TESTIMONIALS

Martin Kalungu-Banda – Founder www.BBSConsulting.org, Faculty at the Presencing Institute

I had the privilege of working in a team that was led by Simone. The assignment, sponsored by the World Bank, was to help the government of Tanzania develop a National Skills Development Strategy to as a response to the country’s fast-growing economy. I observed Simone, in a very short period of time, build capacities of individuals and groups who played crucial roles at the different stages of the assignment.  

I attribute the phenomenal success of the assignment to Simone’s great skills in bringing people of diverse backgrounds together and helping them to become high performing teams. Simone is a deep listener who treats the differences in cultures (beliefs, values and practices) as the raw material from which to craft creativity and innovation.

Simone is a talented systems-thinker who has made working in the present moment her second nature. This combination gives Simone the rare capacity to fluidly and seamlessly lead both from the front and the collective, depending on need.

Alain De Cat, CEO, Powerdale

As head of Siemens Energy Belgium, my challenge was to move my 100 person team from an "one employee - one desk" landscape to an open office concept where desks were shared among the employees based on projects and presence. There was a lot of resistance to change in my team. I saw this spatial redesign as a chance for us to become more functional, more flexible, more like what we aspired to be as a team. I knew I needed help and that a combination of different qualities was required to come up with a concept that would be perceived as an improvement: Respect for the people and what had been their environment for many years. Fresh thinking, a good methodology and courage.

From our first contacts, I felt that Simone and her colleague were the people with whom I could team up and dare to try something new. So we did.

In record time, we embarked on a human centered design journey. The results were amazing and the effect on the team very positive. The motivation and cohesion of the group increased as the colleagues felt genuinely involved in the decision making process. The success can be explained in many ways. From my perspective, three main aspects emerge: trust, the right people, the right questions.

Maja Kuzmanovic, Principal Invigorator, FoAM

Donald L. Proby, Adjunct Faculty, MA in Leadership Program Saint Mary’s College of California, Lecturer at San Francisco State University, Mediator and Dialogue Facilitator

Simone is a wonderful team player, with a keen sense of group dynamics. She is curious about people's interests, needs and wishes, a keen listener and kind facilitator. She has a broad knowledge of facilitation techniques that she gladly shares with her collaborators. She worked with us to design an emergent governance structure, as well as design our future program using Lego Serious Play. She co-facilitated several workshops with us, all of which greatly benefited from her expertise and presence. Working with Simone on designing these workshops was a smooth and co-creative endeavor, from with we both learned a lot.

Finally, as a board member of The (Impact) Hub Brussels, I had a chance to experience Simone as an initiator and leader, who brought together and hosted a diverse group of people in a beautiful space for a couple of years, before deciding to become a journeyer and develop her skills in different cultures and contexts.

Simone is a well-respected scholar and practitioner. As one of her professors during her MA in Leadership Program at Saint Mary’s College of California, I have become increasingly aware of Simone’s sincerity, earnestness, emotional intelligence and her ability to grasp new concepts quickly. She is a very bright, compassionate professional with an advanced sense of cultural humility and sensitivity.

As a scholar, Simone has been dedicated to learning, embodying and practicing 21st Century Leadership with great care and attention to diversity-work, social justice, equity and inclusion. She helped her cohort generate rich discussions with transparency and a vulnerability that allows for deeper understandings and shared humanity regardless of the topic and its sensitivity. She has been a major contributor toward advancing our mutual learning communities. Simone pays close attention to detail, nuance and timeliness. In this manner, she is proficient and efficient in submitting assignments and following up on tasking.