Testimonials
Testimonials and feedback highlight what people appreciate about our work.
I am grateful to the people who have shared their spontaneous feedback and for those that have contributed generous testimonials.
“Our Leadership team benefited in so many ways from Maria’s mentoring/coaching – both from group coaching as well as one on one coaching.
As a small group, we thought we knew each other quite well, however learning about each other’s personality types and unique individual strengths really assisted us to change the dynamic and improve our systems as well as our communication.
Personally, I learned more about myself than I thought possible through Maria’s particular knack of asking the right question at the right time to make me stop and really think about things I would usually simply accept!
Since working with Maria, I have found that my confidence in difficult situations has increased, and I am much better at responding to situations rather than reacting to them.
I have come away with practical, transferable strategies and feel better equipped to manage the myriad of challenges a leader can be faced with.
Thank you Maria – I hope to work with you again in the future!”
Jodie Uzzell, Assistant Director Seaton Community Children’s Centre
I met Maria whilst participating in a Leadership Lab series that Maria facilitated. A lot of the topics that Maria covered during that course have stayed with me – such as the techniques Maria taught us to gain different perspectives on a particular challenge, creating your own ‘heroes journey’ and understanding unconscious biases.
As a mid‑level manager at the time, I thought the Leadership Lab was a terrific series to get me thinking about the type of leader that I wished to be in my organisation during a period where I was working towards seeking a senior manager role in my organisation.
About a year later, I was looking for some coaching to help me set some goals and make decisions in my career journey.
Maria’s brain-based coaching built on the lessons learned during the Leadership Lab series, but in a much more personalised way. Maria’s coaching has helped me to define and refine a key set of goals that are aligned with my values and have deep meaning to me, and to really get excited about working towards achieving those goals.
I see the goals as major stepping stones that will help me both in my career and in life in general. Because the goals are aligned to my values, it’s easy to stay engaged and motivated. If I had embarked on the process by myself, I probably would have picked different goals and they would not have resonated as deeply. It would have been much harder to stay motivated and to keep working on them.
Maria is full of enthusiasm, encouragement, ideas and suggestions. She is a coach and cheer squad in one – helping to keep me accountable, but also pushing, nudging and cheering me along the way.
I cannot speak highly enough about Maria and her brain-based coaching approach. The coaching has helped me gain a greater understanding of myself, my thought patterns, mindsets and motivators – and Maria’s enthusiasm and encouragement has made the journey exciting and rewarding.
Tasha Naige, Principle at law firm, (Leader Development Participant & Brain-based Coaching Coachee 2018 – 2023)
Being coached by Maria was an absolute pleasure and an experience that I am extremely grateful for.
I am usually a very private person and play my cards close to my chest and therefore somewhat hesitant in being coached however Maria made me feel safe and supported from the moment we connected, meaning the benefit I received from Maria’s coaching exceeded my expectations. Maria is very genuine and authentic in her style, maintaining the right balance of care and professionalism.
One of Maria’s greatest strengths as a Coach is her ability to listen and really dial into what was sitting beneath the words that I was saying, making sense of my ramble and replaying that to me in a way that generated quality insights and many “ah-ha” moments.
The impact of Maria’s coaching was an ability to order my thoughts, the creation of goals that felt perfect for me and that encouraged me to aim higher than what I otherwise would. The goals we set still play a key role in the direction I am moving in and help refocus me when I drift off the path.
Overall, it was a very rewarding experience for me and one that I cherish. 10/10 would recommend!
Sasha Graham, Executive Manager, (Brain-based Coaching Coachee 2021)
I was introduced to Maria when a colleague attended a session – the Yin and Yang of Effective Leadership. My colleague spoke very highly of the session and suggested it might answer some questions that I had of my own leadership at the time. This led to a meeting with Maria, a discussion about our organisation, the leadership structure and strengthening the vision of the organisation.
Maria worked with me, as the senior leader, of the organisation to define and verbalise with clarity, the organisation’s Vision, and develop goals for the whole team to work towards.
During the 18-month leadership development project Maria introduced new concepts and challenged beliefs or practices in way that increased critical reflection capacity of all involved. There were days when my brain hurt after our sessions, as I learnt new ways to think, review, challenge, question, be curious. I learnt to ask why rather than how I fix this; the personality assessment portion of the project supported me to understand my leadership style more deeply and my motivators.
There are still times when I can hear Maria’s voice asking me a question or encouraging me to think differently. I encourage everyone to be brave, take on the challenge and reap the many benefits from the process.
Carrie Johnson, Director, Seaton Community Childrens Centre
I have worked with Maria on two major projects on behalf of UnitingSA and can attest to her professionalism, capacity to engage skilfully and sensitively with diverse stakeholder groups, and high-level expertise as a facilitator, educator and evaluator.
An important component of Maria’s work as Lead Consultant in both the Pathways to Multicultural Access and Participation in Disability and Cultural Connections in Disability projects involved the coaching and mentoring of different cultural groups. The aim was to build their capacity and confidence in supporting those living with a disability to access support and participate more fully in the life of their communities. Maria quickly gained their respect and trust by embracing a person and community centred approach and assisted them to identify and explore different pathways to success. Importantly, Maria recognised that each community she worked with would pace themselves differently but also that they were the experts in identifying and enacting solutions that were culturally appropriate and most likely to succeed.
Maria’s efforts not only resulted in communities that were better informed about service systems and supports but also the emergence and empowerment of Peer Leaders and Community Connectors who continue to work with people living with disability within their specific communities.
She is committed to the self-actualisation of those she works with, both in her training and mentoring roles, and has guided and encouraged community members to realise their leadership potential and aspirations. Maria has walked beside them at every juncture, always ensuring that they were able to access the guidance and support they needed when their path became unsteady or their confidence waned.
Maria’s skillful approach to Evaluation is likewise strongly underpinned by a co-design approach and consistently delivers crucial insights into the journey of individuals and communities and their pathway to improved access and participation. Her evaluation reports are of a very high calibre and her group facilitation skills have enhanced training outcomes for participants as well as the delivery of project findings at key symposia and other forums.
Whether seeking expertise and rich experience in professional coaching and mentoring, project design and evaluation, training in capacity building and/or diversity inclusion, there is no-one I would recommend more highly than Maria Eliadis.
Tina Karanastasis AM, Equity & Inclusion Consultant, Multicultural Service Development and Reform