Approach

All that you touch you change. All that you change, changes you.
-Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

This quote captures and inspires my approach to change. A concept that speaks profoundly to the awareness of our power to both impact and be impacted by each moment. My core leadership belief is that to change our organizations or systems, we need to focus on bringing out the best in ourselves and our teams. How we show up in each moment creates the path forward.

People-Centered Strategy

I use person-centered strategic planning to help organizations and teams see the current state of their work… and what’s possible. Together, we will grapple with key question: What do I need to contribute my full self? What do we need to collaborate beyond our current state? How do our systems, policies, and structures need to change to sustain progress over time?

I help organizations illuminate the ways patterns of systemic racism unintentionally flow through their work culture and their programs. Talk will lead to action. Feedback will lead to deeper understanding. And new insight will help leaders — both formal and everyday leaders — to shift day-to-day practices toward a more inclusive work culture and more effective, equitable programs.

How I've Seen Change Happen

In my work over the past decade, I noticed elements that are common to finding success in improving practices and creating change in the social sector (non-profits, schools, etc):

  1. Coming together with a resolve to try something different
  2. Intentionality to put people (families, students) at the center of the work
    with a shift in mindset from “service to” to “solutions with”
  3. Creating sacred space for adaptive, courageous work with self and each other around race, disparities and equity
  4. Asking questions and engaging with data to learn and improve the work
  5. Nurturing a new culture that emerges through practicing behaviors to get the work done differently.

These change elements can be intentionally nourished and developed. We need to get underneath the surface of the work and cultivate the soil so the programs, strategies, collaborations will truly take root.

Illuminate what’s beneath the surface of the work

As a consultant, I will help identify and support how these change elements are coming to life in your setting to create better outcomes within a program, organization, or system. Looking comprehensively at both the strategy and the culture–the structure and the people–leads to sustainable progress.



Minneapolis, MN
michelle@illuminateresults.com

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