Coaching and Consulting for
Leaders, Teams, and Organizations
Leading and building great teams has always been challenging, but in these VUCA times (volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous), it’s a whole different level of challenge. The world of work hasn’t been this disruptive since World War II.
Think about it: we all had decades to adapt to the computer and internet revolutions. COVID-19 changed everything in weeks and, as of 2023, we’re in Year3 of a five- or six-year cycle.
You and your team can’t help but be feeling the toll.
Burnout. The “quiet” or “great” buzzword of the week. Figuring out how we’re working again. One teammate comes back in, only for another to be out sick for a week. Trying to do deep work and thinking while an extra needy cat is yelling at you. Smaller budgets and teams, but expectations of the same or better results.
You can't stay where you are and you have to lead beyond "dealing with it," but it's not entirely clear what the next step is.
It’s a lot. You don’t have to do it alone. You can get back to the joys of leading and doing great work while having a great life outside of work.
Let's figure it out how together.
I've Been Leading and Advising in This Kind of Landscape for Nearly Two Decades
I’ve been leading and advising in VUCA scenarios since the 2000s. I’m an Army veteran who led tactical convoys in Iraq and coordinated Joint Force operations stateside, and what I do now is just a version of what I did then: I help people build high-performing, high-belonging teams who are proud of the great work they’re doing in the world.
I was leading hybrid/remote teams before iPhones existed and have been advising on leading hybrid/remote teams since they came out. I've been building self-organized teams and advising on how to do it since before the books on how to do it were written.
It's not that I have it all figured out, as that's impossible. I've just been fixing planes while flying them for long enough that I've figured out how to figure things out.
Many leaders and owners come to me when they know they need to make a big change but they're not sure how they're going to do it or where to start. They typically have tried a few other solutions and consultants, but, for a myriad of reasons, they didn't get the outcomes they were expecting. All too often, they're whip-smart, big-hearted visionary types who've been the smartest person in the room and folks can't keep up with them.
You don't have to worry about that with me. I've been rolling and rumbling with generals, colonels, CEOs, politicians, non-profit EDs, medical doctors, entrepreneurs, academics, religious/spiritual leaders, thought leaders, investors, and visionaries for a while now. Typically, the leaders I work with are AND-type polymaths.
It takes one to know one. (I'm a near-PhD in Philosophy and a best-selling author.)
Typical Engagements
Because I embrace that each leader, team, and organization is a unique combination of talents, opportunities, challenges, and histories, I don't have a one-size fits all approach to how I engage with my clients. That said, the most common engagements people hire me for are:
- Executive coaching engagements that help leaders, managers, and owners get out of the whirlwind and drive strategic progress. I'm especially adept at advising BIPOC, women, and accidental executives who haven't been on the "leadership" track but find themselves in an executive or senior leadership seat nonetheless.
- Strategy execution engagements that focus on supporting leadership teams to align, prioritize, collaborate on, and operationalize their strategic priorities and initiatives. These engagements often integrate strategy execution frameworks like 4DX, OKRs, EOS/Traction, and Balanced Scorecard. They’re equally great for senior leadership teams who need to get on the same page or teams of high-potential leaders who need to learn by leading.
- Change management engagements that center adaptive strategy, DEIJ, self-organized work, and 4P (purpose, people, profit, and planet) lenses. If you’ve tried a change management project and struggled, let’s talk - my approach to change management addresses why change management initiatives fail.
- Facilitation engagements for company offsites, strategy retreats, or rapid team-building events. For facilitation events, I co-create the event architecture to deliver the outcomes the event is intended to accomplish.
- Training engagements that focus on helping technical specialists learn and integrate leadership/catalyst skills to become great managers and leaders.
While any of the engagements above can be a one-time engagement, many of my clients retain me for years. Simply put, they find that they're better leaders, their organizations shift into and remain best-in-class, and their teams want to come to work and advance the organization’s mission.
Considering Hiring Me For a DEIJ Engagement?
My work is centered on making work better for everyone and thus integrates DEIJ perspectives. Building a competitive, future-ready, high-performance, and high-belonging team almost always requires addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion along the way.
I do not do DEIJ-only engagements, as DEIJ is baked into everything I do and I help leaders operationalize DEIJ perspectives. If you're looking for DEIJ training, keynotes, or audits, I can refer you to some great people and solutions. DEIJ does not need to be the focal point of our work together, but if you're hostile to DEIJ perspectives, we're not a fit.
Let's Discover How We Might Be A Fit
I realize the above sounds very West Coast and doesn't mention the specific results you'll get from working with me. Profit/revenue growth, cost reduction, cost avoidance, productivity, and organizational prestige are all table stakes for doing any of the work above and I’m typically driving a results orientation more than my clients are.
But there's more to truly great leadership, teams, and organizations than the standard KPIs/metrics and business as usual. I'm curious to see how we can co-create a shift in your leadership, team, and organization so that we get great results while advancing the other lenses that matter, too.
If you're equally curious about co-creating that shift and getting specific about the results our partnership will drive, feel out the form below so we can have a no-cost, no-obligation discovery meeting. I look forward to seeing what we can build together.
About Me (Charlie Gilkey)
I am the lead consultant, coach, and strategist at Productive Flourishing. I have nearly 20 years of fieldwork that incorporates systems thinking, strategy execution, leadership and organizational development, practical innovation, and communication.
Besides the technical expertise, I possess a passionate drive to help leaders and owners achieve more than they could have ever imagined. My experience includes leading 200+ soldiers in the U.S. Army, 14 years consulting leaders in various industries in for-profit and nonprofit industries, writing award-winning books, and serving on various boards. My forthcoming book, Team Habits, is a guide to creating practices in teams that create great results and belonging.
Testimonials
The testimonials below are representative of the typical outcomes from working with me. I can provide more tailored testimonials upon request and you can also see more in my LinkedIn recommendations.
