“I’ve worked with other coaches before Karl, and what really frustrated me was that many coaches tried to turn me into someone I wasn’t. They did the thinking for me. Whatever ideas I had were just wiped and rewritten. The words and values didn’t feel mine. And what I’ve found with Karl is that he got me to do my own thinking.

He got me to dig deep into who I am and how I think, but in the most kind and gentle way. And it’s just amazing. The coaching sessions have helped me to think differently about change, about my business, and about how I approach every day-to-day interaction.”

Kamni Raju-Russell

“NZALPA recommended Karl to Air New Zealand when they were seeking external High Performance Engagement facilitators in late 2014.  He was the highest scoring candidate and has successfully facilitated a number of challenging issues using the HPE approach that NZALPA has had direct involvement in – including the establishment of a HPE Jet Pilot Steering Committee, a base closure (involving multiple union parties) and a number of complex contractual issues.”

Within NZALPA, he has facilitated staff team building sessions, strategic planning, a recent structural review of NZALPA sponsored by the Board of Management and coached senior leaders within the organisation.

Moving from a traditional combative and conflict-based relationship toward a more collaborative approach is not an easy task.  Karl is able to remain a neutral and impartial facilitator while guiding the parties through sometimes complex and emotive problem solving.

I can personally recommend Karl as a consultant, facilitator and as a leadership coach.

Dawn Handforth – General Manager at NZALPA

“Thank goodness I had the good fortune of meeting Karl when I did!

When I first met Karl I felt I was an ineffective leader, I felt I lacked influence, I couldn’t articulate myself as well as I used to be able – I was failing and I was struggling to get on top of things. Karl ‘coached’ (and challenged) me to identify and confront the way I think, which impacted on the way I behaved.

Through a series of coaching sessions, my self-awareness started to grow – the whys became clearer and in a staged-approach, what I needed to do resulted in positive thinking and behaving.

My ‘mojo’ is back! I have clarity, better balance, self-satisfaction, more decisive, I’m happy and I’m an effective leader again. We all need coaches or mentors in our lives to shine light on what we sometimes don’t see.

Thank you Karl for your guidance and friendship, you are a fantastic being.”

Tina Harris-Ririnui – Bay Venues Limited

“Karl has a set of logical tools to problem solve all systems. If you have a problem Karl will help you find a way to turn it into an opportunity for improvement.

Karl’s application of Theory of Constraints systems thinking along with his deep knowledge of the Human system is a strong combination to create your next breakthrough solution. Karl has helped me to understand more about myself and how I can get the best out of my relationships with people through problem solving with people, thereby Increasing my satisfaction and improving the outcomes that I collectively achieve with others.

I can highly recommend Karl and encourage people to use his skills to help understand more about yourself.”

Thomas Parrish – Air New Zealand

“I’ve had the absolute pleasure of working alongside Karl as we introduced a more collaborative workplace across Air New Zealand. Karl has a unique and extremely valuable skill set within the philosophy and practical implementation of High Performance Engagement.

He has rich and real capabilities in this space to think and engage strategically with internal and external stakeholders, build effective and improved working relationships, and facilitate workshops & training sessions across all levels of complex organisations. His toolbox and methods, combined with his deep understanding of human and organizational psychology, enable him to be a trusted & impartial partner and advisor.

I would absolutely recommend Karl to any organisation serious about creating a High Performance Engagement workplace.”

Patrick Behrendt – General Manager of Continuous Improvement | Including Operations Research & PMO at Air New Zealand

“I had the privilege of working with Karl to overhaul and re-engage a pilot workforce that had started to feel disenfranchised. This disenfranchisement had taken place over a number of years and the trust had broken down to the extent that industrial action was undertaken. This industrial action was unique and that the trust between the pilots and management had been lost.

Following the industrial action there were two possible ways forward. One was continue in the old way, and hope it got better or try something radical. As with all changes they are unique and require unique skill sets. These unique skills were what Karl brought to the situation. It was clear that a mindset change based not solely on individuals our individual relationships but one built around process would be the only way forward.

Karl, brought that capability along with the capability of articulating a new concept and what it would mean to both the Company and employees. This articulation and the coaching that Karl invested into the process showed significant results in a short space of time. Whilst trust would only come with time, the work Karl put into us saw the first pay deal following industrial action delivered to a satisfactory conclusion for both parties. This conclusion was only possible as a result of working together to overcome mutual obstacles.

The work that Karl did was not only invaluable to the Company but also brought a new sense of involvement to the pilots. Whilst the concepts that Karl coaches are simple, the way that Karl delivers them is key to an understanding that no matter what challenge is presented it can be overcome for the benefit of both the Company and employees.”

Richard Nanton – UK Director of Flight Operations at Thomas Cook Airlines

“Karl, thank you for the insight you recently shared as part of our individual and team-based LSI exercise. I personally found the work to be exceptional and have had similar feedback from other members of the team.

The positive energy you injected was infectious and appreciated, as was the personal care you took with each of our individual 1-to-1 debriefs. Thanks to you and Alison, we now have a much deeper understanding of ourselves and the dynamic(s) of our team. We are looking forward to progressing the areas of opportunity you helped us to cultivate.

I would happily recommend your service to others interested in progressing a similar LSI-based development exercise; either individually or as a team.”

Adam Heath – Executive General Manager Insurance Solutions at Suncorp Group

“Having worked with Karl now on several different projects, I can highly recommend him when methodical unbiased problem solving, team development coaching or Collective Agreement Negotiations are required.

The experience, methods and tools Karl uses, help break down the issues into a clear and concise picture, without the conflict we have had in the past. The time spent “Setting the Scene” with Karl, will greatly reduce the overall time it would normally take to work through problem solving or negotiation.

Once again, I highly recommend Karl as your next business mentor, coach or facilitator.”

Ian Gower – Head of Planning, Engineering and Maintenance at Air New Zealand

“Karl is a results-oriented, dynamic business leader and coach to his team and the cross-functional teams he supports.

Karl is incredibly professional in all of his interactions internally and with customers and partners. Karl is engaged, close to the business and conducts business with a unique blend of technical and business savvy.

Karl is the ultimate team player and skilful at balancing the needs of the customer with the needs of the business to find mutually acceptable solutions. Everyone who interacts with Karl finds value in the interaction. He is an incredibly valuable asset to the organization and destined for tremendous career growth in the short and long term.”

Alex M – Manager, Risk – Strategy, Policy and Planning ICT at University of Auckland

“I first met Karl when we were both working for the University of Auckland. My first experience of Karl’s coaching was during his facilitation of a culture change initiative called ‘Mission Vision and Values’. Using a combination of tools and the experience and knowledge of the team, Karl facilitated a process whereby the group came to the root cause of the undesirable effects we were seeing within the organisation.

During the process, it created a shift in my thinking – that a logical process can be used to understand and find solutions to cultural and behavioral issues. I was hooked.

Since then we have both moved on to different challenges, but I regularly use Karl as a sounding board when I experience challenges or discomfort relating to change. His help has been extremely beneficial during my studies as I am currently completing and MBA and am experiencing changes in my beliefs and assumptions around my career.

I highly recommend Karl to anyone who is looking for an effective, action-oriented way to understand or change their organisation, their team or themselves. Karl’s logical thinking process seeks to understand and uncover rather than to advise, and I often find that through his coaching I am learning more about what motivates myself and others.”

Linden Vazey – Senior Manager, IT Risk and Assurance at EY

“Air New Zealand is empowering employees through collaborating to resolve problems or identify opportunities with those who are closest to the problem/opportunity.  

As part of this change a number of working groups have been put in place with multiple (union/employee/employer) team members.

I have used Karl to facilitate problem solving sessions and collective agreement negotiations. Karl has used interest based problem solving and interest based negotiation techniques during these sessions.

Karl has an energising facilitation style, he quickly judges the mood of the participants and their abilities and adjusts his facilitation style accordingly. Karl has a range of frameworks and methodologies he uses to manage the inputs and interests of the stakeholders, resulting in a successful outcome.

I continue to engage Karl for his facilitation abilities and feel confident in recommending him to others.”

Kym Amiatu – Operations Business Transformation Lead at Air New Zealand

I worked with Karl whilst at the Department of Labour. We used his skills to facilitate some developmental workshops in respect of how we could apply our services to SME’s and how we could contribute to improving productivity within the businesses we worked with.

Karl’s excellent facilitation skills and ability to see the big picture and keep us on track not only made the numerous sessions we had enjoyable, but extremely valuable. He had the ability to quickly grasp the needs of our organisation as well as gain a good understanding of our role. This enabled him to facilitate in a very effective and professional manner and we all benefitted from his expertise.

I would look forward to working with Karl again.

Steve Worsley – Team Leader at Department of Labour

“I’ve very much appreciated working with Karl on the Human Synergistics Framework to support development of constructive cultures in my teams. The program was sufficiently successful that it has spread to other parts of the organisation. Karl was a very strong coach, was very systems driven, and focussed on the programme outcomes.

I’m pleased to recommend Karl.”

Stephen Whiteside – Chief Digital Officer at The University of Auckland

“Karl has put the “spring back into my step” – I now feel motivated, inspired and positively charged to power into 2016.

Karl has been my Coach and Mentor for the 2 years I have been a People Advisor. The skills and techniques Karl uses have enabled me to focus on clearly understanding my objectives and to set goals to chip away those ‘barriers” which I had previously thought would stop me from achieving success.  I now use these proven techniques in my own coaching – they work!

I would strongly recommend Karl to anybody who wants to achieve success.”

Jo Lee – People Adviser at BNZ

“Karl is a fantastic coach.

What has impressed me the most about Karl is the sensitive way he encourages authentic self-reflection particularly in those areas that can be confronting and/or challenging. As a consequence real and lasting personal and professional change can occur.”

Clive Cornford – Associate Dean Faculty of Consumer Services at MIT

“Air New Zealand is working towards being a more collaborative workplace. As part of this change, a number of steering groups have been put in place with multiple (union/employee/employer) team members, and a number of new ways to problem-solve issues have been introduced.

One of these is an interest based problem solving technique. Karl was engaged to provide facilitation to enable stakeholders to work through an employment issue that had been around for some time.

There are a limited number of facilitators endorsed to provide assistance with collaborative problem solving within Air New Zealand. Karl brought to the table a range of frameworks and methodologies to tussle with the issue, managed the inputs and interests of the stakeholders, resulting in a successful outcome.

I would confidently re-engage Karl in the future for his facilitation abilities.”

Sarah Williamson – Group General Manager Regional Airlines and Airline Operations at Air New Zealand

“Karl has a unique and powerful coaching technique, which helps people get to their core issue/s or stumbling blocks quickly.  This means action planning for change is clear and deliberate.

As a fellow coach, Karl has assisted me on numerous occasions to explore my own challenges.”

Barbara Udale – Leadership Coach

“Working through the 180 minute “Breakthrough Thinking” process with Karl was like a light bulb being switched on.

The process combined with Karl’s focused, personable and expert coaching allowed me to identify and understand both how I think, and how the conflicts created by my thinking process were holding me back. I left with a breakthrough strategy for myself supported by three personal objectives.

The best way I can describe the impact of this is that it feels like I’m taking my foot off the break. I experienced the benefit of this experience less than two hours after completing the process when a new business opportunity appeared which I would not normally have seen, or been excited by.”

Lisa McCarthy – Management Innovator | Facilitator | Public Speaker

“Our Association has used Karl’s facilitation/problem-solving services with a diverse group of members from our industry who originally could not see their way to a relatively simple solution.

It is a credit to Karl’s expertise and practical experience with the process that we were able to identify the problems and begin work towards better outcomes.”

John Stulen – Director at Innovatek Ltd

“I selected Karl as my LSI Coach as part of the University of Auckland Leadership Development Programme.

Karl is extremely professional and knowledgeable as a coach and I definitely gained a lot from his sessions. I would recommend Karl to anyone that wants to develop their leadership skills further. Whether you are a new or experienced leader Karl has an excellent ability to relate to you and find areas to develop in.”

Bryan Nicholson – Campus Operations and Security Manager – University of Auckland

“Karl challenged me to think about my leadership style in a way that allowed me to drill down to actual actions, using 360-degree feedback.

My sessions were thought-provoking, interesting and really engaging – highly recommend for anyone interested in developing their personal leadership.”

Kate Lancaster – Kaizen Business Excellence Consultant at BNZ

“Karl is the consummate professional in HR.

His coaching skills are outstanding and his personal work ethic is high along with delivering quality outputs. Karl has a desire to bring out the very best of people and help work with them towards reaching their potential. He has a sense of fun that he also brings along to his workplace and it has been a delight to work with him.”

Lana West – Head of Diversity and Inclusion at BNZ

“Karl was a great coach for me. He was able to understand where I was coming from and was able to help me through the difficult moments that I really struggled through. There were times when I couldnt find the answer. Karl was able to read the situation and break the information down until I was able to establish my own solution. He was proffessional and very effective in his methods as a coach.”

Jacqueline Lynne – Customer Service Excellence and L&D Specialist

“Karl guided me through a 360 degree assessment using Human Synergistics’ self-development programme, and carried out as part of The University of Auckland’s professional development programme.

He had sound knowledge of the framework and provided valuable guidance for me to develop follow-up strategies, objectives and actions.”

Lesley Stone – Organisational learning and change at University of Auckland

“I really enjoyed working with Karl on producing Life Style Inventories and associated action plans for myself and my team. I was very impressed with the approach Karl took to the action planning and I got a lot out of it.

Karl’s intelligent and change-oriented approach to the work also generated very positive feedback from team members.”

Brendan Mosely – Director, Campus Life at The University of Auckland

“Our senior leadership team worked with Karl on individual leadership coaching using the LSI from Human Synergistics, and I found the entire experience to be productive and of good value.

Karl’s deep fund of knowledge around the LSI, coupled with his expert coaching skills, provided the support for open and constructive exploration of my leadership. Moreover, Karl has been blessed with a good dose of common sense, and he uses it well in his work.

I would give him my highest recommendation for future engagement with the University.”

Scott Diener – Senior Digital Strategy Manager – Office of the Chief Digital Officer at The University of Auckland

“In taking on a new leadership role Karl provided advice to me that set me up for success.  He presents as passionate yet carefully engaged, providing clear simple goals that shifted my and others thinking, and will have longer term benefits for my team and our organisation.”

Nick Jones – Director at NZ eScience Infrastructure

“Karl guided me through the Human Synergistics Life Styles Inventory process in a very engaging, thoughtful and interesting way. Highly recommended.”

David Baker – International Director at The University of Auckland

“I worked closely with Karl during the roll out of the Vault Software (Health & Safety data management) across the Faculties at the University. Karl came to the project with a wealth of experience that enabled us to introduce some momentum to the project which had been sidelined for a number of years.

I found Karl a pleasure to work with. His skill and knowledge has taught me much, and his attitude was invigorating; he believes in solutions and oppurtunities not problems and barriers.

His ability to engage people at all levels of the University with a subject that normally takes a back seat, and doesn’t often inspire, has been of tremendous value. Through his leadership of the project I have also been enabled to develop stronger relationships and engage with key people so that my job has become easier and more satisfying.

Karl has created a great foundation that we as a Health and Safety team can continue to build from.”

Maggie Kjestrup – Health & Safety Administrator at The University of Auckland

“Karl is a very effective coach finding the balance of working in a compassionate way but digging deep to ensure you can’t get away with a light review. His approach builds a deeper understanding and therefore provides a very effective foundation for personal strategic thinking.”

Diane Bussey – University Strategic Programme Office (USPO) Manager

“Karl is an excellent guide to extracting the maximum value from the Life Styles Inventory (LSI) and Theory of Constraints Thinking Process (TOCTP) tools.

His extensive knowledge of the tools themselves and his ability to ask the right questions has been much appreciated.”

Andrew Creahan – Director Shared Services

“This year I completed the Life-Styles Inventory (LSI) 360 deg behavioural review. Karl, as the LSI Consultant at the University, worked with me through both sets of results to assist me complete my professional development plan.

I found Karl to be helpful, considerate, willing to take the time to understand my role and how I contribute to the University in this role, but also someone who made me think ‘outside the box’ by asking challenging questions in a non threatening manner. Karl is knowledgeable about LSI with a good understanding of work behaviours and competencies gained through research, and a genuine interest in providing a service to others.”

Abi Davies – Manager, Special Projects and Systems Development

“Karl, is an excellent lecturer who is able to grab students interest from the outset of each class. Karl challanged students thinking and got the best out of them through critical questioning and real life experience. Student evaluations were always exceptional.”

Richard van der Jagt – Business Group Manager at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic