
Thank you for the amazing session of To Tell the Truth that you did for us yesterday. Today the buzz among all the staff is so energized and positive. Everyone is already using their new approaches to uncomfortable situations at home and at work. I have heard lots of stories already! I also must say the appreciation from them has been very touching and satisfying. They enjoyed their day, thought you two were so wonderful and skilled to lead us through the information and the exercises and appreciated the opportunity to learn a different way of thinking and acting in these situations.
Client Organization, Vancouver
The activities and the work/fun that we had yesterday has given everyone a positive start to the team. We have a better understanding of everyone’s needs and their strengths and it was a really good way for everyone to really get a feeling of what being part of a team means. I, for one would like to see this built in as part of our leadership development for all the regional teams.
Client Organization, Burnaby
Kathryn, thank you for the course this week; The topic and content were empowering and the way you delivered this course reinforced what it is meant to do. Speaking for myself, your style and techniques made me feel valued (and more powerful), and I noticed you valuing and empowering others in the room too. You are so supportive, in such concrete ways – encouraging words, appreciating people’s insights, connecting people’s experiences to the content, bringing such powerful content — there were lots of AHAs happening. I could just see people becoming more powerful over the three days.
CR
Comments from past students
Thank you for another helpful and rich experience, I reached a high level of awareness of the thoughts and feelings of others—very insightful…
Insightful, clear, enthusiastic, empowering…
Best course I’ve been to in many years.
Very effective, clear, interesting valuable enthusiastic. The instructors are wonderful—I wish I could take them home with me.
Incredibly knowledgeable, lots of student interaction and discussion.
I just wanted to say what an amazing time I had in your class this past week! I have left with such a new outlook on myself and my work environment, totally eager to make whatever change I can. Thank you so much!