Alicia is herself - she is vulnerable, up-front and tells it like it is. She is also very good at engaging with the audience. Alicia doesn't read off notes. She gave us learnings and tools we could take away and use. It was inspirational, funny, and vulnerable. I would recommend Alicia for events where you want to challenge your delegates' thinking, inspire them, and make them think differently.

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.

Alicia is straight up! She challenges every one in the room. Visionary. Alicia is an exceptional facilitator who understands the topic. She’s easy to listen to and interacts well with participants. Highly recommended! Many thanks for a great day Alicia.

Very straight forward, no time wasting. As she said, we did a days work in half a day and her local government insight helped us. Thanks for facilitating the workshop. I took more away than I was hoping for.

If you want your leadership, strategy and management paradigms to be challenged, look no further than Alicia McKay. Her professional, unorthodox and no nonsense approach helps organisations take bold and courageous steps towards the future. Our leadership experience with her enabled us to re-direct/prioritize our thinking or strategic priorities helping us navigate through difficult situation especially our current challenges brought on by Covid19.

Alicia leads high energy, high impact strategy sessions assisting teams solve a range of complex problems. She has a unique ability to assist teams lift up from operational to strategic thinking whist also ensuring we are having a lot of fun along the way. I have thoroughly enjoyed and learnt from our strategy sessions with Alicia and would recommend her to anyone who is looking at clarifying their organisational strategy to solving complex customer issues and engaging their teams. Above all she is incredibly talented and fun to work with!

Don’t even hesitate - just get this superbly intelligent lady on board to help you and/or you org achieve greatness! Alicia literally fizzes with energy and captures the attention and focus of any audience in order to help guide and facilitate the generation of ideas into a meaningful outcomes. This is no easy feat when dealing with an ultra busy executive leadership team yet Alicia managed it with easy, over a short space of time (6 weeks!) during exceptional circumstances (COVID-19, level 4). By the end of the 6 weeks we had a clear direction of where we needed to steer our organisation in terms of project investments and understood the fundamental principles of sound, robust, practical and GOOD decision making!! Not bad for 6 weeks, eh?! (Thanks Alicia!)

Our workshops were relaxed and inclusive and ensured everyone participated and had a voice. Alicia's style is so energising that it didn't matter what time of the day the sessions were scheduled, everyone found themselves focused and paying attention, ready to contribute.

Alicia never gave up, even when achieving an outcome appeared unlikely!

A huge thank you for your outstanding presentation to my team this afternoon. I’ve had so much great feedback on your session, and some of your phrases have already entered our lexicon. I am very grateful to you for having brought your wisdom, experience, and obvious enthusiasm for the local government sector to our meeting today. Thanks again

This course is literally bursting at the seams with value! I usually take notes on any course I do so that I can share the love and the learnings to folk who didn't do the course or who used their PD budget doing some other course. Have to tell you I did more than an acceptable amount of pause/capture/rewind - because so much of what you cover is both gold and brilliantly sensible. Paid for this in March 2023. Finally approaching Christmas 2024, I've got some clear air to sit down and get amongst the strategic korero smorgasbord that is MTM. Need to reign in the superlatives - and you know it's great anyway - but ka pai and thank you Alicia! Everyone involved in driving or facilitating strategic discussions should do his course.

I would describe Alicia's teaching and facilitation style as honest, approachable, she has a sense of humor and connected well with the audience

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.....

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.

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

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 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'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 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 seems to be tapped into what's needed in the present for me ( - once a week she provides pure gold taking the form of punchy a clear advice to work thru what is important - all with a fresh and lighthearted vibe that literally provides a boost. Understanding that success is never a 'magic bullet' but rather a 1000 small changes - WW provides the guidance along the journey of those changes.

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 is herself - she is vulnerable, up-front and tells it like it is. She is also very good at engaging with the audience. Alicia doesn't read off notes. She gave us learnings and tools we could take away and use. It was inspirational, funny, and vulnerable. I would recommend Alicia for events where you want to challenge your delegates' thinking, inspire them, and make them think differently.

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.

Alicia is straight up! She challenges every one in the room. Visionary. Alicia is an exceptional facilitator who understands the topic. She’s easy to listen to and interacts well with participants. Highly recommended! Many thanks for a great day Alicia.