Approaches

 
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When you bring on a partner to tackle your challenges, issues, and situations, you most likely are more interested in the results that are achieved than in what tools are used to make things happen. Just in case you are curious about the schools of thought that inform the way I work, and the organizations that have helped me build this comprehensive toolkit, I am providing you with a bit of background and context. Here’s what I’m using to determine how to best achieve the results you are going for. You bring your personal expertise and experience, and I bring a mindset that embraces all of these tools.


Insights Learning and Development

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The success of all relationships is dependent upon how well the parties involved can connect. The more we know about ourselves, the better we can figure out how to connect. Insights Discovery tools are easy, well researched, and practical ways to increase self-awareness.

When two or more people come together to accomplish something, one of the first things they encounter is how alike or different they are in their thinking and communication style. This is true in business, family, friend and romantic relationships. The success of all relationships is dependent upon how well the parties involved can connect. The more we know about ourselves, the better we can figure out how to connect, and understand what creates disconnects.

As a licensed Insights practitioner since 2007, I have had hundreds of opportunities to use the Insights Discovery tools with individuals, and it has shown me that this tool is an easy, fun, reliable (well researched), practical way to increase self-awareness. Whether you are looking for an individual breakthrough, leadership development or increased team effectiveness, Insights Discovery tools can help. You can read more about these tools and many of the success stories at www.insights.com.


Lumina Learning

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Lumina’s state-of-the-art psychometric tools are designed to help organizations unleash the power of their people and sustain a high-performance culture. Lumina’s tools are different from other popular tools that exist today because the psychometric model is empirical, based on Big5 research and Jungian theory. The Lumina model focuses on traits, not types. It reveals the paradox of the person by uncovering how we use and overuse these traits. In 2020, I added a few Lumina Learning certifications to my offerings:

Lumina Spark: Lumina Spark provides an accurate, personalized reading of an individual's strengths and developmental areas. Whether you’re the CEO or a new recruit, it provides rich personal insights and practical benefits. The Lumina Spark methodology avoids the bias inherent in many other popular psychometrics and embraces paradox – the recognition that we can embody seemingly opposite personality traits at the same time! Nothing in life or at work is black and white, and neither is this tool. Lumina Spark inspires people to develop skills most needed in the workplace: adaptability, agility, a growth mindset, partnering, authenticity and the ability to lead self and others.

Lumina Leader: Lumina Leader increases participants' awareness of their own unique leadership style and shows them how to lead naturally and authentically. It is focused on four balanced domains of leadership: Leading with Drive, Leading to Deliver, Leading through People and Leading with Vision. Peer feedback with the optional Lumina Leader 360 Review gives leaders the opportunity to see themselves through others' eyes and observe the real impact of their leadership style. Lumina Leader can also point to blockers and blind spots and recommend ways to avoid them. I use Lumina Leader as a self-discovery tool to assess leadership traits, as a 360 tool to provide valuable feedback to leaders, and in an interactive and informative workshop that helps group members learn and enhance leadership skills.

Lumina Emotion: The ability to choose our response to a situation is a powerful one. Lumina Emotion gives us that ability by teaching us how to manage our personality effectively to suit changing contextual demands. Improved emotional intelligence, adaptability and resilience are just some of the benefits organizations gain from using this tool. Lumina Emotion takes a holistic and balanced view of personality, recognizing that all traits can be helpful and effective in their own way. For example, both introversion and extraversion can contribute to emotional intelligence in different contexts, whereas many traditional models suggest extraversion is more important. Lumina Emotion reveals three emotional personas – Underlying, Everyday and Overextended – and shows how socially desirable traits that are often perceived as key to emotional intelligence can in fact be counterproductive when overplayed.


Facilitation

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What is the role of a facilitator? I've been in situations where they think my job is to provide input on decision making, or keep the agenda moving or take notes or write on flip charts. Some of those tasks are performed by a facilitator, but only in service of the core function.

The root word of facilitator is facil, which means easy. A facilitator is there to make something easier. When I am asked to facilitate something, I always ask, "What do you need me to help make easy?"

A good facilitator possesses these skills:

  • Unbiased objectivity

  • Planning

  • Creativity

  • Active listening

  • Translator (helping others understand one another

  • Clear, articulate communication

  • Synthesis of ideas

  • Asking powerful questions

  • Creates a psychologically safe space

  • Maintains focus in the group

  • Presence to take the lead with the process

Examples include:

  • Having a difficult conversation

  • Making a decision

  • Increasing participation

  • Planning an effective meeting

  • Creating a safe space

  • Clarifying issues

  • Keeping us on track

  • Behave (listen, be respectful, etc.)


Artful Inquiry

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Depending on the work we do together, I may ask you to put down the pen and paper and pick up the camera. Why? Because creative expression, via the right brain, has a way of revealing truths that our left brains simply cannot access.

I have always loved looking at pictures. When I would get sick as a little girl and needed to stay home from school, my favorite part of the day was when Mom would pull down her old photo albums. The pages were yellowing with age and the black and white photographs were starting to curl on the edges as they pulled up from the page under dried out scotch tape. I would go through each page and carefully look at the faces and make up stories about these people – many whom I had never met.

As I got older, I begged for a camera and began taking pictures of anything and everything. Somehow, life looked different through the lens of a camera and I was fascinated by that. As an adult, I became obsessed with scrapbooking. I loved capturing memories on film and documenting history with the pictures and stories I would tell. Not only was it fun for me, but also my friends and family loved to flip through pages of scrapbooks. The conversations over scrapbook pictures were almost more fun than the actual events at times.

As part of my doctoral program I developed a series of interventions involving pictures that could be used with teams. I developed an expertise for developing questions that could be answered through the images people captured on film. As a matter of fact, one of the two data collection methods used for my dissertation was "artful inquiry". Yes, my dissertation has photographs in it: Pictures of Transition: A study of the leadership journey into unfamiliar territory.

Over the years, I have continued to use images as a key element in my work. There is a scientific reason that supports my use of artful inquiry, in addition to the fact that I love pictures and using them with a group is great fun! Images (and metaphors) are processed by the right hemisphere of our brain. The left hemisphere can take the information you already have and reorder it, but it cannot come up with new information. All new information comes into the brain through the right hemisphere. We all can use new information! As an example, if I asked people to give me a word that described a strength of their team, they would give me words that they already knew – collaborative, flexible, results driven, fun, etc. But, if I asked people to think about the strength of their team and select a picture that resonated with them, I know for a fact that I would get descriptors that would never come up if I limited the exercise to a list of words. I know this is true because I have seen it work hundreds of times. If we work together, I can guarantee that at some point I will ask questions that I want you to answer with a picture, or some type of metaphor because we all need access to new information.


BEabove Leadership

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This study of consciousness is fascinating, but until I found BEabove Leadership, it was too academic and unavailable for practical use. This training enables me to bring scientific research to individuals, teams and organizations in a fascinating, fun, actionable way.

Being and doing are two sides of the same coin, yet we tend to spend much more time thinking about what we are doing, not necessarily realizing that the actions we take are coming from who we are being. Human development must look at both sides of the coin. If we focus solely on the actions we take, we miss the deeper understanding of why we do what we do. If we don’t move to action and spend our time looking inward, nothing changes. To grow, stretch, develop and become increasingly more effective in our lives, we must make a conscious choice to look at who we are being and notice the impact that has on those around us and our lives in general. When a person can tap into the ability to view their actions from a higher level of conscious thought, that enables them to have greater choice and increases their level of effectiveness. Who we are being greatly impacts the quality of life we live, including our health. I use BEabove’s 7 Levels of Effectiveness to help people live life more intentionally; this brings new meaning to the oft used term “personal accountability.”

In addition to the 7 Levels of Effectiveness perspective I bring to my work, BEabove training has provided me with a broad, practical understanding of neuroscience. I am not a neuroscientist, and because the brain is a beautifully complex messy mystery, there is much that I (and the field of study) do not know. However, my training allows me to help my clients create new patterns and eliminate unwanted patterns, and actually improve their health by developing a more integrated brain. The tools are simple, fun, based on scientific research and THEY WORK! Thanks to BEabove I am honored to be a Certified Neurotransformational Coach (CNTC). This unique model is where coaching, neuroscience and consciousness meet.

To learn more about Ann and Ursula’s work visit www.beaboveleadership.com.


Accelerating Implementation Methodology
(AIM)

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25 years ago, I was working in an organization that was undergoing a huge change. Since the company didn’t have much experience with change, they brought in a change management expert. Lucky for me I was introduced to the AIM model.

Working with the AIM model has given me a language and perspective to effectively help anyone with any kind of change. It’s results-focused. It addresses the human and cultural components of change so often overlooked in other approaches. The AIM model is about full benefit realization in the shortest timeframe with the lowest human and capital cost. AIM focuses on implementation, not installation. It is a complete 10-step system that can be applied to any change – small, large, simple, complex, personal or organizational. This way of thinking is embedded in every bit of work I do because core to all of my work is someone wanting to change something – status quo is no longer enough and this model helps me help you make a successful change. For more, visit www.imaworldwide.com.


Organization Development

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Over the years, many people have mistaken my degree in Organization Development as education focused on organizing things. Here is a high level picture of what OD is and how it influences both the “what” and the “how” of my client work.

Allow me to get a bit academic...

OD is a process of planned intervention(s) utilizing behavioral and organizational science principles to change a system and improve its effectiveness, conducted in accordance with values of humanism, participation, choice and development so that the organization and its members learn and develop. (Jamieson & Worley, 2008)

OD uses a multi-disciplinary approach to help organizations learn and increase effectiveness. We can trace OD back to the 1950s and it has roots in anthropology, psychology and sociology – throw in a bit of business to keep it grounded in usability.

Interventions (a scary word) include, but are not limited to, strategic planning, team building, leadership development, coaching, process re-engineering, process consultation, vision and mission creation, organization learning, culture work and change.

I have done work in all of these areas, but have recently narrowed my focus to all things change related. Individuals and systems in change are what initially drew me into the field, and after 20 years and two advanced degrees, I am still fascinated by the process of change. I feel blessed to be able to call this my field of study and am proud to say that I know OD can make a difference. I have been a part of changing many systems for the better, and I appreciate being able to bring my OD perspective to all parts of my life. I am a better wife, mother, sister, friend, teacher, employer, employee and citizen because of my education and experience in OD.

 
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I know that every single encounter, every challenge and every situation are all spectacular threads in the tapestry that defines my life and I am deeply grateful for all of it.

Dr. Wayne Dyer

While these approaches are neatly laid out in their own spaces on this page, I want you to know that the work I do doesn’t really fall into neat little boxes. I love to work with people and change because it’s messy and unpredictable and ambiguous and fascinating and beautiful! It’s true that I am very experienced in using all of these approaches, but they only represent some of the threads in the tapestry of how I work. 

There are other threads that I can’t really describe or may not even be aware of. Years of experience. Various types of clients and client interactions. My own experiences as an employee and an employer, a co-worker, a boss, a consultant. My life of parenting, divorce, remarriage, grandparenting, hanging on and letting go. My perspectives on life, my values, my biases. Each one of those and so many more are a thread of who I am and who I bring to my work. I’m complicated. You’re complicated. The work I do is complicated. Life is complicated. And…together we can do great and small things to help you and those you care about have a better life experience.