Meet the Directors

Kelly Cowan

My first training breakthrough came early! As the Head Teaching Assistant for Business 101 at Wilfred Laurier University, I noticed that students sat up on the edge of their seats and participated fully when I introduced a Family Feud format. They were engaged, they learned and remembered … and I got hooked.

From that formative beginning, I looked for ways to use simulation wherever it made sense. I created simulations to break down barriers between sales and marketing at Warner-Lambert Canada (now Pfizer). I lifted DeBono 6 Thinking Hats method off the page, shifting experienced sales folks from cynicism to leadership in a division wide change.

Soon I discovered that coaching is another powerful way to accelerate awareness, motivation and results. I like that coaching strengthens and solidifies the impact of training – and is indeed, another experience in itself. I have been invited into the C-Suite of some large organizations (ScotiaMcLeod, CIBC Wood Gundy, BC Nurses' Union, etc.), helping leaders become more aware and skilled in their work with their people.

playsthatwork and I met when a shared client asked us to work together. I see in playsthatwork the same spark in me which invites participants to challenge themselves and expand their self awareness and choices to enhance their results. Now we work together to help clients deal with difficult interpersonal and organizational change.

Mary Giardina

For me, learning starts with the experience; from there, it can go anywhere! Experiential learning has been my focus for over 15 years, both as a facilitator and a corporate actor. In 2008, I graduated from St. Francis Xavier’s Masters of Adult Education program, where the application of learning was the subject of my thesis. I found that meaning and application are inseparable, and for long-term transfer of learning into the workplace, meaningful learning experiences are essential.

Several years ago, I was awarded an ambassadorial position to New Zealand, representing the learning sphere of Canadian business. While there, I worked in various learning environments – corporate, academic, field agricultural, and aboriginal schools. I asked learners the same question, “What creates lasting learning for you?” Although their backgrounds were quite diverse, the answers were basically the same: “The learning needs to be meaningful and relevant to me.” As a facilitator and coach, this became the cornerstone of my philosophy of practice.

Working with playsthatwork gives me the opportunity to blend my two passions: experiential learning and theatre. I experience participants bringing to life the situations that they need to explore most. The learning becomes very individual and meaningful. Participants find a way to rehearse situations that they can apply in their workplaces. For me, this is the connection I am looking for – to my thesis, research, and now my practice. I have found a home at playsthatwork.

Dorothy Greenaway

I am a Lartivist, a term I coined several years ago which combines the words leader, artist and activist. I am all about purposeful leadership sourced from one’s creativity and personal artistry. I am committed to making sure that we all act on things that matter to us.

The reason my work with playsthatwork is so compelling to me is because it lives the principles of Lartivism. It offers the best of leadership theory and practice, bringing the arts, creativity and theatre into a forum for deep, memorable learning. It prompts participants to apply their learning – to take action – in areas that matter to them.

Experiential learning is always a cornerstone in the work that I do. In coaching, experiential learning is a given. That’s why I was delighted to join playsthatwork in a project for Rogers in 2001 where stories formed the basis of the learning exploration. I saw the profound impact of the use of theatre, simulation and immediate, in-the-moment feedback to effect change. From that moment on, I was hooked.

I am a Master Certified Coach and a former executive, from which I bring a wealth of experience into my work as a facilitator, trainer, coach and corporate actor. I am a founding faculty member and designer of the Adler School of Professional Coaching, an internationally recognized, award winning and accredited professional coaching program.  I work with an amazing array of clients in Canada, USA, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The qualities my clients appreciate most about me are my perspective, my playful energy and my dogged commitment to their success.

Sandra Harris

My first paying job was a Yoga teacher when I was 16; it was the epitome of experiential learning. Not one to shy away from jumping into the deep end, I later moved to Montréal from my home in Toronto, to be the “Directrice Regionale” of a British based telecommunications company at the age of 25. Armed with only a BFA, but showing a talent for sales and administration, I learned by doing. Succeeding more often than failing, I grew the business by 300 percent during my six years in Québec.

A few mergers and acquisitions later, I was given a “silver” handshake and with that, took the opportunity to get my Masters in Adult Education at the University of Toronto/OISE. This investment in myself opened the door to a stint with a large consulting firm and helped me lay down a solid foundation in Organizational Effectiveness consulting, working with some of Canada's largest organizations, both private and public.

After eight years in consulting, I turned my passions to coaching, training and facilitation, helping people discover themselves through my certificates in the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, the Bar-On EQi and five years of training in psychotherapy. My joy comes from being part of a dynamic that helps people gain insight into more effective ways of interacting and engaging – a great fit with all of my colleagues here at playsthatwork.