About Us
Organizational high performance is not just about the head. It requires more than clear goals, the right information or equipment, and people with the requisite knowledge or skills. Sustainable high performance requires collaboration, trust, and genuine engagement of hearts as well as minds. This is our consulting territory—how to bring people together in ways that inspire commitment, excitement, and learning. And results.
Toward this end, here are a set of principles that guide our work with clients—whether the focus is organization-wide, one portion of an organization, or one leader:
- Partnership. We see ourselves as partners with our clients—bringing energy, ideas, insight, care, and equal commitment to the desired results.
- Outcomes. We begin with the desired outcomes of the client. Next comes a thoughtful exploration of reasons why those outcomes are important. Steps in the consultation flow from this understanding.
- Appreciation. We work from the perspective of what’s right, what’s already successful, and what can be learned from those strengths in order to improve.
- Honest feedback. We ask for and offer feedback on a regular basis in order to learn what is working well and what needs to be improved.
- One size does not fit all. If we are not the right persons to do a portion of the work, we make referrals to qualified colleagues.
- Confidentiality. Clients can share confidential information, knowing that it will not be passed on without discussion and permission to do so.
- Inclusion. Our bias is to involve stakeholders in deciding and planning changes in order to increase ownership and reduce resistance to change.
- The client as a person. We remember that our clients are complex individuals, with lives that go well beyond the boundaries of the work that brings us together.
- Integrity. We do what we say we will do.
We two are life partners as well as business partners and have been married to one another for over twenty-seven years. Depending on the needs of our clients, we sometimes work together on consulting projects and sometimes work individually. Find out more about Kathleen and Bud.
In 2009, Kathleen has formed a new line of business in collaboration with long-time colleague Marlyse Cato. StartSmart² LLC provides support to organizations who want to assure the success of newly recruited or promoted executives.
“We see ourselves as partners with our clients—bringing energy, ideas, insight, care, and equal commitment to the desired results.”
