My experience with Maya and her Deep Democracy approach was phenomenal. My colleague and I were finally able to clearly communicate and voice our concerns in a way that was productive and helped us rise to a new level of leadership. Under Maya’s direction, I felt as though I was heard, and we were, in even one session, able to resolve many issues. I strongly endorse Maya’s approach; it simply works and allows for open, honest work environments.
Medical Director, Anchor Health
Maya Townsend completed a flawless analysis of the mission and work on the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and offered actionable recommendations for strengthening the Center as it moves forward with its critical work in the future. Maya listened to numerous constituency groups, distilled various opinions and thoughts, and tied this with best practices in the field to offer insightful suggestions to the incoming director on how best to take the Cohen Center forward. Maya has a deftness of touch, a sophisticated awareness of how to bring about change, and can discuss competing narratives in a way that fosters collaborative solutions. She is very impressive. Thank you for your wonderful work. It will help our new director, help the College, and ultimately enable our public mission to be strengthened for the years to come.
On the first day of work at my new job, I received a copy of a report that was prepared by Maya. Maya had conducted dozens of in-depth interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders associated with the Center, and her report contained a set of clear, actionable findings. This report was an absolute gift – I was able to hit the ground running because of the insights and recommendations that Maya shared.
Our success in rolling out an enterprise-wide security initiative required a significant shift in priorities and Partnering Resources was our behind-the-scenes secret sauce. Partnering Resources presents such a thoughtful and tailored approach to digging into the challenges facing an organization. Collaborating together, we designed an investigation of stakeholder sentiment that resulted in an in-depth strategy to address concerns, sensitivities, and positive reinforcement. Executive coaching with education, framing, and consistent, pinpointed, relevant feedback is an integral hallmark of Partnering Resources. Maya's human-centered approach brings warmth, honesty, and laughter, even in the face of cultural challenges. Thank you!
VP, Information Technology and Security, Health and Wellness Company
Use of scenario planning was an integral process used to identify strategic priorities for [our organization]. Team members entered this planning process with varied experiences, priorities, and expectations. Yet they all actively participated in the process and the outcomes were extremely positive. Not only was the team able to quickly and collaboratively identify the agency’s strategic priorities the process also effectively served to unify and energize the team.
Additionally, during the scenario planning exercises, the Open Sky Team identified a number of critical capabilities including being able to respond rapidly; being innovative and having a commitment to addressing complex challenges. We have found that the process of identifying these capabilities has proven to be immensely helpful as we have needed to call on and build upon them daily while maintaining operations and responding to the needs of our community during the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Senior VP, human services organization
Maya is a phenomenal resource to organizations and leaders. She brings warmth and accessibility combined with the ability to see the big picture as well as the details. A year or so after having worked with Maya on a comprehensive, organization-wide strategic planning process, I hired her to plan and facilitate a 2-day leadership team retreat. I knew that we needed her strategic and thoughtful approach to planning the retreat and her warm yet structured facilitation during the two days.
As expected, Maya was very thoughtful about creating and evolving the design, in partnership with each participant, to ensure that we had a clear set of shared goals and a plan for meeting those goals. During the retreat, she helped us to have complex and challenging conversations by utilizing a variety of relevant and productive facilitation methodologies. Maya is a master at balancing structure with flexibility, adjusting based on the needs of the participants and the direction of the conversations and decision-making. Everyone on our team loves working with Maya and we view her as a true organizational partner.
CEO, Talent Services Company Executive Team Strategy Facilitation
Working with Maya exceeded our expectations. Her process was a great fit with our goals and she led the process beautifully. Maya is a talented and well-respected facilitator who brought a clear plan to each session but was able to flex as needed. She quickly built trust with our team and along the way, team members often said “trust Maya’s process." We did, and we are thrilled with the results!
CEO, Professional Services Company Strategy, Planning, Radical Engagement
After our new CEO came in, I needed my leadership team to understand that we were a different company than before. Partnering Resources designed a process that engaged our leaders in reading industry best practices, clarifying the difference between "then" and "now" cultures, and identifying the changes that they needed to display as leaders. We accomplished more than I had anticipated and my leaders took a large step towards becoming the team I needed them to be.
CIO, insurance company
You really did an outstanding job. It takes a real talent to come in as an outsider to the business, culture, and industry and facilitate a major change of corporate direction and new strategy with a management group.
Business Unit Manager, technology organization
I have never enjoyed an off-site more nor participated in one that was so well controlled and focused. Your theme was consistent & truly inspirational for our group.
QA Director, insurance company
Maya is and continues to be the best facilitator that I have had the pleasure to work with.... no improving needed!
Project Manager, technology organization
Love it when Maya [works with us] - we get more done. She is great at reading the crowd and directing accordingly.
Project Manager, technology organization
Thanks so much for your hard work and diligence over the past few weeks working with me and the process redesign team. The milestone meeting today showed what great work the team has done with your direction.
VP, insurance company
I really want to express my pleasure with these meetings. I have to admit I was skeptical… coming in, but I have been singing their praises ever since. I think the candor of the group was very open and honest even under a situation that none of us had previously experienced. I have been in many meetings of this sort, and I am amazed at the dynamic that evolved in the short time we were allotted.
Software Developer, financial services organization
When I inherited a new division, Partnering Resources designed and facilitated a strategic offsite session to help leaders in the new division get on board quickly. Through structured dialogue and well-chosen activities, we discussed the vision and strategy for the organization; engaged the leaders; and increased their understanding of our goals. In one day, we boosted the leaders' commitment to the organization.
CIO, financial services company
I knew that we would not be successful in taking a bigger leadership role in the Company unless we found a way to get to a highly level of performance, without adding additional people. The work that we did with Partnering Resources enabled us to develop, very quickly, into a much higher performing team. We were more effective, more successful and the team members reported significantly greater pride and satisfaction in their accomplishments.
Marketing VP, software company
Working with Partnering Resources was a true pleasure! From the extensive preparations and the participant interviews to the facilitation and follow-up, this was truly a first class operation. We emerged with an energized management team with a common vision and clear agenda. This will serve as the foundation for our company’s efforts for the next several years.
CEO, technology company
Partnering Resources designed an innovative program that allowed us to mine employee perspectives, opinions, and issues for the benefit of the organization. Maya created a process that made it safe for employees to identify and discuss important and sensitive issues. She then facilitated discussions between employees and our organization's leaders. The conversations were positive and gave me the opportunity to reinforce messages, correct misunderstandings, and understand concerns. The program has been a great success.
CIO, financial services organization
Due to changes in federal standards, we needed to decrease the length of our year-end close cycle by 30 calendar days. Maya facilitated a series of working meetings for us, bringing together people involved in all aspects of the close process. We looked at innovations, time-saving ideas, and other radical ideas that would help us achieve our goals. Each meeting was well-planned, creative, and engaging. Maya did an excellent job facilitating our diverse group and helping us figure out how to successfully meet this challenge.
Project Director, finance organization
Maya did an outstanding job of working with the group to really flush out their concerns and get them comfortable with presenting those concerns. We had such a successful dialogue that we continued on the next day for an additional two hours. The participants that I’ve spoken to after the session were unanimous in their praise for the session and each commented on how great Maya was.
CEO, software development organization