Love

Clients, colleagues and workshop participants love my work…

“You bring a logical, systematic approach that is fully engaged with people’s emotions.

You helped us get our strategy clear and explicit, which made it sharable. You got us feeling and standing together on things, which changed the vibe. The strategy stuff worked better because of your work with the culture. Not many people can do both.

You are very present in the work that you do. Once one has adjusted to that, it’s really helpful. I get a broader set of insights than I expect. We go into the essence, not abstract structures.”

Jordan Carter Chief Executive, Internet New Zealand.
Client, InternetNZ – Fostering collaboration culture, July 2016 and InternetNZ – Strategy you can implement with confidence, March 2017.

“Dan helped us with both culture and strategy, in an integrated and participative way.

During 2016, Dan helped us grow from a small team to a larger team with greater ambitions. Engaged in more than just the task, he got to know us intimately, while maintaining objectivity. Using the space Dan created, we had vitally important conversations. We grew the emotional connection between us, and clarified our expectations of how we work together.

Dan also helped us to get our strategy much more clear and logical than we had before. In line with our ethos of “do with” rather than “do to”, we articulated how others use our work to get outcomes. We linked the big picture with specific initiatives. Applying that model in different areas, we stepped out the process for change over time. Now we can measure progress and update our plans as we learn what works.”

Andrew Cushen, Deputy Chief Executive, Internet New Zealand.
Client, InternetNZ – Fostering collaboration culture, July 2016 and InternetNZ – Strategy you can implement with confidence, March 2017.

“Dan has a unique ability to make sense of disparate ideas. He can get a room full of people to surface their ideas, issues and concerns. Then he clarifies and summarises the conversation, communicating it succinctly so that other people can access it.”

Rochelle Stewart-Allen Senior Advisor, Open Government Data Programme, Land Information New Zealand, StatsNZ.
Client, LINZ – Generating open data policy awareness and input, September 2016 and StatsNZ – Sharing stories to encourage open data use, July 2017.

“The workshop was really excellent. Everything I hoped for. The facilitation was better than what we have had at other NIWA workshops. There was more collaboration. Let’s see if we can get you in to do more.

I really appreciated the people maps we built around where people came from, and how they saw themselves in terms of skills.

The best moment was when people expressed appreciations of other teams. This addressed some tensions that were in the way, grew their soft skills and created an environment where it can be done again.

The mini-innovation incubator worked well, too. The team came up with new initiatives that were way stronger than in previous years.

You allowed us to achieve a lot more from the time we had than we would have otherwise done. Even though there there were many light moments, we made them work hard.”

Andrew Watkins General Manager Information and Technology, NIWA.Client, ICT Team development workshop, 2016.

“Wipster recently had the pleasure of having Dan Randow lead us in a full day workshop on the future direction of our company. Over the course of the day we found ourselves bonding as a group and aligning our goals and aspirations almost effortlessly….

Management found an incredible insight where team knowledge of company history was discussed and this has already lead to a shift in how information is shared among the group. Feedback from the Wipster team was positive and we all felt more aligned with the Wipster vision for the future. It was also a great trust building exercise — everyone was open, honest and involved in the conversation. Dan was essential in guiding — and sometimes directing! — this process.

It’s critical that businesses take the time to strategise and reconnect across departments, and a seasoned facilitator such as Dan can help guide you towards a strong culture and clear strategy.”

The folks from Wipster
in On the importance of a clear vision and strong strategy, an account of
the team and strategy development workshop I facilitated for them.
August 2016, Wellington

“Even though the workshop was really short, I learned things that were immediately useful. In staff reviews, I began to listen a lot more, and be a lot clearer about what I was asking of the person. Straight away, I saw an upswing in performance, with staff members going the extra mile without being asked. I now realise how obvious this is and wonder why was I not doing it already.”

Karen Clarke, Karen Clarke Consulting
Participant, constructive communication for project managers workshop
October 2015, The Project Management Institute of New Zealand, Wellington

“I came away totally pumping ahead. Within a week afterwards, I’d changed a lot about how I manage and delegate to people. Now I trust myself more to be a manager and I trust them to be delegated to, so when I push something their way they will deal with it and follow right through.”

Galen King, Founder, Lucid Design
Participant, communication between occupational groups workshop
December 2015, Nelson

“I found the workshop incredibly valuable. It provided insight into relationships and communication and gave us perspective on how everyone interacts. People were having epiphanies about their relationships, their role in a team. It removed friction.”

Hayley Kyte, Founder, PatMe
Participant, communication between occupational groups workshop
December 2015, Nelson

“Great World Premier of your Cooperation and Communication course Dan. I got a lot out of it. I hope in reality we can collaborate like this. It would save a lot of misunderstanding and wasted time and money.”

Richard Chadderton, Director, The Concept Cube
Participant, communication between occupational groups workshop
December 2015, Nelson

“We asked Dan to help us pull together our Strategy Day. Dan worked with us to develop an overarching approach for the day, helped draft the agenda and was instrumental in designing the interactive aspect of the day that helped to deliver a key outcome and make the overall day a success. Dan’s wrangling was invaluable and he was, as always, a delight to work with.”

Jason Ryan, Strategy and Relations Manager, Catalyst IT
Client, management strategy workshop planning
November 2014, Catalyst IT, Wellington

“Dan worked with us to produce an effective plan for a company strategy day which led to many positive comments from participants on how well it worked. You should talk to him about his insights into group interaction.”

Stephen Judd, GM Christchurch, Catalyst IT
Client, management strategy workshop planning
November 2014, Catalyst IT, Wellington

Referees

People who have inspired me