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“In my role as an EMS manager and leader, I
frequently have to make difficult decisions with limited time and
information. Ted’s workshop gave me tools to quickly find clarity in a
situation and make the right decision under the gun. This is
helping our organization save lives!”
Ted was able in a few short hours to deliver a toolbox full of clear,
useful strategies and techniques for analyzing situations and making
critical decisions under the gun. Ted’s program should be mandatory
for everybody who has to make difficult decisions.
He has developed an extremely powerful approach to
figuring out what’s important and what’s not when making a decision.
His techniques have helped me make better decisions in my public safety
role, and I strongly recommend them for anybody who has to make decisions.”
- Kent McKenzie, Deputy Director
Orange County Emergency Management
Hillsborough, NC
"...I have had the opportunity to attend Mr.
Buffington’s CLEAR course and found it very enlightening. As with most
training, I was a little skeptical in attending. He expressed many
concepts that I have had some exposure to before. However, his approach to
instruction was incredible.
...Buffington’s presentation on FOCUS, FOLD, and
FREEZE behaviors really struck home. Being a Tactical Team Instructor
as well as an Officer Safety Instructor, I have preached this type
situational awareness training in a different form. The CLEAR training
enhanced what I already do and I have used specific parts of Buffington’s
training, or small variations, from that day forward in several training
situations. I would highly recommend and have recommended his
trainings to others in law enforcement."
- Lieutenant P. M. Sullivan
Wilson Police Department - South Precinct
Wilson, NC 27893
"Ted,
I can say that in your "Focus, Fold or Freeze"
session, you took a practice employed by almost every emergency responder in
evaluating a situation and put it into very clear simple terms.
When you spoke of understanding the power of the questions
not focusing on the answers it made perfect sense to me. During the first
few seconds after getting off the truck, every fire officer goes through the
same process - in Fire College we called it Size-Up but you helped me
to understand just what it was we actually are doing.
During that period we ask the four simple questions you
articulated so well and in such simple terms. To ask - What's so -What's
Possible- What's Missing- What's Next - is a simple evaluation of what
we go through at every fire or emergency not only initially but also in a
continual basis throughout the event.
It is not necessarily the answers but the questions we ask
that will clarify the situation. I have spoke already with my Senior
Officers about this simple explanation of the process and it will hopefully
enable them to more clearly understand just what they are doing.
Your session in Toronto really helped me. We are planning to
employ your 'clarity generators' as a basic principle in all our Officer
Training sessions.
Thank You for taking a process employed daily and
simplifying it so that the outcome is clear."
- J.W. (Jim) Douglas
Fire Chief/CEMC
Town of Ft. Erie, ON Canada
"Ted Buffington's C.L.E.A.R. High
Performance Team Training was the finest training I have attended in my 20+
year career in fire and emergency management."
- Mark Schell, Deputy Director
Durham County Emergency Management
"The F3 training has made a
significant impact on how I will operate during a crisis. Ted's processes
for clarity will be used personally and professionally - not just during an emergency or disaster."
- Jim Groves, Director
Lee County Office of Emergency Services
"Ted's engaging style provided the perfect keynote for our client
conference. He took the time to get to know our clients and their
business, and he delivered a tailored message that got our session off to a
great start."
- Jeff Whittle
Executive Vice President
Pinnacle Corporation
"Ted did a program called, The Art of Pushing Back, at the NACStech 2003,
and it was so highly rated that we brought him back to be the opening
keynote speaker for NACStech 2004."
- Richard Oneslager
NACS Board of Directors/Conference Chair
Ted,
"On behalf of the Disaster Recovery Journal (DRJ) and all our conference
co-sponsors, we would like to express our sincere appreciation and thank you
for your “Art of Pushing Back – Secrets to Getting Buy-In”
presentation.
Thank you again for your valuable contribution to our conference. We
sincerely appreciate the time and effort you expended in sharing your
knowledge and experience with others in the business continuity industry. We
would like to invite you to present again at our next Conference."
- Patti Fitzgerald, CBCP
DRJ Conference Coordinator
Dear Ted,
"It is truly remarkable what you are able to do and even more
remarkable is that you were able to teach and be followed by our director
and production coordinator. I want to thank you very much for your
contribution to this motion picture."
- Michael Douglas, Actor/Producer
"The Jewel of the Nile"
Dear Mr. Buffington,
"I am pleased to report an overwhelming positive impression left on our
recruiters following your presentation. You did a superb job in
presenting techniques to succeed by overcoming personal obstacles and
identifying and modifying behavior. Your ability to communicate the
intricacies of behavior and captivate the more than 200 recruiters and staff
of Navy Recruiting District Seattle is evidenced by the now common phrase
"notice what you notice" which rings throughout the district. Your
insights and thought provoking presentation has made a definite positive
impact and has contributed towards our renewed success.
Your enthusiastic and professional
presentation is profoundly appreciated. You enlightened my command
with your insight and experience dealing with the most difficult aspect of
managing people - behavior.
Please accept my sincere thanks for a job WELL DONE!"
- J. D. Brazil
Commander, U. S. Navy
Dear Ted:
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your excellent “Leading Your
Response and Recovery Teams” course. It was a pleasure to be in your
class and I learned so much about myself and the world around me. Your
style and the way you presented your materials were fun and easy to follow.
This course has helped me both professionally and personally, and I believe
this is one course my employer has paid for that will give them a great
return on their investment. I have highly recommended that your course on
Team Engineering be sponsored for our entire directorate to upper level
management.
Again, thank you for all the wonderful gifts you have unlocked in me.
Sincerely,
Valerie Langham, CBCP
Information Technology Specialist
Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency
Ted,
"Thank you for facilitating the training, development and personal coaching
for our 40 employees. With a BA degree in Communication and
Psychology, I recognize the importance for quality team/group development
and the need for effective methodologies for doing so. What you
brought to our team was impactful, creative, and necessary to maximize our
group and individual goals. Your experience, passion, and dedication to
self-development and personal responsibility helped us to build strong
teams, a key to success in any organization.
Your knowledge and wide range of expertise opens the door to unlimited
possibilities in turn strengthening teams/organizations, ourselves, and
ultimately making a positive impact in who we are and where we want to go.
Ted, your coaching and training has made a positive difference in my career
and personal life.”
- Dana Sorter
Account Manager
Dear Mr. Buffington:
On behalf of the Commander, Navy Region Northwest, I would like to let you
know I was impressed with the superb job you did as the main plenary speaker
for the Leadership Conference 2003. Training of this caliber is
important to have for our leaders, and I am an advocate of the messages you
so well convey.
In speaking with other attendees, I heard many very positive comments
concerning your presentations.
My goal is to continue to support this type of leadership conferencing and
training for our Region, and I hope to see you involved again.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Francis J. Sharkey
Assistant Chief of Staff for Human Resources
By Direction of the Commander
Ted Buffington is an exceptional
motivational and inspirational speaker. Ted's keynote address at Keller
ISD's Intermediate School Conference was uplifting, thought provoking and
challenged our teachers to think in new ways regarding the needs of our
diverse student population.
In addition, Ted is able to connect and communicate
with students of all ability levels. I was present for the talk Ted
presented to our Life Skills class during South Keller Intermediate School's
Career Day. Ted spoke about balance in life and used a ruler to demonstrate
this concept. Ted brought an abstract concept into a concrete experience our
special needs students could literally grasp and understand.
I highly recommend Ted Buffington to any organization that desires to
encourage, motivate, and inspire its membership.
Deborah Cano
Assistant Principal
"Ted Buffington practices what he teaches:
not only does Ted educate teachers and parents about how to motivate
children, but he definitely makes the learning relevant by sharing humorous
stories and anecdotes."
"Ted has captivated students, parents, and teachers with his learning styles
techniques and creative problem solving."
Susan Padget
Principal
Ted Buffington brings energy and excitement with his presentations. He
captivates his audience and encourages them to step out of the box and try
new techniques.
Beth Parton
5th Grade Math Teacher
"Mr. Buffington encouraged me to look at learning
in a whole new way. His insight and humor made the workshop fun, and the
knowledge I gained was very useful in the classroom when working with
students of varied learning styles."
Lisa Lerner
6th Grade Math Teach
Ted Buffington is very energetic and knowledgeable in the area of learning
styles. He has helped parents, teachers, and students become aware of
their own styles and has provided activities to enhance each individual
style. He would be a great asset to the conference.
Joanie Patrick
School Counselor
Dear Ted,
I attended your seminar in Minnesota. I can't thank you enough for the
information you gave about teaching. I had the best end of year ever. The
reading group that I was so worried about went from learning 5 new words a
week to learning 15 new words a day. Talk about exciting. In six weeks they
covered 3 months of reading material. I used the strategies with my other
kids, too - and we had fun. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
- Barbara Possis, Teacher
Ted,
Thanks so much for the information you presented on Natural Learning
Patterns. My daughter, Lexy, was having so many challenges in school,
I was convinced that either she had a learning disability, or I was speaking
a foreign language when we did her homework together. You really saved the
day with the Natural Learning Patterns course. You helped to make me aware
of how she filters and understands information. I learned that in essence, I
really was speaking to her in a different language – I’m visual and she
isn’t.
That awareness helped me to switch gears and I
began communicating with her in HER terms. It was like magic - all of
sudden, conflicts that were once prevalent disappeared, and she was more
motivated to try learning new things at home and at school. The
conflicts we had about homework greatly improved.
I am very grateful! Thank you!
- Stephanie Robert, Parent
(Dave)
"...Ted consulted with our team that decreased deployments from 33
days to 23 days where facilities existed, and down to 7 days were facilities
were pre-positioned. Our on-time performance increased from below 50% to
greater than 95%, and we exceeded our goal for sales by 20% over the 15
month project. Units installed or on order increased by 428% over the
quantities installed at the beginning of the project and we were held out as
"the example" with our largest customer on how to do business.
Ted has outstanding people skills. He has the ability to determine
individual work styles and alter his message so that it will be received by
everyone. I have never in my life been around anyone that has the skills to
get a message across and to get a cross-functional team working together as
a unit like Ted can.
Along with facilitating our meetings and keeping us focused on situational
awareness and high performance, Ted provided us with tools that made us more
effective as a team, such at taking strategic responsibility of the project,
managing project breakdowns, keeping our commitments, and he kept us always
looking for the opportunity in every situation. He also is equally adept at
working alone or in tandem with others. He has been an authorized vendor for
GTE for over six years and understands our culture well. I cannot
stress to you enough the confidence I have in his abilities and value he has
brought to our organization."
- Geoff Thumma, Director
GTE - Internetworking
(Mr. Landers,)
“Per your request for a recommendation regarding Ted Buffington and
Achievement By Design, I am pleased to provide the following information:
Ted has worked with our organization on several occasions. We were always so
pleased to have Ted Buffington as a consultant on our leadership team and
projects. He often provided insight on how to negotiate with individuals
based on personality, the end result being stellar employee performances.
Ted was always a complete asset in this arena. He would often speak to
groups of sales people about the importance of intention, attention, clarity
and attitude. Ted’s “Art of Pushing Back model” addressed negotiation,
managing stressful situations and how successful individuals and high
performers approach these types of obstacles to their advantage.
In addition to the group work, Ted worked with my sales force individually
to fine-tune each person’s skills. Ted assisted me and the other
managers with the tools for customizing individualized pro-active successful
behaviors with the staff.
In my opinion, Ted’s insight and testing methods into individual psyches was
nothing short of phenomenal. His ability to relate to and motivate large
groups of people was also excellent. I give Ted my highest recommendation
possible! Any company or organization would surely benefit to have him
involved.”
- Dorothea Ellerby
Former VP of Sales
NuWave Communications
Ted -
"On behalf of the Department of the Navy, Human Resources Service Center,
Northwest (HRSC-NW), I would like to extend my thanks to you for the superb
job you did as the main plenary speaker for the Leadership Conference 2003.
I particularly appreciated your talent at weaving together the various
highlights of other plenary speakers in supporting and reinforcing the
message of the conference.
I am pleased that the conference went so well and that you were an integral
part of its success. Your high degree of quality, professionalism, and
ability to convey a sincere message was most appreciated. Exploring
and presenting state-of-the-art information in leadership training can
certainly be a challenge, but it is a challenge that you admirably conquer.
Thank you again. I look forward to working
together again."
Sincerely,
- Dennis Veloni
Director HRSC - NW
Dear Ted,
"I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for presenting
your "Negotiating with the Japanese" seminar at Amdahl Corporation in
Sunnyvale, California on July 17 and 18. Your seminar was one of the
most interesting and enlightening training sessions I have attended.
Thank you again, Ted for passing on such valuable insights. You have
rekindled my desire to continue my study of the Japanese people and
language."
- Peggy Henderson
Fujitsu Buyer
Amdahl Corporation
Ted,
"I would like to thank you for your participation on the NTG Project. Your
contribution to the team has been invaluable in bringing the first phase of
the project to completion. Your insistence on team members to speak from
either the Possibility, Opportunity or Action, ensured that tough issues
were able to be addressed in a positive and professional manner. The ability
to focus team members on speaking with greater clarity drove productive
discussions and sound resolutions to difficult issues. Throughout the many
changes to the NTG Project your flexibility and positive attitude kept the
team moving in the intended direction. Lastly, your insistence for the team
to "stand for something" fostered the creation of the "NTG Strategy for
Success" document. The "NTG Strategy for Success" will help facilitate the
teams transition from the project's first phase to the next phase of
establishing a level of operational excellence necessary to effectively and
sufficiently support high volume sales. As you have already communicated to
the team, your presence on the day-to-day operations of the NTG Project are
no longer required. The team though, has insisted that you be brought back
for the short term on an as needed basis. Hopefully your calendar can
accommodate our future needs for your services as required. I look forward
to your continued contribution to the team. Thank you."
- Dave Hargis, Senior Project Manager
GTE - Network Services NTG
Project
To Whom It May Concern:
"San Fernando Community Hospital was privileged to have Mr. Ted
Buffington present a workshop for a group of our employees, entitled
“Communication Elegance."
Mr. Buffington's style of presentation was most stimulating and it was very
easy to give your full attention to the sessions. He appeared to know his
material quite well and led the group in a positive way, not making any
member of the group feel “on-the-spot.”
He involved the entire group and had the unique ability to “draw one out.”
Most of the class was able to put into practice the skills being taught
within a short period of time.
The overall consensus was a feeling that “you did not want the class to
end.” You leave the class eager to practice the newly learned
techniques.
A “support group” was formed from the initial class, enabling us the
continued support to keep this an ongoing process in our lives.
We highly recommend Mr. Buffington’s workshop as thought-provoking and
highly motivating."
B. Lynda Cheek
Chief Executive Officer
San Fernando Community Hospital
(Larry)
"...It had been difficult at times to go through the learning process
necessary to develop a High Performance Team (HPT) but the rewards are
immeasurable. I want to acknowledge Ted’s contribution in assisting my team
and I. He has expertly been right in the middle without dominating or
distracting from the process of the members of the BA-IT team stepping up
and understanding how to be a team. Without his assistance, we would still
be floundering. His 'situational awareness' coaching, in the form of being a
facilitator in our off-site meetings and assisting off-line, has
crystallized various leadership concepts that we have been exposed to
previously."
- Jeff Miller, Director
GTE - BA Information Technology
Ted:
"Your assistance with the "kick-off" for the DSL-PMO has been invaluable and
your impact on me personally is huge. You managed to quickly create an
environment for high level focus, attention and intention that moved the
team from strategy to actual work-plans quicker than we ever have before. I
especially appreciate your sensitivity to our particular 'situations' and
the way you managed our "conversation" rather than impose your own. Your
"teachable moments" were appropriately timely and helped us breakup some of
our patterns. We will be incorporating your coaching and work-plan templates
into all of our projects from here on out. I sincerely believe that we would
not be this far along without your involvement. On behalf of the team, thank
you! We look forward to working with you again."
Gratefully,
Michael Crawford, Director
GTE - Business Development & Integration
Geoff:
"I wanted to take a moment to thank both you and Ted for your contributions
to GTEI's Business Services Billing effort.
Ted did an excellent job of coming in and helping form our team for this
project. We picked a group of high performance individuals who do not have a
lot of formal teaming experience. Using his situational coaching skills, Ted
established a solid foundation for teaming that will carry throughout the
life of the project. Ted led the group through a series of exercises and
discussions that helped us to clarify team rules, roles, methods of
maintaining focus, etc. He also helped the team to develop a vision and
mission and set the ground work for documenting our project scope.
As a project owner, I'm glad we invested the time and expense to learn from
Ted. Thanks again Geoff for recommending Ted to us. And thank you Ted for
all of your contributions to the team."
Regards,
Steve Freddo Director Billing, GTEI
(Teri:)
"This is a follow-up to an action item from the HPT meeting 8/27/98
regarding the value of consultants. I believe there is value in
utilizing Ted Buffington specifically, as an external consultant to guide
the HPT. Some reasons are:"
High energy
Excellent at identifying group
dynamics
Good leadership and facilitation skills
Demonstrates insight and high level situational awareness
Keen focus on goals of the team
Very good at moving the action forward
- Dutch Shultz
Advanced Network Products and Services
Dear Ted:
"Thank you very much for participating in my Business Practice Management
course for the 3rd year UCLA Family Practice residence. They found
your talk on the banking industry very enlightening and interesting. I
think your dynamic style certainly lets these young physicians appreciate
the dynamic nature of the banking industry. They all enjoyed your talk
very much.
I am certainly looking forward to having you come back again next year for
another stellar encore performance."
Sincerely yours,
Richard A. Johnson, M.D.
Director, Ambulatory Care
UCLA Family Health Center
Assistant Professor or Family Medicine.
(To American Society for Training & Development
- ASTD)
"Please accept the sincere thanks of the Crippled Children’s Society for Mr.
Buffington’s wonderful contribution to the “Total Staff Meeting” of the
Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California, Inc.
Mr. Ted Buffington’s presentation absolutely enhanced the continuing
training of our staff and was received with great enthusiasm and interest.
The information Mr. Buffington imparted will bare fruit in the over-all
growth of our Agency and the programs we operate.
Further, Mr. Buffington’s personal warmth was equally well received.
Our in-house evaluations of the training indicates a very high level of
interest and usefulness of Mr. Ted Buffington’s presentation.
Again, many thanks for the quality time Mr. Buffington so generously
provided."
Very Truly yours,
Michael Lande, Director, Vocational Services
Crippled Children’s Society, Inc.
Dear Mr. Buffington:
"On behalf of the American Heart Association, we extend our sincere thanks
for the significant contribution made in the preparation of the special
17-minute slide show on the Anniversary of the 50th Fall Symposium.
The soundtrack you composed and recorded was of the highest quality and
everyone is impressed with the material and the production.
We realize we could not have completed this without your help and assistance
and for this we are grateful. Please accept our sincere thanks and
appreciation."
Very truly yours,
American Heart Association
Allan J. Swanson, M.D. and
Robert T. Jones
President
Chairman of the Board
Dear Ted,
"...Not only did everyone get something good out of it for themselves, but
there is also a noticeable change in attitudes, and group interaction has
greatly improved."
Gloria J. Radley
Warner Bros, Inc.
Ted:
"...Your program helped to shape and change not only my perceptions of the
world around me, but my perception of myself as well."
Lisa Langer, Occupational Therapist
Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital
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