Vision: Growth, Effectiveness, and Inclusion
I believe that the most groundbreaking creative and technical work is done by individuals who are motivated to grow, seek to learn how they can be better today than they were yesterday. By teams whose members trust themselves and each other enough to ask the hard questions, and consider all the possible answers. Creative innovation requires a foundation of courage, dedication to shared goals, and a growth mindset. I teach all three.
I teach software, creative, and technical people the skills, practices and structured techniques they’ll need to bring every team member’s maximum brainpower and passion to their collaborative problem solving. The techniques and methods I teach help my learners, teams, and clients improve the effectiveness of their creativity and ideation, roadmapping and prioritization, and collaborative decision making, as well as improve psychological safety, trust, and inclusion for diverse team members.
Learning begins with the courage to shine a light on our weaknesses.
Philosophy and Principles
My teaching philosophy is unapologetically rooted in feminist pedagogy. With engaging, sometimes irreverent group facilitation practices, I invite participants to co-create a mutually challenging, mutually respectful learning community. In my physical and virtual classrooms, everyone shares the responsibility for creating and maintaining the psychological safety needed to turn learning into knowledge.
Here are a few of my core teaching and learning principles:
01.
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Shine a light on the valuable part
Learning begins with the courage to shine a light on our weaknesses. Invite other people to bring their critical perspectives into the hardest part of your problem space.
02.
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Know yourself, even if it hurts
If I truly want to grow and improve, I have to develop an accurate baseline understanding of where I am. That means I have to ask for it, and listen.
03.
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Fill in the blind spots
By developing a relentless drive to understand what we’re missing, we can expand our problem solving and creative capacity beyond our own biases and limitations
04.
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Name the elephants
We have to talk about the hard things out in the open, in order to make the best group decisions.
“Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it mean,” as a mentor of mine once put it.
Let’s get stronger, together.
