These are testimonials from some of the clients I’ve recently helped with work relationship issues. If anyone wanted to remain anonymous for professional reasons, I’ve given only their first name.
Want to explore how I could help? Please email me with a brief outline of your situation and I’ll get back to you. If I feel I could help, we can arrange for an initial coaching session to explore how we would work together. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
Andrew Smith, The Garden Cafe, Cambridge University Botanic Garden: Working with Susan helped me avoid so many of the traps that ‘talent’ owners fall into – thinking I had to do everything myself, thinking I couldn’t ask my staff to step up, worrying about how to expand the business without losing control of it. I’ve made huge changes over the past six months. I now realise that I can ask far more of my staff than I thought and that they feel it’s fantastic to work for me – plus I’ve gained immense confidence and developed my business to the point where I can step back, put a manager in place and start thinking about new and exciting projects within the Cafe and outside. I simply wouldn’t have been able to do that if I hadn’t worked with Susan.
Corrina Gordon Barnes, You Inspire Me: Susan Quilliam is one wise woman. She has vast expertise in an area I was clueless around: hiring an assistant. I could completely trust her to steer me through and I learnt a huge amount from her “insider knowledge” of the potential pitfalls of the process. She made it fun and interesting, whereas it had previously been stressful and fraught with confusion. I felt a great sense of partnership, that she cared about my getting the best result. She was truly invested in my success. Thanks to her expert guidance, I hired the perfect person and it transformed my business.
Barry Plows, Amp Maker Ltd: At a time of considerable stress thanks to a growing business, my session with Susan was the perfect tonic. Where I might have feared airy or vague ideas that are hard to turn into real-world plans, I got solid, practical and totally grounded advice. But this know-how was also delivered with an uncanny insight into what makes my business (and even me!) tick. Both strands make the company’s growing pains look manageable, and even exciting, instead of daunting.
Michael Lopategui, Design Effect: Susan’s work with me has been crucial. She never parrotted corporate-speak, but treated my problem as unique and important, a problem she was passionately interested helping me solve. She personalised her advice completely to give me clear, strategic thinking and practical solutions. I’m now able to get perspective and realise the opportunities that lie within the difficulties.
Ann Hawkins, The Inspired Group: Susan facilitated a discussion for The Inspired Group on one of our most challenging topics; “The Role of Sex in Success”. In the seven years the group has been running I have never seen a more consummate and confident performance. The business owners – who have proved challenging to more than one professional speaker – were unanimous in their praise of the way Susan articulated her ideas, and not only provided useful and interesting information about the importance of the topic to business but enabled them to share their own ideas and concerns in the group. The result is that the group is even more cohesive than before, members are comfortable asking each other’s opinions, they are open and honest with each other and therefore bringing even more insight into their businesses. I recommend Susan without reservation as a speaker and facilitator and as a genuinely interesting person who understands her topic and the relationship with her audience, is easy to deal with and utterly charming throughout. She makes the process of hiring a facilitator effortless and gets results that have a long lasting and beneficial effect.
Thomas, entrepreneur, London: Any business owner knows that positive relationships result in sales, staff productivity and success. The consultancy Susan provided to me was at a critical time for my business, involving a complex web of business relationships. Susan’s sensitivity to situations and second-to-none understanding of the dynamics of human interactions has resulted in my having the confidence and clarity to make the right business decisions. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of upside, and for a few hours of Susan’s consultancy, you can’t beat that for a return on investment.
John Seymour, John Seymour Associates: Susan is one of only a handful of people that I have consulted with regularly over the years. She has talked me through many different issues, both business and personal, and I consider her skills to be outstanding. If you are looking for a mentor or coach, I recommend her highly. Equally, I have co-trained with Susan; she knows her subject inside out and is impressively good as a trainer.
Elaine Taylor, Training Manager, Relate Cambridge: I simply didn’t realise how important it was, until given the chance to by Susan, to step back and take stock of my new role. I suddenly realised what a lot I had taken on and how much I was digging deep into my resources. Since our conversation, I have thought a lot about what the next step might be for me, and how crucial it is to organise further training or personal mentoring for myself. My thanks to Susan for giving me the chance to realise all this.