"Wow, your workshop got some great feedback: “to-the-point, relevant, engaging, empowering, fun and helpful. ""Thoughtful conversations have taken place about the library's in-service Soft Skills workshop topic. Our staff enjoyed the opportunity to interact, to listen and notice offers, and find creative solutions. After the training, a young staff member told a more experienced co-worker that the embrace failure story you related to our group made a positive impression on him. Your story was about going to the airport (in the past) and realizing that it was not the airport that your flight was booked ... and then what you did; finding solutions and persevering despite scheduling delays which enabled you to reach your destination. He shared that he is going to shift his thinking from feeling defeated by failure to embracing failure, refocusing and seeking solutions.
Thank you for a successful training!""We invited several of the leadership cohort members to speak at the Library Commission on their experiences in the Leadership Program. I wanted to let you know that we thought they did a stellar job. All three of them were confident, poised, passionate and expressive! .... And though we chose these 3, we strongly believe anyone of the cohort team members would have presented in a superb way. But in reference to these 3, the Library Commissioners thought they were excellent and were clear leaders in the library organization.  We are so happy that this leadership program is developing our leaders and look forward to the next cohort!"

"I would like to personally thank you both for this amazing experience in the LDP Pilot. It was unlike anything I have ever participated in, and it was helpful beyond what I can really conceive at this time.""Barb and I are creating a PowerPoint presentation for the rest of the staff based on our notes of your insights.
Thanks very much for coming and for your enthusiasm which got us engaged and provided us new ways of thinking about interacting with others. We are gung-ho for win-wins all around""The training was tailor made, planned out well and hit on key areas of concern. I especially liked that Cheryl challenged the Veteran staff to work harder at service as assumption and habit have set in. She also pointed out the value of the newbies which was helpful since we run the risk of low retention with them due to the fact that the staff is not weighted evenly"

I implemented the "yes, and..." experiment into one of our brainstorming meetings and it was a very positive experience all around.

My team members did not realized how many "yes, but..." were eliminated and everyone had to pay close attention to the person speaking so that they could continue with the next idea that started with "yes, and...

The team had more collaborative ideas that pinged of each other and the mood was elevated and sense of teamwork was evident. It really felt different than the usual meeting.

“I highly recommend Cheryl Gould as a learning facilitator. Attending her training sessions over a number of weeks left me re-charged and excited about engaging with my colleagues to make great things happen. When I first found out our organization was going to be involved in facilitated learning, I thought, “I don’t have time for this. I have too much work to do.” After attending a number of her workshops, I told her, “I didn’t not have time for this.” Cheryl was critical to increasing my professional effectiveness. She is an inspired facilitator who, in any given moment, can draw upon the perfect learning model to bring new understanding to teams. She isn’t afraid to dig down deep to get to the root causes of organizational behaviors.  She then helps people uncover new insights and develop new tools for overcoming stumbling blocks. I relish any opportunity to work with her again in the future.”

 Your active facilitation method certainly allowed the ideas to emerge from the people in the room at the workshop. 
Thank you for modeling good behavior for how to "get out of the way" and let ideas emerge. 

Best library workshop I've ever attended.  Interesting, dynamic, and applicable in so many ways to what we do.  Also challenging!  We don't have enough workshops that challenge us to think differently.  Fantastic.   Hope she comes back.

What I found most valuable was the pace, practice and teambulding.  Cheryl was outstanding (but that's why we wanted her).  Tied everything very well to our project.  I even wish the training had been longer!

You did a great job in holding the openspace at the Applied Improvisation Network conference. Your clear explanation and professionally casual nature set just the right tone for it - and it was so smooth.  Just what people wanted.

The debrief at the end was so delicious - people filled with joy, inspiration, and motivation. We could not ask for anything better.

I thought Cheryl Gould did an excellent job.  She had an upbeat, well-paced presentation incorporating lecture with a good listening style.  She got people talking.  Her exercises and handouts were very useful.  The context of "Customer Service" in the Self Check World was a very good broadening element.  Ruth and I will be using this workshop as a further way to expand our work around self service, etc. technologies and transition to the "new library model".