your solution for
TEAM offsites That fuel trust and performance
I help distributed teams collaborate on their most important problems, build new skills, and connect with each other…without the awkward games, corny icebreakers, and forced fun.
The key to sustaining distributed team performance and effectiveness
With 16 years of working with distributed teams across the world, I’ve been at the forefront of the remote work revolution. Here’s what I’ve learned: Despite all of the advances in remote work tools, technology, and systems, high-performing remote teams still need high quality in-person time.
Unfortunately, most team offsites are wasted with poor planning, activities that are disconnected from what people care about, and weak (or non-existent) facilitation.
With a unique background in learning and development, leadership, team coaching, and facilitation, I custom design offsites that fuel your team’s performance….without the cringe.
Learn more about how I can help you create an offsite that is actually worth the time and investment.
What People Are Saying
“As a Senior Director of Research and Decision Science at the Wikimedia Foundation, I lead a group of four teams who were recently brought under the same umbrella, in part to be more impactful and efficient by building on each other’s work.
Team members are distributed throughout the world with demanding workloads and still figuring out how to work together. A chance to meet in person at our offsite was a crucial opportunity to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing in a way that would engage and inspire my teams.
Kristen worked with me to engage participants in our offsite goals before it even happened. She designed and delivered a highly-interactive offsite. At multiple points during the offsite, we looked around the room and saw that every single person was immersed in what they were doing.
Ultimately, all teams left the offsite with ownership of the next steps. Feedback from team members was overwhelmingly positive; participants noted that the offsite sessions sparked deeper conversations afterward. And I see their motivation to continue collaboration through the projects and process improvements they have proposed since our offsite.
In addition to helping us understand and leverage each other’s strengths and skills, Kristen helped us strengthen connections within and across teams.
The results Kristen delivered were absolutely worth the price and I would be delighted to work with Kristen again.
Our offsite was a smashing success, thanks to Kristen!”
“From our first day working together, your facilitation and organization of various strategy/process/collab/HR sessions has been an inspiration. Even in tough conversations I always enjoyed our times together.”
“I hired Kristen as a coach to support team effectiveness at the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the global nonprofit that powers Wikipedia. She quickly demonstrated a gift of supporting groups of humans to transcend their usual limiting dynamics. Each team she worked with bloomed, becoming a better and higher performing version of itself.”
“Kristen facilitated hard conversations among our managers to drive forward organizational changes around leveling our people, promotions, and career development to name a few.
She is thoughtful, experienced, and knowledgeable in organizational development and people development. I highly recommend reach out to her.”
“Kristen helped craft the directions for team planning and strategic development with small and large teams made up of highly passionate and diverse minds. She knows how to encourage discussion and drive to meaningful outcomes. She does all of this with a ready smile and a mindful presence to all involved.
She is a true morale boost and a trusted member of the leadership teams. I can easily give her the highest recommendation available.”
What makes a great offsite?
When done well, offsites provide precious opportunities to refresh collaboration and communication skills, innovate on business challenges, and foster the type of connection and engagement that fuels performance. I use three core principles to create the conditions for high-performance and deliver offsites that have sustained impact:
Incorporate Learning - A great offsite should help you stretch your leadership and flex new muscles within a supportive environment. A great facilitator will introduce, model, and engage you in techniques, skills, and frameworks that up your game and help you grow.
Solve Real Business Problems - A great offsite design invites participants to share their talents and mastery to solve meaningful business problems. A great facilitator can foster creativity, connection, and fun in the flow of work.
Design for Connection - A great facilitator will design for full participation in a variety of formats that are natural, engaging, respect a variety of learning styles, and also create space for informal connection. A great offsite experience will keep participants connected and engaged long after the event ends.
SERVICES
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Retreats & Offsites
Offsites and retreats that help you step out of business as usual, elevate your skils, and do your best thinking.
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Leadership Development
State of the art leadership development programs to accelerate potential and strengthen your leadership pipeline.
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Workshops
High impact experiential workshops to cultivate and strengthen essential leadership skills and practices for today’s challenges.
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Leadership Coaching
1:1 or cohort-based coaching to unlock innovation, problem solving, relationships, results, and self mastery.
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Leadership Culture
Consulting on leadership philosophy, values, and practices to create trust and coherence across your company culture.
