Praise for Step up and Influence Course

With so many self-improvement and organisational effectiveness courses and content available today, it can be difficult to know where to start – particularly for time poor executives. But from the moment I met Michelle I knew that she was different. Her extensive industry experience provides real world examples, she is warm and engaging, and she is extremely knowledgeable in her field. I’ve since read all her books, I religiously read her Friday Weekly Edition email, and in October had the pleasure of attending the Step Up and Influence course. The course struck the right balance between best practice literature, practical tips and activities. Michelle adeptly read the room, tailored the content to the audience, and kept us all highly engaged throughout the day. I came away with some tangible things I could do – and am doing – differently, with real outcomes. Thank you Michelle.
Deborah Reid, Program Director, IAG

Very interesting and well presented. Good insight into leadership skills required for professional growth.
Amar Dutia, Financial Controller, Medical Indemnity Protection Society Ltd

Michelle’s genuineness and authenticity combined with many years of experience provides an excellent foundation for the ‘Step up and Influence’ Workshop. The day itself was enjoyable with a good mix of theory and practical and I also took away lots of interesting tips and useful information. Highly recommend the ‘Step up and Influence’ Workshop.

Catherine Ferrara, Change Director, Westpac Group

The Step Up and Influence course was fantastic and insightful with practical tips to improve your influential skills.

Astha Rijal, Risk and Compliance Partner, TelstraSuper

Michelle is both a knowledgeable and engaging facilitator. I left the Step Up and Influence course with clear and actionable objectives on how I can start influencing those in my network to fulfill my work and personal goals.

Corinne Gebert, Employee Development Consultant, UniSuper

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course was relevant and useful. The content was delivered in an engaging manner by an insightful presenter.

Kerri Hereward, Head of Regulatory Strategy, Lotteries, Keno & Gaming, Tabcorp

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course was very interactive and it used relatable examples. The supporting materials and tools provided were excellent (and thank you for the books).

Sarah-Jane Davies, GM Legal & Regulatory Operations, Tabcorp

The Step Up and Influence course helped to shape up and put structure to the thoughts and actions that were loosely floating around and were de-prioritised among the rut of professional life.

Swaranjit Singh, Senior Manager – Financial Crime Analytics and Intelligence, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

Michelle Gibbings’ Step Up and Influence course enables you to learn about yourself and the best way to approach conversations with others (at work and elsewhere), to maximise your influence and achieve your goals. Highly valuable; practical and powerful.

Laura Smith, Regulatory Risk Manager, ANZ Bank

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course changed my mindset on certain behaviours and made me aware of characteristics I can improve on such as focus and mindfulness.

Danielle Gale, John Holland Group

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence program was a thoroughly enjoyable course with actionable insights.

Kellie Howard, Program Change Manager, Australian Super

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence program is a wonderful course to remind us to focus on what is in our control with great guidance for conversation, planning and how & why we would influence and the importance of working on your network.

Steph Kenealy, PMO Manager, National Australian Bank

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course was a very effective and productive course which allowed for active participation throughout.

Michaela Moloney, Partner, K&L Gates

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course was a fantastic workshop with great practical strategies to implement back in the workplace.

Marita Michael, Learning and Development Manager, Beacon Lighting

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence is a great course. It helped me refresh some of the tools learnt earlier and provided some brilliant insights into my blind spots.

Prithesh Prabhu, Head of Operational Efficiency, ME Bank

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course showed me that regardless of what position you are in, in your organisation, you can always have influence on people and I really enjoyed learning new strategies to take back and put into action at work.

Katrina Scerri, Department of Justice and Regulation, Victoria

Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course is invaluable in all areas of life. The course has given me the basis to enable change and have the tool sets to influence.

Tessa Ylagan, John Holland Group

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course. Influencing skills is a key competency for any good leader. The program was well designed and helped improved my understanding of self and others.

Erick Cordero, Growth Manager, superannuation industry

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course and found the course gave me practical tips and tools that I can implement in the workplace today, underpinned by theory. Michelle was able to provide real life experience in the corporate world to bring the theory to life.

Rebecca Trepezanov, Senior Manager Regulatory Engagement – Better Risk Outcomes Program, Commonwealth Bank

Michelle is very engaging and keeps you actively involved during the course.

Stacey Pearsall, Public Safety Business Agency

Very informative and enjoyable day, thank you Michelle!

Kate Boscolo, Public Safety Business Agency

Challenged me to vary my perspectives and approach to influence with more success.

Naomi Lennox, Public Safety Business Agency

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course and found it to be thought provoking, and it gave me pause to think “is it me” or do I need to change lanes?

Ray Anderson, Head of Australia and New Zealand, ICE Data Services

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course and found it to be a very comprehensive and varied day. I got a lot out of the course.

Sharon Yardley, Manager – Marketing and Compliance, Heartland Seniors Finance

An opportunity to bring together many of the things we should be doing, into a format that provides directions and a timely reminder of why.

Chris Scott, Head of Advice Quality and Compliance, AMP

Michelle was very well prepared and insightful on ways to improve my network and better understand my organisation.

Ian Rathmell, Operations Manager, Financial Advisor Services, Dimensional Fund Advisors

I found the course very easy to follow with lots of practical tips and techniques that can be applied in everyday situations.

Karen Frketic, Executive Director, Moelis Australia Ltd

Michelle was very engaging, created an environment of openness and trust. A lot of opportunity for discussions and reflection among the group. Content was very relevant to career and development goals.

Rita Christie, Senior Operations Manager, Commonwealth Bank

Michelle was fantastic. Had excellent tips that I could use on a daily basis.

Robbie Cooray, PPW Technical Lead / Senior Software Developer, John Holland Group

Michelle provides a human perspective in relation to change that very often gets forgotten in the usual organisational world. She offers a great point of view and great practical examples to take with you.

Solange Murillo-Carvajal, Culture, Change and Capability, Public Safety Business Agency

Michelle really knows her stuff! Loved the content, discussions and activities. Useful knowledge to take back to the workplace.

Sussan McNamara, Senior Human Resources Executive

The course provided me with valuable skills to enhance my network and have conversations with stakeholders. I’d recommend this course for those wanting to do some personal development and reflection.

Amanda Redford, Organisational Change Manager | Human Capital Consultant

Wow! What an eye opener. So many tips and tools I can place in my toolkit to use in my next adventure!

Josephine Calabro, Project Management Professional, ANZ

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course and found it to be great to reflect on networks and influence skills.

Elizabeth Watts Lee, Change Specialist, Cbus Super Fund

Thanks for a great session Michelle! I loved how you were able to weave your experience, industry content and your broader learnings with participant input to create a rich and constructive learning experience!

Kerrie Bennett, Change Manager, Cbus Super Fund

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence course and found it to be an excellent course to better help you understand how to navigate corporate organisations and work in any team-orientated environment.

Peter Papadopoulos, Delivery Operations Manager, Telstra

I found it insightful, informative, inspiring – just a few words to describe Michelle and this course. These words hardly do it justice to the benefit of the individuals wishing to validate knowledge and develop not just professionally but personally.

Mary McMahon, Department of Agriculture and Water Resources

I found the day was well paced with excellent insights to promote discussion; sharing real life experiences to demonstrate how the techniques could be implemented. A very worthwhile course for any organisation to harvest benefits from their workforce attending. Michelle is fantastic!

Inger Nieuwkamp, Director, Department of Agriculture and Water Resources

I found the course was well structured, engaging and exceeded my expectations. I would recommend to all with leadership aspirations.

Mustafa Akbar, Senior Lawyer

Michelle’s experience and knowledge is inspiring, she is a wonderful facilitator and everyone in the room left with so many wonderful learnings to be more influential. Michelle is awesome!

Megan Clark, Executive Assistant, Westpac

Michelle is awesome! Authentic and experienced with real-life examples and activities used throughout the day. I will definitely put into place my learnings.

Alison Devitt, Business Change Lead, UniSuper

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence Program and found Michelle presented great tools and resources to assist anyone in the workplace to begin to create greater influence.

Grant Pearce, Business Manager, Anaconda Group Pty Ltd

It is a great way to highlight the value of networking as a catalyst to driving influence at work.

Greg Lyne, General Manager Global Delivery, Telstra

Spending the day unpacking how I might close myself off was confronting but at the same time it feels great to know its ok to be human in the corporate world.

Kim McLean, Project Specialist, Telstra

Michelle has helped me to reflect on what’s most important to me in a time of transformation in my life. I now feel I’m in the right mindset to make change and challenge myself as a leader.

Jana Dore, CitiPower, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Powercor Australia and United Energy

Michelle was very knowledgeable and her experience was relatable. I gained a better understanding on areas I could work on to improve my leadership skills and my abilities to influence my stakeholders.

Uyen McGregor, Feasibility Lead, Telstra

We went through a lot of content but it was all relatable to past experiences which I think helped me understand better.

Rosa Guan, Customer Service Delivery, Telstra

Michelle has designed and presented a fantastic summary of what it takes to improve your influencing skills, which draws on biology, psychology and modern corporate theory. She is an articulate and energetic presenter, with a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on. If you want to uplift your influencing armory, this is a great one-day crash course.

Zoe Cook, Principal, Zoe Cook Consulting

Michelle presents essential skills for anyone wanting to build a successful long-term relationship, whether it be at work or in life. We all influence at different levels – know the when, how, what and where of successful influencing techniques.

Adele Goh, Business Engagement Manager – Corporate & Wholesale, Foxtel

I  found the session really valuable, contained great content and an opportunity to reflect, plan and consider how I will put the learnings into practice.

Josie Paparo, National HR Project Manager, KPMG Australia

The course was great to understand the different techniques in influencing and stakeholder management at all levels within an organisation. Will definitely be useful!

Stephanie Ghan-Hlinka, Manager, Westpac

Absolutely loved the course. Very valuable information that can easily be implemented.

Nicole Fong, Compliance Manager, Westpac

I found that Michelle was highly engaging and personal. The content was extremely useful for all or any work environment. I highly recommend this course.

Kara-Lee Taibel, Legal Compliance, Westpac

I attended Michelle’s Step Up and Influence Program and found it to be one of the best personal development courses I have attended. Great practical advice and tips to utilise at work.

Rhonda Xiong, Senior Manager – Enterprise Compliance, Westpac

I  found Michelle to be a personable and highly experienced presenter who can convey information succinctly and with emotional intelligence, making her relatable which results in the message being well understood.

Dorota Piotrowicz, Senior Manager, Enterprise Compliance, Westpac

What I liked best about the session was: clear communication; Michelle was confident and very knowledgeable; practical; kept to time and gave great tools for real life.

Glynda Francis, Senior Manager Enterprise Compliance, Westpac

“I’ve often been told I’m good at influencing people, albeit accidentally. This course has given me a really sound structure to start doing it intentionally through value added conversations, structural thinking and clear vision of the enterprise/personal triggers.”

Trish Medved, Business Specialist, Telstra

“Deep and meaningful relationships are key to personal and professional fulfilment. The scientific anecdotes, real-life examples of Michelle’s career and turning points, along with her practical, sharp and progressive content kept me completely engaged and ‘in flow’ the whole day. It ticked so many boxes of both my mind and heart. To say it was professional would be understated. Brilliant, thank you.”

Helena Chen, Portfolio Project Management Advisor, BeyondBlue

“The Step Up and Influence course give a comprehensive overview and tangible tools to help understand the way we operate/behave in an organisation. From understanding the brain to organisational process – I feel very confident I’ll be changing my behaviour for better outcomes as a result.”

Georgie McGibbon, Change Manager, ANZ

“Crisp delivery, great energy, kept me focused and in a learning mindset which was important because the content is super valuable.”

Tim Osborne, Telstra

“Thanks Michelle for the awesome course. It really helped me understand myself and others well. It’s actually changed the way I used to look at things. Thanks for this.”

Deepanshu Chopra, Internal IT Auditor, ME Bank

“A fun and interactive day that had lots of information but in a digestible and easy to follow format. Michelle makes facilitation look and feel effortless.”

Diana Zweig, National Manager, Human Resources, The Smith Family

“Michelle’s wealth of knowledge in the area of influence came through in her examples on the do’s and don’ts. It provided an excellent overview and introduction on how to build your skills in this area.”

David Perabo, Manager Activity Based Funding Mental Health Drug and Alcohol, Northern Sydney Local Health District

“I think the course has given me some great insights into how I can increase my effectiveness as a manager and improve my leadership skills.”

Kurt White, Design & Build Manager, Telstra

“My day was filled with many opportunities to reflect, share with fellow participants, and practical take-aways to improve my behaviour in the short term – commencing from my “start of day” activities, through to medium and longer term activities.”

Julian Gaillard, Company Secretary, Risk & Insurance, Veolia Australia and New Zealand

“I attended your Step Up and Influence course and I still believe this was one of the most useful and relevant courses that I have attended in a very long time. The course was not only insightful but extremely practical and I have easily implemented a number of learnings into my day-to-day life already. I have asked my managers and senior manager in my team to attend your course … and the sooner the better! Thank you so much for your time, enthusiasm and energy.”

Financial Services Executive

“What a great day. 10 professionals from a number of industries, one dynamic fast paced, highly experienced professional to guide us, and the opportunity to move quickly through concepts and activities, to personal and organisational insights, all wrapped up in action planning for Monday. We explored our strengths and the stories we had to tell. We evaluated our own readiness and abilities; found better ways to construct conversations and influence emotional drivers in others. We thought and planned where, how and why to invest in our networks; and made a commitment to genuine clarity. We left the day privileged to spend time on ourselves; inspired to be ready, willing and able to grow through change, and with a new sense of courage and integrated competencies to engage and influence others. Do yourself a favour…”

Jo Cunningham, Strategy Consultant, Telstra 

“This course helped me to remember things I had forgotten and develop new strategies for engaging with my stakeholders.”

Paul Bonnello, Head of Operational Risk, Framework and Oversight, ANZ

“Really practical session with a great balance of theory, discussion and activity.”

Allison Campbell, Change Practitioner

“I love the way Michelle presents and delivers her practical knowledge. She brings in her own real life examples that allow you to assess the topic and apply it to your own situations. The course is full on and in depth with concepts being referenced back to theorists. You will walk away from the course feeling energetic and motivated. Great little take away party bag too…”

Chirag Patel, National Operations Manager, JTA Risk Management

“Michelle’s curiosity for learning is contagious! This full day program was hands on, practical and inspiring. I walked away understanding the full power of my network armed with techniques and tools to expand my influence within it.”

Haley Berryman, Marketing Manager

Sonja Lekovic, Regulatory Analyst, Electricity Networks, CitiPower and Powercor Australia

“Michelle Gibbings’ “Step up for Success” isn’t a course on how to choose the right words to influence others in the workplace, it’s an introspective and self-awareness journey to achieve unparalleled success in your career. Through discussion, reflection, and practical examples, Michelle offers you the tools and skills you need to build influence, deliver results, and significantly increase your communication effectiveness. Well worth the time to attend, amazing learning experience.”

Sebastiano Quaglia, Project Manager

“I found Michelle’s forthright workshop an excellent primer for recognising and understanding how one’s own behaviour reacts to external forces. She provides useful tools designed to help you put your best foot forward in your professional (and personal) life. Michelle’s own professional background is inspirational so I appreciated it when she shared some of her own trials and successes. In doing so she creates a positive forum for participants to learn from each other’s experiences.”

Adrienne Hearn, Development Manager, Reshape Development 

“Michelle’s one day course was a fantastic thought-starter and the beginning of a very long journey in becoming more influential.”

Course participant

“Michelle’s Step Up to Success program has helped me to focus on mindful decision making and being actively present in each moment – without judgement or bias.”

Daniel Filipovic, Manager, Procurement

“The workshop taught me how to structure my communication to achieve desired outcomes, which is very inspiring, enlightening.”

Michael Xu, Market Analyst, ME Bank

“A great personal development course aimed at providing you with the tools to help develop skills in communication, negotiation and stakeholder relationship development which are key enablers for career success.”

Anastasia Sidropoulos, ME Bank

“The ‘Step up to Success’ course provided me with strategies and techniques based on real life experiences that I could relate to. I can take this knowledge into my workplace in order to increase my profile as well as effectively influence those around me.  The discussion around finding your next role, and stepping outside of your comfort zone, provided me with the confidence to take on a very different new role at my workplace.”

Fatima Chaudhry, Financial Governance Manager, NAB 

“This course will change the way you think about influence within organisations with specific approaches to tackle work problems. Michelle’s teaching style is a great mix of practical experience and theory.”

Kate Badgery-Parker, Owner and Strategist, Marketing Bites  

“Having been to a number of training sessions on Leadership and Negotiation, I found this course more in-depth and used real world examples to explain key concepts.  The training provided me with insights into personal and professional development and also practical tools to be able to implement these in the workplace.  I will recommend this course to all professionals irrespective of which stage in their career they are currently in.”

Leon Salisbury, Manager, ICT Sourcing and Contracts, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

“A fantastic day with very powerful but simple tools you can use each day to improve the way you work and achieve better outcomes.”

Greg Ashton, NPS Lead, Global Enterprise & Services, Telstra

“Fantastic program – I would recommend it to anyone that wants to improve how they interact with people within their world of work, as well as outside of work.”

Martin Russell, Engineering Consultant

“The workshop was a great reminder and refresher of concepts as well as great insights for new concepts and thought provokers.”

Leisa Hart, Program Change Lead, UniSuper

“Michelle is brilliant, the course was interesting and practical and gave me some great ways to start thinking about my career and development.”

Thuy Steele, Employer Relationships Planning & Change Lead, UniSuper

“Fantastic program – Michelle shared many personal experiences and the course provided great learnings to take away and use in my role.”

Michelle Cleary, Contact Centre Manager AAMI, Suncorp