“You delivered more than I could have ever imagined.”
A big thank you for unleashing a joyful optimism among our faculty and staff today. Your activities underscored the importance of community, trust, and respecting perspective, while your facilitation was supportive, fun, and enthusiastic. You have helped me start my term as Chair with so much confidence, positivity, and hope.
Ben Barry, MPhil, PhD
Chair of Fashion, Associate Professor of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
School of Fashion, Faculty of Communication and Design, Ryerson University
“Our two sessions with Beyond the Box were engaging, fun filled, and brought our team closer together.”
Recently, we enlisted Beyond the Box to provide facilitation, with the goal of enhancing employee engagement and team building. My team was very impressed with the sincerity, professionalism, and care that Lola and Bob brought to our sessions. They inspired our staff to tap into their creative spirits, and provided a safe environment for us to share ideas, thoughts, and past experiences. We were also left with sustainment tasks and tools to keep our learnings fresh. Thanks to Lola and Bob for your years of hard work and dedication to organizations and businesses across Canada.
Bernadette MacPherson
Vice President, Digital
CST Spark
“Our recent team workshop with Beyond the Box far exceeded our expectations.”
As experienced certified trainers, we enjoyed being students in the classroom. The style of teaching, through games and hands on exercises, was very refreshing and educational. We will definitely use several of the exercises in our future events.
Connie Deyo
Vice President, Business Excellence
Greenfield
“Thank you for an amazing experience!”
The Beyond the Box facilitators, Lola and Bob, are truly masters of their craft! The workshop was interactive, valuable, and fun, and drove home key learnings on effective communication and leadership. Lola and Bob do a fantastic job getting people involved, thinking outside the box, and having full engagement throughout the day.
Matt Thomas
Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Inside Sales
iA Clarington Investments
“The real value is that the team bonded on a whole new level.”
Our Management team had a fantastic time! The workshop was fun, fast paced, and punctuated with learning.
Kevin Wylie
General Manager
City of Ottawa
“Beyond the Box provided a dynamic, engaging workshop, focusing on team building and interpersonal communication.”
From the CFO to the AP clerk, the Director of IT to support staff, all found opportunities to express themselves, take risks, exchange perspectives — and it was done in a fun learning environment. The day was co-lead by Lola Rasminksy and Bob Presner, and they shared work and personal perspectives that enabled everyone to relate to their own situation at our organization.
Andria Spindel
President and CEO
March of Dimes Canada
“The resounding sentiment is positive: the best session attended to date.”
The participants were enthused that they could have fun and learn at the same time. I appreciate all of the details that you and your team took in planning and delivering the workshop. Your care for the quality of the day’s interaction was inspiring.
Sylvi Karr
Senior Director, Insurance Services
Ontario Medical Association
“Participants were engaged, and the workshop was completely in line with our goals for the program.”
It’s taken me two days to catch my breath after that incredible workshop! We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Compass Leadership Program workshop season. It was a joy to work with you from our first inquiry, to working out logistics, to the workshop proper. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Madeline Smith
Program Manager
Amici Camping Charity
“An overwhelming majority of participants loved all aspects of the workshop, from start to finish. They felt that Bob and Lola did a great job, providing bite-sized take-home messages after each activity.”
Overall, participants felt it was an excellent investment, and that they had lots to think about how to work even better together. Thanks for the energy you both brought to the day. There was such an excellent vibe in the room throughout, and it was obvious to me that the trust and openness that participants already felt towards each other was further strengthened and amplified by your presence.
Kira Leeb
Branch Director, Health System Performance
Canadian Institute for Health information
“I’ve heard many of the staff saying that it was the best training day that they have participated in to date, in their public service career.”
People were not only relieved that it was not a structured lecture-type format, but they had fun. You are both fabulous presenters, and the icebreaking exercises and key messaging about tools for engaging and staying positive were great. Certainly the time flew by. I will strongly recommend Beyond the Box to anyone else looking for a fun and creative way of addressing civility in the workplace.
John Fox
Direcor General
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
“The training was a big success, and proved to be the energy boost that people needed early in the year to get them going.”
The consensus is that people appreciated the opportunity to collectively discuss their obstacles. The day was infused with very positive energy, and people were feeling good and acknowledging their strengths and talents. It is going to take us time to get to the point where challenges are not front and centre of people’s minds – we need to replace challenge with opportunity.
Suzanne Decary
Director, GTA Operations
Canadian National Institute for the Blind
“Today’s session with Lola, Bob, and the team, was incredible.”
You must be so proud of how you are able to reach people, and help them realize how creative they truly are, especially when they feel safe. I learned many things today, and will be making several commitments to act when I put pen to paper later tonight. Thank you for such an enjoyable experience.
Stephen O’Reilly
Executive Director and Associate CIO
The Canadian Institute for Health Information
“I have really noticed a difference in attitudes here already.”
Everyone was very happy with the session. As a newer team member, where people said a polite “hello” before, they now stop to chat with me. It has already made for more meaningful interactions. Thanks to Bob and Lola for providing such a wonderful experience.
Tara Woodfull
A/Manager, Admin
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
“Beyond the Box is an outstanding organization to do business with.”
They engage the participants with fun, creative, and interactive exercises. Having worked with Lola and Bob on multiple occasions, I was fascinated by how they had changed things up, and developed the program. The laughter, learning, and engagement in the room was truly impressive. Thank you!
Cathy Campbell
President
Responsible Distribution Canada
“Well done – you surpassed our high expectations! Even the folks on our team who don’t usually like workshops enjoyed this one, because it was so fun, different, and useful.”
The civility training was great. Bob and Lola did a terrific job maintaining a great vibe, energy, and pace. We learned in fun, immersive ways how to listen, appreciate, and work with our teammates better. We also learned about ourselves in ways that were uplifting, affirming, and energizing. We were very happy with how it went.
Eric Dorman
Manager, Info Management & Analytics Unit, Housing Programs Branch
Ministry of Housing
“It was great to see many teachers using the activities we learned with Beyond the Box in their classes during our orientation.”
They (and I) truly enjoyed and valued the experience.
Laurie Foley
Principal, Thornhill Campus
Blyth Academy
“Everyone really enjoyed Briony’s energy.”
We’d like to thank Beyond the Box again for the day. Everyone was happy with the course, and we’ll certainly reach out you in the future if we need other team workshops.
Paula Periera
Executive Assistant & Coordinator, Strategy & Corporate Development
George Weston Limited
“The Beyond the Box Team Building Workshop was the perfect kick-off to our two-day training conference.”
On behalf of our team, I would like to extend our thanks for providing us with a meaningful and energetic team building workshop. Beyond the Box was able to customize the session to our needs, and incorporate several exercises to break the ice and get the group going in a positive direction. They ensured that our company’s values and theme for the event were emphasized, and most importantly, demonstrated the impact of teamwork. We have received much positive feedback from the participants, and would definitely use Beyond the Box again. Thank you for a wonderful session!
Sinda Alexandre
Manager, Ontario Homeowner Underwriting
Office of the VP, Insurance Operations, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
“We took away many valuable learnings from the morning.”
The team had a great time – looking forward to seeing these in play.
Heather Stark
Vice President, Finance
Weight Watchers
“I’ve heard a lot more ‘hellos’ and ‘yes, ands’ this week.”
We received positive feedback following the workshop.
Katie Thompson
Risk Management Official
City of Barrie
“It was thoroughly entertaining, all the way through.”
Two days into training with Beyond the Box, and I’ve felt that it was absolutely effortless learning. It is so energizing and invigorating to not have to work too hard to learn new things. Everybody in the room came away with something that they didn’t know about themselves, and can now build on going forward. Overall a very, very effective training session.
Jordan Levitin
Senior Vice President
IPSOS
“Everyone loved it.”
Thank you for facilitating and organizing a fantastic session.
Suzanne Narain
Civics & Environment Commissioner
University of Toronto Graduate Students Union
“It was nice to laugh with our colleagues.”
Thank you for the great workshop on Fostering Civility in the Workplace with us here at OHTN. It was very informative, very well presented, plus enjoyable. The feedback I have received from our staff is very positive, and they feel the training received will assist us in our workplace. I look forward to future workshops with Beyond the Box!
Penny Galanis
Senior Director, HR
Ontario HIV Treatment Network
“The activities were focused and fun – and everyone walked away with a creativity toolkit.”
The Beyond the Box crew challenged our very smart staff to tap into their imagination and come up with new ways of seeing, reacting, inventing, and succeeding.
Deborah Fodor
Regional Director
VitaminT
“Looking forward to working together again in the future.”
Thanks again for an incredible session. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
Marla Bzowski
HR Consultant
Thorncliffe Dental Centre
“I heard some great feedback from our attendees.”
Thank you SO much for the great workshop.
Amber Walker
CEO
Amber Walker Events
“The Beyond the Box day was both fun and useful.”
We wanted to come out of our day-long sessions having learned a lot but also having had fun in the process, which we did. It was a valuable experience for everyone.
Helen Ploumis
Human Resources Director
Angus Glen
“We consider Lola and Bob the newest members of our work family and we will not forget what they have shared with us.”
Thank you for providing our entire team with the most engaging, relevant, meaningful and enjoyable training in effective communication. Our team was disconnected, ineffective and no longer trusted in our vision. We had no idea what Lola and Bob could do for us but after two short days of breaking down barriers, it was evident that our entire team left with a renewed sense of optimism and positivity because we were all laughing again.
Robert Wolfe
Emergency Services Division, Administrator
Oneida Nation of the Thames
“We have become stronger—Beyond the Box will have an impact for years to come.”
Beyond the Box’s training, workshops, tools, inspiration and motivation have already made it possible for our management and staff to communicate more effectively and to work together better. Lola and Bob are tremendous facilitators, and we have already started to implement the feedback and findings. Ultimately, we have become stronger and more passionate about serving even more youth in need. Their work will have an impact for years to come.
Timothy Lang
President & CEO
Youth Employment Services YES
“We are pleased to have chosen Beyond the Box to be a Vendor of Record for Accenture.”
The bilingual Beyond the Box team kept 225 people from our Montreal office thoroughly engaged for two hours of experiential learning that was both useful and fun. It was a pleasure to see such a broad cross section of people, who work in so many different areas, communicating so openly, creating together – and laughing out loud. It was a great way to launch our program on innovation. We are pleased to have chosen Beyond the Box to be a Vendor of Record for Accenture.
Michael Denham
Past Managing Director
Accenture in Canada
“Beyond the Box got the creative juices flowing for a group of actuaries and benefits professionals.”
We were surprised to discover how creative a group of actuaries and benefits professionals could be. The program was thoughtful and provocative.The session exceeded our expectations for building on our personal relationships and we came away with a renewed sense of our talents as a team. We look forward to our next Beyond the Box experience.
Bill Morneau
Past President and CEO
Morneau Shepell
“The time we spent with Beyond the Box was short and powerful.”
It opened our eyes to what we all have within and are sometimes afraid to let out. Thank you to Lola and Bob for a wonderful, insightful and very worthwhile afternoon.
Sebastian Mizi
Vice President
Signature Communities
“Beyond the Box puts the art back into business”
Beyond the Box effectively aims directly at imaginative problem solving. It consists of a fresh and new approach surfacing creative instincts of the participants. We all have a core of creativity.
Mary S. Aitken
Managing Director
V E R I T Y
“A Magical Day”
I could see the team moving from feelings of inhibition and scepticism, to involvement, enjoyment and productive results. The entire day was magical, the results fantastic and practical!
Joanne Gordon
Vice President, Commercial Financial Services
“Bravo BTB! You helped us to ‘imagine the possibilities!’”
We asked BTB to help us learn new skills to improve our individual and organizational performance. By developing specific examples, which related to our day-to-day experience and providing us a risk free environment, our learning was as much fun as it was insightful and we were ready to apply the results immediately. What’s more – we are now more willing and able to help each other, in a good way.
J. Fraser Wilson
FCADirector
The Canada Homestay Network Inc.
“We have never smiled or laughed so much in one day”
Staff have been giving me wonderful feedback on the retreat. We all agreed that we have never smiled or laughed so much in one day! I also plan on incorporating some of the photos into a photo book.
Laurie Smyk
Pharmacy Department
St. Michael’s Hospital
“Breaking down barriers of IT Professionals”
Beyond The Box allowed us to see the many facets of each other, breaking down preconceptions and allowing the free-flow of ideas from different vantage points. There were a number of “ah-ha” moments from individuals with takeaways that will allow us to keep the (generated) momentum going beyond this one day. We plan to work with Beyond The Box again for follow up sessions to ensure we do just that and remain on track.
Linda Elphick
CEO
I View Systems
“Our team left with a plan going forward and one of their best days at work for a long time”
Leaving us with a plan going forward, and having teams in place to move this work along, was an added bonus. I will work with these groups to ensure we move towards some positive outcomes in social media, inter-department and external communications, and other topics. That adds legacy to the day’s training and, hopefully, will result in us recalling the day’s lessons – and cause us to reflect more on a go forward basis.
Russ Phillips
Chief Administrative Officer
Town of Essex
“55 strangers in the Rotman Executive MBA opened up and set the stage for cohesive working teams.”
Beyond the Box is a great program for team building. It allowed 55 strangers in our Executive MBA program to open up to each other and set the stage for building a cohesive class and effective working teams. We will use the program again.
Jim Fisher
Past Associate Dean
The Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
“Healthcare professionals discover their creative potential and innovative solutions to challenges they experience daily in their work”
Our group of pharmacy staff overwhelmingly rated this session as very good to excellent regarding the topics covered, new information learned, an interesting and enjoyable delivery and meeting their expectations. The degree and frequency of laughter and animated discussion throughout the session back up their evaluation. As a group of healthcare professionals who may not have thought of themselves as creative, they discovered how much potential they had in coming up with totally creative and innovative solutions to the challenges they experience daily in their work!
Dr. Janice Wells
Pharmacy Director
St. Michael’s Hospital
“Beyond the Box engaged an extremely creative group on high-level changes and delivered a program that will drive results. Thank you! BTB truly one of a kind.”
Beyond The Box is truly one of a kind. I had a very important off-site to plan for – one in which I needed to engage an extremely creative group on high-level changes. My first call was to the folks at Beyond The Box. Having worked with them previously, I knew that, not only would I receive the highest professional and enthusiastic guidance, but they would deliver a program that would drive results. And once again, they did.
Heather Senst
Director, Creative Services
Astral Television Networks
“A worthy team building exercise for 350 Managers”
We had the pleasure of experiencing an innovative Beyond the Box session with a group of 350 managers at Corus’ annual leadership conference. The exercise not only created an atmosphere of creativity and teamwork, but generated a lot of laughter and hilarity. It’s definitely a worthy team-building exercise.
Hal Blackadar
Past Vice President, Human Resources
Corus Entertainment
“Teambuilding workshop for a cross-country creative group led to doors of discovery.”
We asked the folks at Beyond the Box to engage our cross-country creative group in a teambuilding workshop – and they did it right! We were entertained, informed and led through doors of discovery. We learned a lot without ever feeling we were being taught.
Matt Di Paola
National Director of Client Services
Tribal DDB Canada
“Tough audience makes break through in becoming better team players.”
Thank you for an incredible session!! The energy from start to finish was impressive! The team had a fabulous time from the early morning sessions of storytelling and Frisbee ID through to the ‘hats’ improv. The ‘hats’ really made its mark since a few people referred to this activity as one of the most valuable activities of the two days and a very transferable exercise in the final feedback session. We enjoyed the arts session and many people said they felt ‘lighter’ after doing the more introspective exercises. We appreciated the way all the activities were tied back to how this would help us to be better team players in the workplace. We are thrilled with how the whole event was received – PCH is a tough audience.
Maria Gregory
Senior Brand Manager
Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
“Beyond the Box unleashed the creative energy of our team. It’s all about the art of the possible – a great management tool.”
Karen Goldenberg
Past President and CEO
JVS Toronto
“Beyond the Box helped us set a collegial and dynamic tone for a new board. The ice was broken and working relationships started to form.”
Beyond the Box was asked to assist in orienting a new board, not so much from the perspective of governance, as to help set a collegial dynamic tone. At first several were skeptical, but by the end the consensus was that much had been achieved. The ice was broken and working relationships had started to form. Now, several months later the spirit persists, and some of the tokens of the orientation, like the large place cards with trustee’s artwork on one side appear at every meeting. We move the cards around, and the mixing somehow helps keep the meeting fresh.
Harvey Schipper BSc, MD, FRCP(C)
Past President
Holy Blossom Temple
“Our group of World Presidents’ Organization executives participated with ebullience and joy in a most illuminating and surprising session. The experience will certainly contribute to the success of our companies.”
Peter Schmidt
Chairman
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Canada Ltd.
“We found the workshop to be very effective.”
Our staff now feels that they are part of the solution and of suggesting ways of making things better.
Nicole Brouillard
Past Vice President
Canadian IT Manager
Chubb Insurance Company of Canada
“Beyond the Box is a masterful program run by skilled professionals. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day.”
Teamwork is critical to the success of our business. The Beyond the Box process allowed our medical affairs staff, marketing personnel and administrators to recognize their individual creative talents and to bond in a trusting, supportive way. Beyond the Box is a masterful program run by skilled professionals. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Elan Ezikson
Past President
Biogen Canada
“We’ve worked with Beyond the Box on three occasions. Each time the program was well-received and provided lasting and positive effects for employees.”
I have had the pleasure of working with the Beyond the Box team on three occasions. In every case, the staff engaged the participants through the use of theatre and art projects. The program was extremely well received and provided lasting and positive effects for employees. I would strongly recommend Beyond the Box as an innovative session to encourage staff to communicate, to learn about each other and provide a refreshing approach to team building.
Donna Holmes
Past Director, Communication Services Branch
Ministry of Consumer and Business Services, Government of Ontario
“Beyond the Box provided outstanding expertise and flexibility in offering a customized program. This was one of the most rewarding sessions employees attended in years.”
We found that Beyond the Box personnel provided outstanding expertise and flexibility in offering a customized program. The exercises selected produced an excellent open and creative forum for us to enhance team building, explore fun ways to build trust, learn more about ourselves and stimulate each person’s creativity and individuality. Feedback from the participants indicated that this was one of the most rewarding sessions they had attended in years.
George Krauss
Past Director, Human Resources
Bell Canada
“The Beyond the Box workshop fostered a sense of energy and trust amongst our in-house and freelance staff.”
The Beyond the Box workshop fostered a sense of energy and trust amongst our in-house and freelance staff. Our facilitators were given new tools to put into their leadership training kits. The session far exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Nick Forrest
President
Forrest & Company