We have worked with Seward Co-op since 2005. We’ve been helping
the leadership team create and implement strategies to grow the operation –
without losing sight of its guiding goals and principles. We have worked with
the leadership team, coached key managers, and engaged numerous
stakeholder groups – staff members, co-op owner-members, community
members, operations teams – in strategic planning processes, long-term
visioning, operations planning, organizational design, team building, staff
development, growth planning, and process improvement. In the time we
have worked with Seward, the co-op has built two new stores and a restaurant,
increased sales fivefold, tripled staff size, and earned numerous awards for its
business practices and quality of work life. We created and facilitated a process to engage staff members in developing a Scorecard for measuring financial, environmental, community, workplace, and customer experience goals that define the co-op’s success factors. We also have worked with the co-op’s Board of Directors. We have also provided leadership coaching and development to dozens of managers and supervisors (at Seward and with other client organizations). Much of that work helps leaders align their leadership style and skills with the co-op’s vision and mission, engage and develop the people they lead, improve department operations, and set and hold people accountable to fair, clear, and consistent performance expectations.
This work has led to additional co-op projects with Willy Street Co-op, Linden Hills Co-op, Lakewinds Food Co-op, The Wedge, Eastside Food Co-op, Valley Natural Foods Co-op, Mississippi Market Co-op, the North American Fair-Trade Stakeholder Council, Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops GMs, National Co-op Grocers, CoMinnesota, Just Food, Sacramento Natural Foods, and Cooperative Development Services.
We started working with the Allina Health Mother Baby Center at United Hospital in January 2018. We’ve been facilitating quarterly meetings and coaching with the Center’s executive director and leadership team. The focus is on creating and implementing a vision and strategy for improving patient safety and satisfaction, building a supportive and engaging workplace experience, and building cohesion in the leadership team. The work has included brainstorming, decision-making, and action planning for creating clarity, alignment, and ownership about where the Center is headed and why, including processes related to teambuilding, trust-building, setting individual and team expectations, and getting buy-in and commitment within the leadership and between the leadership team and staff.
We have done numerous projects with the University of Minnesota since 2005 with...
We worked ADC Telecommunications to design and facilitate a tailored workshop, Leading Innovation, for the company’s top 400 leaders. We worked with leaders in Singapore, the U.K., Australia, German, Mexico, and throughout the United States.
We worked with the American Lung Association of Virginia to design and facilitate a first-ever Tuberculosis Summit in that state. The Summit brought together health professionals, legislators, educators and leaders from the State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to generate innovative and collaborative solutions to fight the high incidence rate of Tuberculosis in the state.
The YMCA of the USA asked us to create a training program on executive coaching to help launch an innovative program to match retired YMCA CEOS with new executives. We delivered the pilot course, conducted a follow-up evaluation with that first group, conducted training for a second group of coaches, and then created a set of facilitator guides and student materials so the program could be continued internally.
We worked with the Minnesota Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, helping numerous chapter presidents and their Boards of Directors develop its first-ever and ongoing strategic plans, and helping build strategies for increasing marketing and partnership opportunities between supplier and planner members of the organization.
Our client list has also included Medtronic, Coca Cola, US Bank, Aon Affinity, the Universities of Kentucky and Wisconsin, Mayo Clinic, RBC Dain, Boston Scientific, Mall of America, Givens Foundation for African American Literature, Caterpillar, Sons of Norway, Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau, BI Worldwide, Episcopal Homes Minnesota, Cooperative Care, Cooperative Development Services, Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic, and others.