Testimonials
“I engaged Charley because I was experiencing frustration for some time knowing that I needed to change direction in my career, but despite the benefit of numerous qualifications and extensive experience, I lacked direction and confidence as to my options or how to go about this.
I met with Charley for a consultation and knew immediately that we would work well together. Charley has a warm understanding approach and is quick to identity the self-limiting beliefs that were holding me back. In evaluating my career and experience, Charley took a great interest in who I am as a person, what motivates me, and where my key strengths lie. This stimulated a lot of consideration, reflection and honesty with regards to unearthing the aspects of me that require improvement and the unknown strengths that already exist. There was no hiding from Charley in that she held me to account, but the unearthing which was highly effective, was done compassionately and humorously. Charley displays an in-depth understanding of human psychology in her very effective approach.
Charley was a very effective coach and mentor to me. She instilled a confidence in me that I have no doubt will stand to me long into the future. I now have a road map with key actions which I am confident will take me where I need to go both in my career and my personal life. I have no hesitation in recommending Charley.”
M. Leahy“Excellent facilitator and speaker, with great content.”
“Excellent course, I wish it was longer, I could have talked to Charley forever.”
“Excellent course, really enjoyed it.”
“Conflict role play really helpful.”
“Communication and interview preparation skills very useful.”
“Charley helped us to really think about ourselves and how we can improve our situations and support our teams.”
“The course is fantastic and has real value.”
“This training exceeded my expectations and could be run over three days.”
“Very well presented, excellent course, thank you so much!”
“Excellent workshop, very engaging and beneficial.”
Collection of testimonials from attendees at the ’Management in Practice’ training programme delivered in the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO)“Excellent and beyond my expectations.”
“Better than I expected and it was very original.”
“I am learning so much and enjoying everything.”
“I never understood that training was more about the learning experience of the participants and not just the ability of the trainer to present. This has changed my understanding completely and I am learning so much.”
“I found it very helpful for me, I didn’t fully understand the importance and impact of body language and I really want to learn more about coaching skills.”
“I had never done a training needs analysis (TNA) before even though I have a lot of staff reporting to me. I found it extremely interesting and very valuable and I would like to see how we can apply it in the office.“
“I thought training was only about delivering content and handing out materials. Now I have learned about the bigger and more comprehensive picture with all the different elements and most importantly to focus on the participants and not myself.“
“Very good and useful training; training was needed for us and we learned different training styles and some good tips that will help us.”
“I was honoured to be part of such a great training, facilitated by such experienced and valuable trainer.”
“Charley is a wonderfully engaging trainer, very easy to listen to and understand because it was just the right mix of theory and practical demonstration.”
“It was fantastic how Charley could keep us all fully engaged for four days and guide us all in such an individual way.”
“The feedback provided on the trainee presentation materials is absolutely fantastic, simple yet very, very effective.”
“This is the best Train The Trainer program I have ever been on – it is about more than just how to develop and deliver training.”
Collection of testimonials from attendees at the 'Train the Trainer' programme delivered to the Financial Services Sector in Albania and the TEB Bank in Kosovo“Charley has been an exceptional mentor to me. She helped me to articulate my personal strengths and the highlights of my career in the best possible way to present during the interview. She boosted my confidence to a new level. The interview tips that she provided were extremely helpful.
As a mentor she helped me find the better version of myself rather than trying to mould me to her perspective. I would highly recommend Charley to anyone who is looking for mentoring, interview preparation and who genuinely would like to practice and improve their managerial skills.”
M. Vinu“The team communication training and subsequent brainstorming workshop was very beneficial. It highlighted areas of improvement such as communication between colleagues as well as communication with management. Since this training we have made many changes, for the good, within our team and we are already seeing the benefit of this.”
A Curran, CNM, HRBR“I first worked with Charley Swords when transitioning from long term employment to setting up my own business three years ago. Charley provided expert guidance and strong challenge to help me clarify future direction and goals and shared her experience in terms of setting up and running a successful business. Since then she has provided support and guidance on several occasions in relation to many aspects of my life and career, in particular in relation to aligning life and business goals. I consider her a trusted advisor and would have no hesitation in recommending her as a mentor and coach.”
S. O Connor“Excellent course, content vast and needs to be repeated for all staff.”
“Charley is an excellent trainer – I learned a lot.”
Collection of testimonials from attendees at the 'Communicating Effectively in the Caring Environment' training in the Waterford Residential Care Centre“Excellent programme, self-evaluating with positive outcomes”.
“Everybody in the workplace needs to attend this workshop”.
Testimonials for a workshop on ‘End of Year Personal Reflection & Goal Setting’“Excellent programme”.
“All members of staff would benefit from this workshop”.
“Very interesting, clear, well run and enjoyable and would recommend it to all staff”.
Testimonials for training on ‘Building Your Assertiveness Mindset’“Charley has worked with us on a number of projects where she analysed work-flow processes for our clients. Her insightful analysis and effective methods of extracting information & data allowed us to demonstrate to our clients how they could increase productivity and save time and money by using various features of our online platform. Charley’s work contributed significantly to enhancing our overall customer service and cementing our relationships.”
Tom Kelly“For me the recent recession highlighted to businesses the importance of cash management, as those companies which ran short of cash discovered when they found themselves in trouble or even went bust. This tightly-written guide clearly explains the critical aspects of the effective management of cash and cash flow.”
Michael Kieran“It was very empowering and an excellent training, I learned so much which I can use immediately.”
“Fantastic program, very concise and relevant.”
“Excellent training and hugely relevant.”
“Excellent programme which I feel will be very beneficial to me in my working environment.”
“Great background knowledge and relevant examples used, which we can relate to.”
“Charley was really excellent.”
“I found the course very worthwhile and applicable to my work. It was very interactive, with great opportunity to ask questions and discuss scenarios. The content was packed with practical day to day advice and will help develop me in my role.”
“Excellent and a lot to cover in two days.”
“I really enjoyed the two days, Charley’s delivery was superb and I feel I really learned a lot and I am taking home valuable new skills.“
“Charley dealt very well with all the issues raised and very valuable advice was given to deal with real life work situations.“
“Content was superb, Charley spoke clearly, confidently and knowledgeably and was a joy to listen to. Great class interaction and engagement.”
“Content, details and examples absorbing and engaging – thoroughly enjoyable.”
“Excellent course and very well presented.”
“Role play very interesting and eye opening.”
“Recommend this course to higher position managerial level.“
“Excellent workshop, very informative and relevant to Nurse Management.“
“Very informative experience, gained great self awareness re my management role and have new tools to implement”.
“Excellent workshop, everything explained really well and it will help the organization move forward”.
“Excellent workshop by Charley and will benefit me greatly in my new management role”.
Collection of testimonials from attendees at the ’Management in Practice’ training programme delivered in the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO)“Charley has guided us from a difficult and reactive position to become a stronger and more dynamic business, by mentoring us on the critical business functions which we had outsourced, but which are now firmly repositioned within the business. Her clear logical thinking and her ability to simplify processes and methodologies has enabled us to move to larger premises and engage in a challenging business expansion plan while moving from doing everything to actually managing the business.”
E. Ivers“Charley conducted a thorough analysis of our EE facility for SME clients and revised all sales processes, support tools and the operational procedures manual. Additionally she developed new promotional material and provided coaching to key personnel to drive this credit facility forward. Her incisive analysis and successful revision and introduction of new and improved methodologies have yielded very positive results”.
Bojan Stojanoski, Director of Marketing Divison“I believe Charley is the person who can make a difference with your business processes and help you effect changes that will have a positive impact on your company. She streamlined our company’s processes in preparation for transition into a bank and I strongly recommend Charley as an outstanding business consultant.”
Margarita Cherikbaeva, Chief Operational Officer, FINCA MCC“We engaged Charley to provide training to our senior management staff as part of our institutional development programme. Charley has an excellent personality for training and creates a comfortable learning environment. Her training was insightful, relevant and geared towards the results of the institution. We strongly recommend Charley as both a consultant and trainer.”
A. Denaj, Member of the Management Board“Charley has conducted a number of comprehensive management and customer service training programmes for Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo middle management team. The content was customised to suit our specific strategic and management needs, was hugely interactive with group and individual exercises and was solidly based in how the various methodologies, concepts and practices could be implemented across our network and in the head office departments and individual business units.
Charley’s style is open, energetic and inclusive, her underlying focus is on the people involved in the processes while not forgetting the return on investment.”
G. Loxha, Senior Training Specialist