“The world needs people who have come alive…”
– Howard Thurman
It can be exhausting to try to heal what’s broken in the world. Our institutions need many things, many of which feel soul-crushing. But our work matters. So I help people and organizations keep their hearts whole; their values central; their relationships robust; their practices healthy; their impacts clear.
What I offer
I work with teams, departments, and organizations to build a shared sense of purpose, common vision, and powerful strategy — and then to put that into practice.
I help groups deepen trust and find a clearer sense of themselves and their groups, using participatory and reflective approaches like Liberating Structures, Art of Hosting, deliberative dialogue, and story circles.
I support people, groups, and institutions in understanding the kinds of impact their work has, through values-engaged and democratically-engaged assessment.
How can I help?
I have a wide array of instruments and approaches for nurturing and advancing your good work. Here are some examples of how I have helped others.
- Organize and host communities of practice: safer spaces where participants can learn and grow together to advance their goals
- Program and institutional review and development
- Curriculum development and learning design
- Ripple Effects Mapping and other ways of understanding more deeply the impacts of your work: both implementation and training
- Meeting facilitation: to boost efficacy, keep focus, hold tensions, build collaboration
- Presentations and workshops on partnership development, collaborative practice, educational design, democratically-engaged assessment, and more
- Ongoing coaching and consultation on issues of leadership and practice, particularly in nonprofit/higher ed work with public purpose
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for all that you shared, which was far more than simply about REM. You shared inspiration and a celebration for being positive and curious, personal insights and wisdom, and you opened a space in which we felt comfortable to meet and learn. All that is invaluable! Thank you!”
Director of M&E at a World Bank Fund
“Thank you for your contagious optimism and great expertise. I always felt more secure in my own engaged work knowing you were a resource and sounding board I could rely on.”
Ivy-League faculty member
“Thank you for facilitating this amazing process. I was so impressed with what the REM revealed. We would have had no way of knowing some of this incredibly rich information, particularly about the feelings of respect the teachers reported.”
Ivy-League faculty member and center director
Client/collaborator/affiliation list includes various colleges and universities; a World Bank Fund; an experiential education program for K-12 elementary schools; various state Humanities Councils and the NEH; a community action agency; a nonprofit public education advocacy group; collective impact initiatives; Imagining America; various academic journals and the Cornell University Press; New York State Master Naturalists; Tompkins Pollinator Pathways
for your reading/viewing pleasure
Anna Sims Bartel, Ph.D. 