Philosophy

Deborah Howard’s goal is to guide individuals, teams, and organizations through positive transformation and change. She creates opportunities that enable her clients to reflect on their work, their interpersonal dynamics, and their goals.

Her consulting work involves designing and facilitating experiential activities that enable individual and group learning. She helps clients reflect on and analyze how work is done – how decisions are made, how information is shared, how communication occurs, how problems are solved, how individuals work together – and what changes can make it more effective. Her training and “hands on” experience in behavioral science, group process, and human dynamics equip her to help individuals and organizations learn to solve their own problems. She also brings a knowledge base in the areas of emotional intelligence, diversity management, conflict resolution, and leadership. She works both independently and with a diverse pool of colleagues.

Deborah’s consulting approach is client-centered and collaborative. She believes that clients are most knowledgeable about themselves and their concerns. Deborah works to enhance their understanding by collecting and analyzing their own data. She uses individual interviews, focus groups, surveys, and other research tools. After analyzing and providing a summary of the data themes, she facilitates dialogues and retreats in which issues and concerns can be addressed. She builds on these conversations by providing concepts and models that form useful frameworks for deepening the clients’ understanding of the issues they face.

She tailors each project to meet the specific needs and concerns of the client. This enables her to collaborate with clients on interventions and action strategies that yield desired outcomes. She focuses not only on solving problems, but also on ways to use current successes to provide a foundation for conceptualizing future goals.

Utilizing an approach known as “Appreciative Inquiry,” she examines organizational strengths - what in the organization is generative and life-enriching. When individuals and entities engage in this positive-focused inquiry, it dramatically increases the energy and passion they need to achieve their objectives.

In her diversity work, she focuses on creating the conditions that enable positive change and learning. She designs and facilitates activities and interventions intended to reduce anxiety and fear, especially those associated with the emotion-laden issues of race and gender. And, she enables people to reflect on and make use of their own experiences and learn new skills. Her work encompasses awareness and skill-building seminars as well as strategic diversity initiatives. The common denominator in her work is an understanding of the importance of valuing human dignity, respect, and inclusion.