How I Help

The core of my engagements is always a relationship of advocacy. I’ll be your champion, your cheerleader, your adviser, your co-conspirator. I’m the wall you bounce those crazy ideas against. Many of my most successful engagements over the years have changed forms many times, but that relationship is always at the core.

So think of the following as a menu of options for building that relationship. If you don't see something that fits your needs here, let’s talk about it.

• Coaching - As an “informed outsider” to leaders in the helping professions, I help you ask the right questions, resolve your doubts, and make wise decisions on what to do next. This can be a short-term contract focused on a specific problem or a long-term contract to guide you through an entire phase of your career. Click here to learn about introductory coaching packages.

• Advisory - Like coaching, but for a group or a project. We helpers love our task forces and committees, but it can be easy to lose track of the vision between meetings. I’m frequently tasked with helping groups stay creative, flexible, and focused on the big picture. This role is often combined with the next three roles.

• Facilitation - Chances are you’ve been in a meeting with a facilitator who looked good on paper but then didn’t actually understand your field. I’m the opposite of that. When I get together with nurses, social workers, and other helpers, I love digging into the details. But I’m more attached to the group’s success than any one point of view, so I can still serve as the outside guide you need.

• Workshops - Sometimes you need a new framework for you and your team to get more creative. Or maybe you and your team are just interested in how people approach innovation outside of your profession. I’ve built dozes of classes and workshops calibrated for helpers and their needs. Workshops can also be designed to advance the work of specific projects or groups.

• Editorial - Every once in a while, my entree into a project is “we need someone to write the report that comes out of this.” But when a group of well-informed, opinionated individuals come together to make a statement, the work behind the scenes becomes more like community organizing than editing. Such groups often need additional support in research and project management. Riding point on such projects is just another way I help the helpers.