My Values and Approach:

SERVING AS YOUR PARTNER

My consulting style includes a commitment to collaboration over the long-term. I want you and your organization to succeed and I will walk through the process with you as a guide, coach and partner. I will not drop a strategic plan at your feet and run away; I’m here to help you move through the tough decisions that need to be made in regard to action steps, resource allocation and sustainability. When I say that you can pick up the phone to call me with a question or concern at any point in our work together, I mean it.

PROMOTING SHARED LEARNING

We can’t create meaningful change if we don’t understand the nuances of what needs to be changed and why.  I believe that shared learning and sustained conversation are vital to the personal and organizational change process.  My style includes a commitment to creating ongoing opportunities for learning and discussion. 

CENTERING THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN MARGINALIZED

I have spent my career working with communities and individuals across the broadest possible scope of ethnic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. My guiding principal in inclusion and community engagement work is “nothing for us without us.”  I recognize the power and advantage I carry as a white woman and I am committed to using my advantage to center the voices of individuals and communities that have been marginalized.

BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY

For too long, individuals and communities that have been marginalized have seen our organizations start and stop authentic community engagement and EDIB work, building and then breaking the trust of individuals and communities we wish to serve. In order to end this cycle, I believe in an approach to inclusion work that is highly strategic in nature. Establishing shared language, identifying organizational priority areas, articulating action steps and setting metrics for measuring progress are all imperative steps in charting and implementing sustainable action and culture change.

EXAMINING POWER AND PRIVILEGE/ADVANTAGE

Change will only be made at our organizations when we make the space to talk about the impact of (often hidden and entrenched) power and advantage dynamics. It is time for orchestras to acknowledge the need for change in these dynamics as a key part of our inclusion and culture efforts. I am committed to facilitating conversations around the topics of power and advantage with my clients.

INCORPORATING HUMOR

Organizational development work can be intense, personal and challenging. Orchestras can have the reputation of being serious places. All the more reason to maintain perspective and approach this work with some personal lightness! I believe in a consulting approach that includes humor (where appropriate and helpful) and creativity.