What my clients say about working with me
“I was at a crossroads in my career having worked through a difficult experience with senior management. I wasn’t sure if going back or changing direction was the right thing to do and needed someone to help me work through these options. This was different to other psychological help I was getting. More pragmatic and needed someone who understood the complexity and intricacy of life as a senior doctor. Our ‘transferable skills’ are not necessarily the same as other professions and unless we plan to leave clinical medicine our workplace options are more limited. I also wanted someone who knew healthcare and its structures.
Kate has worked in healthcare and hospitals for many years and I respected her work when I’d seen her in the hospital. I knew she was now consulting and thought she would be a good person to help guide me through this process.
I was right. Kate is indeed pragmatic, knowledgeable and skilled in getting me to think about my needs, whilst understanding the depth of my choices.
I’d highly recommend her to other doctors facing workplace or life troubling decisions.”
“We would like to thank Kate for her contribution over the last three years and to note the following achievements:
- Supporting ACC in providing expert knowledge in Human Factors as part of the pilot programme
- Engagement with mentors and mentees to provide support and training in clinical Human Factors
- Ideas for improving the Adverse Event Review process and strong commitment to ensuring that both a system and cross agency collaborative approach is taken.”
“I met with Kate several times to work on strategies to help me in my management role. We discussed a variety of topics from time management to conflict resolution. I was able to come away with an increased array of skills to help me tackle the day to day challenges of the job. It was very helpful to also just talk through some areas in an objective and non-judgemental way, coming up with a pragmatic approach to how I might continue to work effectively in my role, whilst keeping time for all the other aspects of my life!”
“During 2016/2017, Kate worked with our nurse manager and me to assist us in developing a case for a new nurse staffing model.
There were three parts to the work she did with us. Firstly research on current staffing models in other Urgent Care centres around New Zealand, secondly working with us in writing up the proposal and thirdly supporting us in presenting the proposal to our nursing staff.
Kate was a steady and calm presence during what was at times an extremely stressful process. Her insight into how people work and what factors would be important in how we presented our information ensured a difficult process was as positive as it could be.
I particularly valued Kate’s honesty, professionalism and integrity during the time we worked with her. There were aspects of the project which were not a complete match for her skill set and she was clear with us about this and presented options to us for managing those areas. At all times I felt she kept our needs and interests to the fore and there is no doubt that her skills and ability ensured that we kept on task and within agreed timeframes.
Kate’s communication with us was always clear and professional and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her.”
“Kate ‘s coaching left me with some new tools for thinking about and dealing with conflict. Following her advice led to a better outcome than I had imagined possible. An outcome in which I felt that I had expressed myself clearly and respectfully, finding peace with a situation that had really been eating at me. Thanks Kate, very grateful for your help.”
“In late 2016 I was asked to work with Kate to review 34 Serious Adverse Events sustained by the Southern District Health Board ophthalmology services over a fifteen month period. I was to provide the ophthalmological expertise; Kate, the expertise in root cause analysis and health systems review. The task was large and complex, because as well as speaking to all relevant staff in the Dunedin and Invercargill Eye Departments and to management at the various levels, we had to investigate each case.
I found Kate a joy to work with, and our collaboration was very successful. She has extensive experience of health system review and a comprehensive understanding of how DHBs in the New Zealand context function. This however is tempered by common sense, realism and pragmatism. Very quickly it became apparent that we were coming to the same conclusions about the relevant issues. In particular Kate was great to work with in writing up the report, and moulded the fragments of prose I sent her into an ordered, complete and logical document. She very tactfully recommended restraint at times, and I was grateful for every suggested change she made. I really enjoyed the experience of working with Kate and I think we completed a large task most efficiently.”
You can read the review report here: Review of Southern DHB ophthalmology service supports changes
“It was a pleasure to work with Kate under what would have been difficult circumstances for some of our staff. Kate was able to put people at ease with her friendly but professional nature. She has a wealth of experience and knowledge of patient safety and applied this to ensure a thorough review process occurred. Kate openly communicated with internal and external staff and from this, presented a document that was clear and easily understood. I would have no hesitation in contacting Kate to work with our DHB again should the need arise.”
You can read the review report here: Review of Southern DHB ophthalmology service supports changes
“Kate MacIntyre prepared and presented a very valuable customised workshop on communication skills for our team. Kate was able to keep the team motivated and covered many aspects to enhance their communication skills and address specific issues/concerns including cultural sensitivity.”
“Thank you Kate for delivering such a great workshop, your relaxed and friendly manner put everyone at ease immediately. Your material was well presented and organised, and I appreciate the time you took to understand the nature of our business and tailor your course to make it even more relevant to us.
I would recommend this course to anyone that wants to improve their communication skills.”
“I look back on my short series of consultations with Kate last year with enormous gratitude.
Misunderstanding and compounding mistrust in my workplace had brought me to a place of near brokenness and isolation. I just did not have the personal resources to turn things around and was becoming increasingly anxious about looming challenges. I needed help.
Kate proved to be the right person to approach. Her wealth of background experience in the ups and downs of healthcare organisational dynamics was invaluable in our conversation. She is an intelligent, kind, knowledgeable and skilled woman, respectful of confidentiality and very professional.
We met six times for about an hour. Kate capably grasped the complexities of my situation. I was understood, validated, supported and then, (exceedingly competently) equipped to move forward. Kate coached and modelled listening and communication tools. Area’s covered included mindfulness and de-stressing tools, strategies for avoiding provocation, moving from defensiveness, understanding motivators and creating safe listening spaces, coaching,(avoiding over-parenting/fix-it models) getting others on side and preparation for difficult meetings.
With practice, these tools have proved their worth. Over the months we met, my self knowledge and situational awareness improved as the coaching provided the necessary confidence to re-engage. Thankfully, six months down the track, I can say that the dysfunctional elements in my work relationships have been largely corrected. The stuck and vulnerable state I was in, is now a memory.
After each coaching session I was provided a summary sheet, reflecting back our conversation, outlining strategies and tools. I continue to re-read these valuable notes.
I confidently recommend Kate as a coach, to help others move successfully through very difficult workplace challenges – especially those in the health sector.”
“I consulted with Kate MacIntyre about a work-related relationship that I was having difficulty with. Kate’s professional advice and assistance helped me to step back from the anger and resentment I was feeling about it, to see it in the context of the different systems both parties were constrained by, to analyse and understand the kind of pressures the other person was likely to be facing and Kate offered me a simple and structured approach to how to respond to the other person.
I found Kate to be warmly engaged with the predicament I was facing, she gave clear explanations about the dynamics of the situation she had noticed and the approach she offered was spot on.
Consulting Kate saved me from an impulsive and unhelpful interaction I was contemplating and my resulting more considered response has improved this work relationship significantly.”
“Kate was professional, listened, and created an enjoyable atmosphere while we worked together. She provided me with invaluable guidance in communication. I found her process immediately useful as it allowed me to adequately prepare for a crucial interaction with a colleague.
Kate helped me see how important these interactions can be; getting them right can improve the ongoing experience of teamwork. She followed up with an outline of what we discussed, which assisted me to practise what she taught me and could be applied to many interpersonal situations.”
“Kate presented and facilitated a conversation within my postgraduate class on the Second Victim who is a health professional responsible for accidental injury to a patient in their care. This is a difficult and sensitive topic for health professionals that can be distressing for some.
Kate demonstrated her professional experience with this topic, her extensive knowledge of Patient Safety and applied her expertise to engage the class in a thoughtful and sensitive academic discussion.”
“Kate’s coaching style is friendly and also very professional – working with her was a pleasure. I really appreciated the way that she provided me with a range of communication, coaching and feedback strategies as well as approaches to managing difficult conversations.
Her written material is concise and easy to use on a day to day basis, whilst also including websites for further reading. I definitely recommend her!”
“We were delighted with your presentation. The presentation introduced concepts of patient safety and open communication to our participants and fitted the brief. The audience of 45 came from a range of nursing and medical disciplines to obtain a deeper understanding of the adverse event review process and a patient safety culture.
The feedback we received was that your presentation was pitched in a clear and open way and used the benefit of your personal experience as a former patient safety manager and now a consultant in the sector.
We look forward to working with you again in the future.”
“Kate was thoroughly professional in her dealings with all staff and quickly developed an easy rapport. Her communication with us was always professional, prompt and clear. She was responsive to our needs and was thorough in her research.
It was a pleasure to work with Kate. She quickly gained an understanding of our needs and helped us transform our vision into a working document that we will be able to use to plan future education and training needs for our Nurses.”
“As Nurse Team Leader at Newtown Union Health Service (NUHS), I had the pleasure of working with Kate on a project to scope the Professional Education and Development needs of Nurses working at NUHS. This work involved several face to face meetings with myself and our manager as well as email communications. She also met and engaged with our nurses to determine their training needs.”
“Kate has a wealth of experience in providing practical solutions that enable staff members understand the impact of their communication on others. I’ve worked with her in a number of situations that have had different challenges, and each time she is able to quickly and effectively understand the issues and work with individuals to achieve good outcomes.
Kate is my go to person when I have tricky situations that need skilled facilitation to get the team working effectively and to their strengths. Her approach is one that enables people to think about and approach issues in different ways that leads to engagement and a sense of achievement.”
“I had the privilege of working with Kate to put a presentation together to use to promote my music therapy business.
I was really struggling with the content and structure of the talk and Kate helped me reassemble my story so that it really flowed. In addition she found amazing images that really brought my talk to life.
Kate is a very calm and patient person and works hard to find a style of working that fits your personality. She gives you options. This can be really helpful especially if some of the options are things you had not previously thought about.
Kate also works on enhancing your presentation skills. She advised me on how to stand and pointed out that I needed to keep the energy and volume high in my voice.
I struggled with my confidence and would try improvising on the spot. This clearly didn’t work for me, because I then found myself cornered, so Kate encouraged me to stick with the written plan and rehearse it so that I knew it really well.
I would highly recommend Kate as a consultant if you need help with your talk or presentation. In my case, if I’d had to work on my own, my talk would not have had the pizzazz that it now has.”
