your partner in change
What could an engagement entail?
Is she a consultant, a coach, a facilitator, a mentor…? What you call Robin is irrelevant. She curates the right solutions based on your needs plus her experience and connections.
See some examples below
Where do I start
Some examples of the art of the possible…
Strategic Planning
- Draft a strategic plan while coaching staff and board through difficult times
(can you say COVID?) - Facilitate a retreat that brings people closer and focused on what you should (and realistically can) do together
Identify Stakeholders' Needs
- Hear from a diverse set of voices and build stewardship along the way
- Increase the capacity of organizations by giving them tricks of the trade to plan, research, communicate, budget, and govern effectively.
Get Unstuck
- Co-create solutions to your stickiest problems, gain clarity, and learn about yourself along the way
- Learn best practices in setting priorities, convening effective meetings, and keeping individuals engaged
Definitions and Descriptions
Select Service Elements
Strategic Planning
Creating your first strategic plan or updating an existing plan requires great scoping, intention setting, and follow through. Depending on your planning objectives, plus time and resources available, we customize an approach that ranges from providing resources and support to full-fledged facilitation of the process.
Program Effectiveness Review
What’s working, what’s not, what value do service recipients receive, and how competitive are your services? Is the program sustainable or a struggle? How stressed is the staff in delivering what’s needed? We get underneath any gaps, discuss partnering alternatives, and review how you articulate value to keep the funding/support coming.
Meeting or Retreat Facilitation
Whether trying to reach consensus on a difficult topic, needing to develop some team cohesion, or finally getting around to that staff and/or board retreat, Robin brings valuable exercises, tools, humor, and organizational skills to bear to make any meeting a success.
Stakeholder Perspectives
Whether the stakeholders in question are board members, service recipients, staff, funders, or partners, we delve into what they think, say, feel, and do as a result of interacting with your organization and then identify what ideal responses may be that we can design for.
Design-Thinking Workshop
Engage in a process that gets silos within your organization to come together to focus on the societal problems for which we exist to serve. Leave with a sense of… “together we can do better and more.”
Preparation via Role Play
Nerves are one thing that can impact your performance yet you can keep them at bay via preparation and anticipation. Role playing a difficult funder conversation, a challenge with an employee or co-worker, or even your latest update to the board will help you be thoughtful on your approach amd confident going in!
Visioning Session
How will the world be different if your organization fulfills its purpose? A vision statement is meant to be an inspiration for all. Developing one takes focus. This session involves fielding the right team, a little pre-work, a touch of inspiration, and a love for the possibilities we can create.
Rapid Results Coaching
Once you have coaching experience under your belt, you’re eligible for quick check-in sessions that help you get unstuck, prepare for a potentially stressful event, or identify underlying beliefs or feelings that may be holding you back. These are ad hoc 25 minute sessions that you can schedule with as little as 24 hours’ notice, based on availability.
Positive IntelligenceTM Coaching
A mental fitness coaching modality developed by Stanford lecturer, Shirzad Chamine. We start with a free assessment for you to identify your saboteurs and then discuss the potential impact of participating in a 6-week foundational program to help build new habits. Within this program, a “pod” of 3-8 people is created to help give you the support you need to let the practice sink in. You can learn more about it at www.positiveintelligence.com. Once you do so, hit the button below to set up time to discuss a great way forward.
Team Building Exercises
Well-established and/or new teams all need care and feeding. Making this work part of existing meetings or as a separate retreat are both good possibilities. We will tailor exercises based on what challenges you identify for superior team performance.
Energy/Optimization Workshop
Which activities drain you and which charge you up? How might you take a look at your current workload to uncover what needs a second look based on where it lands on your battery level / impact matrix? Imagine rebalancing work for you and for your team so they can have greater enjoyment, results, and energy.
Identifying Roadblocks and Springboards
Finding flow in your day-to-day along with your colleagues? What a thought! We start with understanding which of our saboteurs most negatively affect our peformance, stress levels, relationships, and effectiveness. From there, teams learn more about each other and implement better ways to engage.
ValuesJam
I’ve adapted a technique deployed by IBM back in the early 2000’s to help nonprofits of all sizes get a handle on what values they stand by and for. It’s an inclusive democratic process that includes demonstrating how employees not just know but live the values you hold dear.
Grant Submission Review
Your team has drafted their respective sections of the grant response. When you read it, does it tell the story you intend? Engage Robin to help be that pair of fresh eyes (and someone with a good writing style) to help increase your odds of an award.
What issues have clients raised
Some examples of where relationships began…
Workable Plans:
We need a strategic plan we can get behind (and get others excited about).
Motivation:
I need to keep my team engaged, excited, and focused (and “team” includes me)!
Program Effectiveness:
We need to show funders how effective our programs are (or make them so).
Stress Management:
I need to find balance before burnout finds me. Plus I see the same challenge for my staff.
Building Partnerships:
With the limited resources we have (and that are available out there), we really need to partner to increase our effectiveness.
Improve Relationships:
I need to improve some difficult relationships to make this work (and life) more enjoyable.