” I am the Area Pacific Central, Area Manager for Centrelink. The Area ranges from Coffs Harbour in the South, to Bourke in the West and to the Gold Coast in the North/East. I have up to 800 staff that I am accountable for, including an Area Executive Team of 8 members, an Area Leadership Team of 30 and Operational Leaders (i.e. Team Leaders) of another 30 staff. I recently asked Irena to facilitate sessions around ‘Change Management’ and ‘Innovation’ for both the Operational Leadership and the Area Leadership Groups. We found Irena to be an extremely dynamic presenter and she was able to customise her style to meet the different needs of both groups. The presentations were very effective and relevant and achieved my objectives.”

Dr Irena Yashin-Shaw is one of the best in this space. She succinctly captures innovation and makes it “real” to public sector leaders. From small “improvement” ideas to big ticket items, Dr Yashin-Shaw takes participants through a range of tools, methodologies and concepts which are readily transferable into the workplace. The style of her workshop allows for cross-pollination of ideas and experiences which are shared in a constructive and honest manner.

“Your keynote address was the most entertaining and informative address I have heard. It was thoroughly enjoyable.“

” Very good presentation. A great reminder that everyone can contribute to innovation no matter what position held in the organisation.”

The workshop delivered by Dr. Irena Yashin-Shaw highlighted to the many managers present that innovation can happen at all levels. It can be for the benefit of a department, section or work group. It is not exclusively the manager’s responsibility to be the innovator. Rather the manager or department head can provide the environment for innovation to happen by removing the barriers and clearing the pathways so that team members have the opportunity to innovate and are ABLE to innovate. The workshop highlighted, for me, the importance of managers being the catalysts for innovation.

” Irena was inspiring, knowledgeable, a great speaker, well prepared and very professional.”

Irena is a very professional and engaging speaker and workshop presenter, who brings true value and deep knowledge into her presentations. Irena has a warmth and friendliness that radiates out, such that when a group of strangers in a workshop come together they feel comfortable to interact and participate. This is a rare quality in a presenter. Irena clearly has a passion for bringing innovation and creativity into businesses. She has good analytical skills to assess company positioning and the areas requiring improvement.

” I have had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Irena speak at conferences on two occasions and both times she has impressed me with her breadth of knowledge on applying the concepts of Innovation to both business and education. Just recently she spoke at the VET Development Centre’s Teaching and Learning Conference and her innovative keynote, Thinking Strategically in a World of Change, inspired and transformed the delegates – the feedback was outstanding. As a passionate academic, she is focused on bringing her unique perspective to education innovation to every encounter and I offer this recommendation with pleasure, secure in the fact that Dr. Irena will surely deliver.”

Being innovative is a trait I have always admired in others but did not recognise in myself. Irena’s workshop on Innovation Skills in the Public Sector helped me identify not only the areas where I had been innovative already but provided me with the tools to continue developing this skill. I thoroughly enjoyed the session and will be recommending it to a number of my colleagues.

” Great program! We are now more strategic in our approach to innovation in our organisation. Consequently we have adopted a more systematic, formalised and structured process for innovation which has given us a good plank for future growth and progress. Our entire staff now helps drive innovation which has resulted in more organisational depth and knowledge capture”

“Irena, you are inspirational! You have good use of props and deliver with plenty of variety. I loved what you did! Thanks.“

“Irena is a wonderful and inspiring speaker! I was so entertained that I hardly realised I was being educated.”

” Thank you so much Irena for your presentation at the Business Improvement in Government Network Conference. Your keynote “Thinking Strategically in a World of Change” was extremely well received by our audience with people returning comments of “stimulating and informative” and “awe inspiring” and “vibrant and lovely” in the post event feedback. Similarly, your workshop on “Thinking Leadership” hit the mark with comments like “I learned many new and valuable skills” and “very interactive and fast paced”. It was a pleasure to deal with you from beginning to end of the very lengthy process that it has taken to get an event like this off the ground.’

” Dr Irena was the ideal person to create the right tone for our Unleashing Potential Conference. Her powerful and highly effective delivery style in her opening keynote was one of the event’s highlights. She captivated delegates with her presence by inviting audience engagement in the highly participative and interactive learning journey.”

Dr. Irena has a presentation style that is engaging and thought provoking. I really enjoyed her ability to articulate the science behind what can be a somewhat ambiguous topic – how to innovate successfully to achieve tangible results.

I found Irena inspiring and practical to work with – she engendered new ways of igniting creativity and innovation and I find that I delve into her innovation toolkit regularly.

” Wow! What a powerhouse of a speaker Dr. Yashin-Shaw is! She was so good I didn’t even notice the time fly by.”

” Dr. Irena’s keynote was one of the highlights of our conference. She was practical, informative and empowering, prompting us to think of new ways of solving old problems. Our delegates loved Dr. Irena’s interactive approach. She is a fun, energetic and engaging presenter who added great value for everyone.”

” Thanks Irena for an inspiring start to the conference.”

” Very enlightening, fast paced and entertaining. Great use of time!”

” Outstanding presenter, fun, different, engaging, very personable!”

Irena’s programme has been inspirational to me and changed my mindset regarding innovation and creativity. I have stepped outside my comfort zone and taken my team with me. . For me a key outcome of working with Dr. Irena is the realisation that we must ADAPT or become extinct. Not only do we have to keep up with the times and the technology, but we have to DRIVE the change. Irena provided the path, showed me how to implement change then stood by me and encouraged me to keep going and moving forward when things got tough.

” Great presentation – amazing insights. Dr Irena is a presenter of, and for, the 21st century – don’t miss her!”

” Dr. Irena is highly knowledgeable. We have used the information from the innovation program on an organization wide basis to be become much more strategic about how we innovate. Our staff is now being proactive rather than reactive. The innovation toolkit helped us to clearly articulate our strengths and weaknesses and to shed light on problem areas. It has been a good stepping stone to changing the way we approach things in the business. The innovation workshops have helped us to crystalise our thinking about what our needs actually were. What we really liked about this program is that it helped us to look right across the business in a holistic way. That means that we got the big picture.”

” Very thought provoking and inspiring. I am looking forward to encouraging managers and team leaders to help staff develop a mindset of innovation and create a climate where we will see true innovation at work. Thanks Irena.”

” The Qld College of Teachers engaged Dr Irena Yashin-Shaw of Innovation Edge to assist the QCT to develop and sustain a culture of innovation. The quality of Dr Yashin-Shaw’s work was exceptional. She is an engaging facilitator who ensured all participants of the program were “active” and had the opportunity to contribute to the issues identified. She has extensive knowledge and understanding of innovation and how to create an environment within an organisation for innovation to thrive. Not only did the participants find the sessions informative, they also found them fun. There were immediate benefits for the QCT from Dr Yashin- Shaw’s work. included enhanced communication and relationships across the organisation with much greater willingness of staff to contribute ideas and participate in making innovation happen; thinking differently about the challenges facing the QCT; increased confidence of staff in calculated risk taking and an increased capacity of staff to use different tools and process to develop options for innovative solutions. Processes were put in place to ensure the longevity of the program and that the innovation momentum is sustained. We would use Dr Yashin-Shaw’s service again. I would have no hesitation in recommending Dr Yashin-Shaw to any organisation who wants to improve their performance and innovation capacity.”

This is the best 1 day workshop I have been to in 20 years in business. Dr. Irena engaged us from the get go and made participating easy. Would rave about her as a trainer.

” Excellent, motivating, interesting. Challenged our paradigms!”

Irena delivered an Innovation Skills for the Public Sector program that invited the participants to think about the innovation challenges in the public sector. Throughout the program Irena unpacked a toolkit of effective methodologies and processes that anyone can use to start thinking creatively when problems need to be solved. One key message for me was that there is a role for everyone when it comes to organisational innovation. Great stuff Irena, I certainly enjoyed the workshop.

Dr Irena Yashin-Shaw bought a fresh new set of eyes in to the Global Innovation Workshop she so expertly facilitated in Darwin recently. The robust conversations on offer allowed our small group to consider, dissect, test and digest cutting edge innovative thoughts and opportunities not often shared in regions like ours. The style in which we were invited to participate was refreshing and consistently engaging, delivering above and beyond expectations. “For Innovation, you need to nurture the right mindset, climate and channels” says Dr Irena Yashin-Shaw, and I can honestly say, we saw this in action! Backed up by ground breaking research, this powerful presenter should be on the top of your list if you want to creatively lead your team through change processes.

“Irena adapted her presentations effectively to meet the different requirements of the events for which we engaged her. She has a lively presentation style that blends conceptual information with audience participation and humour. She consulted with us to establish the objectives for each event and tailored her content accordingly. From the Tribunal’s perspective, Irena met our strategic aims of engaging our organisation in more innovative thinking.”

Irena your workshop was exceptional! I felt motivated and inspired and my dormant creativity seemed to jump to attention. You have an amazing delivery that is inclusive, informative, consultative and challenging.

Could I pass on my congratulations to you Irena regarding the event you designed and facilitated for our recent Collaboration Retreat. The feedback was very positive from our attendees. Not only did we get a positive result through understanding other people’s contexts and approaches we also gained an understanding of the importance of active knowledge sharing through relationship building and networking.

” Excellent presentation and style! I enjoyed the content and found it an eye opener!”

Dr. Irena’s workshop “Leading for Innovation” was very topical in terms of government expectations. She provided valuable insights into how to make innovation a part of the organisational culture. This workshop would be valuable for ALL levels of management and staff.

Leading in a complex and constantly changing environment brings exciting ongoing challenges. Dr. Irena’s Innovative Leader’s Mentoring Program has provided very contemporary insights and skills to enable me to see where innovation is critical in this new world, and how we can be responsive and adaptable. The program has opened a creative thinking process which has flicked a switch on how I see, and use, innovation. Prior to the program I didn’t really know how to use the creativity we all have, to engage in a different way with our teams, and help energise us towards clever and smart workforces. I can highly recommend working with Dr. Irena. she is certainly dynamic and very tuned into the needs of the individuals in our program. I found there were many times where the light bulb came on. Our webinars and face to face sessions pushed us to think critically about where we were personally and where our teams are at.