How We Work

Living the Questions

We believe that the magic is in the questions. Most people already have the answers that they seek, but don't realize it until someone asks them the right questions.

Psychological and neurological research shows that, the moment we are asked a positive open-ended question, we immediately experience a shift in mindset.

While most consultants might come in and ask what the problem is and then use their expertise to give answers on how to fix it, we enter every situation with a coach-mindset. That is, we realize that every client and every case is unique. People are whole individuals that have many facets and no two are alike. Put those individuals together to create a team or a system, and you have whole new very unique entity.

An Appreciative Approach

We tend to exacerbate the things that we focus on and this includes problems. The more we put our effort into fixing and solving, the more we lean into our amygdala and experience fight, flight, or freeze along with tunnel vision because there is no cognitive processing done in this part of the brain. If, however, we focus on a positive topic, then we operate from the prefrontal cortex where creativity and logic happen.

As we work with our clients, we work with them to establish an appreciative topic as a new reality that they would like to see realized. We then help them to build the bridge from where they are to where they want to be. This bridge is built on strengths instead of weaknesses, the right questions instead of assumed answers, and a balcony view where we can see the entire system instead of being stuck in the weeds where we can't see anything.

As we begin to experience change, it is then important to realize that change and transitions are not synonymous. While change is something different, transition is a psychological process that is necessary for fully living into the change. We build this part of the process into how we work with our clients so that they aren't left with mere ideas, but an actual lived out reality.

Connecting the Dots

Companies and corporations are made of people. That seems like common sense, but we tend to look at companies as a stand-alone entity. Where there are no people, there is no company, there is no business. So, we take a people-focused approach at organization change.

Oftentimes, we look at a situation and get frustrated because we can't seem to bring the changes we need to fruition. We try again and again merely to get the same results every time. This is not only a matter of approach, but it is also about working against how our brains naturally work.

If we want to change outcomes, we can't merely go to behaviors and try to change them. Rather, we need to look at the underlying beliefs to see what is driving the behaviors. When we can experience a shift in mindset, then we will experience a change in outcomes because mindset drives behaviors and behaviors lead to outcomes.

With this understanding, we utilize our primary levers - individual coaching, team coaching, training, and organization development - to create the outcomes that you need. Employing some or all of these approaches leads to buy-in on the individual level, an understanding of the team as a system, and an awareness of how cultures are created by leaders which thereby affect the system and the individuals.

Change how the people think, and change the company.