Anything is Possible

We’re living in turbulent times – locally, nationally, globally. The old ways are breaking and we need to create new ones.

It’s time to open more space.

When given the chance, when given the space, ordinary people can handle charged and challenging work in extraordinary ways. In any kind of organization or working group, we can engage all hands, translate pain points and possibilities into roadmaps that teams can rally around, and lean into practices that can drive better outcomes. We can regain balance and momentum. The way through complexity, conflict and uncertainty is together.

Incremental improvements and evolutionary leaps can happen faster and easier than you’d expect. That’s been my experience in corporate strategic planning, agile transformation, and peaceful development during an armed civil war; in economic development and employee engagement; with start-ups, community groups and foundations; students from grade school to grad school, every level of government, and many religious organizations and denominations.

For more than thirty years, clients have called me in moments of challenge – and opportunity. I’ve helped them bring people together, focus on what matters, and do new and amazing things. I’ve been willing to step into difficult situations that others shy away from. Together, we’ve worked toward multi-stakeholder, multi-win solutions.

Whatever the challenge, whatever the chances… I think we should try.

Simple is Powerful

The best meeting and management practices are the ones we can learn quickly, replicate, and maintain – to respond quickly and effectively to all kinds of change or disruption. Keep it simple! Plan, deliver, adjust – in short cycles – over and over again. Whatever you’re up against, an open, agile approach can make a big difference:

  • Invite Everyone
    Engage and Energize the Whole
  • Visualize Everything
    Understand and Align the Work
  • Prioritize and Refine
    Do the Right Things, Right Now
  • Commit and Deliver
    Take Many Small Steps to Win Big
  • Review and Improve
    Learn, Adapt, Evolve (Repeat)
Cycle Practice: Invite Everyone Who Cares, Visualize Everything, Prioritize and Refine, Commit and Deliver, Review and Improve, Rinse and Repeat.

This simple way of working is immediately practical, and powerful, in any kind of organization or situation. It works with the people, tools and resources you already have. Applied at any scale, it can help you deliver the results you need and overcome obstacles to sustaining your success.

We can start with one or a few teams, in one big event or a short series of meetings. Connect diverse groups and functions. Share roadmaps and align efforts. Engage customer and stakeholder groups. For best results, leaders go first. Start with the senior team, board and committee chairs, or any other core group. Work out from there.

Engagement Matters

What bigger, better results are you working toward? An evolutionary leap in business performance or community impact? Working across silos? Catalyzing innovation, learning and adaptation? Kick off something new and amazing? Solve something specific, local or technical? Reorganize, regroup, reimagine?

Engagement is going to matter.

Strategize: I bring a unique and rigorous view. Let’s talk about what you’re doing, where it’s going well, and what needs to go better. We can review and reimagine everything that matters, from mission to metrics, from colleagues and partners to stakeholders and customers, from the results you’re getting, to the improvements and breakthroughs you need to achieve. I help my clients do clear-eyed review, gain fresh perspectives, design a more engaging process, write a bolder invitation, and map more direct routes to the results they need.

Mobilize: I can help you engage any size group (from 5-500+ people) in wildly productive board or team retreats, stakeholder summits, customer conferences, and other strategic or tactical meetings. The more complexity, diversity and urgency in the situation, the better. We pioneered large online meetings (in 2015!), but we can start with one or a few teams meeting face-to-face. I help my clients expand involvement, deepen engagement, address their biggest issues and opportunities, and get people moving – energized and aligned – toward the results everyone wants.

Realize: I can help you invite and support sustainable high performance. It’s easy to have a great meeting or collaborative event, but a few hours or even days of spirited work just the beginning. For real impact, we need to keep it going. We need to stay together. We need to carry the “off-site spirit” back to the office (and home offices). I help my clients learn from off-site success, leverage existing resources into immediate next steps, and adapt existing tools and practices into better ways of working – to deliver the better outcomes and bigger impact that customers and stakeholders keep asking for.

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