How It Works

You understand the value of plans, systems and training, and you invest in them, but often they are hard to implement, and some tools that look good on paper, or that looked good in some other organization, don’t work so well on the ground in your own organization. It’s hugely frustrating to invest in a consultant and feel like you can’t implement what they are suggesting.

What you need are tools that are:

1. Practical — designed to address the actual goals, challenges and opportunities you’ve identified, using resources (including time) you have at your disposal;
2. Well matched to the organization/process as it exists now — even if the goal is to take it to another level, it has to meet you where you are to be useful;
3. Simple — that is, easy to learn, teach, remember, and implement;
4. Flexible — situations change, and what you want are approaches that help you smoothly navigate changes rather than systems that have to be constantly modified to accommodate shifts;
5. Consistent with your organization’s core values — with who you are and what is most important to you; and
6. Fun — yes fun, or at the very least, satisfying to use. There is enough about your work that is hard; the tools and systems you use and the ways you develop as leaders should not be.

I don’t bring a formula that I think works for every group. I always base the work I do in a dialogue with you about the challenges you face, and the goals and tasks that are important to your organization. And, I won’t make the mistake of thinking I know “what’s best for you.”  The wisdom about what your organization needs, and what will and won’t work, is held by the people who are part of the organization. My job is to ask good questions, offer outside perspectives and new tools, and to co-create, with you, a catalytic process that will take you where you need to go, not to tell you what to do.

Who Hires Me

I specialize in working with nonprofits – including schools – and other community-focused organizations, when they are:

• Feeling stuck;
• Struggling with communication/decision-making/trust/understanding within or between the staff and board;
• Wanting to shift their culture from service to support and empowerment;
• Wanting to deepen and broaden leadership capacity in the organization;
• In a major transition — rethinking the mission or a major program, shifting from a founder to a new director, moving from all volunteer to staffed, rethinking the organizational structure, developing a new strategic plan, etc.
• Wanting to take their organization to the next level; to step up in terms of professionalism, productivity, creativity and effectiveness.

For some examples, see the list of organizations I’ve worked with recently.

Cost

Please see the cost information listed under each service in the menu above.

Want to Know More?

Please contact me with questions, or request a free one-hour assessment. We’ll talk about what is happening in your organization and what I might bring.

I also encourage you to subscribe to Different Angles, my free quarterly newsletter offering tools and ideas for making communication, coordination, decision-making and leadership development easier and more effective.