I am a sought-after facilitator who can draw the best from your group during strategy sessions or team retreats. With two decades of experience working with corporations and organizations to develop strategies around complex and emerging issues, I can help your group build on its strengths and successes and move toward group goals.
Contact me to discuss the facilitation services that will work best for you.
facilitation and engagement sessions
My retreats and strategic visioning sessions can strengthen team dynamics, improve working relationships and help people connect to a vision. Stakeholder engagement and change leadership are often included. I also offer focus groups. These use both new and conventional methodologies to find out what your clients or employees really want you to know.
reputation and style
I am:
- Skilled in consulting and engaging with diverse public and private stakeholders
- Experienced in organizing, preparing, implementing and concluding workshops and meetings
- Equipped to generate relevant and usable systematic tools to guide, influence, track, measure and communicate innovative visions to make them implementable
As a facilitator, I am known for:
- Asking powerful questions that create clarity
- Balancing vision with action, future with present, and left brain with right
- Accounting for both the needs of the group and the journeys of the individuals in it
- Combining conventional facilitation styles with Appreciative Inquiry and other strengths-based approaches
“I valued connecting collectively with energy, potential and hope, and getting a chance to speak frankly, informally and with inspiration.”
—Wendy C.
approach and benefits
When you work with me, you get a true partner and collaborator. I will:
- Co-design with you to ensure your group owns the resulting solutions, actions and strategies
- Challenge your team to move beyond familiar ways of looking at issues
- Provide ongoing support to help your group change ingrained behaviours
- Use methodologies that enable change leadership, such as co-active coaching, appreciative inquiry and development evaluation
“I really appreciated Melissa’s listening skills and ‘attention to’ skills; she really understood our organization.”
— Stefanie Bowles
“Very interactive; I loved being able to practice different ideas and techniques.”
— Heather
“Melissa was instrumental in making our visioning exercise a success. She crafted and facilitated an insightful and engaging session. We made huge strides, and wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far without her.”
— E.B.
powerful outcomes
I have proven processes and techniques to gather the information you need. I can:
- Guide your team or organization to an inspiring vision
- Lead your group to implement a corporate strategy
- Create a structure for your department, organization or group to set goals and action plans
- Provide reflection, perspective and planning frameworks for your team retreat
- Support and deepen your organizational change initiatives
- Promote stakeholder and employee engagement
- Help you to maximize positive interaction, facilitate positive change, achieve focused solutions and lead more successful initiatives
- Increase your employees’ engagement and satisfaction
“Melissa got people talking in a friendly, non-combative approach. Everyone contributed, not just key players.”
—S. Fraser