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 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.

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.

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

We’ve kicked off an organisational transformation to align with our community blueprint, and the most valuable outcome is to see collaboration across Council on an agreed outcome. Alicia has an easy, engaging style. (She also has good music, and swears a little bit…)

Alicia brings a vitality and a freshness which just opens everyone up to her. When a room atmosphere might start to feel quite heavy, it doesn’t take long for her to turn that into a bubbly and constructive environment. What we’re seeing at all levels is the reference back to those strategic priorities and our vision, not only in risk-related conversations but also in day to day business and project delivery conversations.

Our time together was strategic, focused and successful! We all enjoyed Alicia’s facilitation style.

Alicia’s benefits-led methodology is really sound. She adds a lot of value to the process as an expert facilitator but also as a very insightful and knowledgeable consultant. With Alicia’s help, we have a service improvement plan that we can action without deviating from our core purpose.

Alicia’s style is excellent, high energy, clear and direct. She is a pleasure to work with and made the experience enjoyable. Her process is robust, defensible and logical. What pleased me the most was this process helped us determine a course of action that was not what we intuitively thought would be the outcome.

This is the only way to do it, with governance and management in the same room. We had councillors with a little experience and those with a lot, senior managers and team leaders, and we could step out up and out of our siloes, with everyone happy to speak up. Our focus now is to continue to lead the way.

I love Alicia's clarity and focus on activities which carries a significant value.

Loved Alicia's energy, persona and how she made the topic relevant to local government. This is the most relevant training I've had in a large number of years. Enjoyed learning the importance of identifying the "HOW" - thank you!

I enjoyed Alicia's frankness and understanding of local government. Learning how to figure out a higher strategy to focus on and prioritise projects was really valuable. Thanks for the great workshop.

I really enjoyed Alicia's energy and stories.

I loved how Alicia was energetic and dynamic. She engaged the room and I really enjoyed the $100 game. It's most useful and I intend utilising this tool.

I enjoyed Alicia's no nonsense, articulate, really engaging style. She's a really capable speaker with well informed, insightful perspective. Her ability to tell the story was also really compelling. Such a great session. Provided me, and I'm assuming most of the people in the session lots to think about. Will definitely be recommending Alicia to anyone interested in the topic.

I loved how Alicia could apply real life examples to local government. It was valuable to learn the How and how to link to the Why and What.

I love how Alicia is down to earth and energetic. Learned how to better focus on the How.

The most valuable thing I learned was the How (link) between Why and What is often lost. Alicia knew local government, could relate and had stories/situations that were relevant. Alicia is a great facilitator, engaging, right amount of humour and know the market.

Loved Alicia's honesty and industry knowledge. I loved this training - learning the why, how, what - and want to do more strategy training.

I really enjoyed how Alicia was candid, relatable, had oodles of analogies and interactive. It was really valuable to learn the importance of team buy-in and understanding of the criteria that sits within the 'How'. Keep shining your light Alicia cos you're an inspiration to other women.

I enjoyed Alicia's sense of humor and down to earth style. Learning how to not only prioritise our work but how to explain that rationale to others is really valuable. Really impressed and even touched by Alicia's professional journey.

I enjoyed Alicia's down to earth, no-nonsense approach. It was a great contrast to our government attendees! Thanks to Alicia's contribution, our event was set up with a fantastic undertone that continued on across the following two days. Alicia, and her content, was often referred to in presentations by other speakers and events afterwards. She's a great communicator who sets the tone of the event, and responds to the vibe of the audience really well. I would recommend Alicia for events where you want to have a little bit of fun and 'cut through the crap'.

I enjoyed Alicia being real and relatable. Thanks to Alicia's contributions, the workshop got us thinking about different perspectives for solutions. She gets Local Government and the context of our work and therefore can provide realistic examples and appreciates the good and the not so good of the sector. I would recommend Alicia for events that are LGA specific or when you want facilitation to push some 'norms'.

I enjoyed Alicia being collaborative, positive, inclusive and focused on objectives of the offsite. Her style of mixing the content up and mixing fun with tasks was valuable to the workshop. Loved the positive and authentic delivery and approach. I would recommend Alicia for facilitating workshops with strategic outcomes.

Alicia was relatable, engaging, enjoyable, relevant.... as well as an expert holding significant knowledge! She made 'it all' relevant. Alicia understood the Local Government context, so all of her knowledge sharing was relatable through the examples she used. While Alicia is an expert - she did not portray herself as the 'all knowing', 'no one knows better than me' type image. She shared with positive intent, passion and understanding - acknowledging that she was in a room with people who were also 'experts in their field' with a great deal to offer. I would recommend Alicia for MC, Speaking, Coaching, Keynote... what ever she likes really! Thanks to Alicia we achieved a lot - and it was all content that can be further refined and used (not just popped on a shelf somewhere...). .Fabulous day!

Alicia was so down to earth, real and frank. She gets gets the context of local government. I already valued Alicia being honest, real, fun, fast paced and on track. Based in real stories, she has deep understanding of LG and nailed the context for us. Real examples help ground the work. I would recommend Alicia to leaders looking for solutions, where you want to get out of the business and work on it. Alicia is awesome!

I really enjoyed Alicia's energy, direct communication style and practical examples. Her analogies and theory are really valuable. I would recommend Alicia for leadership programs and strategic planning events.

Alicia was energetic and informative. Thanks to Alicia the event gave direction and purpose to the day. I would recommend Alicia for team building and leadership forums. It was very positive and enjoyable.

It was great! Alicia pushed the group to think outside of the local gov bubble. I found the day ran really well and we came away with something tangible. Alicia's event was a breath of fresh air for out leadership team. She was not afraid to challenge unhelpful norms. I would recommend Alicia to any leadership team that needs to look within as to why things are not improving.

Alicia was casual and funny. Theory was related to personal/funny stories and she can very quickly and easily identify, discuss and brainstorm problems. I would recommend Alicia for similar management guidance, thinking outside the management square. We were energised and enjoyed what she had to say.

I really enjoyed Alicia's down to Earth style. She understood Local Government challenges and moved us relatively quickly from theory to practical options. The reminder to bring a systems thinking lens was really helpful. She was direct but still on point and acknowledges it's a grey and tricky world out there.Thanks to Alicia our event had some heavier theory and detail to bring back to our teams. I would recommend Alicia for facilitation and keynotes.

Alicia was fun, engaging and actually knows local government. Thanks to Alicia's contribution, our event was not just another talkfest. She combines theory with the real world. I would recommend Alicia for all levels of government and group workshops on strategic direction.

Alicia was friendly, well informed and engaging! We were all like friends by the end of the workshop. Learning not to get excited and start the what before taking the time to consider the how and make sure everyone is clear on the how criteria is really valuable. Thanks again! It was an awesome way to start my career at council! Keep up the amazing work.

"Alicia was funny, engaging, got the audience (and myself thinking) and was not boring for a moment! Having Alicia as the MC with her engaging and personable style was great. Alicia injects fun (while taking the job seriously), and I would thoroughly recommend her for events where you need some "lightness" in the program. Alicia was also a pleasure to work with both online and in person."

I loved that Alicia knew the local government sector so well. Alicia's style was relatable and in tune with the audience. Her communication was clear and she was a delight to work with and her ability to discuss concepts and theory, within a story and giving the audience the tools to embed new practices into their daily schedules, or operationalise the theory was amazing. I would recommend Alicia for masterclasses and conferences. Alicia has this ability to speak to anyone in the audience, and empower them in their role. Whether they are CEOs or coordinators.

Alicia's knowledge of Local Government and workshop were very good. The most value came from engaging and debating the various merits of different options and reaching consensus!

A fantastic workshop. Alicia kept us moving through the session at a fast but manageable pace, I'm sure we achieved far more than the group anticipated at the beginning of the day.

Alicia has great style, is very knowledgeable and energetic. Her workshop allowed our team to be out of the office to allow real focus time, work through and land on the ELT Strategic Priorities and learn the ‘4-Ds’.

I enjoyed Alicia's understanding of the sector and her casual but professional delivery method. This valuable workshop brought a challenge and that got us laser focussed.

All aspects of our awesome session with Alicia were valuable, including the stimulating debate where, as a team, we uncovered our aligned vision. We need more sessions like this to better embed the working style, with the inclusion of our elected members.

I have been following Alicia on LinkedIn and she did not disappoint. I liked the approach of a wide start to the session which then narrowed down to specifics where we got a clear idea of the strategy and removed old ideas.

Alicia is engaging, energising and intelligent! Her workshop stretched our teams thinking and brought clarity to the issues we face.

I really enjoyed your company and that of others. It was valuable for me, and I’ve learned to approach Council business more constructively and with more self-honesty. I’ll be using the methods you introduced to us over the two days and acquiring all the reader matter recommended to better inform myself. Brilliant style. 

I enjoyed working together with staff to learn a better way to operate, and learned so many valuable things: defining roles, good questions, and the big picture view. Now, I’ll be staying out of the “what” and insisting on good questions and comments. Alicia McKay’s facilitation style was genius.

I’ll be making bigger plans and getting out of the minutiae as a result of these workshops! From now on, I’ll change the way I question myself and others, focus on the 10 to 100 year plans and make sure to use that language with residents. Alicia McKay was excellent. I really liked how she summarised things that were said, and her humour in presenting the dry subject matter. Humour wins everytime! Thank you.

I enjoyed the pace, insights, and management of conflict. The most valuable takeaways for me were common frameworks to collectively pursue things like role clarity. I’ll be doing things differently from now on - framing of questions, discussions with CMs on role, discussions with staff on role, etc. Alicia McKay was brilliant.

Alicia is one of those connections that ensures you get value no matter what when she works with your organisation. She brings energy and a vibrancy that is infectious - and is able to inspire staff as well as elected representatives. Alicia is skilled not only in the technical aspects of the work she does but also brings her experiences and learnings from others and this assists in adding value to our projects and deliverables. Alicia has worked on multiple projects over a number of years at the Southland District Council and in Arnold Schwarzeneggar terms - "she will be back."

I had the pleasure of working with Alicia when she did a Big Picture workshop with our Council. Alicia is a straight talker that really gets to the crux of matters and leaves everyone feeling energised and with really practical things to move forward with.

Alicia has an incisive yet inquiring mind. She quickly adapts to each new environment when taking on an assignment and is sensitive to a client's needs in regard to the expected outcome. Incredibly efficient and great fun to be around, Alicia has now become the first name that pops into my head when I want a robust, independent and fresh-thinking review of an area of the Council's operations or strategy.

Alicia had everyone participating throughout the entire day. I loved her enthusiasm for her topic and how real she was with us.  Absolutely fantastic. Such a valuable resource to Councils and the teams within Council.

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.

I was impressed by the way Alicia distilled lots of random information into clear outcomes and strategies. I look forward to our further interactions with Alicia.

Achieved great results in a painless way! Great day with great outcomes!

She was upfront about who she was & how she would run it from the outset and did exactly that. It challenged people and got us to places we needed to get too quicker.

I appreciated Alicia’s fast pace, her ability to draw on experience or quotes, and her intellectual ability.

Alicia kept things moving and kept things on point.

I appreciated Alicia’s no-nonsense approach calling a spade a spade - the way she delivers the message and bringing reality to a real life situation. Outstanding.

Enjoyable, collaborative, helpful. I was surprised how quickly we were able to consolidate down to 3 objectives, and that we all seemed to be on the same page.

Loved Alicias style. Made a difficult topic enjoyable.

I appreciated lifting and thinking strategically together and loved Alicia’s openness and inclusion, interactive nature.

Informative, Practical, Relevant. The information presented was relevant to our organisation and there were plenty of opportunities to discuss risk and how this applied to us.

Alicia was superb at unpicking statements and summarizing these to enable themes to be teased out. She did this in a humorous way that kept the attention of the audience while maintaining a professional structure to the day. Very well run!

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.