BUILDING BRIDGES LEADERSHIP
Equipping You to Create Authentic Community and Build Better Teams
Recent Articles
Completing 2025 and Moving On to 2026
As we move towards the end of another year full of challenges and growth, successes and failures – on the personal, professional, and global levels – many of us are looking for ways to bring closure to the year and recharge for the new year. Depending on your role, a clean break from work may…
Who are Your Unsung Heroes of the Year?
If you’ve been reading the Building Bridges Leadership blog for a while, you may remember the Good News Jam series we started in April 2020, at the early height of the Covid pandemic (inspired by John Krasinski’s own pandemic YouTube series, Some Good News). These virtual happy hours had a simple design: for each person…
When a Choice is Not a Choice…
Chocolate or vanilla? Which ice cream would you choose? Many of us would know our answer (even if it’s “I want non-dairy” or “no ice cream for me”). But of course, sometimes choices aren’t so easy to make – and sometimes, a choice isn’t a choice after all – it’s a responsibility, a commitment, or…
What We Offer
In-Person and Virtual Offsites and Board Retreats for community building, communication, diversity, inclusion, & belonging. Are you planning an offsite in the season ahead? Contact us now to learn more about how we can help.
“Ian was able to facilitate an amazing day of learning for me and my staff of 65. We left feeling like we better understood each other, and were aligned around common goals and a common purpose. Definitely the best offsite facilitation we have had!”
– Mike Salguero, CEO, ButcherBox
Consulting to support group dynamics and organizational goals. Do you know that your teams could be more effective and cohesive, but aren’t sure how to get there?
“Ian led a team building session at our church’s annual Board retreat. In two hours, he led us through two deceptively simple activities. Through these activities, and Ian’s gentle, skillful debriefing with us, we grew in trust and affection for one another. A few interesting tensions and strengths in our team were also revealed, in an atmosphere that encouraged new understanding and connection around these. We’re grateful for Ian’s facilitation!”
– Steve Watson, Senior Pastor, Reservoir Church
Trainings and Workshops exploring organizational norms and challenges when cultures meet. Do you ever experience challenges working with other organizations, or even with other departments within your own organization?
“The Lego-building exercise helped us to learn a lot about ourselves and each other in a short amount of time. I could see aspects of what I’ve come to know as each person’s approach to working on problems; I also have a new insight into my own approach.”
– Amanda Bosh, Senior Lecturer, MIT
Hybrid Group Dynamics – Leading equitable teams in a hybrid world. Does your team consist of both in-office and remote team members? Does it feel unbalanced and challenging to include everyone equally?
“During my tenure as President of the Harvard Extension Student Association, Ian provided me great wisdom and insight on how to increase engagement in my in-person/online hybrid meetings.”
– Joshua Boyd, former President, Harvard Extension Student Association
Meaningful Play for a staff culture of authentic communication and inclusion, through a wide variety of playful activities, to help groups explore underlying behaviors that affect workplace situations on a daily basis
“I felt immediately motivated to trust, support, and rely on the other people in my group. I felt the heart of this exercise expanding outward and creating concentric circles within the room. I can now envision concentric circles expanding across every aspect of our school and even across Waldorf schools.”
– Jen Minotti, Board Member, Waldorf School of Lexington
Facilitator Training to transform your employees’ ability to lead meetings into productive and inclusive experiences which honor all voices
“I was truly blown away by how much I learned about myself through some of the activities Ian facilitated. Ian did a great job of pushing our company to take what we learned and apply it to our everyday work as well. He also was really informal and laid back which meshed well with our company culture.”
– Building Bridges program participant
Storytelling Workshops – Individual, group, and organizational storytelling are key in building meaningful engagement in organizational goals.
“[Ian] made sure everyone was included and heard. It made for a very insightful and eye-opening day!”
– Building Bridges program participant
Building Bridges Leadership 