THANK YOU for your incredible positive impact on our organisation during 2020. All of our Strategic Projects have progressed in line with our original plans. We have established a new and reinvigorated Executive Team, have regular strategic sessions to evaluate our performance and stay on track, and are finally starting to trust our managers and staff to do their jobs without feeling like we have to meddle/interfere. The change has been noticed not only by our staff and Councillors but by many of our community stakeholders, who have commented on the progressive, positive and proactive attitude that is now becoming evident across all areas of our operations. You taught me so much about my role, purpose, approach, and attitude. You opened my eyes to obstacles that were right in front of me, but they had become so much a part of the scenery that I had become almost oblivious to their impacts on our progress. You are a star.

I learned that I need to be in the WHY, not the WHAT. I would recommend this programme for any person who is in middle leadership in the public sphere, private enterprise or the education sector.

I loved the sessions with Alicia. Alicia's workshop was fun and unpretentious. She has a craft to speak to everybody in the room, no matter where they sit in the organisation and connect with them in a meaningful way.

The most valuable things I learned were around the decision making process, public vs private, decision making. I found Alicia's teaching style to be excellent, engaging and uplifting. I loved the role playing and getting to know new Councillors and reinforcing concepts.

I enjoyed the interaction; Role Playing; Alicia’s energy in delivering the workshop. I found Alicia's teaching style to be fun and inclusive. Keep doing what you are doing Alicia - it's awesome.

I loved Alicia's style and approach I really enjoyed the refresh on all of the strategy 101 concepts. I would recommend this programme for Executives and new Councillors. Alicia was engaging, energetic, funny and powerful!

I got a better appreciation of my executive team - that they are lovely humans as well as high level professionals. I would recommend this programme for community groups.

I enjoyed the fun way Alicia delivered important skills and knowledge to us.

I enjoyed the engaging and energetic way the training was delivered that had us all thinking and working. Alicia's facilitation style was engaging, energetic and incredibly knowledgeable. Thank-you for making it so practical.

I loved the content, format and style of the workshop. Alicia's facilitation style is awesome. Heavy content delivered in an engaging way with lots of relevant lived experiences.

I enjoyed the connections & the conversations between Councillors & Executive. Loved learning more about role clarity, question frameworks & decision making

I love Alicia’s style, her stories and her practical approach. Alicia's facilitation style is real, authentic and heaps of fun!

I can't pick specifics on the most valuable things I learned. I felt some elements confirmed a lot of the frustrations I've raised since joining council. A lot of the content also helped me articulate sentiments I've tried communicating . It's also helped challenge me to how I can take this into other areas (my university groups) (while having to adjust to their governance structures). But the most valuable thing by far was the informal elements. Connecting with my Exec and other councillors. The importance of those relationships will go beyond my time at council.

Alicia's delivery was great. She drew all participants in to the discussion. I think our group discussions were useful and insightful. The role play exercise was fantastic - probably the most thought provoking activity.

I thought it was two days of really interesting, fast moving, thought provoking concepts … I loved that as a squeaky new councillor I didn’t feel stupid! And that the level of knowledge was assessed and moderated to fit discussions throughout.

I enjoyed learning new things about myself and others. Excellent session. Alicia was interactive and engaging.

Loved the energy and the plain english approach to leadership

I loved how topics with 'complexity' were explained in relatable ways to offer some certainty in what is a challenging environment. There are many managers who would benefit from understanding their role in the bigger picture.

I would describe Alicia's facilitation style as astonishingly bright, well read and has that rare gift of breaking down complex ideas into clear concepts - so that you can actually take them into daily work

Alicia is engaging. There was a fantastic balance of workbook, discussion, games, and presenting 'theory/concepts'. She is honest and passionate about conversations that help people appreciate each other's roles and responsibilities. Concepts were presented as imagery (tree, iceberg, interpretive dance) to help visual learners.

I enjoyed the style of presentation. Kept me engaged for two days.....

It's extremely hard to do what you do Alicia. You make it look easy but there's a ton of work that's gone into it. It's very clever the way you navigate in sometimes politically sensitive areas keeping a focus on achieving outcomes. It's intelligent, sophisticated and much needed. Many thanks.

In all my 15 years on Council I have never had had any facilitator as good as Alicia

Practical, plain language and engaging session that really supported great collaboration and development of trust plus on point content around roles of Crs and good decision making approaches.

I've attended a lot of leadership, strategy and team building workshops through my time on Council and in my professional life - Alicia was hands down the best facilitator I've encountered and greatly exceeded expectations

Alicia is empathetic, clear and adaptable. Alicia made the content relatable, engaged everyone in the room, and adapted on the spot if needed. Alicia listened actively, encouraged participation, and made learning feel practical and empowering.

I enjoyed getting to know each other and found the 'shared vision' exercise valuable. Alicia is great and engaging.

I appreciated the informal yet structured format and found the 'why/how/what' really valuable. I will be using the workbook as a reference guide.

I enjoyed the whole thing. The most valuable moments were practical examples of what is in the book - and I really enjoyed hearing others 25 year visions for the Shire. Alicia is a wonderful facilitator.

I had read a significant amount of the book "Local Legends". The interaction gave the book more clarity for me. I liked the presentation, the presenter (accent and all). I particularly liked learning about "The Right Decision" and asking three systems questions.

I enjoyed the collaboration with the Elected Body Learning about Public Value and the difference between private industry and Council The workshop session looking at strategic priorities. Best in class, Alicia!

Alicia's real! She's a great facilitator.

I enjoyed Alicia's story telling, humour and frameworks. I would recommend this to people who want to elevate their thinking and embed regular, tangible strategic practices into their work lives. And those who want to develop their teams understanding of the importance of strategy.

I loved how Alicia was relaxed, open, honest and very collaborative, focusing on the criteria and not the project or task. I would recommend this course for people who want to lift their strategic thinking and approach.

Alicia was relaxed and inclusive. It was a fabulous couple of days well worth the investment - all management teams should attend this course.

Alicia was fun! This is great for people who lead teams + work in local government.

Alicia's interactive and it was really great to to learn how to set clear priorities linked to organisational goals. I would recommend this course to people who are struggling with the daily slog. Enjoyed the day!

Alicia was easy to follow with a good sense of humor. Loved learning about structure and processes. I would recommend this course to people who feel overwhelmed and to busy.

I love Alicia's casual yet knowledgable approach, able to engage and continue conversations drawing out peoples needs. It's very valuable to learn that good decisions don't necessarily lead to success but need to be made. Thanks Alicia - Your energy and expertise are invaluable.

I love how Alicia is empathetic, practical & no nonsense. It was really important to learn the ‘how’ and how poorly we (local government in general) develop and report on it.

I really enjoyed how Alicia can easily cut through complex challenges and ideas. It was really valuable to learn the frameworks to support better decision making. Love you work Alicia! Thanks for all your energy :)

I love Alicia's very relational and practical delivery style.

I loved Alicia's story telling. She is down to earth, engaging and entertaining. I learned the importance of asking more questions and being inquisitive. It was a great two days with the leadership team with lots of valuable lessons and insights learnt. Looking forward to getting into my book!

I really enjoyed Alicia's engaging and inspirational approach. It was brilliant. I've not stopped talking about this course to my colleagues. We will likely be in touch to arrange training for councillors and ELT across our region. There is so much value in this course. Thank you!

I loved how Alicia was relaxed but switched on - energy directed in the right place: on content and ensuring a great vibe in the room from start to finish. It was pretty great, I really enjoyed it as it was. Best professional development I've done. Thank you.

I really enjoyed how Alicia was relatable, real and honest. It was great to learn how to ask better questions. Keep doing this… please don’t get bored of it! :) Our sector and communities desperately need it. It’s the ultimate act of public service really- helping to make public servants better at what they do!

Alicia was engaging and interesting. Had enough breaks scattered throughout to keep energy levels up and didn't require too much 'moving around' for the sake of group work. Learning about the tools to assist with finding clarity on the why, what, how and prioritisation were the two big ones for me.

Alicia was down to earth and gave practical examples. I like the casual approach where everyone is encouraged to contribute.

I love how Alicia was easy going and personable.

Alicia was engaging, easy to understand and practical. I really enjoyed the conference and found it really helpful.

I really enjoyed how Alicia was informative, but informal. Professional, but personal. Thank you for sharing your wise words and advice.

I loved that Alicia was authentic and funny. This is great for senior leaders in local government and want to be more effective.

Alicia kept me listening and engaged. There was the right amount of presenting, activities and conversations to keep things flowing. Alicia is an excellent presenter, I did not feel my eyes closing once - which is almost guaranteed for most workshops!

Alicia was authentic! She had the room hanging on her every word with her engaging storytelling and linkages back to practical tools. Alicia is a rockstar and the formula works. I feel very grateful to have been able to soak up Alicia's experiences and knowledge over the few days. The effort she took to personalise the course and to have connections with the participants in the training was a standout. And the story telling when we came back together was a great example of how to facilitate. The content itself was also very valuable to me and the way it was structured and broken down makes it so simple. Alicia, you're a gun and hope to see you again!!

I really enjoyed Alicia's honesty, knowledge and ability to pivot. It's great to learn how to ask better questions and lots more! Great to meet Alicia, I am inspired.

I loved Alicia's ability to connect the theoretical to real work application. Great to learn the value in establishing the decision criteria to assist in connecting the higher level strategic direction to the operational work delivery.

I loved that Alicia is engaging, fun and relaxed. If I had to pick one or two - it was really valuable to learn how to know/ set your criteria and ask the right questions. Loved it!

I really enjoyed how Alicia delivered information from a place of extensive experience in a straight forward, no jargon and relaxed way. She used learned examples where concepts translate and was very engaging. Was wonderful to meet you Alicia and look forward to you working your magic in Tamworth!

I loved the games and communication with others. Everything is excellent.

I enjoyed how engaging Alicia was and that she was easy going, relatable and gave first hand experience stories. Thanks Alicia, what an amazing speaker you are! I admire your public speaking abilities. Well done, such an interesting and relevant course!

I loved how Alicia was down to earth, relatable and engaging. Really, really enjoyed it, can't wait to see what's next!

I really enjoyed Alicia's openness, honesty and sense of humour. I would recommend this to people who need to think more strategically and move out of the weeds.

Alicia did a great job for us facilitating and developing a business case for a cycle trail. Alicia has a very engaging style and can get the most reserved participants to be involved. As a facilitator one of the key roles is to gather the disparate thoughts of a group into a more concise list of key issues. Alicia is superb at this. I recommend Alicia to anybody looking for a high quality facilitator and or business case developer.

Alicia's workshop was bloody excellent. I enjoyed her presentation style and great use of agrarian language.

I enjoyed Alicia’s plain language and how we ‘stepped thru the boxes’. On the surface, the first half an hour didn’t appeared to be on topic and nearly lost me, however, I sat up far more interested as the the penny dropped! Alicia’s workshop was superb and at the right level!

Alicia's facilitation is relaxed, thought provoking, and friendly. I enjoyed working in tables and pairs and her supportive approach when we were a bit thick! As well as not trying to do too much in a day. Thanks Alicia, I really enjoyed the day.

Alicia was excellent and really engaging. I really enjoyed just listening to her speak and found this the most useful way to think about things differently, and have those 'oh yeah' moments. It was great to have refreshing and honest facilitation that made people think twice about their usual ways of working.

Alicia was very engaging and interesting. I enjoyed her practical and narrative style of delivery.

Alicia was engaging and credible. Love the combination of activities through the day, the thought-provoking nature of the material, and her beautiful way of no-nonsense, straight-talking.

Alicia has brought great value in assisting elected members and our management team in identifying the best strategic direction to take regarding Council priorities and major projects. Her professionalism, attention to pre-workshop preparation and ability to maintain focus on the key issues has been very helpful and appreciated by both elected members and the operational team. I recommend her skills in the structured facilitation field.

I enjoyed all of it - but how Alicia pulls accountability, honesty and humour together in such a clean (but also kind of messy and fun kind of way) just blew me away. She calls out bullshit, and doesn’t make people feel small, or silly, or lesser for it. There is so much in that. She has a gift, and I love how she uses it. I think from now on I’ll be more me, keep growing, keep dropping the walls, and stop the performance. We are all just people who don’t really know what we’re doing sometimes, but we do so well when we do it together and don’t overthink it. I honestly do not know how to describe it. This is something you have to experience for yourself to really feel it. 

The format of shared learning with the Council Members was excellent, along with Alicia's approach to concept > story > game > reflection. I enjoyed the pace, and the adjustments made to suit us, plus the use of humour to disarm and create a collegiate atmosphere. The most valuable thing I learned was the power of scaffolding a workshop to support the tough point of trade-offs and prioritisation. To not ignore the basics of strategy and rely on fundamental behaviours: quality questions, role clarity, and effective allocation of time relative to the decision’s impact. What will I be doing differently? Lots! Use the quality questions framework to elevate strategic thinking within my team; use it to respond to enquiries and manage up. Not search for the warm glow of agreement; but instead the mildly-aggrieved feeling of alignment. How to describe Alicia McKay… it’s like watching a magician perform an act... only you don't realise it until after its finished! Humour and rapport are used to realign, and correct participants’ view on role and impact. Concepts and truisms punctuate key points. The final reveal of a robust trade-off process is scaffolded by the experience of shared learning. Bravo. Thanks so much for allocating your time to us, Alicia. We really appreciate it.

I loved it. I enjoyed Alicia’s facilitation and intelligence. Alicia is really f*cking clever. She is a scary smart person and the mid-moment reads and adjustments she was making were inspiring. She should coach an  NFL team! I always value the way staff and Council work together - it was great in the session but I think that is quite typical of the relationship. The most valuable part for me was the opportunity to sit on the Mayor’s table in both sessions. I had already used a version of the 'bigger questions' template, but I like your version better, and I will move to that. The important question is not what any one person will do differently but what we will do differently together, and I genuinely believe the biggest opportunity in that regard sits with staff, not Councillors. I will endeavour to be part of a change where leadership staff spend more time on the peak/balcony than paddock/dancefloor and let our experts tend the paddocks. 

Alicia's ability to guide productive conversations and bring out important ideas from the group was highly appreciated. A constructive, engaging and thought-provoking process.

Alicia was able to facilitate the discussion in the right direction and I appreciated how easy and enjoyable she made the process. The way she could pick up on and link different concepts when she is not even an expert on construction was impressive! Alicia is amazing at what she does.

I was sceptical, however five minutes in I was starting to be impressed. Ten minutes in I was fully engaged and remained so to the end. Quite remarkable how Alicia, with no real knowledge of the subject matter, managed to extract so much information from us and distil it down to the bare essentials and fundamental points. And made us enjoy the whole process along the way! Thank you so much

In three words: productive, fun and beneficial. Excellent leadership by Alicia, her experience in working with complex organisations is clearly demonstrated and that put me at ease. I don't think we could have done any better.

Thought provoking action! I really liked focusing what we need to work on and prioritising. It gave new people to group a chance to see where we were coming and what we have done so far is pointing in right direction and a bit clearer.

Our time together was challenging, exciting, and thought-provoking. I was impressed at how we were able to get such useable outcomes in a very limited space of time. They may need tweaking but as you say, it could have taken months to get as far as tweakable action points!

This was such a great way to assist in focussing on the things that really matter, and to agree and collaborate as a group. Alicia was fun, and focussed, and really engaging. Her style had us joining in and really getting involved. It was also a great way to work with our colleagues when we are often so busy in our day to day work its great to step into a set up like that and work together away from the office.

Alicia kept the conversation flowing and was able to quickly and easily understand and summarise the challenges we are facing. She was able to keep control of the discussion and move it on when necessary but still managed to ensure important points were covered. She was also good at checking in with group on whether she was on the right track rather than just assuming. I felt this was a really well led and productive day and appreciate Alicia and Diane's efforts to make this happen.

Our workshop achieved a clear way forward. The control and guidance of our group was fantastic! This was different to other workshops - I put it down to Alicia's ability to see the needs of the group and how to get them through to meaningful actions. Loved the $100 challenge! Many thanks, one of the best workshops I have attended.

We now have clear priorities, and know what changes need to be made. I thought it was a very effective workshop where a lot of progress was made. Alicia is good at asking the 'why' question and challenging current ways of doing things

THANK YOU for your incredible positive impact on our organisation during 2020. All of our Strategic Projects have progressed in line with our original plans. We have established a new and reinvigorated Executive Team, have regular strategic sessions to evaluate our performance and stay on track, and are finally starting to trust our managers and staff to do their jobs without feeling like we have to meddle/interfere. The change has been noticed not only by our staff and Councillors but by many of our community stakeholders, who have commented on the progressive, positive and proactive attitude that is now becoming evident across all areas of our operations. You taught me so much about my role, purpose, approach, and attitude. You opened my eyes to obstacles that were right in front of me, but they had become so much a part of the scenery that I had become almost oblivious to their impacts on our progress. You are a star.