Who We Are
Empowering People - Empowering Teams
Established in 2000, we are locally owned & operated working in Dunedin, regionally, nationally & internationally. Our primary emphasis is personal, team & leadership development.
We specialise in personal & professional development consulting, coaching, training & facilitation for the not for profit, educational & corporate sectors. As a team of highly skilled & motivated consultants, facilitators, coaches & trainers, we are passionate about “people”.
We focus on enhancing people’s lives by “empowering people - empowering teams” to unleash their potential to be the best person they can be & want to be in order to achieve their personal & professional goals & aspirations.
Coming from a strong human resource & management training background, our training utilises (i) Kolb’s Experimental Learning Model i.e. Learning by Doing, (ii) drawing on the knowledge & experience of those taking part & (iii) where possible & appropriate weaving in the power of the outdoor environment & experiences.
Workshops can be run:
(i) as Public training workshops enabling individuals from a variety of organisations & works of life to attend. Check our Training calendar for more information.
(ii) In-house training workshops tailor-made to suit the needs of you, your team & your organisation’s mission, values & focus, or;
(iii) as 45 mins to 2 hrs "Training Bites" run in-house at the time that suits you with minimum disruptions to your business. Training bites are tailor-made & you can be mix & match from our huge range of training courses to align with your organisational goals.
Philosophy
All Free Spirit – Training & Development programmes & facilitation emphasise the following to ensure an evocative & effective learning experience for all
- Appreciative Inquiry (Ai) approach - which builds on what is already working & valued. Ai works on the premise that whatever we focus on, we empower, creating more of it. The approach especially encourages & enhances innovation, creativity & the ability to think out of the box.
- Practical “hands on” approach based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory i.e. “learning by doing”.
- Strength-based approach - the focus is on the individual & their strengths & abilities. Strength-based approach helps release the untapped potential of individuals, teams & the whole organisation.
- Professional facilitation – ensuring maximum learning is achieved & programme objectives are met.
- Teachable moment – identifying the teachable moment to enhance learning potential at both the personal & team level.
- Transference of learning - the direct linking of skills learnt to the work/team environment through highly skilled & focused facilitation.
- Progressive & flexible programme design – to ensure the natural progressions of learning within personal/team development by remaining open to the groups changing needs.
- Emphasis on “Challenge by Choice”. There is as much if not more learning to be gained by saying “no” to a challenge & this personal choice on all our programmes is both heard & respected.
- Identifying individual’s learning styles & incorporating these to enhance overall effectiveness of the programme.
- Promoting participant ownership of the programme to increase individual commitment & motivation through team & individual full value contracts.
- Promoting environmental, cultural & ecological awareness.
- Positive & effective communication between facilitators & participants is a clear goal at all times.
- Building relationships that support productivity & creativity through recognising & valuing individual strengths & abilities.
- Plus all our programmes, workshops & facilitation are ultimately: