Helping leaders untangle the human side of strategy
Conflict, unclear roles, difficult decisions, tense power dynamics and strained relationships can consume enormous amounts of energy—especially when the people involved care deeply about the mission and about one another.
I help leaders, teams, and individuals understand what is happening beneath the surface, identify what is keeping them stuck, and determine what will actually help them move forward.
I help leaders navigate complex interpersonal and organizational dynamics, including the ways power, race, and identity can affect trust, feedback, and decision-making.
Who This Is For
Founders, executives, and leaders of nonprofits and mission-driven organizations
People who care about a relationship and want support before giving up on it
Leaders who are passionate about creating cultures that reflect their values
People preparing for a conversation where the stakes are high and the relationship matters
Leaders managing rapidly growing or evolving teams
Change-makers seeking to build regenerative cultures
Professionals in values-driven organizations navigating complexity or transition
See How I Work:
A short example of how I help people stay connected and responsive, even when emotions are high. You can view and listen to more content by me here.
Interested in learning more? Sign up for my newsletter, or a free consultation, or reach out to me via email with any questions.
Ways We Can Work Together:
Strategic Coaching for Leaders and Individuals
Bring me the conversation you’re avoiding, the decision you’re wrestling with, or the situation you can’t quite figure out.
We can think it through together, look at it from multiple angles, rehearse difficult conversations, and develop a strategy for what you want to do next. I’ll help you notice what you may be missing, challenge your assumptions when useful, and get clearer about what you want to say and how you want to show up.
This is also a place to bring the messy stuff: the anger, anxiety, uncertainty, or frustration that can make it hard to think clearly on your own. My approach is practical and heart centered. I understand that life is not clean or simple, and that we’re often doing the best we can with what we have. Support can help you think more strategically, see more clearly, and make choices that account for both the immediate conversation and the larger context around it.
Mediation and Facilitated Dialogues
I help people who are stuck have breakthroughs.
In my mediations, people often begin to see things they could not see before. They feel understood in ways they may not have thought possible, gain insight into what is happening for the other person, and start to understand the conflict differently.
From there, we can work toward repair, clearer agreements, and sometimes a relationship that is stronger and more honest than it was before the conflict.
Conflict rarely exists only between two people. There may also be history, power dynamics, organizational dynamics, differences in race, class, gender, or identity, and real questions about what is possible within the environment you are both part of.
Organizational Consulting
Strengthen feedback practices, navigate conflict, clarify decision-making, and build a culture where people can tell the truth without causing unnecessary harm. Support may include leadership coaching, team facilitation, mediation, training, retreats, restorative conversations, and the development of communication systems that support greater participation, transparency, and trust.
I help organizations understand and change the patterns that make collaboration, feedback, decision-making, and conflict harder than they need to be.
Group Strategic Coaching Labs
Bring a real situation you are wrestling with and we work with it live.
This isn’t a class where I teach a concept and then send you off to practice it. You get to watch real coaching happen: the questions I ask, the things I notice, the different possibilities we explore, the language we try, and the role-play of a conversation that hasn’t happened yet.
When someone else is in the hot seat, you get to learn from their situation too. Often, what emerges in someone else’s coaching sheds unexpected light on your own.
Groups are intentionally small—no more than five people—and I don’t place people from the same organization together, so you can bring the situations you actually need help with.
This is Phoenix doing some Stand Up about Nonviolent Communication (NVC).
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is an approach to communication and conflict resolution developed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. It helps people express themselves honestly, listen with empathy, understand the needs underlying words and actions, and make clear, respectful requests. NVC is practiced internationally in schools, workplaces, families, communities, healthcare settings, peacebuilding efforts, and mediation to strengthen relationships and address conflict without blame or coercion.
Real Results: A Case Study
Case Study: Colab An International Worker-Owned Coop
A video testimonial
“Worker conflicts were frustrating our efforts, slowing down work, and costing us financially. Phoenix helped us build the skills we needed in-house so we could continue to support one another in the long term.”
Colleen Skemp
I highly recommend Phoenix as a Nonviolent Communication (NVC) trainer and mediator. She provided CoLab with consulting, training, facilitation and mediation support. She is someone who can influence the culture of an organization in the direction of harmony, psychological safety, and wisdom. She has inspired me and taught me a great deal about how to use NVC with a great positive impact personally and in the workplace.
I have worked with Phoenix on and off for 6 years. Her work has had a significant positive impact on the CoLab team, helping us establish communication frameworks that have served us well over the years.
Our organization is an international worker-owned coop that relies on remote collaboration for our governance and project work. Excellence in our communication is essential to everything we do. When we first started working with Phoenix, we were interested in NVC as a communication framework but didn’t really know how to use it. Worker conflicts were frustrating our efforts, slowing down work, and costing us financially. Phoenix helped us build the skills we needed in-house so we could continue to support one another in the long term. Over the years, our ability to collaborate with harmony and efficiency has improved. She played an important role in that.
Ready to Lead with More Clarity, Courage, and Joy?
Schedule a free discovery call or email us to learn how coaching can support your growth and impact.
Resources
You will find:
Conversations with leaders doing meaningful work in the world
Clips from Phoenix’s workshops and trainings
See below for more clips from explorations in connection and navigating conflict.