Management Savvy is a team of high-level professionals whose multi-disciplinary backgrounds creatively and productively challenge the ways organizations develop their people.
Together, we operate with contagious enthusiasm, compassion, and excellence to develop personalized services that guide our clients through uncertainty and complexity.
We offer coaching services, design experiential learning activities, and facilitate tailor-made workshops integrating co-learning methodologies. In everything we do we foster introspection, humility, genuine curiosity, and the courage to develop sustainable practices for growth.
I had the pleasure to start working with Danièle in 2007 when I stepped into my first directorship. Not only did she serve me some valuable advice that I still live by, she has remained next to me along the way since then. She is a great fire starter and skilled at making managers realize their strengths and how to use them better. As a Producer and manager of people, she has helped me adapt my style for more efficiency and to also become (hopefully) an inspiring leader. Most importantly, she is not there to make you feel good about yourself but to shake your beliefs and make you a better person. She is a source of encouragement and I have been recommending her since I met her.
Geneviève Deslandes - Company Manager, Quidam - Cirque du Soleil
EM Forster said "spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” That's Daniele, no spoon feeding. Instead, a progressive mentoring that guides you to make the realizations of who you have become and where you want to go. From Australia, we worked together to help me gain the next career step in the location I wanted within the right team. I am now in Hong Kong with a renewable energy project with one of the best teams I have work with in many years. Always in good humor, direct but kind, few investments in life have been as worthwhile as my time with Daniele.
R. Joel Coward - Principal Supply Chain Integrity & Transparency - BHP, Australia
Learning through experience is awesome! Imagine when guided by the super facilitators from Management Savvy. I’ve known Danièle since 2005 when leading the leadership program at Cirque du Soleil. Leading differently requires courage, self-awareness, openness and learning; Danièle has guided over 300 leaders at all levels in their journey to elevate all of us at the Cirque! Purposeful Creativity - We have the privilege to partner with Management Savvy to co-create content and shape learning spaces.
France Dufresne - Canada Region Leader, Talent Line of Business - Willis Towers Watson
I worked with Astrid to design and co-lead a three day immersion workshop. The workshop, with a group of 40, introduced a new set of methods that required everyone to take risks and change conventional leadership behaviors. No small feat. Astrid has wonderfully paradoxical attributes: astute listening and careful observing while being poised to take decisive action. She composed a detailed facilitation plan and then, rather than holding on too tightly, Astrid improvised productively in-the-moment. When our client was challenged and nearly stalled by forming new functional groups, she made creative adjustments in just a few short minutes. The crisis was averted with a smile and by “walking in the shoes” of the client. When working on entangled challenges, she generates enthusiasm and optimism in everyone around her. For Astrid, confidence borne out of “deliberate serendipity” comes naturally.
Keith McCandless - Author & Co-Developer of Liberating Structures
I’ve had the pleasure of planning, designing, and facilitating a three day Liberating Structures workshop with Astrid for Kaospilot. What struck me from the beginning was Astrid’s talent to quickly absorb new information and put it to excellent use. Some people hold back, others ride the first peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve hard. Astrid knows where she stands, where she excels, where she can help others shine. Her experience as a facilitator shows in how she interacts with groups. She’s finely attuned to the needs and the intangible qualities of group interactions. At the same time she is supremely clear in her invitations and fosters an environment of psychological safety and serious fun. She can work on specific action steps with a group as well as blow the roof off with crazy energizers that leave everybody gasping for air. She was an indispensable member of the design group, adding her unique talents while always keeping the whole team in mind. Her cognitive and emotional intelligence make her a valuable asset to any group. Astrid is a creative leader and at the same time an empathic group member. She is a shining example of the new generation of change makers that embody complexity thinking and intuitively know how to navigate complex landscapes at every step.
Johannes Schartau - Agile Coach, International Speaker & Trainer - Holisticon
What I appreciated during our previous workshop together was your emotional intelligence and the ability to let people breathe between moments of focus, and most importantly, the ability to come out with a clear list of action items and owner of these items that every agreed on.
Stephane Jankowski - Creative Director - Ubisoft
The buzz spread far after those two days. People immediately used it in their meetings, exposing many more to the structures, we got invited to plan meetings with others, I just got asked to co-facilitate a meeting next Thursday to use the structures – I got emails saying thank you that was amazing, someone who did not attend said, “I heard it was transformational I am so sad I missed it”, another manager said they want to reach out to you and have you facilitate another workshop with their part of the school…. We are all so very pleased. I have organized a Meet Up on campus in January. We have a space set up dedicated to resources and ongoing peer support/learning. People are ready for a change. Now they have some tools to help them do that. I am delighted. Thank you so much for your all of your work with us on this. We continue to speak to your outstanding facilitation, how you “handled all of us” says Chris, how you encouraged and inspired us.. your energy and teachings have left a mark here at the college that will not be forgotten.
Megan Ewing - Project Manager, Community Services and Health Sciences - George Brown College
I co-facilitated with Astrid on a project that she designed and led. Her approach to the design and delivery of the sessions was very insightful and very organized. She was a pleasure to collaborate with. She commands an open presence in the room and is able to adapt on the fly. Also, her use of tools and templates was very well designed
Fiona Wright - Consultant - Lansdowne
Working with Danièle is not about tricks and formulas. It’s about learning to lead from the inside out, in phase with your values. Once you get there, she’ll bring you the right tools to help you actualize the true nature of your leadership.
Sébastien Rivest - VP Creative - DentsuBos
Vienna! Thank you for your kindness. I speak for the group in saying the feelings are mutual, working with you was a sincere pleasure and your involvement from the beginning absolutely helped guide us to where we landed... if that is the goal of facilitation, you nailed it.
Randall Jaynes - Senior Artistic Director - Blue Man Productions
Thanks again Vienna for your great work, it was such a pleasure to work with you, everybody enjoyed it... such good memories!
Fabienne Goyeneche - Corporate Public Affairs - Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin
I have become more aware of many patterns and how multitasking is less than ideal. I am feeling calmer, less stressed and more focused. I have become better able to say no and to put my limits. I found it useful the way Nicolò was able to explain why I feel a certain way or act a certain way. It puts things in perspective, and I'm able to understand better why I am like that. He is a great speaker, provides clear messages and helpful comments and tools.
Julie Bégin - Account Director - lg2 Montreal