About

I have worked for decades in a wide variety of industries and roles. The industries were as diverse as manufacturing, non-profits, philanthropy, Christian ministries, healthcare, and transportation. My job titles were equally as diverse, including consultant, director, manager, facilitator, or lead. But the theme that ran consistently through all of this diversity was that my roles always called for me to participate in “development” of some sort (e.g., learning & development, organizational development, talent development, leadership development, program development, and training development, etc.).

My favorite role – and job title – of all time was the “Director of Learning and Renewal” for a hospital. In that role, I could apply all my talents to the full. I loved the work of facilitating, teaching, developing, coaching, and renewing. I even captured some of the best practices from those days in a book titled, The Learner’s Path. I spent 13 years in that role. When that role ended due to a merger, I spent the next 13 years trying to reproduce the invigoration I felt in that role. But, I never found it.

Until now, that is. I now call my new role with Hinken Renewal the “Principal Learning & Renewal Coach.” In this role, I am back in my sweet spot of facilitating, teaching, developing, coaching, and renewing.

Those second 13 years “in the wilderness,” were invaluable, however, in teaching me what teams needed in order to thrive and be effective. In each of those five “wilderness organizations,” I attempted to apply my particular approach to leadership – one that I am now calling “facilitative leadership.” In settings where this approach was welcomed, teams thrived, and in the settings where it was dismissed, teams stagnated.

I forged the Hinken Renewal Model out of the 13 years in the “promised land” and the 13 years in “the wilderness.” I am convinced that, when leaders experience stagnation in their teams, they can renew them back to thriving using my particular team renewal practices. It is now my privilege to share what I have learned, and equip leaders to experience the “promised land” of effectiveness with their teams.