Surveys appearing on this site will be collated and results made available on this website.
The current survey provides an opportunity for people to share their ideas based on the document “Opportunities and Challenges: Creating a compelling vision for education in Christchurch”. Before you click on the survey link, we invite you to read the concept plan, which can be found under the SUCE tab.
How do you support teachers whilst challenging their thinking? Are we modelling lifelong learning for our students? How do you ensure the school’s shared vision is really shared in practice? These were questions our lead team wanted answers to. Cheryl’s webinar was informative, responsive to our needs and empowered our lead team with strategies and prompts to begin taking apart these questions at Stanley Avenue School. Cheryl’s no nonsense approach takes research and theory and puts it into an accessible, user-friendly model that ensures that learners are kept at the centre of every decision made. She has opened my eyes to the untapped potential of webinars for truly personalised, affordable professional development.
-Stuart Armistead, Principal, Stanley Ave School
As part of an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement clients are continually invited to provide feedback. Questions are based on what counts as good professional learning based on research from the Best Evidence Synthesis on Professional Learning and Development. The wordle diagram shows a summary of comments related to the work of Think Beyond Ltd and Cheryl Doig. It is updated regularly.
Attributed to http://www.wordle.net/ 
Experimenting with new technology is part of our ongoing work. Recently I asked three leaders, all who had worked with me over a number of years, to take two minutes trialling an online poll for me. The question that I asked was “What does Cheryl do best?” This was a bit of fun but has potential as a feedback tool. Here are the results.
I really enjoyed our two days with Cheryl. She really challenged what we were doing with some thought provoking questions and statements. This was exactly what I needed to get myself back on track.
Quite remarkable how many ‘aha’ moments occurred to several of us.
Great day facilitated by Cheryl. Exceeded expectations. I appreciated your ability to clear the fog and turn a difficult brief into a challenging and constructive day that has enabled significant progress.
Did a fabulous job of moving our Board’s strategic thinking.
Well planned, well organised and better than anything else on offer.
Effective Communication in the Workplace: Well presented, conversational and easy to learn from. Informative, thought provoking, raised awareness of diversity of thinking and performing. Great metaphors and explanations particularly at a personal level. Great information and great presenting skills. Good mix of visual and handouts. Working with other attendees was good. Great balance between theory and practical (good to have interaction with others). Clear pathway of ideas building up to an accessible and workable plan for future staff team development. Canterbury Small Business Training Centre, 2011
“That was absolutely FAB-U-LOUS dahling!!!!! Thank you so much to you Cheryl for such an inspirational two days sharing your knowledge, expertise and wisdom. Thanks also to you all for the interaction, debate and fun! Our staff were buzzing this morning and all said they came away with something they would like to further investigate.” – Tauranga 09
“The variety in strategies throughout the exercise/activities today has kept things interesting, vibrant and focussed.”
“Very interactive – kept interest and energy levels up. Also very much on topic.”
“I have appreciated your ability to model facilitation skills, in particular negotiation, use of dialogue, respectful treatment of everyone, clear instructions.”
“Cheryl Doig’s visual presentations were excellent and showed advanced understandings of how to give summaries without talking to the picture reading the words.” Rotorua 09
“A very inspirational session, which made me think long and hard about myself and my teaching practice.” ULearn Conference
“Great to work with someone who really makes you question what is happening.” Tauranga
“Innovative and future thinking presenter and educator – value her vision and sensible approach to education development…” ULearn Conference
“The three days have certainly added to my personal leadership capacity and communication strategies… Thank you for an enlightening three days. The pace, the change of state, the different working groups and tools were all very effective.”
“You are a fine leader who is well organised and has the ability to reach out to the wide range of learners in front of you.”
References and referees are available on request.
Dr. Cheryl Doig (EdD, MEd, DipEdMan, BEd, DipTching, CertQA, FNZIM)
Director – Think Beyond
Cheryl is a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Management (NZIM), and has served on NZIM boards at both local and national levels, including two years as president of NZIM Southern. She is an independent director on the board of Core Education Ltd. and is a member of the Institute of Directors. Cheryl is also Director of ALPinE Leadership and is involved in a wide range of online networks.
Cheryl’s particular areas of passion are organisational leadership, change and relationship management. She builds innovative practice into her work and sees herself as a learning catalyst. She challenges organisations to think differently in order to adapt for the future. Cheryl Doig works internationally with education and business leaders, and with organisations that want to challenge the status quo.
A recognised leader in education – previously a highly successful school principal, Teaching Fellow in Educational Management and school reviewer. Under her leadership both Richmond and Fendalton schools received national recognition, including the Goodman Fielder School of the Year. Cheryl has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including the Beeby Fellowship and the Woolf Fisher Fellowship.
Cheryl has been a member of a number of advisory panels and planning groups at national and regional levels. She has been involved in the development and implementation of leadership programmes in New Zealand and Australia. Cheryl is a member of the ACEL Leadership Academy, an affiliate of Core Education and a member of the Neuroleadership Institute.
An experienced speaker and writer – Cheryl is a Professional Member of the National Speakers’ Association of NZ (NSANZ), and a member of the Global Speakers’ Federation. She is is available for keynote presentations, workshops and facilitation both nationally and internationally. She is a certified practitioner of the Herrmann’s Brain Dominance Instrument, which she uses as a tool to aid individual and team understanding. Cheryl is also an accredited facilitator of Four Quadrant Leadership.
Writing is also an area of expertise. In 2000 Cheryl wrote her first book Quality the Richmond Way and in 2009 her new ebook series Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk was launched. Others in the series will soon follow. Her blog, tweets and wikis are linked to this website.
Systems Manager – Think Beyond
David Duffy has a depth of knowledge and experience in the education area, having been a classroom teacher, adviser to schools, lecturer and deputy principal. He maintains a strong interest in the continuing development of teachers from the pre-training phase through to current practitioners and continues to maintain a presence at many conferences and educational forums. David currently maintains the systems for the organisation, and manages contracts and programmes.
Learning Systems Leader
Donna has been a teacher, senior leader, lecturer and a school principal. She is passionate about education and making learning authentic and innovative, and is continually drawn back into the classroom. She enjoys sharing her experience with students and colleagues and loves learning. Donna has lived and travelled in many countries, thrived on being immersed in their cultures. She has provided professional leadership in Fiji and Abu Dhabi and now supports learning through Think Beyond’s sister site ALPinE Leadership. Donna currently lives in Christchurch with her family.
Online Support
Daniel Coats is a student and passionate writer. Always eager to share his ideas on technology, education and our rapidly changing world, he has spoken at the 2010 Ulearn Conference and represented New Zealand at the International Future Problem Solving competition, placing second. He regularly publishes short anecdotes on technology, leadership and life at Daily Decorum, as well as maintaining a portfolio of short stories and poetry at Brite Writing. You can also get in touch with him on Twitter, @danielcoats.
An organisation passionate about collaborating, challenging and creating to meet your future leadership needs.
