Your LEADERS make the difference.

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Your LEADERS make the difference.

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Many thanks for a wonderful weekend facilitating our leadership retreat.

I really enjoyed your relaxed and friendly facilitation style. You certainly got us all talking and thinking. I also appreciate your insights and practical tips.

My favourite is “yet”, “opposite” and “50%”.

I would like to sincerely thank you for your exceptional contribution to the 31st Women in Leadership Summit. We’ve had some fantastic feedback from attendees, and wanted to pass along some of the comments from your session:  

"I really enjoyed this presentation. Terrific engaging delivery. Loads of practical tips."

"Brilliant session. I made heaps of notes and getting resources later will be fabulous. Really practical and I could see how to apply things to my situation. Incredibly useful. Thank you."

"Such valuable practical information for high performing teams. Will be recommending this to our organisation."

I first heard about Maree through a recommendation from Tracey Ezard, who highly praised Maree's expertise. Intrigued, I had just finished reading Tracey's insightful book, 'Ferocious Warmth.' As a 34-year-old professional with a decade of experience in various educational roles, ranging from teaching and operations to admissions and marketing, I was at a point where I needed guidance in navigating a complex workplace with limited resources. 

Although I had mastered the technical aspects of my management role, I needed to refine and strengthen the skills required to establish professional boundaries and handle challenging situations. The absence of a culture of accountability made it difficult to be effective in my role, as there seemed to be no limits to what I was asked to do. This is where Maree stepped in and became a guiding light in my professional journey.

Maree helped me set clear boundaries and encouraged me to have open and honest conversations with my manager and colleagues whose actions were negatively impacting my effectiveness. Through her coaching, I learned that these challenges were not personal but rather a clash of mindsets. She empowered me to identify and overcome self-limiting beliefs like imposter syndrome, while also assisting me in building positive relationships with colleagues with their own agendas.

I also reached a significant professional milestone two years ago, which left me feeling aimless afterwards. During this transformative process, Maree played a pivotal role in helping me rediscover the aspects of my job and industry that I loved, enabling me to define my next set of personal and professional goals.

Maree, I am sincerely grateful for the clarity you've helped me find. Since working with you, I have successfully secured a position with another school. Being able to refer to your services during my interview proved to be incredibly beneficial. 

Once again, thank you, Maree, for your invaluable support and guidance. Your coaching has not only enhanced my professional growth but also empowered me to navigate challenging situations with confidence and purpose.

I wholeheartedly recommend Maree to anyone seeking an exceptional executive coach who can help them achieve their goals and thrive in their chosen field.

All of your coaching with me has worked some great magic - I’m taking on a much bigger team and leading the entire division on the path forward now.

Delegation has become second nature!

The best part of the Level Up coaching program was the ability of Maree to communicate and make me feel important. She allowed me to guide the coaching and was constructive but not critical at any stage. I enjoyed our positive interactions and looked forward to having someone really listen to my concerns. 

I learnt more about myself, about my personality type and how this guides my interactions. 

I learnt that with respect to work life balance if you take on "something new” something else has to go - I had just accepted a new list with a wonderful surgeon however was feeling overwhelmed with my workload. Maree taught that in order to accept something new I would have to give up something - this might mean work but could also mean family time or time for myself. I will use this strategy going forwards. 

I learnt how to give constructive feedback using a feedback model - In my work as a supervisor of junior doctors I am required to give both positive and constructive feedback. This will help me tackle those difficult conversations with more confidence. 

Overall I can construct a better work life balance to allow me to be more positive and present at work. 

As a medical professional I have gone from junior doctor to senior doctor on a treadmill. We don’t change jobs often and it takes extra confidence to change particularly when you have a family, ageing parents and only work part time! Whilst I have had advice from colleagues as I’ve gone through my career I’ve never had someone push my boundaries and challenge me and teach me like Maree. I would recommend coaching to anyone wanting to understand a little more about themselves, those that have hit a career crossroad or even just mid career as well as those who need general advice about how to be a better employee or manager. 

Maree has provided much needed perspective to my role as a leader. I highly value her experience and positivity in helping me negotiate a balance amongst multiple demands, to achieve my professional goals. Her book, "Level Up" explores concepts that are vital to becoming a sustainable leader in any field.

In these times when leaders are often drowning in demands from those around them and swamped by their own expectations, Maree Burgess’s book, Level Up, helps tackle a range of the effects of these issues. 

Evolving as a leader is possible - and necessary - and often people don’t know specifically how to do that, practically how to do that or emotionally how to do that. In this book, Maree Burgess combines her experiences, observations, and understanding of managers and leaders and helps guide them to the levels above. 

It’s not just a philosophy with no practicality; it’s step by step  behaviours that can be followed and implemented, replicated and modelled. 

Maree’s writing will help managers and leaders ‘see themselves’ and then see what to do next, and where else they can go, and that it is possible. 

The consequences of older ways of thinking are exposed and clear, cleaner alternatives are presented. It’s a must read and must have at the hands of managers and leaders who have too much on, too much to do, or aren’t making the progress they would like. Bravo!

Insightful and instructive, Level Up is a must read for anyone wanting to level up their leadership skills and unleash the brilliance within. Packed full of exercises and frameworks this beautifully written book will help you become a better leader of yourself and others.  This book is a must read for anyone wanting to discover how to advance their leadership to the next level. 

Level Up is simply brilliant. There is nothing more ineffective and exhausting than trying to do a whole team’s job, and nothing more frustrating than working for someone who does your job. It’s hard to let go but you will be amazed what happens once you do.  The strategies and tips in this book will literally change your life, and give you time back. Maree is a genius at outlining step by step how to make this liberating transition. It is a must read for new leaders, and also for not so new leaders who need a reminder, or are struggling with an endless cycle of busyness!

Insightful and practical, Level Up by Maree Burgess is a treasure trove for new leaders who want to create the best habits and thinking for the leadership journey. The checklists, reflection tools and strategies are gold for people who know that the key to getting better at the profession of leading is to first build self awareness. Maree’s approach is to open up this conceptual self awareness, then give some of the best advice I have ever read on how to level up. 

With Level Up, Maree has addressed what can be a challenging time in a new leader’s life by providing them with a handbook for success.  Every chapter is filled with practical tools, checklists and activities to help them level up from being a contributor to a manager and leader.  A must read for any new manager who is stepping up from their technical excellence and wants to develop leadership excellence.

Level Up is a great book for every leader who is moving up a level and needs to stop doing the work of their team. Full of practical advice and check lists, immediately actionable. 

Level Up fills a gap in the business literature. Transitioning from management to leadership is a continuous effort in which many great professionals often get lost. Unlike many theory-heavy books, Level Up provided me with a great mix of practical advice, tutorial-like approaches, tasks and thought-provoking perspectives that can guide you through this challenging phase of your career. Some of the key messages around embracing delegation as a way to become a better leader but also to empower your teams are truly game changers. I’ll be thinking about asking the right questions as opposed to have all the answers from now on. Thank you, Maree.

I’d always thought of coaching as just having someone come in and ask questions and then more questions.

The absolute best part of this executive coaching program was not only the conversations that I had with Maree but the techniques and tools that she was able to provide to help me with some of the challenges I faced.

In having difficult conversations, learning about how to reflect on a conversation in a way that made it easier next time and it really did make it easier. Or when faced with a challenging conversation and unsure of a response, having those responses that you had rehearsed ready to go so it took away the anxiety of find the right answer in the moment.

Already I am having more productive conversations and feeling less stressed about tackling the challenges that will arise in the future which is only going to benefit me in creating and maintaining a positive and productive work environment for me and my staff.

If you ever thought that coaching wasn’t for you then I recommend you have a go at Maree’s program, it is so much more than just conversations and questions. The toolkit that I have now to help tackle challenges, will be something that can be used well into the future. 

The best part about being coached by Maree is the clarity achieved on a career set-back last year and a perspective on where to next. For me that was really helpful as I try to deal with the uncertainty of my career in later life. I have had the opportunity to reconsider what I do and don't want to do and how to work towards a more sustainable future for myself.

I learnt a bit more about myself and where I may fit better as a leader. It aligned to a new opportunity, and being able to reflect on what this opportunity has given me has been invaluable. Some of the leadership models are tools I will keep in my kit bag for future opportunities. 

The sense check and opportunity to work with a coach who works with CEO's has given me greater insight into leadership behaviour which is useful for my work both now and in the future

I much appreciate your experience, and gentle yet persistent work with me over the past 9 months to encourage me in developing my roles at work and at home. The positivity you bring to sessions assisted in what might otherwise be challenging discussions. Thankyou for your time and expertise in helping me gain insight into ways to better strategize professionally, and prioritize my work/ life balance.

I have found our coaching sessions invaluable, in regards to providing me with guidance on how to manage my immediate emotional response to stress (both inside and outside of work).

  • Providing me with the context and framework around how I’d set my goals as well as steps to achieving these. 
  • Giving me an arsenal of tools which I can apply in everyday work and outside of work life, to build better rapport and relationships. 

Not only have I been able to apply what I’ve learnt from you, I’ve managed to coach my sisters through some stressful times, and have them successfully use the techniques from our coaching sessions.

The best part of executive coaching for me was having the opportunity to speak to someone who is able to provide an independent and fresh perspective while also providing thought provoking questions that made me look at all aspects of my thinking, reasoning, decisions, actions and behavior. In addition, being provided with new resources / tools for the ‘toolbox’ that I can implement within my role as a team member and also in my role as a manager. The conversations with Maree felt natural and like I had known her for quite a while, I felt comfortable sharing my thinking.

I learnt more about myself personally and my leadership style. Being given practical resources / tools that I could implement in between coaching sessions was fantastic and allowed me to see tangible results.

The information and resources provided will continue to assist me not just in all avenues of my career but in my day-to-day life. It has provided me with insight in to how I currently perform, what could do with a tweak and how I wish to grow further in my career in the future. 

If you're like me - at a cross roads in your career, coaching provides you with ‘food for thought’ and helps in making decisions regarding your next step. It has also benefited me in my current role of managing a team who are undergoing significant change and has helped to identify how to build a strong, cohesive and functional team environment. 

This program was personalised to my needs, based on the day to day real life barriers I was facing as a leader. One of the powerful discussion points was establishing the best methods for giving and receiving feedback, including the feedack model Maree shared. I coached my team in this space and I know many of them are sharing wins with how directly giving feedback is improving relationships and removing blocks. Overall, the culture is much more positive. Learning to step away more from always giving my team answers, and instead, using open questions to help them reach their own conclusions builds more accountability.

This has been a great step towards becoming a stronger leader who emphasises a positive culture.

Transitioning from being a “doer” to a “leader” is quite difficult. As a leader, instead of creating the work content which you trust yourself to do, you instead have to develop a team and teach them how to create that work content in the best possible way, and trust them to so. Coaching definitely provides good perspective and tips to help you excel with this transition!  Thank you.

Maree has been my business coach and mentor over the last year. Her caring nature infused with business acumen and coaching methods has inspired and empowered me to grow both personally and professionally. She modelled a high degree of business professionalism with a personal touch. Receiving business books in the mail was such a treat and the flowers I received on my mother's passing was special, unexpected but so appreciated. Thanks Maree for your time, dedication and care.

Level Up

Level Up

How managers can learn to do less and be more. A book about leading at the right level.

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Connecting Us

Connecting Us Mockup Stack 01

This is your personal guidebook as a leader to building high performing teams.

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The XX Project

The XX Files by Maree Burgess

Giving women the skills and confidence to step up in the corporate world.

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