Home-Aside
“Ellen has a deft touch and a capacity for holding steady and staying focused in the heat of difficult conversations. Her openness to new and creative ideas enables her to be a remarkable resource for groups and teams dealing with complex issues and relationships.”
—Marty Linsky
Faculty, Harvard Kennedy School;
Co-Founder, Cambridge Leadership AssociatesAbout-Aside
“Ellen is a master facilitator who makes everyone in the group feel validated and inspired as they work toward a common goal. She is able to tackle the most complex organizational issues with extraordinary skill and dexterity.”
—Barbara E. Will
Dartmouth College Associate Dean of the Arts & Humanities
Services-Aside
“Ellen brought invaluable skills to our nonprofit organization as we struggled to identify how to best streamline and use our energies. She has a piercing mind and genuine warmth which she combines with high energy and a unique ability to help groups find consensus.”
—Heidi Webb
Past Board Chair,
Webb Innovation Center for DyslexiaClients-Aside
“Ellen helped bring our Board forward, clarifying our goals and vision. A year later, her work is still discussed at most Board meetings. People remember what she says. She is a diamond for the organizations and companies she works with.”
—Susan Winship
Director, Sudanese Education Fund
Contact-Aside
“Ellen helped us find our voice.”
—Cathy Cogen
Director, National Interpreter Education Center,
Northeastern University
Author Archives: bluesagepartners
TeamBuild August 2019: Changing hearts and minds
In working with teams, I think it’s important to understand that some challenges take time and require buy-in to resolve. The leadership gurus I worked with at Harvard, Ronnie Heifetz and Marty Linsky,[i] call these adaptive challenges. They define technical … Continue reading
TeamBuild July 2019: Why it works to not work
July seems like an appropriate month to talk about when and how to “not work.” Some of the best work that teams get done is accomplished together, but not in a meeting. Give teams relaxed time One time I drove … Continue reading
TeamBuild June 2019: The Power of Virtual Agendas
In February, I talked about the power of working online with teams. This month I want to zero in on one online tool – a shared agenda that also is used to take meeting notes in real time. In three … Continue reading
TeamBuild May 2019: Visual Voting
This past weekend I used a tool I call “visual voting” and it proved surprisingly effective in moving us forward. For visual voting, options being discussed are written on flip charts and participants walk up to the flip chart and … Continue reading
TeamBuild April 2019: Share the conversational pie
Don’t you hate when you get stuck in a conversation with someone who hogs the “conversational pie”? Similarly with groups, members disengage when one person, or a few people, take up most of the air time. If some people don’t … Continue reading
TeamBuild March 2019: Remember to be surprised
In a graduate school course I taught this fall (strategic planning for nonprofits), I ended each class by having my students list a facilitation technique used in class and then writing it up. A few of my students gave a … Continue reading
TeamBuild February 2019: Google Doc as team builder
As some of you know, I often work with groups on big pieces of flip chart paper. How archaic. BUT, I have also stepped into the 21st century and use Google documents (“docs”) – an online document that multiple people … Continue reading
TeamBuild September 2017: A mission to remember
I’ve been thinking about mission statements lately as I draft one with a board that I am on and remind myself to follow my own best advice. I believe that a mission statement that is aspirational, short, and uses ordinary … Continue reading
TeamBuild July 2017: The value of values we recognize
One exercise I do with teams is to explore shared values about how they want to work. The challenge is to unearth values that are inherent in the culture and values that the team aspires to – but with language … Continue reading
TeamBuild June 2017: Bullies
When I started consulting, I didn’t believe there were adult bullies. I was wrong. In my May blog, I talked about “radical empathy” for difficult or oppositional people. But some people are not just naysayers. Bullies can be covert and … Continue reading
