Why Heidi?

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For nearly two decades, that work happened inside one nonprofit educational organization. I sat in very different seats over the years - educator, technology leader, HR leader, department builder, strategist, and member of the leadership team. That experience gave me something I couldn't have gained by working in just one functional area: I got to see the same organization from multiple perspectives as it grew, changed, and became more complex.

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I wasn't looking for things to build.

 

I was often given responsibility for areas where a gap had become apparent...and I had a knack for figuring out what was creating the problem.

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That meant looking past the obvious issue. Asking why. Connecting things that initially seemed unrelated. Understanding how a decision in one part of the organization affected people, processes, systems, or priorities somewhere else. Then working with the people closest to the work to determine what needed to change.

Coworkers regularly asked if they could pick my brain.

At some point, I became the go to person for answers or to think things through. It happened so often that I would often say to anyone who came to my office that they never knew what they would learn while they were there. 

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Eventually, leaders outside my organization started doing the same thing. And more than once, those conversations ended with some version of:

 

“How do we get a Heidi?”

 

That question stuck with me because I realized they weren't asking for a consultant. They weren't asking me to come in and run something for them.

 

They wanted access to the perspective I had developed by sitting in so many different seats, solving problems from the inside, and learning how seemingly separate pieces of an organization influence one another.

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That's what brought me to this work.

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Today, I work with leaders who know their organization has grown and changed, but somewhere along the way, the work started becoming harder than it should be. More complexity. More things to coordinate. More decisions to make. More effort to get the same things done. They know something needs attention, but they don't always know what...or why.

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I'm not the person who comes into an organization, does the work, hands over a deliverable, and leaves. I'm not the person who has a predetermined path to follow that never changes from organization to organization.

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I am the person who comes alongside leaders and helps them see what they may not be able to see from inside the organization. The person who asks the question that changes the conversation. Who helps separate the symptom from the actual problem. Who teaches, challenges, coaches, and brings perspective when the path forward isn't obvious.

 

Because I believe organizations should be strengthened to operate without outside support indefinitely.

 

You own the work. You make the decisions. You lead the change.

 

I'm there to help you see it more clearly, think it through more deeply, and know what to do next. 

 

That's the work I was already doing long before I had a name for it.

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Now, my FOUNDATION Framework™ is how I bring that way of thinking to other leaders. It's not a system for you to work through. Instead, it's a documentation of what I'm assessing as I'm analyzing what's happening. It's the framework that allows each organization to get exaxtly what it needs, unique to each one, from each engagement.