professional development training
Participants walk away with practical strategies, step-by-step communication tools, and a deeper understanding of how to create conditions where trust, accountability, and collaboration can thrive. The impact extends beyond the training itself, shifting the way teams engage with one another and reinforcing a culture where complexity is met with curiosity, and tension becomes a source of strength.
Giving, Receiving and Integrating Feedback
You should take this training if feedback dynamics are slowing your team down, creating tension, or leading to unspoken frustrations. If you're in a leadership position, these challenges may be costing you productivity and even leading to HR issues—whether you realize it or not. Maybe you get a pit in your stomach when you know critical feedback is coming your way, or you find yourself getting defensive even when you want to stay open. Perhaps you’re holding onto feedback you need to give, but the weight of it is turning into resentment and violated boundaries. Your organization might struggle with distinguishing between structured feedback and an exhausting culture of constant opinions, leaving people overwhelmed rather than empowered. Or maybe someone on your team keeps receiving the same feedback without integrating it, and you don’t have the tools to address the deeper issue. If any of this sounds familiar, this training is for you.
In Giving, Receiving, and Integrating Feedback, you’ll learn five core principles to increase your competency in all aspects of feedback—so that it becomes a tool for growth instead of a source of conflict. You’ll explore the science of belonging and how it shapes feedback conversations, as well as the latest research on bias in performance discussions and concrete ways to mitigate it. We’ll dive into techniques to address power dynamics in feedback, ensuring accountability is shared rather than top-down. This training will also challenge the assumption that collecting feedback—through conversations, surveys, or stakeholder input—is the same as integrating it. You’ll leave with practical strategies to embed feedback integration into key structures like leveling guides, performance evaluations, and management meetings. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to navigate the emotional distress that often comes with feedback, transforming these conversations into moments of clarity, connection, and even joy.
Connective Conflict
You should take this training if handling tense conversations leaves you feeling stressed, uncertain, or exhausted. If you find yourself avoiding difficult discussions—or going into them without a clear strategy—you’re not alone. Many leaders and teams struggle to navigate differences of opinion, de-escalate conflicts effectively, and turn moments of tension into opportunities for stronger relationships. Maybe you want to address discomfort head-on while fostering trust, or you believe that feedback could be a tool for connection but aren’t sure how to make that happen. Or perhaps you doubt that conflict can be anything but disruptive, but you’re open to discovering a different way.
Connective Conflict is designed to help you shift from dreading conflict to engaging it with confidence, clarity, and care. In this training, you’ll develop key principles to stay connected during conflict rather than after the dust settles. You’ll explore self-awareness tools to understand your personal orientation toward conflict and learn strategies to turn those instincts into authentic connections. Through practical frameworks and live role-plays, you’ll gain step-by-step scripts and talking points for common conflict scenarios—so you’re prepared when the stakes are high. This training will equip you to move through challenging conversations with confidence, reinforcing trust and psychological safety in your workplace and beyond. Conflict doesn’t have to be a breaking point—it can be a bridge to stronger, more resilient relationships.
Recognizing and Confronting Bias
You should take this training if you’ve ever struggled with navigating bias in real-time—whether it’s the tension of making high-stakes decisions, managing diverse teams with fairness, or noticing when unexamined assumptions are shaping workplace dynamics. Maybe you’ve experienced the discomfort of receiving feedback about bias and weren’t sure how to respond, or perhaps you’ve hesitated to address bias when you’ve seen it in action. Many teams committed to equity still find themselves stuck in patterns of avoidance, conflict, or uncertainty when bias arises. This training provides the structure, tools, and practical strategies to move past defensiveness and into productive, trust-building conversations that strengthen teams and leadership.
In Recognizing and Confronting Bias, you’ll learn how stress increases bias in management and decision-making—and specific behaviors that can help mitigate this impact. We’ll break down the neuroscience of bias, making it clear that bias isn’t a personal failing, but a fundamental part of how our brains work—meaning the real skill is building enough trust with others that they can help us see what we cannot. You’ll gain a framework for understanding the stages of competency in recognizing and confronting bias, so you can track your own growth and support others in theirs. We’ll also dive into workplace strategies that combat the specific types of bias that most often show up in teams and leadership structures. And because bias isn’t just an issue in traditional power structures, we’ll hold space for an honest discussion on biases within progressive communities—how they can challenge collaboration and what it takes to move beyond ideological divides into deeper, more effective partnerships.
Gathering Fire: Advanced Facilitation Training
You should take this training if you are a woman leader responsible for bringing people together, guiding high-stakes conversations, or navigating conflict in community and organizational spaces. If you’ve ever felt the weight of holding space for others while wondering where you go to replenish, Gathering Fire is for you. This training is designed for those who have some experience in facilitation but want to deepen their skills—whether in negotiation, conflict resolution, or leading transformative gatherings. And it’s for those who are tired of enduring and are ready to feel fortified—physically, emotionally, and strategically—in their leadership.
In Gathering Fire, you’ll refine your facilitation techniques through rigorous, hands-on practice while also experiencing the deep restoration required to sustain powerful leadership. You’ll learn advanced negotiation strategies, conflict navigation tools, and group process techniques that help turn stagnation into momentum. Through immersive, land-based learning at Paicines Ranch, you’ll wade into the river to reconnect with resilience, stand among trees to pull strength from the land, and integrate facilitation skills in a way that moves beyond theory into embodied wisdom. (We also design private trainings for teams - reach out to us to learn more). This is a deep dive into what it means to lead with clarity, confidence, and sustainability, ensuring that your leadership is not just effective but deeply rooted, replenished, and ready for the road ahead.