Testimonials

Examination of Science and Knowledge Needs for the Basin Plan (Murray-Darling Basin Authority, December 2011-March 2012)

Siwan and Phil demonstrated a sound understanding of the science issues relevant to Basin Plan development. Between them, they possess a wealth of knowledge on the current and past investments in research that have application for implementing and adapting the Basin Plan. They understand the water world very well at the national scale and are extremely well networked with researchers, catchment management authorities and the government agencies at state and federal levels.  This breadth of knowledge, combined with excellent group facilitation skills,  project management skills and communication skills allowed them to deliver an investigative project on time and within budget.   Nadeem Samnakay, (Murray Darling Basin Authority).

Looking Back…… Thinking Forward – Sydney Catchment Forum (Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority, December 2011-March 2012)

The Sydney Metropolitan CMA’s 2012 Community Forum was a great success thanks to Siwan’s inspiring key note address “Connections that Count: People, Place and Passion” and her work in helping plan and facilitate the event. The event was attended by 90 environmental volunteers from across the whole Sydney region who enthusiastically participated in the day.  Siwan worked closely with our Forum planning team for several months to develop an integrated Forum program. Her presentation set the scene for  two interactive sessions that engaged 90 members of the community in priority setting, followed by the groups being facilitated to develop aspirational stories of action. Prior to the Forum Siwan also ran a short session for CMA staff with tips on how to facilitate groups and what to expect from the process.  Feedback from volunteer participants was enthusiastic:

“Well organised and enjoyable Forum. especially Siwan’s input.”“I particularly enjoyed the different slant put forward by Dr Lovett.”  ”We worked hard!!! But it was excellent”  ”Particularly liked the talk by Dr Lovett. Very apt”   “This year was as good as could be”.

We appreciated working with a  thorough and experienced professional and would wholeheartedly recommend Siwan to contribute to workshops where the aim is for participants to understand why they do what they do, and to leave feeling valued and empowered. With Siwan’s encouragement we are all striving to be happy ‘yellow’ people and will continue to spread this positive attitude among our environmental volunteering networks.

 Nicola Dixon, Judy Christie, Jeanie Muspratt, (Sydney Metropolitan CMA)

Vision and Strategy for Stakeholder Committee, Office of the Haweksbury Nepean (June 27 2011, Penrith)

“The Office of the Hawkesbury-Nepean wanted to find the most effective way to work with its new stakeholder committee, a vital interface with river communities. Nerida and Siwan grasped the desired goal very quickly, and developed a sharply targeted workshop program. They were able to share many ideas in communications, and demonstrated these with their own practice and throughly enjoyable workshop exercises. The day was a great success in relation to the practical gains in forward planning, in achieving group cohesion, and in providing encouragement to reflect on why we do the work we do.  We are now talking about WHY we do what we do and using this as fundamental motivation for all our work and communications.”  Doug Rhodes (Acting Director, Office of the Hawkesbury Nepean)

Provision of community engagement and knowledge sharing advice – Border Rivers-Gwydir CMA (June 22 2011, Sydney Airport)

“Our organisation had a series of community workshops scheduled to ask for input into a new regional plan. We really needed to get some guidance on how we should conduct the meetings to get the best value for everyone. After spending a few hours with Siwan, we gained heaps of strategies and ideas for the workshops, and we now feel confident that they will be enjoyable and everyone will benefit. It has helped us bring together our plans and to feel that we have greater control over what we will get from the workshops.”  Wendy Miller (Community Engagement Team, Border Rivers-Gwydir CMA)

Provision of social network analysis, anecdote circles and sensemaking to analyse and improve knowledge sharing and communication throughout the Lachlan Catchment Management Authority (May 2011, Cowra, Grenfell, Temora)

“Following our work with Siwan and Nerida, a number of initiatives are being implemented.  For example, we are rethinking how to use the extranet, developing a staff newsletter, providing shared meeting summaries, and developing a training knowledge strategy.  Succession planning is being covered by engaging a film crew to video the staff who will be retiring soon, this should capture a vast array of knowledge on the catchment which stands to be lost otherwise.  Reviewing workplans is one of the large projects which is being developed top include more knowledge sharing, these changes are currently going through the formal processes to get adopted and implemented organisation wide.

Thank you so much for all your input we have had a lot of success, I think it will be important to capture the momentum and keep the encouragement going for all staff”.  Emma Thomas (Acting Business Manager Investments, Lachlan CMA)

Connecting through Conversation / Communication and Creativity Workshops (November 15 – 16 2010, Longreach)

“Thanks again for the very engaging and inspiring workshop.  Yours and Nerida’s passion and enthusiasm for your work is infectious and my exposure to it has come at an opportune time for me – it has been a long and tiring year; you have given me the boost I need to see me through”  Mark Kleinschmidt (Commercial Services Manager, Desert Channel Solutions)

“Thanks to Siwan and Nerida for  delivering a well-paced and entertaining workshop. There was a great balance of learning and doing, listening and looking, and seriousness and humour.  The material can be applied to so many areas of work and life that it is invaluable to anyone who wants to improve their understanding of communication and creativity. I would thoroughly recommend you take the opportunity to open the door to new possibilities through this workshop.”  Jeff Poole (Indigenous Engagement Officer, Desert Channels Queensland Inc)

CSIRO Stream Leaders Workshop (November 8-9 November 2010, Canberra)

“Siwan, Nerida and team did a marvellous job conducting a leadership meeting for our researchers.  They put together an inspirational program, planned it all well, and did some very useful background investigations.  The highlight was the session on some new ideas on institutional organisation and leadership styles, bringing in a creative spirit and skilled presenter who kept us captivated.  I am sure the lessons from the workshop will last with our group for the rest of their lives.”   Ian Prosser (Science Director, CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship)

Connecting through Conversations: narrative techniques for organisational knowledge sharing (October 20 2010, Canberra)

‘The Connecting the Conversations workshop clearly highlighted the benefits of using narrative techniques for communication and evaluation, and provided a great ‘taster’ of a number of different techniques. Siwan, Nerida and Matt are skilled facilitators and passionately, energetically and generously shared their extensive skills and experience throughout the workshop.’  Clare Irwin (Environment Assessment Branch, Approvals & Wildlife Division, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities)

“The ARRC team struck a perfect balance in this workshop – they expertly walked us through the why, the what and the how of engaging people in meaningful conversation. I think it worked really well to showcase a range of techniques and resources and allow us to ‘try them out’ and then to provide free materials and links on the Regional Knowledge Resource Kit as a means for people to delve into the details of the techniques they found most useful.”  Rebecca Arnold (South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board)

Tailored knowledge leader training (28-29 April 2010, Canberra)

“I thoroughly enjoyed ARRC’s knowledge sharing workshop – I learned many new and practical ways to share knowledge. I was surprised at the number of new techniques, approaches and tools available. I was impressed by the facilitation, and the high level of support provided by ARRC following the workshop. I would recommend this workshop to others.”  Natalie Baker (Program Manager, International Riverfoundation)

“The knowledge workshop I attended in April 2010 was a real eye-opener for me. In particular, I have introduced some new communication techniques into my organization such as wikis (I use Google Groups), communities of practice (I’ve joined LinkedIn) and we’re still working towards setting up some internal ones. We have also introduced the “Rewards & Recognition” approach and at our Christmas BBQ this year, we’ll be handing out the first rewards for participation in our new Innovation Project. In our staff newsletter we now have a special section to recognize those employees that have done something unusual or innovative.  The KM methods cards have been a great resource to have as it allows you to just drop a few cards on someone’s desk when they’re looking for a change in the way they approach their team or just to quickly read up on a method, approach or tool. I haven’t yet started to formalise our KM Strategy, but I’ve come a long way in convincing my colleagues of the merits of many of the tools that will eventually be included in our Strategy.”  Sigrid Tijs (R&D Coordinator, Murrumbidgee Irrigation)

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