Clients: 2012

Bangor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is a 60-bed facility providing nursing care, assisted living, and rehabilitation therapies. We were hired to help facilitate development of a strategic plan. The process included industry/competitor analysis, internal and external stakeholder interviews, a staff survey, and a series of facilitated strategy team meetings.

We were hired by the Town of Bowdoinham to plan, facilitate, and provide Complete Reports of two public meetings to gather input on the town’s comprehensive plan.

The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust teamed up with the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust on a long term project to help improve sustainability of local agriculture in the Merrymeeting Bay Region. We were hired to facilitate a roundtable meeting that brought together regional stakeholders to gather information, begin to identify solutions, and develop a network. We also prepared a complete report of the meeting.

Casco Bay Create Awareness Now (CAN) Coalition is a group of local individuals, schools, law enforcement agencies, organizations, and businesses who work together to prevent and reduce youth substance abuse in Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, North Yarmouth, Pownal and Yarmouth. We were hired to help plan and facilitate a semi-annual meeting of Casco Bay CAN. One purpose of the semi-annual meeting was to develop a sustainability strategy among key stakeholders.

For the sixth year in a row, CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) management hired us to facilitate a multi-day retreat among regional directors from all over the country to work through issues, make decisions, and have fun doing creative team-building exercises.

Headquartered in Portland, Maine, CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) is the leading U.S. non-governmental international education organization. CIEE creates and administers programs that allow high school and university students and educators to study and teach abroad. We were hired to plan and facilitate a workshop on challenging conversations and follow up with a one-page write-up of practical tools and techniques.

For the second year in a row, we were hired to deliver a training workshop on management conflict for staff members who provide support to foreign high school students visiting the United States and their host families.

The CIEE Work & Travel USA Program supports more than 10,000 students to find jobs across the U.S. every year. We were hired to facilitate a training session and discussion among staff from various departments to help clarify roles and protocols.

Affiliated with St. Mary’s Health System, Community Clinical Services (CCS) provides comprehensive medical services — including primary care, dental care, mental health, and school-based health — to the residents of Androscoggin County, for the benefit of the community. We were hired to facilitate a strategic planning retreat among members of the board and senior staff to review community needs and decide on strategic directions for CCS. We also prepared a complete report of the meeting.

Community Concepts offers a variety of housing, economic development and social services for communities in western Maine. We were hired to help facilitate an organization-wide process to collaboratively develop a Statement of Values – a concise list of values that every employee understands, believes in, is enthusiastic about, and can use to help guide critical decision-making and problem solving. Leigh Tillman served as lead facilitator.

Located in Lewiston, Maine, the Dempsey Center provides free support, education and wellness services to cancer patients, survivors and caregivers. We were hired to conduct thirteen focus group meetings among current and potential users of the Dempsey Center and also among health care providers that make referrals to the Dempsey Center. We helped the Center use this information to develop a strategic plan.

The Downeast District Coordinating Council for Public Health is overseeing implementation of a federal Community Transformation Grant which will help Washington and Hancock Counties expand efforts in tobacco-free, active living, healthy eating, quality clinical preventive services, and healthy and safe physical environments. We have been hired to help plan and facilitate a series of meetings of the Community Transformation Grant Oversight Committee, to develop a shared understanding and collaborative approach for implementing the grant. Leigh Tillman is serving as lead facilitator.

To foster good relations and communications with their neighbors, Dragon Cement of Thomaston hires me to facilitate regular meetings of their Community Advisory Panel made up of local government, nonprofit, and business leaders.

DuPont (formerly FMC) manufactures carrageenan in Rockland, Maine. As part of its Responsible Care initiative, the company retained us to facilitate a community advisory panel. The group met every two months and served as a forum for learning and dialogue between plant managers and community leaders.

Educate Maine, created by the merger of the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education and the Maine Compact for Higher Education, champions increased education attainment and college and career readiness. We were hired to facilitate a board retreat to discuss key education challenges and opportunities and make plans for the organization’s top strategic objectives. We also conducted interviews with individual board members and prepared a brief report in advance of the meeting.

The Educate Maine Computer Science and Information Technology Initiative (CS-IT) is a statewide effort to double the number of computer science Bachelors degree graduates between now and 2016. Business leaders have gathered into seven teams to work on various projects in support of this goal. We were hired to facilitate a meeting among all seven teams in order to coordinate their efforts.

A large coalition of organizations that serve elderly in various ways banded together in a coalition and retained us to facilitate their monthly meetings which always consisted of exchanging information about state and federal policy initiatives and often included outside speakers on topics of interest. In addition, we provided complete secretariat services which included meeting write up and distribution, handling all correspondence, managing a website and list serve on behalf of the group, and arranging meeting facilities. The group tried to influence state policy to better serve elderly people. More recently, we were hired to facilitate a strategic planning meeting for the coalition.

Encore Leadership Corps (ENCorps) trains hundreds of older Mainers to be volunteer leaders for environmental stewardship and grassroots community development, and their annual two-day Leadership Summit provides training sessions with state and national leaders focused on improving and protecting the quality of life throughout Maine. For the second year in a row, we were hired to plan and facilitate a summit workshop on “Dealing with Difficult People”. At the summit we also facilitated conversations about environment and conservation, health and wellness, and building a sense of community. Leigh Tillman served as lead facilitator.

Environment Northeast (ENE) develops innovative policies to combat global warming and promote clean energy and clean air solutions in New England and Eastern Canada. We were hired to plan and facilitate a three-day staff and board retreat at lovely Point Lookout in Northport, Maine, to review organizational successes and challenges and build team effectiveness.

Environment Northeast (ENE) develops innovative policies to combat global warming and promote clean energy and clean air solutions in New England and Eastern Canada. We have been hired in an ongoing capacity as a management consultant to help facilitate implementation of ENE’s strategic goals developed at a retreat in Fall 2011.

We were hired to plan and facilitate the annual retreat of the Falmouth Town Council, which included developing elements of a long-term strategic work plan.

Good Food for Lewiston is a collaborative working to develop a healthy community food system in Lewiston. We were hired to help plan for, and train volunteer facilitators for, a series of “Good Food Gatherings” which brought together community members to create and share a vision for a healthy food system.

GrowSmart Maine finds common ground solutions for growing Maine’s economy and preserving our quality of place. In 2006, GrowSmart Maine brought The Brookings Institution here to develop Charting Maine’s Future, a report that created a vision for Maine and an Action Plan to achieve that vision. Now, in 2012, GrowSmart Maine is assessing the impact of Charting Maine’s Future and updating the Action Plan. We were hired to manage this assessment and update project, including conducting research and interviews with dozens of Maine’s influential leaders, facilitating meetings to develop new recommendations, drafting text for the new report, and coordinating graphic design and printing for the report. We partnered with Peter Weed and Teague Morris for this project.

Kennebec Behavioral Health offers a wide range of outpatient and medication services to promote the well-being of children, adults, and families who experience mental illness, emotional difficulties or behavioral challenges. We were hired to plan and facilitate a Senior Management Retreat follow-up meeting to make decisions about long-term strategic objectives, short-term programmatic priorities, and operational improvements. We also provided a Highlights Report.

Kennebec Behavioral Health offers a wide range of outpatient and medication services to promote the well-being of children, adults, and families who experience mental illness, emotional difficulties or behavioral challenges. For the second year in a row, we were hired to facilitate a full-day Senior Management Team retreat focused on reviewing the past year and establishing future programmatic and operational priorities. We also prepared a complete report of the meeting.

Kieve-Wavus offers summer camps on the shores of beautiful Damariscotta Lake in Nobleboro and year-round experiential programs for youth and adults in Maine and beyond. We were hired to facilitate a process to develop a long-range plan for the camps and programs, including a survey of board and staff and a facilitated 2-day retreat. We also prepared a report of findings from the survey, a report of the retreat, and a draft long-range plan.

The Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC, formerly the Land Use Regulation Commission, or LURC) has jurisdiction over Maine’s unorganized territories, an area of 10.4 million acres – roughly half the size of the state. LUPC has hired us to conduct three meetings of recreational lodging stakeholders to provide input on new ways that recreational lodging might be regulated in the unorganized territories. In addition to planning and facilitating the meetings, we will also prepare complete reports.

The Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is a non-profit agency whose mission is to advocate for quality of life and care for long term care consumers. We were hired to help plan, facilitate, and record a meeting to gather stakeholder input regarding an initiative to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Emergency Preparedness Unit reviews vulnerabilities in areas such as epidemiology, emergency medical services, weather services, and much more. We facilitated a meeting of over 50 statewide stakeholders to discuss and score the relative risks of potential hazardous events and situations in Maine. We also prepared a Complete Report of the meeting which included discussion comments as well as the scoring data for all 35 different situations.

The Maine Council of Churches is an ecumenical community of nine denominations dedicated to the vision of a sustainable, just, and compassionate world. We were hired to facilitate a meeting of the Board of Directors to discuss strategic planning and organizational development issues. We also prepared a complete report of the meeting.

For the second year in a row we were hired to provide training in conflict management for the Maine Farmers’ Market Convention. The convention was in Freeport on January 27 & 28,2012.

Maine Maritime Academy is a small public college of engineering, management, science, and transportation located in Castine on the coast of Maine. We were hired by the Corning School for Ocean Studies at Maine Maritime Academy to help the faculty identify future changes to the curriculum.

For the second time we were hired by Maine Maritime Academy to facilitate a meeting of the faculty of the Corning School of Ocean Studies in order to identify and advance programmatic goals.

Maine Quality Counts builds capabilities for patient-centered, equitable and high-quality health care in Maine. We were hired to facilitate a board meeting to review current strategic priorities and plan for the future.

The Maine School Garden Network (MSGN) is a group of committed individuals who promote and support educational gardens for youth and encourage school programs that teach healthy eating and environmental stewardship. We were hired to help plan and facilitate a full-day meeting, comprised of a broad stakeholder input discussion in the morning followed by a MSGN Advisory Board meeting in the afternoon where board members reflected on input received and made decisions about MSGN’s future. We also prepared complete reports of both meetings. Leigh Tillman assisted with this project.

The Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society (MESAS) explores, develops and promotes agricultural systems and practices that allow Maine farmers to retain a greater share of consumer expenditures for farm products. As part of the MESAS “More Maine Meat” project, we were hired to facilitate a series of meetings among farmers, processors, distributors, government agencies, researchers, agricultural organizations, and consumers to identify key constraints and opportunities in Maine’s sustainable meat industry.

Affiliated with Dartmouth Medical School, the University of New England School of Osteopathic Medicine and MaineGeneral Medical Center, the Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice is a group of family practitioners serving the greater Waterville area and training resident doctors who specialize in family medicine. We were hired to help the management team develop a strategic plan to define the Practice’s future. We facilitated a series of meetings over a two-year period which resulted in a written strategic plan.

Midcoast Magnet attracts, connects and retains professionals in the midcoast region, which they loosely define as Knox and Waldo Counties. They hired us to facilitate a meeting of diverse stakeholders to begin defining a brand for the midcoast region; that is, a way to promote the region as a great place to live, work, or visit. In addition to facilitating this half-day meeting at the Camden Opera House, we also prepared a Complete Report of the meeting.

The Maine State Employees Association — SEIU Local 1989 — is a member-run labor union representing more than 15,000 public and private sector workers throughout Maine. We were hired to facilitate a team building retreat of the senior management team, including advance interviews with members of the team.

The Maine State Employees Association — SEIU Local 1989 — is a member-run labor union representing more than 15,000 public and private sector workers throughout Maine. For the second year in a row, we were hired to plan and facilitate a 2-day board retreat focused on establishing strategic direction.

The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) supports environmental educators with professional development, guidelines for excellence, networking, and advocacy. Craig helped facilitate a NAAEE strategic planning process that involved multiple meetings in Washington D.C. and San Francisco and phone interviews with thought leaders throughout the country.

We were hired to help plan and facilitate the three-day annual conference of the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) in Oakland, California. We also helped plan and facilitate a special Funders Forum of about 100 organizations that invest in environmental education. NAAEE supports environmental educators in the US, Canada, and Mexico with professional development, guidelines for excellence, networking, and advocacy.

We were hired to offer a training session on Advanced Facilitation at the five-day National Training Workshop of the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) in Washington, DC. NAAEE supports environmental educators in the US, Canada, and Mexico with professional development, guidelines for excellence, networking, and advocacy.

PACTS works to improve the coordination of transportation planning and investment decisions by state, municipal and public transportation organizations in the Portland, Maine region (including 18 towns from Biddeford to Brunswick). We were hired to facilitate a meeting of the PACTS Policy Committee to help establish consensus on future size and responsibilities of committees and on future sub-regional and elected official representation.

The Quality Review Council is established by state law to review homecare services provided by Elder Independence of Maine. The Council reviews quality reports and also works on short-term, high priority projects to improve home care. We were retained to facilitate all regular meetings of the Council.

RSU 16 encompasses the towns of Mechanic Falls, Minot, and Poland, Maine. We were hired to plan and facilitate a public input and strategic planning process to help guide RSU 16 education planning and build community among citizens, parents, students, teachers, town leaders, and the school board. We conducted two surveys, facilitated a series of input gathering meetings, and prepared a Report of Findings. We also facilitated a series of school board workshops and prepared a Draft Strategic Plan based on the results of the process.

Sacopee Valley Health Center, located in Porter, Maine, has been delivering comprehensive health care services to the Sacopee Valley since 1976. We were hired to help facilitate a staff retreat and a board retreat to assess progress on past strategic plan goals and plan for the future. We also surveyed the staff, board, and community to gather input ahead of the retreats.

The City Council of South Portland, Maine, hired us to facilitate a three-hour workshop during which Council members shared perspectives on long-term objectives for the City and developed consensus on one-year goals for the City Council.

“Speak Out!” was a panel discussion and forum held in Brunswick, Maine, to address critical issues facing women in the 2012 election and to encourage women to consider political and economic leadership roles. In a volunteer capacity, we worked with the student-led planning committee and helped moderate the forum.

Spurwink Services provides behavioral health, educational, and residential services for children, adolescents, adults, and families in Maine and beyond. We were hired to facilitate a strategic direction retreat for the board of directors. We also prepared a complete report of the meeting.

Thornton Oaks, a retirement community in Brunswick, Maine, is a community with a mix of private homes and apartments. We were hired to design and conduct focus group sessions with current and potential residents to help Thornton Oaks plan for the future.

Tri-County Mental Health Services delivers state of the art mental health, substance abuse, habilitation, and life skills services to the people of Maine. We were hired to facilitate a staff training session.

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension hired us to plan and facilitate two meetings to help Cooperative Extension organize their SNAP-Ed program: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance ProgramEducation, which helps low-income individuals make healthy food choices. Leigh Tillman served as lead facilitator.

The University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation financially supports and prepares well-educated engineering students for careers in the pulp and paper and allied industries with full tuition merit based scholarships. We were hired to plan and facilitate a series of meetings among Foundation board and staff and stakeholders from the University and the industry to help develop a strategic plan for the Foundation. We prepared complete reports of the meetings and a draft strategic plan.

The City of Westbrook, ME, hired us to facilitate a community-wide visioning process. As a result of a series of fourteen meetings and a full day community visioning meeting, we drafted a vision statement to serve as the basis of Westbrook’s updated comprehensive plan. We are also facilitating meetings of the comprehensive plan task force and community input meetings for specific interests. Leigh Tillman assisted with this project.

We were hired to plan and facilitate two public meetings designed to gather input on an emerging neighborhood plan for North Windham, Maine. We prepared complete reports for each meeting.