Some Testimonials

 

LTGEN (ret) Peter Leahy, former Chief of Army

van Gelder & Monk's methods for dissecting and clarifying complex pieces of analysis or public policy are first class. Although I have always been an advocate of the Army retaining its tank capability and specifically pressed for the purchase of the Abrams tanks to replace the aging Leopards, when I needed to prepare a speech on the subject for the Defence College last year, Their report on the subject Why Tanks, Why Abrams?  saved me a week's work. It is an excellent piece of work and crystal clear in its laying out of every aspect of the debate, for and against the decision.

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Dr. Colette Thomas
Australian Centre for Tropical and Freshwater Research

van Gelder & Monk excel at introducing rigour, discipline and equitability to complex discussion. I put this to the test in scientific meetings tasked with making headway into a conservation issue of international significance. Australia already has the highest rate of mammal extinctions in the world, but some evidence suggests more extinctions could be occurring in the north. A strategic approach to this complex issue has been difficult to achieve at a national level because the scientific community had different perspectives about what the causes (and therefore, solutions) may be. The van Gelder & Monk process allowed considerable and diverse scientific knowledge on the topic to be shared and critically examined, and a common understanding developed. The process is invaluable for developing integrative, collective and critical discussions¸ and achieves this remarkable feat by revealing assumptions, open-mindedness, and critical thinking.  I strongly recommend this process to anyone with a complex task that could benefit from developing strategic insights or shared understanding. 

Prof. Ross Babbage, Kokoda Foundation

I have been familiar with van Gelder & Monk's methods since the founders set out to develop something innovative and practical along these lines a decade or so ago. It is very clear to me now that they are making a significant contribution to the improvement of analytical standards in the public policy arena, particularly among young professionals.  van Gelder & Monk deserve the country's thanks for this.

Garry Pearson, CEO, Australian Dental Association Victoria Branch

van Gelder & Monk were highly successful in helping the ADAVB to clarify the director attributes and behaviours we agree are most conducive to effective deliberation.  The complex factors which influence the decision making culture of an organisation can be daunting for external parties to grapple with, but with their customary clear thinking and analytical skill Tim and Paul ensured we had an honest and constructive look at what we actually do when we make decisions. 
 
So often governance workshops talk about the requirements of directors, especially their roles and responsibilities, and fail to come to grips with the practicality of working together to make good decisions.  Our facilitated discussion about what constitutes a good decision, in terms of both process and outcomes, was especially engaging. Their S.O.C.I.A.L. (Situation, Options, Considerations, Individual Judgment, Aggregation, Leading to Decision) model offered a helpful framework for considering how best to reshape our behaviours to achieve more effective deliberation at Board level, and we now expect that to flow on to our committees and support structures. 
 
Use of dialogue mapping in the workshop also helped our directors to recognise how easily they can be distracted from the purpose of discussion on an agenda item by tangential debates and personal perspectives.  Their requirement that delegates “speak to the map” when offering ideas, questions, pros and cons, was an outstanding illustration of how to maintain focus, while capturing the diverse input of all contributors to the discussion, and ultimately aiding all participants to see the weight of argument supporting the preferred decision. 
 
This was one of our most engaging and meaningful director development activities, and we have done many over the years.  Highly recommended for any board of directors.

Bruce Page, 
Energy Consultant

I have been a practitioner in the space that is the subject of this argument map for several years now. I believed I fully understood the issue and could not understand why others did not. However, the application of cognitive discipline and logic that van Gelder & Monk brought to the issue caused me to revisit my own paradigms and open my mind to the thought processes of others. The process had the effect of taking individuals with diverging views along the same path to arrive at the same point together.

The business for which the work was done, to which I was an independent consultant, had been wheel spinning on this particular issue for over three and a half years. In that time it has spent an enormous amount of money and diverted valuable resources in trying to develop a solution for the business. Inevitably with time, the views of individuals became more divergent and more entrenched. In the mean time, opportunities came and went and the ability of the business to influence the design of the market diminished. van Gelder & Monk's fresh and logical approach to capturing and articulating the views and ideas of key stake-holders condensed all of this divergent thinking and strategy development into a single coherent action plan that everyone could not only sign on to, but champion to completion.

As is often the case in life, the journey was even more important than the destination. In this case the destination was a set of practical agreed outcomes to further the interest of the business. The journey to get there, however, caused several parties with widely diverging views to consider the issue from each other’s perspective and work together as a team with a common goal. This is an investment that will continue to pay a dividend through the participants for many years to come.

The methods used are not rocket science. In fact, they are the opposite of rocket science. They consist of finding the simple truth that is buried deep within issues that seem too complex to resolve. That van Gelder & Monk have devised new methods for doing this is enormously to its credit and I only hope more businesses will start to adopt such methods. It will save an immense amount of money, time and frustration for them.