Testimonials

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate having TPG involved in our training this past year. You have been lifesavers! We have loved working with your team. You are all the epitome of professionalism and excellence. I knew anything we gave to you to work on would be done exceptionally well and on time.

- Training Manager, Government of Alberta

August 1, 2020

Denise provides a great balance of thought provoking and engaging discussion with a light hearted touch making the sessions both constructive and enjoyable.

- Executive Manager

October 2015

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It’s been over four years since I had the opportunity to work with Denise as my coach. However, I still regularly think through the areas that we worked on together, and regularly use them in my daily work and life. From the setting of my goals for our time together, to our regular meetings, to the open, honest and encouraging discussions, Denise created an atmosphere where I felt she truly had my best interests in mind. I feel I have a much better understanding and confidence in my strengths, while also being better equipped with strategies to address areas of lesser strength. I also appreciated the way Denise understood me as a whole person, as our conversations covered both the work environment as well as out-of-work areas. I am grateful to Denise for her commitment to helping me grow as a leader, and for all I learned (and continue to put into practice) during our time.

- Manager

October 2015

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Having Denise as a coach was invaluable. She offered practical tools for helping define my short and long-term career goals. I gained confidence through the process and came out with clear understanding of my strengths, weaknesses and a solid plan to achieve my personal career goals.

- Maura Sutherland, Barrister and Solicitor, Alberta Justice and Solicitor General

October 2015

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I always look forward to my conversations with Denise.  She is able to strike a balance between listening, sharing her experience/ ideas, and asking the right questions.  She leaves with me helpful insights and/or questions to ponder.  Denise has helped me in many aspects of my career, from developing staff to career planning.  She has been a vital resource to me, both personally and professionally.

- Director

October 2015

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Denise has the ability and insight to help uncover the fundamental of an individual's goals and aspirations and utilise this to facilitate the creation of wholistic and integrated career/life pathways.
 
My time spent with Denise, and completing agreed to tasks, has help me succeed in mapping, understanding and improving the path forward for me, my family and my staff.
 
- Manager, Alberta Municipal Affairs
October 2015

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I began my coaching experience with Denise in January 2011, and it continued for approximately one year.  At the time, I was in a senior manager position, and since then I competed for, and was successful in moving into an Executive Director position.  I believe Denise’s coaching was instrumental for my continued growth in the public service.  I appreciated that Denise used open ended questions to explore topics that I raised during our sessions, to help me further understand what was the real ‘challenge’ I was trying to address.  She was able to assist me in my own internal analysis about ways I could further improve my engagement with my peers.  With the team of professionals that I worked with, she helped me explore my own leadership style.  I found particularly helpful an instrument she provided to me regarding conflict management (Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument).  I answered a series of questions in between our coaching sessions and we then explored my results and how to use my particular conflict style effectively.
 
I found that Denise was able to provide me with a number of practical techniques that I continue to use today, such as when I am chairing meetings, I will end the meeting with a brief summary of the actions agreed upon, and inviting participants to confirm their support for the direction.  This helps me articulate the path forward, and also provides an opportunity for anyone to present a different perspective.  
 
Through her advice and coaching, I do feel I am more articulate with my expectations, that I have enabled a more open and collaborative environment where differing perspectives are welcome and considered when making strategic decisions, and I feel overall I am contributing effectively to the success of my organization.  I would highly recommend Denise as a coach – I was fortunate to have this opportunity to work with her.
 
- Executive Director
October 2015

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Choosing Denise Burrell as a Coach proved to be an absolute ‘game changer’ in enabling and nurturing both the Science and Art of personal and professional leadership! 
 
Denise fostered a warm and inviting atmosphere – creating a safe environment that allowed for frank and robust exploration of what made me ‘tick’ as a leader. This was profound for me in that with several graduate degrees and many years of experience in progressive leadership positons, I did not require further development of the ‘technical’ aspects of leading teams and complex work. Instead, I discovered that what I really needed, and received, was an ‘inward exploration of me’.
 
Although at first, this required some courage, my coaching experience has proven to be so valuable and necessary in my progression as a strategic leader, that several of the Senior Managers whom I lead have since begun seeing Denise – building the capacity of ‘tomorrow’s leaders today’.
 
- Dr. Ross Danyluk, Executive Director, Alberta Transportation
October 2015

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As a new director in the Government of Alberta, Denise helped me get through the difficult transition of being an individual performer to learning how to get things done through other people. At our first meeting, Denise worked with me to identify those areas where I needed improvement. Over the next few months, Denise kept me focussed on addressing those areas even when it meant leaving my comfort zone. Whenever I stumbled, Denise was there to provide me with advice and support. The lessons I learned as a result of Denise’s coaching have made me a stronger leader and will serve me well as I continue to progress in my career in the Government of Alberta.

- Ryan Reichl, Director, Alberta Transportation

October 2015

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“How can we make best use of our time today?” This is how Denise opened most of our coaching conversations together. We’d go on to discuss the ‘workplace dilemma of the day’ or more general topics like team-building, managing fears, and strengths-based leadership. Every time, Denise listened more than she talked. Her open questions combined with great subject-matter expertise left me feeling positive about my abilities and looking forward to taking action. By deftly getting me to answer my own questions she helped me to focus on building strengths rather than fixing weaknesses, and figure out how to get out of a rut. Since working with Denise I have looked for and taken on leadership responsibilities, and enrolled in the GoA Leadership Program. My work with Denise showed me that I could succeed at both.

- Barrister and Solicitor

October 2015

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Working with Denise was a great pleasure. She created a safe environment for me to explore challenging situations, provided inspirational resources when I needed them, yet encouraged me to create my own tool to use to navigate the path forward. Once I created the tool, she played a strong role in encouraging my progress and ensuring I was accountable to myself and the goals I had set. This coaching experience exceeded my expectations.

- Executive Director

October 2015

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My coaching experience with Denise has been so valuable!  With Denise’s guidance, I was able to work through some complex challenges and have learned tools and techniques that will serve me well into the future.  Denise is knowledgeable and professional, and I have benefitted greatly from her insights.  I would highly recommend Denise as a coach!

- Executive Manager

October 2015

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The instructor was excellent. She had a great attitude, was patient and funny.

April 2015

The instructor was amazing. She was expressive, upbeat, and entertaining. I appreciated her honest and realistic approach to learning.

April 2015

Denise was great!  She was very knowledgeable and presented the material in a very positive way, capturing the attention of the participants. She shared stories, elicited discussions and made a difficult subject meaningful, with some funny moments as well.

March 2015

Denise is an experienced and knowledgeable trainer.  Her input and feedback into the delivery of the training was valuable.  Denise is energetic, intuitive and engages participants in a supportive manner.  She was a pleasure to co-facilitate with and I would be happy to be a part of any training she was facilitating.

June 2015

When I started working with an executive coach I came into this experience with doubts about how this interaction could benefit me. Denise created an atmosphere of trust. Her gentle manner in challenging me to grow brought me closer to the answers I’ve been struggling to find. Denise met my expectations about addressing my specific questions and concerns and has been effective in helping me analyze and assess the situations I have brought forward in our discussions. What worked well for me was the set time every second week and face to face interaction. I will probably use the GROW model for goal setting and problem solving for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for Denise’s contribution to my journey in leading and I would recommend her to anyone.

- Manager

September 2015

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She was fantastic and made the workshop fun and memorable. She gives great examples of situations and makes the material easy to understand.

September 2014

She is a wonderful instructor. She is full of vitality, she keeps the workshop fun, exciting, interesting, and the time flies by.  She uses examples to teach us, she answers all the questions we came up with, she kept us on our toes.  If we didn't want to answer in class she didn't force us - she let us become comfortable in our situation before asking us to participate.  It was GREAT!!

September 2014

Excellent knowledge base, very energetic, strong presentation skills

September 2014

Denise was an excellent instructor. She presented the information in a very unique way which was both informative and interesting. I liked the fact that she gave both work and personal examples on the different scenarios. The information that was presented will be very helpful to put into practice at my worksite.

September 2014

She was very engaging and used many examples that were relatable in order to understand the concepts she was sharing. She was respectful and encouraged discussion.

September 2014

Denise was very knowledgeable and entertaining which definitely made the course more interesting. She used both personal and work examples to help students make use of course material. The day flew by which says a lot for a course!!!

September 2014

Very lively and enthusiastic. She seemed knowledgeable and practised in this field. She addressed expectations of class members in her content.

March 2014

Vivacious and well versed in conflict resolution

March 2014

Wonderful, great energy. She gave you personal attention and great advice.

March 2014

Excellent instructor. I enjoyed the workshop and HIGHLY recommend people attend this workshop. The workshop is very informative and helps in dealing with people. Whether it is coworkers, managers, clients, patients, family members.... people that you deal with in your lives. I am very glad I went to this workshop and thank you very much for it.

March 2014

Engaging, energetic and comfortable in exploring real life situations. She is an excellent instructor.

March 2014

She made this seminar interesting and fun. Her knowledge of this course information is impressive, I was glad to have attended this seminar.

March 2014

Ms Burrell was an excellent instructor. Lots of energy, information, interaction with patrons and she really made the workshop fun to attend while still addressing the issue.

March 2014

FANTASTIC! What a great teacher. Her professionalism and skill in teaching is remarkable.

March 2014

Amazing. Confident. Knowledgeable. Engaging. She is a great presenter. I hope to attend more of her workshops and feel I left with great insight into myself and everyday situations. I will cope better having met her.

January 2014

She is very engaged and involves everyone in the workshop. Her personal stories are very interesting and helpful. She is animated and easy to listen to.

November 2013

Excellent instructor. Very engaging and dynamic speaker, with relevant and useful examples that helped to illustrate the topics discussed.

November 2013

Denise was delightful. Very knowledgeable, entertaining and took the time to answer everyone's questions.

November 2013

She is an excellent instructor with very practical suggestions that are very helpful. She was energetic, clear in her presentation and she was also very respectful of each person that posed questions or comments. I find myself benefited tremendously from her instruction and also she has given me much food for thought to put all that into practice.

September 2013

She is an absolute jewel. I am not sure where you found her but she is worth her weight in gold. She is confident, knows her subject matter extremely well and delivers it in an exciting dynamic fashion that is infectious and engages her audience.

September 2013

She was awesome!! She covered all aspects of the course, incorporating humor and appropriate breaks. I would love to take any other courses/workshops with her as an instructor.

September 2013

Very knowledgeable regarding subject matter. Passionately presented throughout the day. Strong effort to involve attendees participation. Displayed genuine willingness and ability to help attendees understand and apply the material.

September 2013

Denise is a wonderful instructor, very enthusiastic and inclusive of all participants. I like how she used a range of teaching methods to engage the group.

September 2013

This is one of the best presentations I have ever attended. Ms Burrell kept us on time without diminishing the validity of different stories that participants were referring to. She knew when to press forward and when to allow for expression. I enjoyed this presenter immensely and do not hesitate to recommend her course to coworkers.

September 2013

She is an excellent instructor. She gave relevant examples to make us understand the concepts. She involved all participants in the class.

September 2013

There were many tools and ideas that I was able to glean. Denise has a great talent in being able to suggest appropriate and timely ideas/tools for consideration.

Jul 2013

Denise’s ability to ‘clear the path’ by always starting the sessions with ‘how will we best use this next hour’

Apr 2012

I found Denise to be very respectful, thoughtful and warm and I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from our conversations.

Apr 2012

Overall I found coaching to be a valuable experience which allowed me to increase my self-awareness, networking, teambuilding and leadership skills.

Apr 2012

I already have recommended to senior staff who are trying to understand their own career motivations and strengths/weaknesses.

Apr 2012

Denise made the experience “real” and didn’t give me the textbook approach I was originally expecting. She really listened and connected my experiences and issues in a realistic way and provided real life options to some of the challenges I’m facing.

Feb 2012

Anyone can benefit from coaching and everyone would benefit from coaching with Denise. She is flexible and easy to work with.

Jul 2013

Denise was an excellent listener but always stepped in with valuable insights, assessments, or recommendations without being judgemental. I think it was her overall understanding of my needs that allowed her to play the role I needed of her.

Jul 2013

Denise provided the conversational style I needed to address the goals that I wished to achieve.

Jul 2013

Very knowledgeable regarding subject matter. Passionately presented throughout the day. Strong effort to involve attendees participation. Displayed genuine willingness and ability to help attendees understand and apply the material.

Sep 2013

This is one of the best presentations I have ever attended. Ms. Burrell kept us on time without diminishing the validity of different stories that participants were referring to. She knew when to press forward and when to allow for expression. I enjoyed this presenter immensely and do not hesitate to recommend her course to coworkers.

Sep 2013

She was amazing. Very knowledgeable. Had a lot of examples that helped understand what she was trying to get across. A lot of great info in a short time. She had lots of energy and was very good at tuning into the classes needs. 200%

Sep 2013

She is an excellent instructor. She gave relevant examples to make us understand the concepts. She involved all participants in the class.

Sep 2013

Denise is a wonderful communicator. She was very clear in her explanation of her plan for the day and she accomplished what she said she would accomplish.

Sep 2013

She was very good, and keeping us informed about lots of things, giving us tools and how and where and when to use.

Sep 2013

She was awesome!! She covered all aspects of the course, incorporating humor and appropriate breaks. I would love to take any other courses/workshops with her as an instructor.

Sep 2013

Denise is enthusiastic, well organized. Was able to give me some strategies and confidence on how to deal with my difficult person.

Sep 2013

Denise was an excellent instructor who presented the material in logical manner, encouraged class participation, shared her own personal experiences to help make a point of learning, good listener, made herself available to any member who wanted to ask personal questions pertaining to the course outline during the breaks. I really enjoyed my experience!

Sep 2013

Denise is a wonderful instructor, very enthusiastic and inclusive of all participants. I like how she used a range of teaching methods to engage the group.

Sep 2013

Wonderful! Engaging, positive and supportive. Encouraged participation - pushed me, but not beyond my comfort level (i.e. To share my thoughts with the group/my elbow partner aloud). Provided an environment in which my learning was maximized. Allowed the group to guide the discussion and to investigate "tangents" while still keeping us on target re: learning goals/relevance to topic.

Feb 2013

Very good, experienced instructor with a lot of knowledge in this area. Covered a lot of relevant areas related to this topic.

Feb 2013

She is an excellent instructor. She uses humour adequately, and uses practical examples to enhance our understanding. I learned so much yesterday and way attentive all day - was really useful.

Feb 2013

Energetic, engaging, and knowledgeable.

Feb 2013

Denise is a very educated and informative instructor. She gave us man workplaces scenarios to help us understand and use different tools in recognizing and better deal with difficult people and also tools in how to diffuse some difficult situations. I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and came away with many tools, especially to try and respond to a situation instead of just react.

Feb 2013

These workshops are a terrific service to the members. I hope that [our organization] continues to provide educational opportunities. Denise Burrell is an amazing facilitator. I really learned. It was a very enjoyable day. The self-reflective exercises are great. A fantastic learning experience.

Feb 2013

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop - very thought-provoking. Denise, with her enthusiasm, really made it seem like resolving conflict and all the work that entails was worth it. Made me want to do my part in making my workplace a better place to be.

Feb 2013

Very well done. Good teacher.

Feb 2013

Very engaging and interactive.

Feb 2013

She was enthusiastic and receptive to the audience. Great job!

Feb 2013

She was AWESOME!! Full of enthusiasm and knowledge. Very attentive to the mood of the audience.

Feb 2013

She is a great speaker.

Feb 2013

I feel she was a great presenter. She has a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge. She works to adapt her presentation to the needs of her audience. She uses great examples. Really enjoyed what she had to say and how she said it.

Feb 2013

Excellent, concise, well-paced, competent, enthusiastic, energetic, humorous.

Feb 2013

Dynamic and excellent instructor who presented the material logically and with humour.

Feb 2013

Denise was very enthusiastic and passionate about the topic. She presented very well, everyone was engaged in the conversations and was involved in every case study.

Feb 2013

This is one of the best workshops I’ve been to. This actually had very practical advice. Something that you could take home with you and apply.

Nov 2012

Very enthusiastic, conscious of everyone's participation style, and clear in her approach.

Nov 2012

She was excellent! Very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the subject. She gave lots of relevant examples.

Nov 2012

Ms. Burrell was excellent. She kept the participants engaged in the workshop the whole day. She drew from the experiences of the participants as well as personal experience.

Nov 2012

Excellent instructor. The day was well planned out. She made the group feel relaxed and used learning exercises that complemented all styles of learning. She was always open to questions and gave helpful advice.

Nov 2012

Energetic and engaging. She was acutely aware of "mixing up" different learning techniques, offering breaks and addressing questions/explaining information in a respectful way.

Nov 2012

Outstanding!! Denise is one of the best instructors that I have ever taken a course from. Show excellent knowledge on the subject and was able to present the material in an interactive manner. Very appropriate use of group and partner activities. Addressed question with empathy and showed us how to apply the material in the workshop.

Nov 2012

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your work with us on the collaborative facilitation pilots. Everywhere I go I hear nothing but good things about the 3 days and also how great and skilled you are. Of course I knew about the ‘great and skilled’ part J but is a wonderful reminder of how fortunate we are to be working with you.

Sep 2012

Honestly now inspired to do more facilitation and work on these skills. Oh yeah and you are awesome! So full of energy and humour.

Aug 2012

I have worked with Denise and the Performance Group for many years, and I know her to be a very gifted facilitator and coach, who adds great value to any process with which she is involved.

Oct 2011

I found Denise Burrell to be very knowledgeable and helpful. I appreciated her insight and perspective in performance assessments.

Jun 2007

Denise was always energetic & positive.

May 2007

I learned a lot from her (Denise) & enjoyed her talks.

Jun 2006

Would have learned more from Denise's lectures & group discussion.

Jun 2006

Denise knew her material like the back of her hand - was able to support / facilitate thoughtful discussions.

Jun 2006

Denise's patience was amazing… her experience applicable and she has a plethora of knowledge

Jun 2006

Thanks Denise. You did a great facilitation job of a difficult topic and connected the 'task team' work key themes to the overall concept

Jun 2006

Denise was a "GREAT" facilitator of this course. We are very lucky to have you!

Jun 2006

Denise, you are a wonderful instructor, you demonstrated a clearer vision on my behalf and an upstanding of leadership, excellent workshop!

Mar 2008

Denise is a fantastic instructor very knowledgeable & respectful

Mar 2008

Denise - I really appreciate your teaching style, patience & pacing - well done & thank you!

Mar 2008

Denise's energy was infectious, the 2 days went by so fast and information presented was very well done.

Apr 2008

Denise took a potentially dry subject and made it fun and interesting. Years and years ago, I was taught a communications course that involved and extensive interviewing skill component but this has been a great refresher course

Apr 2008

Denise's real experience of what's worked in real scenarios (very useful)

Jul 2008

Appreciated Denise's geniuses and approachable style

Jul 2008

Denise not only taught us facilitation skills but modeled them, so we could learn by observing; Denise's natural approach & opportunity for participants to discuss how different approaches might work for them.

Jul 2008

I found both courses very useful & applicable to what workplace. Denise is fantastic! Enthusiastic, knowledgeable and fun! I would recommend this course to other supervisors. I look forward to other courses.

Oct 2011