Services

Facilitation and Collaborative Decision-Making

The strength and creative potential of groups are incredible yet actually getting work done and making sound decisions in groups and teams can be fraught with difficulty and frustration.  Facilitation is the practice of making things easier.  Professional facilitation with Carrie Bennett will help your group engage in difficult conversation together, learn and apply new skills, collectively explore shared challenges, and make decisions that your team can support.

Carrie will work with you to:

•  Draft agendas
• Prepare participants for the work ahead
• Keep the conversations productive
• Balance participation
• Create a safe environment where new ideas and concerns can surface.

Throughout your work, Carrie will help the group make action plans for your team’s agreed-upon next steps. Evaluations at the end will help the whole team (including ours!) improve and will help indicate new needs and opportunities.  Read more about how Carrie can help you with meeting facilitation and collaborative decision-making…

Conflict Resolution- Mediation and Facilitated Negotiation

When a conflict is already pressing, mediation and facilitated negotiation can help.  Carrie Bennett serves as a neutral third party to help all parties  sort through what’s most important and come to agreements that last. When you need help with conflict resolution, you need us!

As neutrals, mediators can:

• Help diffuse strong emotions
• Explore creative possibilities
• Guide conflicted parties from strife to resolution.

Mediation is often a cheaper alternative to litigation and often improves relationships in the process. While Carrie specializes in workplace and organizational mediation, we are also happy to explore options with you for peacefully resolving a broad range of conflicts.  If you need mediation for an area that Carrie does not practice (domestic relations and divorce, for example) Carrie also happy to refer you with a professional who can meet your needs.

Coaching, Training, and Conflict Design

Often times, individuals and groups simply need to build skills  and systems to increase their capacity to effectively manage conflicts.  In some cases, this means normalizing conflict (we all have it!) and learning about how our natural style may get in our way in some situations.  In other cases, groups need coordinated and easy-to use protocols to safely navigate conflicts on their own.

Carrie Bennett works with individuals or groups to develop the skills and systems they  most need and support them through difficulties and awkwardness to full implementation. Training events can be as quick as 90 minutes, 1/2 day, full day, or an entire series of workshops.  Read more about training…

Coaching is a great way to reinforce skills learned in training.  With ongoing coaching, individuals are far more likely to apply new skills and make lasting changes.  Coaching can be conducted face to face or online, individually or in small cohort groups.  Read more about coaching…

Project Management

Have an unwieldy project that you need help in getting off the ground?  Carrie can help you break down projects into manageable parts and coordinate your staff/stakeholders’ efforts towards implementation.  We will take care of the logistics so you can focus on what’s most important.  From agenda drafting, document preparation, chart-writing, and meeting summaries, to task management and progress updates, we will fill in the gaps to keep your group on track.  This service is particularly useful for new projects or transitions when full time staff lack capacity but you’re not ready to bring on a new team member.