Are you ready for more?
If so, you’re in the right place.
Maybe there’s an ongoing disconnect between your big picture vision for your organization and what’s actually happening on the ground.
Maybe your workplace is haunted by tension or toxic in-fighting.
Despite every new tactic you try, you’re moving no closer to your goals…and now your board wants to know why.
Or perhaps more and more, you find yourself having to lead difficult conversations, especially about equity and inclusion, but you feel completely lost and like you’ll be canceled or judged.
Whatever the specifics of your situation, one thing is clear: you need a new approach.
It’s time to get your people on the same page
How do you get everyone on the same page, not only logistically but emotionally?
How do you create the relationships that foster a sense of belonging?
How do you solve disruptive energy and tension in your workplace?
How do you get your team to care as much as you do?
Build a Team Culture You’re Proud Of
Schedule a Complimentary Consultation
I work with a limited number of clients at one time, and I only work with leaders and organizations who are interested in a holistic approach to doing business that prioritizes the well-being of the planet and its people.
If this is you, I invite you to book a Conscious Consultation. This is a sales-free, obligation-free, 45-minute session in which I’ll assess your needs based on current challenges and provide a report giving you an overview of my recommendations and ways we can work together.
I offer these from a desire to empower more leaders with the basics and also to see if I’m a good fit as a consultant and facilitator for your organization and vice versa.
Imagine going to work every day confident you know how to:
resolve conflict and work with different communication styles
inspire creativity and innovation in your team members
move projects forward with a clear strategy
build trust and commitment from staff and donors
delegate and work with partners on execution
create a workplace people love to come to every day
courageously address sensitive topics like racism and sexism
Most of all, how to be seen as the leader you know you’re capable of being.
What you appreciate, appreciates.
79% of employees will quit due to a lack of appreciation.
A toxic corporate culture is by far the strongest predictor of industry-adjusted attrition and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover.
The leading elements contributing to toxic cultures include failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, workers feeling disrespected, and unethical behavior.
69% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized.
Companies with employee engagement are 22% more profitable.
In short — the more your team is a coalition, the more pleasant, productive, and profitable your organization will be.
Your vision is within reach.
When we work together, you will feel fully supported in all of these areas and more — we will only be limited by our imagination:
navigating sensitive topics like sexism and racism without feeling judged
resolving issues with disruptive staff members with ease and confidence
working in an inviting physical space that supports your best work
your vision brought forth and fully realized
being seen as a strong, supportive leader
If you can imagine it, it can happen — with the right support and strategy.
My Signature Process
STEP 1: ILLUMINATE
Assess & Make a Map
We start with a Mapping session in which I’ll ask you powerful questions to learn about the challenges you face and provide you with a report assessing the gaps between where you are and where you’re going along with a customized plan to bring forth the vision you have for your organization.
STEP 2: HARMONIZE
Clear Out & Set the Space
We will holistically determine what needs to be addressed and bring your organization into alignment. Clarity around values, mission and vision is key to this stage of the process. Empower your team to evolve and live into the potential of your organization. This is a time for direct communication.
STEP 3: ENERGIZE
Insights & Strategy
This stage is all about artful facilitation, including retreats that will reset and activate your team, helping everyone get on the same page with the collective plan of action and each person’s individual role.
STEP 4: REGENERATE
Take Action Collectively
As your team completes steps in your plan, I’ll keep your success moving forward with continued retreats and facilitation, space clearing, and coaching support, helping your organization navigate challenges that arise and keeping all your initiatives on track.
STEP 5: GROUNDING
Build Momentum
We’ll maintain the coalition you’ve built, make new plans for the future, and continue to develop communication skills and strong relationships. Everyone moves forward together prepared to continue building alliances that serve the highest good of all, partnerships in which everyone feels valued.
BONUS: EARTH-BASED PRACTICES
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life
When you work with me, you’ll also receive training in simple, earth-based practices that have been used for thousands of years to ground yourself and your team in a feeling of connection with yourself, with each other, and with nature.
How We Can Work Together
Consulting packages are completely customized.
They will include a combination of the following that is specific to your needs and budget, with everything you need and nothing you don’t.
ARTFUL FACILITATION
staff and board retreats, strategic planning events, culture work and ongoing facilitation for your team, alliance, coalition, task force, or committee
MAPPING
receive your complete report assessing the gaps and your customized plan to bring forth the vision you have for your organization
SOULFUL COACHING
helping you and other senior level staff navigate change and growth with grace
NATURE WISDOM OFFERINGS
classes, courses, ceremonies, and experiences to align with nature’s wisdom and use it as your guide in both business and life
Case Study
In 2015, Summit County Utah joined the prestigious Georgetown University Energy Prize competition. The goal was to reduce energy consumption community wide through energy efficiency and adoption of renewables. I was hired to coordinate and lead the community’s efforts. This project required a high level of relationship building and cross organizational collaboration between local government, school districts, nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, service providers and donors. Over the course of a 2 year period, through my leadership:
Park City Municipal and the City Council adopted a goal to be net zero in our community by 2030.
Park City Municipal installed solar projects.
Summit County clarified their energy goals and installed solar on multiple County buildings.
All 3 county school districts upgraded their lighting to LED, saving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Facilitated a bulk purchase solar program and smart thermostat program
Educated thousands of students throughout the County on the importance of energy efficiency
Built support for HB411 which has allowed our community to purchase its energy from renewable sources.
Gained national recognition on the floor of the Senate through the comments of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
“Mary Christa has the rare blend of skills and temperament to build enthusiasm behind an idea and create a path for positive change.
Her leadership with Summit Community Power Works (SCPW) and Communities that Care (CTC) was uncharted and complex, and her results were transformational. She acts with passion, poise, and empathy—a strong mix to build coalitions and drive community initiatives. She is calm and effective while navigating organizational politics, she creates inclusive environments, and she is an engaging facilitator. Mary Christa would be a strong asset to any organization seeking to focus their goal/strategies and move initiatives foreword. I thank her for her service to the Park City community and whole-heartedly recommend her to anyone seeking a catalyst for positive change.”
Andy Beerman
Park City Mayor
Case Study
Mountainlands Community Housing Trust (MCHT) is a beloved nonprofit in Park City, Utah. Its 20+ year mission is to build housing for people, not for profit. In 2019, they were granted an Equity Grant from Park City Municipal to seed a Housing Resource Center (HRC) whose mission it is to educate, navigate, and advocate for affordable housing in the community. I was hired to facilitate the birth of the HRC, so I worked with the Executive and Managing Directors of MCHT to thoughtfully and patiently curate an HRC Steering Committee, made up of community members. They were tasked with hiring a Navigator and and Advocate, so I facilitated the process of defining outcomes, identifying the need for these roles, drafting job descriptions, and supporting the committee through the search process. Equity and inclusion are embedded in every step of the process, leading to the successful recruitment and hiring of these key positions. Through the trust and professionalism of the process, the Mountainlands has raised over $1,300,000 for the HRC and future affordable housing projects from private donors, family foundations. and corporations.
“Mary Christa came with thoughtful energy and enthusiasm as she assisted our organization in planning for new staffing and structural changes.
We were fortunate to have her at the planning stage to help recognize and address issues that would have been difficult to later unwind. At implementation, she facilitated meetings with tact and awareness, keeping the group loose but focused on the goal for each session. Genuinely committed to the success of our endeavor, Mary Christa was considered by all an important part of the team. She was great to work with and added considerable value to our project.”
Steve Laurant
Former Managing Director for Mountainlands Community Housing Trust
Case Study
The Kimball Art Center is a long standing, beloved nonprofit in the Park City, Utah community. In 2022, I was hired to lead their annual board and staff retreat. Their board is large, over 25 members with three new members joining for the first time and others who have been there for over a decade. Their Executive Director was clear in his desire for connection between board and staff as well as board leadership in developing and executing the strategic plan. I met with the Executive Director, staff, and Board Chair four times prior to the retreat. Alignment is key. The magic comes from the facilitation and giving the group meaningful work they can dig into without being overwhelmed. Artful facilitation also requires the ability to flex and shift to accommodate what is happening in the moment. All the planning in the world cannot account for the magic that happens within a group experience, and I was able to use my experience and toolkit to guide these shifts in a productive manner. The board and staff were able to build meaningful connection and flesh out their strategic plan in a manner where both board and staff can take ownership of the process and utilize in the plan to guide their work flows and decision making.
“Mary Christa helped our organization facilitate our annual board and staff retreat last month, and a meeting that could have gone in a less helpful direction went instead in a positive, uplifting, and very connected one.
Starting with the pre-planning ahead of the meeting, Mary Christa thoughtfully worked with our leadership team to organize a day that had a clear agenda and where each activity built upon the one before it. We started the day with building connection amongst our group of old and new board members and our staff. Real, meaningful work on our strategic plan was accomplished on the day of our retreat in an environment that Mary Christa helped us design with specific outcomes in mind. It worked. We came out of the day more connected as a team, more understanding of what each person and group does, and with many, many new tactics for how to move our mission forward. We could have done our meeting without a facilitator, but the benefit of having Mary Christa facilitate-- and really orchestrate-- the meeting helped us go deeper than we could have on our own. In addition to the retreat being a success, Mary Christa is excellent to work with: a calming, centering presence who is also very organized and excels in communication and planning.”
Lacey Cole-Rae
Development Director for the Kimball Art Center
Traditional consulting doesn’t work for conscious businesses.
Average consulting fees from a major firm hover around $500 an hour…and often that comes at a huge markup that doesn’t even go to your consultant.
My work is done through a modern, emergent lens.
My work is holistic, grounded in nature, and adaptive to your situation, rather than being prescriptive or simply drawing on old formulas.
I draw on my 30+ years of experience, the solutions I find for you will be grounded in your organization’s unique soul.
Your trusted confidante + artful facilitator
I help visionaries like you..
With your team.
With your donors.
With your board.
With yourself.
With decades of experience facilitating groups and building coalitions on the executive level, I am the trusted confidant and artful facilitator who will help you unite and lead your organization to realize a shared vision.
With a customized step-by-step map, my clients see their visions become reality.
I’m not your typical consultant… Pairing nature-based practices and holistic well-being with my 30 years of experience as a teacher, coalition builder, and entrepreneur is my secret medicine. This isn’t fake, woo woo, false positivity, all light and rainbows kind of stuff. This is deep work and requires honesty and courage.
