Kristen Gardner

Description

• Are you a new community just developing your decision-making and other community processes and procedures?
• Are you an existing community needing a tune-up or experiencing frustration with current processes and policies?

I will conduct participatory processes to assess your strengths and areas for improvement, and develop solutions supported by the group. I will tailor the scope of the work to your priorities and resources.

Facilitation and Meeting Planning: help ensure a successful meeting or retreat experience
Assessment: identify areas for development or improvement
Problem Solving: strengthen policies and procedures, such as decision making, operations and policies
Planning: clarify goals and identify concrete action to achieve them
Implementation: assist with putting new plans into action
Group Development: guide a group to function together more effectively
Documentation: assist with developing clear by-laws, orientation manuals, meeting notes and other resources
Training: develop specific skills such as facilitation, decision making processes, communication, and more
Coaching: develop an individual’s capacity to achieve their goals and increase their satisfaction

I have over 30 years of experience facilitating groups and a Masters in Psychology/ Organization Development. The process of assessing an organization and supporting it through participatory and thoughtful change is the core of my work. I bring together my academic learning and my extensive experience with groups to provide individualized support for each organization I work with.
I have lived and worked with multiple intentional communities in Northern California, including rural intentional communities, co-housing, tenants-in-common, and non-profit based communities. They have generally used consensus decision-making. They have had a range of practices including income-sharing, running a non-profit, and building our own houses out of earth and straw. Some were just getting started, while others were well established. I have also worked with collectively run businesses. I find that my work with each organization is informed by their unique history, experiences, priorities, and people, as well as existing models that can provide guidance.

“Kristen guided us through an elegant process that engaged everyone’s voices and allowed the community to move forward. Her unfathomable patience, keen perception, non-judgmental communication and stunning facilitation brought us through a classic ‘problem person’ conflict into a more mature and far smoother functioning organization.”
~ Co-housing member

“Kristen is expertly skilled at demystifying complex challenges and creating heart-centered opportunities that are inclusive of diverse voices to forge a path forward collectively.”
~ Colleague