"As an experienced organisational development and learning practitioner with over 17 years’ experience, Gabriella’s seminars have provided me with the necessary depth to go beyond the surface where in my belief the real work in organisations needs to be done. Gabriella is very skilled at handling often complex themes, vital for effective functioning, in a way that is so accessible, relevant and understandable. I have been fascinated, intrigued and had my eyes and heart opened to such rich new data and understanding and it has sparked many different conversations and observations between myself and my boss, leaders in my organisation, peers in my external network and even suppliers. I have recommended Gabriella’s sessions to many practitioners."

International Director of Learning and Talent, Global Retailer

"The seminar was terrific and gave me alternative insights which I can use directly in my organisation."

Rob Smith, Head of Digital Operations, The British Library

"It was very thought provoking. The mixture of theory and case studies was really useful."

Dani Salvadori, Director of Innovation, Business and External Relations, Central Saint Martins

"The workshop gave a safe environment for difficult conversations that needed to be had. It was a much more positive experience than I was expecting. Came away with tangible improvements that I can make."

"The workshop exceeded my expectation, totally. Big surprise. What was most useful was the gentle structure, and creative atmosphere – feeling one could say anything. Thank you."

"Most useful about the workshop was the strong/robust structure for real open honest conversation. That Gabriella could ‘hold’ all of it so clearly and strongly. Thank you."

"Superb afternoon brilliantly facilitated. I gave up [something else] to be here and am so glad I came."

"Thank you! Really clearly and sensitively facilitated."

"It exceeded my expectations. What was most useful was the open forum to discuss and move things forward. Also loved the ‘picture drawing’ exercise. Great session – thank you."

Participants on a half day workshop for The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

"Yes, the Away Day met my expectations – was unsure if achievable in the timeframe and given the task ahead. But it was! What was most useful was the open, honest communication and the facilitation to keep us on track and challenge behaviours. Thank you."

"Brilliant, thank you! You asked us what we would like to see ahead in phone calls and I feel we have achieved this. What was most useful was keeping us focussed and on task and having a clear structure."

"What was most useful was ending with a clear path ahead and appropriate actions."

"Opportunity to be open, listened to, able to be honest. "

"Most useful was discussion of elephants in the room, joint planning of useful protocols, feedback [from facilitator] about group habits, opportunity to share what we do. It was brilliant. We need more of this."

Senior Leaders, Surrey County Council.

Boehringer-Ingelheim Logo

Boehringer-Ingelheim, Adriatic region, Regional Center Vienna
Management Team Efficiency Workshops

"The new Adriatic region team was formed in January 2011 by merging the ex-countries of Yugoslavia, which had been separate businesses for many years. The senior leadership for the region - the regional management team - consists of staff from the previous businesses and two new staff. It has to achieve benefits from standardisation across the region (including saving costs), while at the same time strengthening the capacity in local customer facing functions. The new structure will also offer employees greater development opportunities.

In order to take forward the team’s development and objectives, as a Human Resource function in the Adriatic region, at the beginning of the 2011, I approached Marina Mojovic (director of Consulting-Art from Serbia) asking for consultancy.

It was agreed that it would be important to also have a specialist from outside the region, so the consultancy pair, Marina Mojovic and Gabriella Braun (Director of Working Well, UK), worked in cooperation in this complex project. They are both specialist consultancy companies using psychology in their work with organizations. They brought to this project a high standard of their partnership/team work, which enabled additional quality for approaching here the complex organizational developmental situation of the transitional period in the Adriatic Region of B-I.

Three two-day workshops were agreed as a way of taking forward the team’s development and objectives, and the workshops were held in May 2011, October 2011 and December 2012.

If I had to do this again, I would have done it in exactly the same way.

Talking about Working Well and experience I had with Gabriella, she brought a great value to this work. She does not only have relevant experience and knowledge, but an attitude that resonated so many times with the needs of the team members and the team as a whole.

Gabriella is sensitive and outspoken, very sharp and fast when assessing what is going on and when deciding how to address it, cooperative and extremely focused. I would have never imagined that so much could be done in two days.

I also appreciate the continuity over time that Gabriella and Marina proposed to us (three workshops spread over two years). In our last workshop in December, whole team was very grateful and we all agreed that that very last wrap up workshop gave us the valuable opportunity to appreciate our development and to establish a solid base for going forward on our own.

The changes the team are undertaking are very significant - we became a far stronger, cohesive team, able to work effectively together, and to change significantly so that we really think and lead regionally.

I would like to personally thank Gabriella for agreeing to work on this project and for a precious experience of working with her."

Ivana Costa, M.D.
Human Resource Manager Adriatic
Communications and Change Management Expert BIPeople.

"Working with Gabriella has been invaluable coaching for me. She has helped me understand my motivation and behaviours better. I now understand how my whole life experiences have shaped me, in a way no courses have ever done. She got to the heart of what makes me tick and what triggers my behaviours, and then helped me to turn this into action and visible development. She enabled me to use the insights from the coaching to react more consciously and effectively in business situations. I have developed the confidence to now push onto the next stage in my career. I would recommend her coaching to anyone who is pushing to develop themselves further."

Director, Global Corporate Company.

"I had 6 coaching sessions and it definitely made a lasting difference! The reason I undertook coaching was to improve my situation at work, which it certainly did, but I think the coaching has helped me focus in a different way in my private life as much as in my working life. So I find I am approaching situations both at work and outside work in a different way, which to me is an added bonus. And approaching things in a different way has generally been successful (I can’t think of any failures) and I can honestly say has made me feel happier or less frustrated, again another bonus!"

Commercial Manager, FMCG, multinational company.

"I brought Gabriella in to work with the SLT because I’d identified a problem with the way SLT was functioning. Gabriella did four short workshops with us as a team. They included activities, discussion, exploration and also inputs from her on some theory that was really helpful, including work around loss and change. I then asked her to mediate with pairs of staff in conflict, which was very helpful and also to train some staff in coaching.

The work with the SLT was challenging and involved us all taking a leap of faith. To get the most of it we had to commit to it. At times it was difficult for us all, but at the beginning we carefully established how we wanted to work and while there were tensions between us sometimes, there was mutual respect and the atmosphere was always supportive. Gabriella got us to look at ourselves with fresh eyes.

What was most helpful about the work was to understand the history and how we’d got where we were, to get perspective, to increase my insight as to what might be going on with people. For example, Gabriella pointed out to us how sibling rivalry seemed to be affecting us and it absolutely made sense to us all.

The big difference between Gabriella’s approach and other things I’ve done is that Gabriella took it to a psychological level and so it went much deeper. We looked at who we really are and our real motivations in the organisation. She got us to explore how we arrived at this situation and used a number of techniques that enabled that to come out, such as the questions she asked and observations she made.

The work with Gabriella enabled:

  • us to understand how we were
  • SLT members to modify their behaviour
  • me to have that sense of history and understand that it wasn’t as personal as I’d thought it was, but was about my role as Headteacher
  • us to have difficult conversations, with each other and also throughout the organisation thanks to Gabriella coaching us in how to do this – and to understand that it’s okay to have those conversations and can even be a relief
  • us to be more honest as an organisation."

William, Headteacher, London.

"For me the Learning Set was the most positive experience of the year. I found the opportunity to discuss feelings and experiences with others in a non- threatening and non- judgemental environment very, very valuable. I have learnt a lot about myself from involvement in this and enjoyed the company of everyone very much. I found Emil and Gabriella so skillful and they worked together so well. I know that 'awesome' tends to be overused these days but I feel it is an apt description in this case."

Member of a Learning Set for Chief Executives.

"The workshop exceeded my expectations. It was excellent. It gave me a real sense of self – realisation which I haven’t had before. It was fantastic."

"The workshop was totally different from anything I’d done before and taught me something about the way I behave/conduct myself when I’m frustrated."

"The most useful thing about the workshop was being able to reflect on my own management and leadership style. It was very enjoyable – gained loads – thanks."

Participants on Teaching Leaders programme.

"Just wanted to let you know that I did a 'from the heart' to my staff yesterday, which left many in tears and got a spontaneous round of applause at the end! Everything that we said yesterday I'd included in my speech, and it hit the right spot. Thank you so much for your input - it was really valued by me and the timing of our meeting yesterday and the opportunity I then had to talk to my staff was brilliant. Thanks!"

From a member of a Learning Set for Chief Executives.

"You helped me to manage my team through an enormous period of organisational change and service development. The work with me individually, with the management team and with the whole staff team was professionally facilitated, so that we could understand and contain the distress and complex dynamics organisational change can bring. You gave us a framework to understand those complex team dynamics and safe space to stop and think."

Manager, NHS Team.

Gabriella Braun talks about Working Well

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Clients' experience of Gabriella's work on conflict management

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