Client Success Stories 

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Meeting Facilitation

We design and lead the flow of your meeting agenda to achieve clearly defined organizational outcomes.  Often Dixon & Associates facilitators frame structured discussions and decision-making processes with theory-bursts or sharing best-practices for organizational effectiveness.  Oh yea, we don’t apologies for having some fun while getting the work done!

"Thank you!!! The session was perfect.  It got us working together and having fun too.  The leadership team will review your feedback along with the ‘start, stop and continue’ output so we can engage the full team to move us forward.  You’re very good at what you do!!!"
Executive Director
Bethell Hospice
“Thank you very much for a very engaging session yesterday it was great to see a master at work! I learned a lot from you particularly on how to: - Energize the room - Make the workshop content relevant - Asking questions to engage the audience Greatly appreciated!”
Performance Excellence Manager
Janssen
“Our Goreway Management Team was looking to engage a training and development firm to provide our team with core leadership and values-based skills. Our direct intents included: explore opportunities for greater cross-functional collaboration and leveraging different leadership styles for the sorts of management challenge we face, while at an offsite location. The facilitation team at Dixon and Associates consistently ensured we were striving for tangible outcomes by driving for commitment to new leadership behaviours and enhancing our business processes. While blending active learning with engaging exercises, our team had a fun and enjoyable learning experience.”
General Manager
Goreway Power Station
“I wanted to reach out and thank you again for your leadership during the Lymphoma Coalition strategic planning meeting. You are a wonderful facilitator and were so skilled at keeping us on task and focused. I also very much enjoyed using the online platform to develop and organize thoughts and plans. It was my first experience using this type of tool during a strategic planning process. The weekend was extremely valuable, and your participation was critical to the success of the process. I look forward to working with you again.”
Board of Directors Member
Lymphoma Coalition
“I have engaged this team of facilitators many times over the past ten years to provide engaging ways to address the business challenges we are facing. Tim’s team has a tremendous capacity for taking complex organizational issues that we need to explore and get to the heart of the personal behaviors and team processes that will support us in executing our business strategy. What most impresses me about his crew is how effectively they can shift from running experiential activities to leading strategic exercises such as business planning processes.”
VP Finance, Procurement & Strategic Business Development
The Home Depot
“I am pleased we engaged you as our facilitator for our leadership retreats - our experiences together were excellent. It provided us with the opportunity to explore the challenges and leadership team dynamics we would face as we pursued our growth strategy.
During the most recent session, the leadership team was able to identify obstacles to overcome as we begin our shift to a different organizational structure. I found your experienced learning approach highlighted some important messages that we must keep in mind as leaders throughout our organizational transition.”
President & CEO
SCI Group Inc.

Experiential team development workshops

Action –> Reflection –> Application… that’s the core of experiential learning which is baked into the design of all our team-development programs.  We have honed a deep ‘bag of tricks’ for using action-based problem-solving tasks to provoke insight into team dynamics and leadership challenges.

“You and your group were fantastic. We had great reviews and not one compliant given the time we allocated to you during a tight agenda. Please let your team know that time and time again, you are impressive and engaging.”
Senior Vice President
Richie Bros. Auctioneers
“The team you have with you is certainly engaging and was right into it with our folks. Given that it was a large group we certainly did not feel that we were missing support from you guys and the communication and directions were clear and concise, so people were able to understand what they had to do from the start. I received some really positive feedback on the activities that they highlighted many of the issues or challenges that we were either going through or about to go through.”
Director
Belairdirect Insurance Company
“The facility’s General Manger and I would just like to say what an absolutely awesome time we had at the workshop, which exceeded our expectations. We were really impressed with the way you engaged our colleagues in the process and in the delivery of the outcomes of our session. Our colleagues were equally impressed and have thanked us for arranging such an exceptional event. We valued the workshops particularly because: they brought out the varying skills of each person on our team; some who you would not normally look to as leaders became successful leaders of their teams; reminded us that although we work in various departments, we are all part of one company and the ultimate goal is to work together for the success of our company. Above all the workshops were engaging, fun and interactive. We look forward to working with you in the future.”
HR Manager
Olymel

Outdoor “adventure” team-building challenges

For our clients away at offsite meetings, we have used venues with forested areas, parks nearby, hotel pools – even combing the city street for urbans adventures – all to put teams to the test with outdoor challenges.  Different groups’ needs will vary in terms desired degrees of physical activity, learn themes and time available for an outdoor activity – so we provide options.

“The overwhelming feedback from our group was that the outdoor adventure activity was amazing! It really fit in well with what our agenda objectives were aiming to achieve. Great job!  All the members of our team truly enjoyed the event and are keen to return again next year to try something different at the same venue, so get your thinking caps on! All were united was in the praise for the great balance your team struck in providing the appropriate levels of safety awareness and support versus freedom to get on with the activity!!”
General Director
Edwards Lifesciences Canada
"Both the hike and the sailing excursions provided ample opportunity to get to know our team members interpersonally on an informal basis; while the structured activities such as the ‘envisioning the ideal future’ and the ‘challenges we face in our own roles’ exercises created a safe mechanism for team members to be both open and motivated about what is both exciting and to share what’s concerning for us in executing our challenging growth plans. I appreciated your balanced approach and I look forward to engaging you again for future sessions as our facilitator.”
President & CEO
SCI Group Inc.

Workshops based on team assessments or ‘personal-differences’ tools:

You must ensure diversity on your team serves as a source of strength not a frustration if left unaddressed or misunderstood.  By gaining insight into interpersonal differences such as conflict-style, motivation, communication or decision-making preferences and behaviours – teams can commit to deploying the right approaches for different situations with the guidance of our facilitators.

“Several times over many years, I have engaged this firm to leverage personality assessments for exploring team dynamics within business units I have managed. I am sure you will also enjoy the benefits of their capabilities in providing team effectiveness, leadership development or organization change learning programs.”
CFO
The Home Depot
“Working with Tim and his crew, we have developed a better understanding of our management team, based on trust - guided by organizational values, our decisions are collaborative and well thought out. Our managers approach their own areas of responsibility with a more strategic orientation to their leadership role, and we have a greater degree of shared accountability and collaboration across the functional groups.”
General Manager
Goreway Power Station
“When I saw your ‘Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ workshop I really thought it would be best to have you work with the Senior Leadership Team on this one, which is why I passed you along to the sponsor planning their offsite. I let her know you already understand a great deal about the brand and our company, so it would make a lot of sense to have you further expand on that work with this team. I also let her know you are really great at getting clear about the goals prior to the working session.”
Office Administrator
Underarmour Canada

Multi-media simulation learning programs

Our approach to ‘playing our way’ into working better together at work makes for memorable experiences.  We immerse participants in powerful metaphors to provoke conversations and action-planning to enhance their workplace performance.

“I just wanted to thank you and your team for a great program this week.  We all came away feeling thoroughly motivated, encouraged, more experienced, more knowledgeable and empowered to act.  In large part this was due to the Team Everest challenge and that way you worked with us to link that to our business challenges - a great co-operation! We look forward to the next opportunity to work with you and your colleagues.”
VP Sales and Marketing
Festo Inc.
“Some of the exercises that stand out over the years include the Team Everest simulation that served as a backdrop during our two-day leadership forum with the Home Depot’s Supply Chain management group. I am sure you will also enjoy the benefits of Tim’s capabilities in providing team effectiveness, leadership development or organization change learning programs."
CFO
The Home Depot
“We just finished processing the evaluations from our seminar with your facilitation team. The vast majority of those who provided feedback indicated that they enjoyed the Team Everest session. Given the skeptical nature of some, this is a very positive outcome. One person even commented that they worked closely with someone who they had encountered conflict with previously and were able to move past it. Thanks again for a wonderful day.”
Training Coordinator
Special Investigations Unit
“I thought the delivery of the material was really good, time to do exercises was sufficient, and that your control of the room was very good. I would recommend the DesignThinker simulation, and you as a facilitator to others.”
Vice President Sales
Maxium Financial Services Inc.

Innovation & strategic planning workshops

When an organization has needed to engage a wider audience than their Executive Team and Board members for strategic planning, we have leveraged our on-line collaboration platform ThinkTank to harvest the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ by tapping into key stakeholders such as staff working closest to the customer, or the actual end-users of the organization’s services or products.  When appropriate, our forward-looking data-based methodology for strategic planning has been guided by techniques such as design-thinking or SOAR – strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results.

"Our President was very happy with our executive retreat and commented that your facilitation really worked with the group. The Think Tank collaboration technology was well received as they like structure, which worked well with the balance of the personal sharing the next day. You were smart to include both approaches. I believe that any one on its own would not have hit the mark as well. Combined, it worked out great. Thanks for taking this on and for your patience in organizing our retreat."
VP Human Resources
SCI Group Inc.
“Using ThinkTank technology, Tim provided us with a very client-centric approach to developing and supporting our strategic planning session. The added benefits were greatly appreciated as the ThinkTank solution supported the group’s prioritization and discussion.”
VP of Strategic Planning
The Co-operators Group
“I just wanted to send you our thanks for helping our management team envision the long-term strategy for growth in our business and plan to execute the organization changes required to drive this growth.  Using the decision-support technology was a great idea, as we really moved through a lot of content quickly and were able to capture feedback on the Action Plans real time.  And that we could have so much fun while doing such important (and at times difficult work), led me quickly to conclude that we need you to help us plan and facilitate our National Kick-off Meeting with the entire sales organization.”
President & CEO
Festo Inc.
"We were impressed with Tim's thoroughness and knowledge around strategy development with an innovation emphasis: this “Design Thinking” methodology challenged us to ensure we were tapping into the perspectives of a wide group of key stakeholders in the community. Our strategic planning process was certainly influenced by incorporating best practices in the charitable-giving field, as well as our “user groups” aspirations and concerns. We were thrilled with both the planning process and the results of our Board’s efforts, thanks to Tim’s strong facilitation and innovative approach to strategic planning."
Executive Director
Georgetown Hospital Foundation
“Tim has been an ongoing consulting resource for an innovation process known as ‘Design Thinking’ that we launched in the early winter of 2012; the first iteration of which we will be wrapping up next month, as we demonstrate the new products we have created for our client members. We are delighted with the output of our Strategic Advisory Council’s innovation efforts, and have become big fans of the state-of-the-art approach to strategic planning Dixon and Associates leverage when using their ThinkTank collaboration technology.”
Vice President Consulting Services
CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants
“Just wanted to send you a note to thank you for working with our Executive Team over these past years. I was pleased we leveraged your ThinkTank platform at this first retreat and for the subsequent session we had with you. The most memorable moments during our Niagara-on-the-Lake Retreat the following year, were the change leadership models and decision-making tools you shared with us to support our efforts in moving forward with a new organizational structure. I personally gained invaluable insights into finding the balance between autonomy for speed of implementation and when to engage the full team in a collaborative process. During the most recent session, the leadership team was able to identify obstacles to overcome as we begin our shift to a different organizational structure. I found your experienced learning approach highlighted some important messages that we must keep in mind as leaders throughout our organizational transition.”
President & CEO
SCI Group Inc.
“After meeting with Tim Dixon, our Director of Human Resource and I decided to begin working with Dixon and Associates to help us. Tim had designed and facilitated a series of workshops to support the Senior Leadership Team across all departments in our organization. While team effectiveness and leadership development were the key areas of focus, Tim’s facilitation style led us to believe we had found a partner to embark on a company-wide strategic planning process. Tim was able to challenge our thinking with cutting-edge business concepts from the work he is doing around innovation. This blended very well with the action-based learning approach that permeated the workshops he designed to address our particular needs.”
General Manager
Goreway Power Station
“On behalf of our global Lymphoma Coalition (LC), I would like to thank you for leading us in an excellent strategic planning meeting two weeks ago. Going into the meeting our hopes were to have an overview of where we wanted to be in three years, which seemed like a big discussion. Each one of us were coming from different countries and while our goals were focused on LC, each board member represented different organizations and we do not have the opportunity to share in depth with each other on an ongoing basis. We were thrilled and very impressed that at the end of your facilitation process and from working within ThinkTank, we are now focused and have a solid document to expand on and develop into a three-year strategic plan. Gone are the days of flip charts and sticky notes! However, we sure enjoyed the visual drawing exercise that became the focus of many discussions. You proved to be an excellent leader and thought provoker, which led us to results we want and can achieve long term. Congratulations and thank you.”
Executive Director
Lymphoma Coalition

Custom workshop design and train-the-trainer:

When required, we can help your organization build onto your own ‘tool kit for learning and development’ so you may implement a roll-out using internal resources for a series of training workshops.

“Tim is an outstanding, highly experienced facilitator of experiential learning. He recently facilitated two important sessions with the senior management group of my client. He structured learning experiences that were very meaningful around a major change the firm has undertaken. The participants enthusiastically took part in the exercise Tim facilitated and came out with significant learnings that will support the major change they are to lead."
Founder
Saint Onge Alliance
“I knew we could count on your creative approach to learning design, coupled with a thorough understanding of our business processes based upon our previous work together on the value-based selling simulation we implemented last year. That workshop initially developed for use with our global sales leadership team hit the mark so well in terms of driving the standardize use of our sales tools, that we took the show on the road - presenting it to each of the sales teams at our 10 offices on three continents. The insight we gained from that exercise also pointed the way to subsequent training and development opportunities.”
Vice President of Human Resources
The Data Group of Companies