Tim Readman worked with the Neil Squire Foundation for over 7 years. I had the pleasure of working closely with Tim in a number of areas. We co-managed a national literacy project that is looked at issues around people with multiple disabilities. His organizational and communications skills enhanced this project immensely. His work is completed on a timely basis and his unfailing attention to detail and the ability to work with a wide range of individuals served our organization greatly. As National Manager of our pre-employment program for people with significant physical disabilities I worked with Tim on the development of a curriculum for this program which is utilized in four provinces. With a strong consensus building approach, this large task was completed in a timely and efficient manner. The feedback from both our funders and our national staff on the work Tim did on this project was extremely positive. From my perspective, Tim has demonstrated numerous strengths which would be of benefit to many organizations. He is comfortable with the most marginalized of individuals as well as those in the higher echelons of the corporate boardroom. He is a very reliable individual with a knack for streamlining both verbal and written information. I would strongly recommend him and would be pleased to receive calls from anyone thinking about using his services.
Ellen Cornell
Regional Manager (Ontario office)
Project Manager (National Literacy Project)
Neil Squire Foundation
www.neilsquirefoundation.ca
613.723.3575
ellenc@neilsquire.ca

Tim got involved with Digitopolis in the very early years, when it was a two-person design studio with a humble office space, a modest client list, no employees, and few prospects.
Tim can't take all the credit for our spectacular rise fame and fortune, but he has been instrumental in guiding us through some major business life events in the ten years since 1994 when he first sat us on the couch and started his career as our corporate therapist.
Tim has lead us with grace and focus through: Our first strategic planning exercise which resulted in our first business plan
Our first hiring
Our first firing
(and all subsequent hirings, firings and layoffs)
Our first marketing plan
Our name-change and rebranding (twice)
Our office renovation and move
Our "summer of the twelve employees" and subsquent downsize
The launch of our web division
The dismantling of our web division
The dissolution of the business partnership

I'm impressed.
Tim has used various techniques on us, some of which we resisted at first, but eventually subjected ourselves to, and quickly became converts. Here are some examples:
Hold Proper Meetings: You'd think we'd all know how to have real meetings, but we don't. With Tim as a facilitator, our meetings were planned (he made an agenda), focussed (he facilitated the conversation and diverted people to the to topic at hand), relevant (he pushed us to make action items from all discussion, or drop the discussion), and valuable (he followed up and made us fulfill our commitments to the action items.) Now I know this all sounds very tedious, but if you want to stop wasting time at useless meetings, Tim's your guy.
Roleplay: You heard it. We have become very good at rehearsing and mastering the art of communication in difficult circumstances, or with difficult people, by roleplaying. It's actually quite fun. Whether we needed to lay someone off, communicate more effectively with staff, confront a client or supplier, negotiate with someone who's grinding us, or be more assertive with a bulldozer client... Tim's taught us how to be effective and assertive simply by practicing over and over and over again. It works.
Creative Therapy: This is NEVER a waste of time. It is an extremely effective way to get to the bottom of serious business issues. Best of all, you don't have to be an artist -- I made a cartoon board game for one session, and wrote a one-act screen play for the other. In each case the exercise made me crystal clear about a significant business decision, and gave me excellent insight into my own priorities and motivations.
Tim's approaches may not be conventional in a corporate world, but that's their beauty. We're not conventional people, and we need creative approaches to solving business problems. Tim has been an invaluable resource over the years, and I wholeheartedly recommend him.
Sue Kerr
President and CEO
Digitopolis Media Corporation
www.digitopolis.com
604.606.1323
suekerr@digitopolis.com

In November 2003 we were discussing ways to liven up our interminably boring AGM, while still bringing some relevance to the proceedings. We decided to hire Tim Readman to sing us a song. We met with him and loaded him up with some very dry material in the way of reports from members of the board, as well as some descriptive insights into each board executive. The trusty Readman mill churned and before long we had a 16 -verse song that told a tale of 10 people and what they had achieved in the year--it was inclusive and true, and it rhymed. On the eve of the AGM Tim not only sung a lively version of the song, he got 200 cool graphic designers to sing along. No small feat! The AGM was pronounced our best ever.

Working with Tim was easy (we only changed 2 lines of the song), and he was incredibly game to do what most mortals would be mortified at the mere thought of doing. We would hire him again.

Marian Bantjes,
MGDC; VP Print Communications
http://www.quatrifolio.com
marian@quatrifolio.com
604.947.9107

Tim Readman helped us to select a new name in a rebranding effort for our former company. He provided a completely safe and open environment which allowed us to brainstorm for all possible options. We came up with a great name that was totally unexpected and exactly what we were looking for.
We would definitely recommend working with Tim. Not only was it a very productive situation but it was a fun and enjoyable experience.

Evelyn and Chris Edwardson formerly partners - Intermedia Press
Evelyn Edwardson
Chris Edwardson
Teldonprintmedia
eedwardson@teldon.com
cedwardson@teldon.com
604.326.3125