LIFT: Creating Space for the Next

“Working with Helia was like having the perfect thought partners for our team's most important conversations. They brought frameworks that created clarity, facilitation that honored different styles, and an energy that made complex challenges feel manageable. They didn't just help us plan - they helped us see new possibilities for how our team could work together."

- Michelle Rhone-Collins, CEO, LIFT

The Challenge

LIFT's executive team was navigating multiple significant moments:

• Launching a new strategic plan

• Preparing for annual planning cycle

• Welcoming a new Chief of Strategic Initiatives

• Balancing diverse leadership styles and approaches

• Needing their planning approaches to work together cohesively

We had their first-ever executive retreat to bring it all together.

Our Approach

• Started with deep discovery to understand who they are as a team, both individually and collectively

• Created intentional space for reflection, celebration, and honoring their journey

• Created a safe, energizing space for both analytical and relational styles

• Created space for the CEO to articulate her vision and direction

• Balanced structured frameworks with open dialogue

• Set new foundations for inclusive planning that starts with leadership guidance

• Fostered authentic connection across working styles

• Managed complex discussions while maintaining forward momentum

• Built streamlined frameworks to support implementation, integrating the new strategic plan and annual planning process together

• Supported the team in making challenging topics feel possible

The Impact

• Executive team aligned around shared vision and direction

• Stronger alignment on how to integrate strategic and annual planning

• New grounding that strengthens how future planning will flow

• Draft frameworks + materials (with nuance!) for welcoming new executive leadership

• Foundation for continued team growth and development

  “What stands out about Helia is their ability to bring teams together in ways you didn't even know you needed. They created space for us to tackle both explicit and implicit challenges, from clarifying new roles to shifting our planning frameworks. Their artful facilitation and quick synthesis helped us move forward on complex issues while modeling the kind of collaborative leadership we wanted to build. They have an incredible instinct for knowing when to push, when to pause, and how to make meaningful progress in tight timeframes."

  - Gabe Scheck, Chief Advancement Officer, LIFT