A Little Love
From Our Clients
“I have worked with Civility Partners for several years to move the needle on the culture at the Water District. We have partnered to teach anti-bullying, including bystander intervention; they have conducted coaching for several of our leaders; and conducted multiple workplace culture surveys. The most impactful work was them leading us through the process to create an Action Plan to address feedback in the survey. The results of this effort was a dramatic improvement in our follow up survey. The work Civility Partners has done for us has helped us truly become a place where our culture brings out the best in our people every day.
“This was the second time Civility Partners provided professional development training at the University of Florida. Collaboratively, we designed a half-day session for business administrators to learn and practice ways to identify and respond (both in the moment and afterward) to bullying behaviors in the workplace. We were extremely impressed with Civility Partner’s flexibility and openness to adding activities and content that tailored the workshop to our specific needs. In our experience with them, they possesses such a comprehensive mastery of this topic that they could apply their expertise to seemingly any culture or workplace. The end result of our collaboration was hugely successful. Not only was the content spot on, but their ability to engage our audience with humor and passion for the topic was first-rate.”
“Civility Partners customized and provided training for our Senior and Executive Managers on the topic of How to create a work environment that incorporate Civility, Respect, and Accountability. They were a pleasure to work with. Their facilitation skills are excellent and made the training engaging and memorable for our Managers. They incorporated our County’s I.D.E.A.L. values into their presentation which made the training even more relevant for our Managers. Some of the comments from the evaluations were “The training was very good. I appreciate the take home activities and information. We were not just given information but also given the how too.”, “Very helpful topic, thank you for the suggestions and real life practical applications for the workplace.”, “Civility is a great investment of time. Learned great techniques to improve the work environment.”, and “Very important topic. Civility Partners did an excellent job.”
“We wanted to create a training program for our employees that focused on developing their soft skills. Managers and supervisors, in helping their employees increase their skills, would use the training program as an opportunity to establish professional development plans with their employees. A catalog of courses was therefore needed. I’ve worked with Civility Partners in the past, so immediately thought of them to work with us to develop and customize curriculum to meet our diverse needs. They designed the curriculum and materials, which included a train-the-trainer script. They provided the training for us several times as the internal training team learned the material, and we are now conducting the training. When they facilitated the training I received a lot of very positive feedback about their style and delivery; people enjoyed the interactive content and really felt they’d learned something from them. Now that we are running the trainings using our internal trainers, the curriculum Civility Partners provided continues to be a useful resource! They are reliable, easy to work with, and works hard to ensure their clients’ needs are met.”
“After handling several internal complaints about the work environment in one of our departments, we decided to locate an expert who could provide training to our staff about professional conduct and communication. Civility Partners worked with our management team and explained that training was the first step in solving issues in the department. It really comes down to good communication. They not only worked with the management team of that department but provided the tools to staff during their training to set the stage for creating a positive work environment. This training was so well received we decided to offer the program to another department. We are pleased with the progress in both departments and attribute this to the training and tools provided by Civility Partners.”
“I was really happy with how the training went, and have gotten nothing but positive feedback from the workshop attendees. Civility Partners did a great job – they spent a lot of time ensuring the material was pertinent to our needs, and they really got people to interact with them and with each other during the training. They also provided several great ideas to implement with the staff so that we can keep the conversation around a positive workplace going long after they are gone. I will definitely be using their ideas in future meetings and talking with managers about using them within individual departments.”
“Inland Regional Center was experiencing a very hostile and volatile work environment to the point that employees, good friends who had shared an office for over three years, were no longer able to work side by side. Behavior that would be seen on the playground with young teenagers was being replayed for some staff. Civility Partners was recruited to spend the day with IRC Managers and Directors. This training gave the managers the tools to create change; moving from negative behavior to more positive attitudes towards each other in the work units. Some of the negative walls came down and allowed the positive to creep in and at the same time a way to build trust among one another. Because the discussion was done in a safe environment with Civility Partners, it allowed for our minds to open to ideas and methods to allow ourselves to get beyond the negativity of the past; to move toward new ways to create the needed path for change. Today, people are smiling and looking at one another. Laughter is heard in the halls. People are able to problem solve and reach a good resolution. It has taken over a year and IRC is becoming, once again, a good place to work.”
“Toni was a major success with the group. They can be a tough crowd to please as they’ve had a hard time connecting with trainers and their materials in the past. Participants truly appreciated her likability, sense of humor, and engaging style—her jokes, anecdotes, personal stories, and activities were highlights that resonated with everyone. The interactive elements were especially well-received and described as “very cool,” giving participants both movement and valuable insights into where their peers were landing. Everyone appreciated being together as a team in the environment Toni created—one that encouraged connection and collaboration. Overall, her presence and delivery style made a lasting, positive impression on the group. We’ve already discussed hiring Civility Partners for another much-needed and often-requested training topic.”
“It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with dedicated professionals at Civility Partners. I truly appreciated their commitment to the work, their candid feedback, and their helpful direction navigating what were at times choppy waters. Civility Partners offered our organization something we didn’t realize we needed, which is a forum for honest communication and genuine opportunities to build and strengthen our connective tissue.”
“I worked with Civility Partners to address bullying in our workplace. It was a mandatory training and you know what happens when employees come to a mandatory training. The eyes roll, attitude is happening as they walk in the door. The interesting thing was when they started facilitating the training most of the employees took notice. They delivered this training in a way that made it personal and allowed the employees to recognize their behavior was bullying. They just thought it was fun and funny. They went to all of our sites across the country. The employees learned how their behavior was detrimental to everyone. Thank you, Civility Partners. The shift in behavior was immediate and they also started to look out for each other. I so appreciate how they brought this training to the team.”
“Catherine is an expert facilitator. A program participant recently described her workshop as “incredibly helpful, concise…providing concrete tools for applying material back at work.” No surprise. In the six years that Catherine has been part of the Nonprofit Management Solutions team, she has garnered the praise of students and colleagues alike for her knowledge, insight, and dynamic facilitation style.”
“Catherine has written several courses for our online training programs, and we are huge fans of her work. She is a professional – always providing clean work that is on time and easy for the editor to work with. And with her special knowledge in the area of positive workplaces and civil communication, she brings a valuable perspective to the courses she writes. We look forward to a long-lasting relationship with Civility Partners and are happy to have them on our roster of subject matter experts.”
“The information presented clarified the ways (bullying) behavior can affect an individual and the negative impact it has for the workplace. The training will be an invaluable resource to employees as they perform their daily duties and enable them to assist any individual that may be experiencing such a problem. They will also be more aware in the way they communicate with their co-workers.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Civility Partners and their workshop was thorough, informative, and entertaining. They are a professional to work with and a confident, compassionate, and dynamic presenter. They were very well-received by the audience and was given excellent remarks on our evaluation forms. In fact, we liked them so much we are planning on a Part II!”
“I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to host such an insightful session for our HR Society. The feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, and your presentation truly resonated with our members. As mentioned during the session, we would love to maintain this wonderful connection with Civility Partners. The HR Society is deeply passionate about promoting awareness of workplace behaviours, and we greatly appreciate how comprehensively you addressed this topic.”
“Very informative talk… you succinctly explained the issues in a framework that I could understand and share with my staff, and others who can benefit from the primer on bullying.”
“After twenty three wonderful years with a government agency in a job I loved and a outstanding work performance record, my career was turned upside down by the most awful, verbally abusive supervisor I have ever encountered. As a result of her egregious behavior I became physically, mentally, and emotionally ill to the point that my doctor recommended that I retire or suffer more severe medical complications. With my health in immediate danger I chose to retire five years earlier than anticipated.
As I went through the workers compensation process, every agency employee and doctor I encountered told me that I would never, ever succeed because work stress cases in CA are almost impossible to win. Even my attorney had his doubts that we would succeed at trial. Just when things appeared hopeless, my husband read an article in the newspaper about Catherine Mattice of Civility Partners, an expert in workplace bullying, and he decided to contact her on my behalf and the results were amazing!
Before Civility Partners got involved in the case workers comp denied my claim and absolutely refused to negotiate. After reviewing all of my documentation and medical records, they put together a detailed, expert witness report that completely changed the course of my case. Several weeks later I had a large settlement check in my hands and a feeling of personal and professional vindication.
If you are being harassed, threatened or verbally abused at work and don’t know where to go for help, contact Civility Partners. You will be glad you did!”