Testimonials

Mary Lynn has an incredible ability to diffuse things that could explode.

Our Strategic Planning was professionally assisted by Ralph Kikkert of STRIVE!. With his expert facilitation skills, Ralph helped us listen to our community and forced us to ask and answer difficult questions. It was a very involved but exciting process, full of affirmations, challenges and even a few surprises.

One thing I especially appreciated was your willingness to adjust the [team building] program to respond to specific team meeting concerns I expressed at the end of Day 1. Most consultants stick quite rigidly to their prescribed agenda, perhaps not feeling comfortable enough to go in a slightly different direction. I’ve had good feedback from my team about the [two-day] off-site and can already see people adjusting their communication styles and approaches.

Brilliant! That's only one word to describe how Jim led us through a process that moved us from what seemed like insurmountable challenges to a confident shared vision in changes to our governance structure.

Ralph has worked with our organization extensively over the past couple of years.  Ralph has great governance knowledge and is strong at building trust.  With a wealth of experiences, he is very effective at dealing with difficult situations and even in large crowds can keep the process going on track.

The Alberta Barley Commission brought Jim Brown from STRIVE! into our organization when the board was experiencing challenges, even before I started here in 2005. Having Jim work with the board from then to now to repair trust, establish accountability standards and help us understand how to develop an organizational structure that supports the organization's mission made an incredible difference.STRIVE ! was instrumental in our success as an organization. I cannot overstate the value of the STRIVE! team in a crisis.

I really enjoyed the session on Saturday. I think it created a great deal of positive energy and puts us in a great position to start our new board year. Thanks so much for your excellent facilitation and leading us so successfully through the session.

In his book, The Imperfect Board Member, Mr. Brown presents governance not as a complicated subject that needs to be sorted out away from the material, but as a subject that makes perfect logical sense. He understands that the reader will not apply his ideas without them first making sense and being applicable. This is a fabulous book if you want to understand good governance on the first try without having to walk away and dissect the material.

As well, Mr. Brown writes in a way that connects the subject material and doesn't treat every governance training "principle" as an independent entity. He understands, and conveys, that good governance is a highly connected system and consequently should be written about as such. This book is practical, applicable, and completely worth the read. It's a wonderful easy read. Definitely take the opportunity to enjoy this 'GEM' of a book.

I have served on many Boards over the years. I seem to be called upon frequently to advise on a working governance model. In this capacity I have used STRIVE!'s articles and e-zine as a solid reference. They always seem to be on topic for whatever problem our Board faces. Thank you for producing them.

Boards are often endured, rarely enjoyed, and mostly untapped for their potential to ensure the success of organizations. Jim Brown unlocks the mystery of an effective Board of Directors in his fable. The clarity of his model and the practical application of the principles will assist any board of directors to increase their effectiveness and hence the performance of their organizations by reducing the confusion and frustration over the appropriate roles and responsibilities. It will assist Boards to realize their critical contribution and unleash CEO’s and their teams to deliver the results. I will be giving a copy of The Imperfect Board Member to each member of my Board and to fellow directors on the Board I sit on.

Jim has been a exceptional coach for myself and my board. With Strive!'s help we are continuing to excel as an organization.

Jim, what a fantastic keynote you led for us at our National Trustee Conference!  I so appreciate your ability to engage our audience...the President asked how you were able to to so when no one else could!

I’m so looking forward to the webinar and future events.

What a great tool! The GEM Assessment provided a high quality report that prompted good discussion around the board table.  Done annually it would provide an opportunity to track progress.  Great value for the price!

Thank you so much for your excellent facilitation. You walked the Board through some sensitive conversations with a great sense of empathy, and yet reason. I hope the Board continues to walk through the action plan in the coming months.

Jim Brown provided a keynote address to conferees of the 2010 Association of Governmental Risk Pool (AGRiP) Governance Conference in Nashville, TN.  We found Jim to be a down-to-earth practical individual with a strong message for making board members better at their job.  Drawing form material in his book "The Imperfect Board Member", Jim brought the message of the "Seven Disciplines of Governance Excellence" to our audience.  AGRiP provided a copy of his book to each conferee to augment and solidify his message as our conferees returned to their jobs within public schools, municipalities, counties, housing authorities, and public entity risk and benefit pools.  We look forward to scheduling Jim in the future for a more extended session.

Jim gave us a thorough grounding in the principles of policy governance.  He is an excellent communicator and an active listener, who invited broad and comfortable participation by Governors at our workshop and retreat.  Jim was very clear on what is appropriate for Board involvement, and his message was well understood and appreciated by all.  We are using him again to be our facilitator, as our college looks to examine new ways that we can connect with the needs of the communities with our service region. 

Jim Brown provided a governance "super session" to our recent annual Presidents and Managers meeting.  Jim's sessions on "Engaging Directors in Strategic Planning" and "Board Communications with Key Stakeholders" were both topical and relevant to our attendees.  Those attending the sessions rated Jim's information and presentation as excellent.  Jim did a great job of providing practical approaches to everyday board challenges. 

Our board members found the GEM Assessment to be a practical, bite-sized and manageable means of evaluating the board.  They were able to mine the resulting report and agree on actionable ways to improve board effectiveness.  It was good value compared to the other board development activities that are more costly, time consuming and don't yield tangible results.

What could have been long & boring was presented in such a way that the day went by nicely.  Very informative.  Lots of interaction; clear, direct, thorough...good flow; liked the visual cues.

I really enjoyed this session.  The information was excellent and presented in an understandable format with great group participation.  I really liked the learning experience "the stuff makes sense" motivation maintained all day!!  I'm looking forward to the next session.

Addressed what they promised.  Topic relevant and good application of concepts to current situation locally.  Dynamic presenters!  Excellent examples.  Knowledgeable presenters who brought solutions.

Content was excellent.  Style of facilitation made the information flow.  Good group participation.

I would highly recommend the Champion Chairing workshop.  It was well worth the time and travel to attend.  I feel much more confident about filling the role of the Chair.  The Imperfect Board Member has also been a valuable resource for me and I intend to share it with the board at the next meeting.

Interesting, excellent delivery.  Good group participation.  You are guys are great! Cleared a lot of confusion concerning board governance.

We received excellent informal feedback about the session, and as you yourself could see during the workshop, the participants were really participative and engaged.

I appreciate your contacting me and giving encouragement.  I must say I felt that your skill in these situations in invaluable and your professionalism is an example for us all.  Thank you for the comfort level you created that allowed me to express myself!

I would like to offer a recommendation for "Strive".  As a G.M. of a company looking to improve and refocus we had a very positive result when Mary Lynn put us together on our focus.  We can now move ahead into the 21st centrury.

ACCES is highly committed to continuous board governance improvement.  As part of that commitment to grow, we worked with Mary Lynn McPherson of STRIVE! on some next steps in our governance journey!  Mary Lynn was amazing!  She challenged us, presented great ideas and managed debate around tough issues.  Her knowledge of health board governance practices is phenomenal and she has a gift for communicating both the role of the board and methods for managing related issues.  Mary Lynn's ability to simply present STRIVE!'s steps to a healthy board and to communicate it clearly to each stakeholder at the table earned her the respect of our board.  They felt empowered and the entire organization gained from the board's growth.  I highly recommend STRIVE!'s services.

At our Board meeting...we did a debrief of the Strategic Planning meeting.  All Board members were highly complimentary of the job you did of facilitating the two days.  We look forward to using the results of that meeting to "raise the tide".

Informing, thought provoking and learning experience; it has motivated me to be as effective a director as possible.

With my experiences as CEO and also as Director of various not-for-profit Boards I read this book with great interest. I enjoyed it, and learned from it.

This book, indeed, first looks like a quick read, it is engaging and illustrates points in a nice, conversational style; but soon I realized I had to slow down.  To really take in the profound suggestions of effective relationships between, and diverse responsibilities of, Directors, CEO and staff, I needed to stop often and take in what was written.  The book ends with a summary of the major points with clear, direct words, spelling out clear lines of communication, portraying the roles of Directors, CEO and staff clearly and decisively, and outlines effective processes.  I am convinced that everyone reading this book who follows its advice will increase his or her joy as Board member and will help create better Board functions and relationships.

Ralph Kikkert is a great consultant to work with.  An excellent facilitator, he is skilled at helping a group create great strategies and common ideas.  Ralph also has a terrific sense of humour and is wonderful with people.

Bringing in Jim for our board development was one of the best decisions we have made. He broke us out of a static position to one filled with direction and purpose. We are benefitting from clear roles and responsibilities and have documentation to support our future.

Jim finds a way to get right to the point, deal with board conflict, and forge a board into a team.

College and university do not prepare a business owner to be an effective board member. A prerequisite for joining any board should be to read The Imperfect Board Member. Then, if you really want to build strength in your boardroom, invite Jim to come in person!

These guys are like NINJA consultants -- incredibly tuned to the group and deftly able to strike with penetrating questions to push us to perform.We'll never be the same since their help.

I think I can say that without exception, those individuals (and the total number of participants was over 60) that attended the workshops required for the training were unanimous in recognizing that STRIVE understood the specific issues, concerns and barriers facing agencies that were delivering services to children and their families.  The result was really a community building exercise.

Personally, my take home message was that structure could affect the ability of individuals and agencies to deliver services and operate cooperatively.  With STRIVE’s input and guidance the community decided to transform the former Children’s Services Cooperative into a corporate organization and it became the Children’s Community Network.  The resulting organization was able to go places with respect to central access for children’s services within four months!