Strategic Planning · Facilitation · Training
Plans your people actually carry out.
I help public health departments, nonprofits, local government and the boards and teams that serve their communities figure out where they are, where they want to go, and how to actually get there.
Charity Adams · Cairo, Nebraska · Serving the Great Plains & virtually anywhere
Where are you starting?
Most groups come to me saying one of three things.
Whichever one sounds like you, the work is the same: figure out where you are, decide where you want to go, and build a path your people will follow.
“We need a plan.”
A strategic plan, a community health improvement plan, a board retreat that ends in decisions. Your people build it, so they own it. And I stay with you through the first months of carrying it out.
“We know something’s off, but we can’t name it.”
Meetings that go in circles. Friction nobody says out loud. A plan that stalled. We start by figuring out what’s actually going on, then decide together what to do about it.
“We need the skills to carry it out ourselves.”
I teach your team to run meetings and planning sessions that end in real decisions, and coach the leaders doing it. Private team training or public courses, with continuing education credit.
I work with public health · nonprofits & boards · local government & planning · schools · businesses & teams
What it’s like to work together
Four steps, and your people do the deciding.
1
We talk
A 30-minute conversation about where you are and what you need.
2
I design the process
Built around your goals, your people and the time you actually have.
3
Your group does the work
I lead the sessions. Your people build the answer and leave committed to it.
4
We follow through
Check-ins and coaching while the plan turns into action.
No plan that sits on a shelf.
No outside expert deciding for you.
No one-size-fits-all agenda.
What people say
“Your facilitation was a resounding factor in what we accomplished and how the group was able to work together. I can’t say it enough, how impressed everyone was!”
Ashley Newmyer · Chief Data Strategist, DHHS
“It feels like we are on a solid direction now and it’s like you worked magic with us that day.”
Molly Herman · Epidemiology Coordinator, Northeast Nebraska Rural Health Network
“This course has given me the framework and skills to better engage my colleagues and external stakeholders for effective collaboration around shared priorities.”
Sydney Stein · ToP Facilitation Methods participant
Certified ToP® Facilitator · ToP® Mentor Trainer · Co-Owner, Great Plains ToP · Lumina Spark Practitioner
Groups I’ve planned, facilitated and trained with
Nebraska Rural Health Transformation ProgramNebraska Department of Health and Human ServicesKansas Department of Health and EnvironmentCity of Cedar RapidsMontana Department of Public Health and Human ServicesUniversity of Minnesota College of Education and Human DevelopmentNebraska Department of EducationCyncHealthSouthern Public Power DistrictProject HarmonyNeighborWorks Home SolutionsIdaho GEAR UPNortheast Nebraska Public Health DepartmentCommunity Action Partnership of Northwest MontanaDCCCAMorningside UniversityAMGL CPAsFive Rule PlanningSouth Dakota State Historical SocietyHarold Warp Pioneer VillageGage County Historical Society & MuseumCentral Nebraska Lutheran SchoolsHastings Catholic SchoolsGrand Island Housing CoalitionReal Property Management Express
Upcoming public courses
Already know ToP®? Find your course.
Registration opens on top-training.net, run by the Institute of Cultural Affairs, the national home of ToP training. You’ll get your confirmation and course details from them.
Continuing education credit for CHES/MCHES, AICP and ICF. The list updates itself from the course calendar.
Who you’ll be working with
Meet Charity.
I’m a Certified ToP Facilitator and ToP Mentor Trainer, and I’ve sat on your side of the table as a business owner and a founding nonprofit executive director. When you reach out, you talk with me, and I’m the one in the room with your group from the first conversation through follow-up.
What happens when you reach out
A 30-minute conversation. No pitch, just a clear next step.
Tell me where your group is and what you’re working toward. You’ll leave the call with a recommended process and a realistic timeline for your situation, whether or not we work together.
Not ready to talk yet?
Intentional by Design is a quarterly letter: one method, one story from real work, upcoming courses. Four issues a year.