• Process design and facilitation
• Public engagement
• Leadership development
• Project management
• Strategic planning and positioning

Okay, let's take them one at a time...

• Process Design and Facilitation
  Our clients look to us to guide groups of all sizes and backgrounds through complex topics in order to reach productive ends. This requires sensitivity to the group’s history, its dynamics and desired outcomes. We facilitate small group conversations, team retreats and large town hall meetings. We design individualized approaches to each situation and are also skilled in conducting focus groups, study circles, and interviews. Designing and carrying out processes that are fair, transparent, collaborative and flexible enables the groups we facilitate to work through occasional conflict and achieve positive lasting results.


• Public Engagement
  Using our skills in process design and facilitation, we find effective ways for diverse people to come together to get their voices heard on issues of importance in their communities. We support our clients in determining what they want from the public’s participation and how best to engage them. We can handle the logistics of recruiting participants and organizing the events, as well as the facilitation and follow-up communication to be sure that the contributions of participants are documented in a fair and thorough manner.


• Leadership Development
  Through the American Leadership Forum (ALF), Charlotte Region, The Lee Institute brings together 20-25 established leaders from our 14 county region each year for a set of experiential learning experiences like none other. By exploring a rich variety of interconnected topics—personal strengths, ethics, transformational dialogue, leading across differences, adaptive leadership, systems thinking, innovation, and more—classmates develop deep connections to one another that last far beyond the year-long program. ALF Fellows develop lasting appreciation for our diverse region to which they can apply their skills in collaborative leadership.


• Project Management
  Busy leaders taking on new challenges or seeking fresh approaches to existing challenges look to us for project management. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside with a fresh perspective and a collaborative leadership style to take a project to the next level. We use our experience in process design, facilitation, public engagement and collaborative leadership to guide projects from conceptualization through implementation. We work effectively at both the big picture strategic and logistical detail levels to bring out the best in people and keep a project on track.


• Strategic Planning and Positioning
  Never before in our memories has there been a time when communities and organizations needs to “do the right things right” more than now. We help our clients develop strategic plans that are aspirational yet practical, using appreciative inquiry to tap into core strengths and collective wisdom. We are flexible in our approach, so that our clients can take on elements of the process for which they have the time and energy. We are very inclusive in our approach so that the final product is fully owned by the client. With our experience in change management, we set up our clients for success in implementing and updating their plan.

For examples of our work in each of these areas, please click here.