our approach
Our Approach
Our mission is to create more vibrant, equitable, and human-centered teams and workplaces.
We move towards that mission through a multifaceted approach that is fit to context and purpose. What this means is that sometimes we may use training to increase awareness of foundational concepts or interpersonal skills. Other times, we may rely more on group facilitation to guide teams through an experience of discovery and problem exploration. At times, we may lean on practices such as coaching, reflection, and experimentation in our work.
We integrate different disciplines in our work – pulling from research and theory on the future of work, leaning into the wisdom of creative movement and dance or the playfulness and creativity of design thinking. The heartbeat of OnBeat Consulting is continuous learning – guiding the client through the learning process while also continually learning ourselves.
At OnBeat, we use an equity-informed approach in everything we do, from how we facilitate a session to how we introduce a team practice to how we partner with you. We incorporate healing and justice into our work and see it as our moral imperative to create workplaces where all identities can thrive – not just those with the most privilege and power.
Our Toolbox Includes:
Organizational design refers to the continuous process of designing, defining our adapting organizational structures, policies, procedures, implicit and explicit ways of working. Running, reflecting, and refining small yet deliberate experiments is at the core of organizational design.
Whereas many organizational development approaches focus on what’s wrong in teams and organizations, appreciative inquiry is a discipline that challenges you to ask – What’s good and right about them? Appreciative inquiry posits that teams and organizations move in the direction of their questions. After all, “words create worlds.”
Liberating Structures is a set of facilitation techniques, “structures” if you will, that give way to meaningful and insightful conversations in teams. With a mix of individual, partner and group work, Liberating Structures create containers for self-reflection, inquiry, and breakthrough in teams.
Design thinking is a human-centered approach used by companies worldwide to innovate and bring about solutions to complex problems. Too often, teams and organizations jump to solutions without fully understanding the nature of the problem or the people affected by the proposed solution. Design thinking is a powerful tool that turns problems into questions with multiple possibilities or prototypes to test, revise, and retest.
Emotions contain data and influence our thinking. Research shows that teams that are high in emotional intelligence perform more effectively in a shorter time. Emotional intelligence creates a more positive work environment and better quality relationships.
Sometimes people can be perceived as difficult, especially when their preferences and operating styles can differ from our own. But are they trying to be difficult? Or is something getting lost in translation? We use a True Colors personality framework to help teams understand their True Color – from Straightforward Orange to Caring Blue to Detailed Gold to Thinking Green.