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. 

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 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 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.

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 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 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. 

Alicia’s facilitation was excellent, and it was a fantastic workshop. I’ll never forget the ‘why, how, what’ - and I’ll be bringing Councillors into the conversation earlier from now on.

I enjoyed the strategic discussions and questioning. The most valuable part of the process for me was the insights into Councillors and colleagues’ thinking. I’ll be thinking through the strategic process differently now. Alicia was skilled, challenging, thought-provoking - and humorous.

The two days were fantastic and well facilitated by Alicia who definitely knows her stuff and knows how to get everyone to participate. I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the session and the interaction between councillors and staff. The most valuable thing I learned is that we are all working towards the same goal, which is to make our place a better place for the community.  We can disagree but still work towards this goal! I’m going to spend more time working on the “why” rather than the “what” from now on.

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.

Alicia had a down to earth approach and deep knowledge. She also had a good grasp of the agency’s role etc. Clarity around our focus and how to achieve it more effectively

High pace, energetic, and thought provoking. The openness of people to challenge each others thinking. Appreciated the firm way the process have been managed helping people to move and thinking forward.

Loved Alicias style. Made a difficult topic enjoyable.

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.

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.

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.

Alicia kept things moving and kept things on point.

Alicia managed to get us through when it looked like we might crash and burn when discussing our why.

Good pace. We achieved  a lot in relatively short time.

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

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

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 loved how refreshingly human it was! From sweary moments to spotify jokes - bloody amazing!

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

Well-paced; engaging; outcomes (delivered). I felt all contributed, we heard the diverse range of voices.

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.

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 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."

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.

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!)

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!

I've worked with Alicia in two very different environments. I'm hugely impressed with how she manages to bring disparate personalities and their agendas together. She ensures everyone is heard, keeps people on track and gently secures cooperation. She can hone in on the crux of the matter better than anyone I've seen. Whether you have a team that operates as one, or a team that needs to get onto the same page, Alicia is the person you need. She is extremely smart, energetic, positive and inclusive and fun to work with.

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!

I loved the flow and the way Alicia kept the discussion moving forward to get tangible results rather than the usual talking in circles which our group has tended to experience in the past. Thought-provoking, positive, challenging

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.

Just enough challenge when things were not being achieved and enough pace and style to keep it interesting.

Alicia calls things out. She's upfront. She's really focused and keeps everyone on track. Great bubbly personality. Great sessions. I've felt inspired and motivated after each one. So worth the time and energy!

I loved Alicia’s personality and ability to relate to others. Much more personable.

I appreciated the way the information shared was consolidated by Alicia and then rechecked with the group. So glad I have worked with her twice. Would love to do so again.

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

Alicia ensured that even though it was hard at times to get information out of us, she did stretch us to do so. She understands the public sector and the challenges we have.

The information provided and the discussions which ensued were meaningful and targeted

Meetings that Matter filled me with enthusiasm on how to drive outcomes from meetings.

I loved learning about the empathy map and timeline tool. This will be very useful in work I have coming up. Fantastic workshop that allowed me to reflect and learn in a constructive and safe environment.

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.

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.

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.

Having recently attended the Meetings that Matter course run by Alicia I can thoroughly recommend it. Given everything had to be moved online due to the Covid 19 restrictions I was not sure how it would unfold. Alicia did an awesome job at keeping me and the rest of the group engaged throughout the day and adapted the online interaction such that I came away still buzzing with ideas, new connections and things to reflect on. The thing I am most excited about, after attending Meetings that Matter, is the adjustments I can make to my own approaches to prioritise the right types of discussions and structure them in ways which will make a difference. One thing I have already been trying out is the personal declaration at the end of some meetings to get accountability around the discussion. Thanks Alicia and Nikki, great fun and lots to take away.

I am an experienced operational senior leader who has recently left permanent employment and is braving the new world of contracting in the public sector. I recently completed the Meetings that Matter course, in an attempt to ensure that I make the most of everyone’s time (now that time really is real money!). Like with many of the materials, approaches and tidbits from Alicia, I found it to be practical, infinitely sensible and immediately useable. I used the accompanying workbooks with a workshop the very next day and got rave reviews! So win win!!