Drawing on a well-rounded 20-year career, I’ve had the privilege of leading large-scale financial risk and regulatory programmes, co-founding and scaling two successful startups (Freethinking Business Consultants in 2008 and Gravity Works Consulting in 2019), and driving enterprise-wide agile transformation at one of South Africa’s premier banks. These experiences have provided me with a unique vantage point to understand organisational change, team dynamics, and the intricate interplay of human behavior within systems.
In 2023, I partnered with Clariact to facilitate individual and team sessions focused on navigating human behavior and energy flow within systems. Leveraging advanced tools for evaluating human awareness, I guide teams and individuals to identify energy patterns, align priorities, and foster cohesion, enabling them to thrive within complex environments.
As an agile practitioner and entrepreneur, my expertise goes beyond methodology. With certifications in Marisa Peer’s Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) and Transmind’s Organic Scorecard Coaching, I bring a nuanced understanding of human behavior and systemic change. This, combined with my proficiency in Agile frameworks, Six Sigma, ITIL, and TOGAF, allows me to craft transformative solutions that integrate strategy with the human element.
From the trenches of senior delivery roles to the strategic vistas of building businesses and coaching leaders at all levels, my focus has always been on unlocking the full potential of people and organisations. Whether driving enterprise-wide agility, aligning IT initiatives with business goals, or leading global teams, I am committed to fostering growth and adaptability.
I believe in the transformative power of human-centric, system-driven approaches to agility and organisational change. Let’s connect to explore how we can unlock the next level of performance and transformation for your organisation.
Michelle Neilson
What I bring to the table
I have been involved in coaching and team interventions in corporate settings since 2001. I am especially familiar with financial organisation’s strategic direction, culture, values and operations. As founder of Clariact, I offer executive coaching for clients in corporate settings. I use a diagnostic tool to pinpoint the strengths and challenges of teams. My coaching is underpinned by the outcomes of the Organic ScoreCard© (a proprietary online assessment tool). This offers a shortcut to increased individual awareness, team cohesion and meaningful output. The OSC offers a view of each individual as well as a view of the collective strengths and challenges of teams. The subsequent interventions can therefore be finely targeted for significant impact and measurable results. My engagements typically consist of multiple feedback and follow-up sessions, coaching sessions, team workshops as well as leadership integration and strategic integration. The entire process, called the Clariact Engagement, is aimed at bringing about personal development, cultural transformation, team cohesion and strategy execution. This personal development methodology is ideally suited to agile environments.Clariact Engagement
Clariact was founded in 2001 to offer team interventions and coaching services to corporates, medium-sized businesses and IT startups. In 2012, Clariact partnered with Transmind International to become the sole licenced trainer of Organic Coaches. The training use the Organic ScoreCard© as diagnostic tool in South Africa. The OSC has been developed in the Netherlands. Clariact is the sole agent of this assessment tool in South Africa. I received training in the Netherlands and in South Africa in the use of the Organic ScoreCard©. In addition, I have more than 20 years of experience of coaching in corporate settings. The OSC’s individual and team correlation scores pinpoint the strengths and challenges of teams. This insight, combined with coaching, leads to significant and measurable results. In particular, we have a track record of success in enhancing the performance of software development teams that use agile methodologies. We use the Agile Mindset Grid to reveal the unspoken awareness strategies of team members and the team as a whole. This helps teams to grow in the desired agile direction. The OSC is aimed at facilitating individual awareness, cultural transformation and team cohesion in agile environments, leading to enhanced outcomes for all sides. In essence, we help people to gain clarity about themselves and their environments in order to perform better. Clariact has a team of certified Organic ScoreCard© coaches to help facilitate customised interventions. We provide services to clients all over South Africa, in other African countries and further afield.Authenticity and sustained high performance
The Clariact Engagement takes individuals, their leader and the team on a journey of awareness to create authentic people with the inner strength to function in sustained high-performing and self- organising teams within an agile culture. We use a multi-phased intervention to support agile teams. This includes facilitating an individual and team journey of personal and interpersonal awareness, which leads to greater authenticity and sustained high performance. Companies benefit from the Clariact Engagement in the following ways:- It made inner drivers visible and enabled mindshifts
- It allowed leaders to explore new areas of awareness and adapt their behaviour accordingly
- It helped guide an agile mindset and led to the recruitment of people with an agile mindset
- It created clarity for smarter focus and identified areas of growth for development
- It improved teamwork through increased understanding of others’ mindsets
- It helped fulfil the team’s vision by identifying the team’s collective awareness and aligning it with the leader’s vision
Outcomes and benefits
In 2015, the Unit for Innovation and Transformation at Stellenbosch University undertook a qualitative study of the impact of the Clariact Engagement’s outcomes and benefits for individuals, leaders and teams working in a corporate environment. The following key themes emerged from the report: Impression on personal development: Participants gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of themselves and others, and increased their confidence and authenticity. Impact on team functioning: The energy flow, trust, respect and collaboration in teams increased, which enhanced innovation and performance in the teams. Effect on functional roles in teams: Leaders were empowered to manage different people and teams according to their strengths and therefore gain better relationships and sustained delivery.An organisation can only transform to the extent that the people in it undergo transformation. Each person in the organisation needs to transform at their own pace.
Key clients
Financial services and related industries: Sanlam, Visa and Old Mutual IT industry: various IT companies and IT startupsPublications
Thoren, P.-M., Simpson, N., & Simpson, E. (2019). Agile People Picture Book. Amazon. Introduction by Swedish author Pia-Maria Thoren: “I first met with Nico and Elsa Simpson on a trip to South Africa in November 2018 when I was giving training in Cape Town. They helped to make this book come alive with the drawings and quotes, allowing people to understand the why, what and how of the future of work.” E. Simpson (2020). Going Meta: Thinking about thinking – A guided quest to authentic living, personal clarity, social honesty and holistic grounding. This is a book about the personal transformation journey based on the Organic Theory of Marc Grond, Founder of Transmind International and inventor of the Organic ScoreCard©.Other relevant projects
- Student coaching: Part of the support programme for bursary students from companies (e.g. Eskom), assisting the students with stress management and adjustment.
- EAP consultant: Helping companies to set up EAPs.
- Developing and facilitating customised programmes: Clariact develops and presents programmes on people skills, conflict management, stress management, change management, team building and other skill sets for a wide range of clients.
Professional registrations and memberships
South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP): 1006887 South African Association for Social Workers in Private Practice (SAASWIPP): 701/429 CMS: 089000-0056707 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) facilitator: member since 1992 Organic ScoreCard Coach (Transmind International): member since 2012 Organic ScoreCard Trainer (Transmind International): member since 2014 International Consortium for Agile Talent (ICP-TAL): member since 2019Contact us
Please contact Elsa Simpson, Clariact Founder & Coach at elsa@clariact.com clariact.com.Drawing on a well-rounded 20-year career, I’ve had the privilege of leading large-scale financial risk and regulatory programmes, co-founding and scaling two successful startups (Freethinking Business Consultants in 2008 and Gravity Works Consulting in 2019), and driving enterprise-wide agile transformation at one of South Africa’s premier banks. These experiences have provided me with a unique vantage point to understand organisational change, team dynamics, and the intricate interplay of human behavior within systems.
In 2023, I partnered with Clariact to facilitate individual and team sessions focused on navigating human behavior and energy flow within systems. Leveraging advanced tools for evaluating human awareness, I guide teams and individuals to identify energy patterns, align priorities, and foster cohesion, enabling them to thrive within complex environments.
As an agile practitioner and entrepreneur, my expertise goes beyond methodology. With certifications in Marisa Peer’s Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) and Transmind’s Organic Scorecard Coaching, I bring a nuanced understanding of human behavior and systemic change. This, combined with my proficiency in Agile frameworks, Six Sigma, ITIL, and TOGAF, allows me to craft transformative solutions that integrate strategy with the human element.
From the trenches of senior delivery roles to the strategic vistas of building businesses and coaching leaders at all levels, my focus has always been on unlocking the full potential of people and organisations. Whether driving enterprise-wide agility, aligning IT initiatives with business goals, or leading global teams, I am committed to fostering growth and adaptability.
I believe in the transformative power of human-centric, system-driven approaches to agility and organisational change. Let’s connect to explore how we can unlock the next level of performance and transformation for your organisation.
