December 2024

It is officially candle season in our corner of the world. When the winter becomes colder and darker, we treasure warmth and light even more. We decorate with twinkly lights. We light candles to celebrate holidays. We look for “glimmers” and “bright spots” as we reflect on the year. We remember that stars seem to shine their brightest on the clearest and coldest nights.

As we close out a tumultuous season, we’re thinking about how we keep shining. And we always come back to care and connection as our foundation. What are we doing to restore ourselves? What lights us up? Whose hands might need holding as we navigate the dark? What circles of community and caring are we a part of, and how do we open and expand those circles moving forward?

We are sending wishes for a new year that is grounded in care and connection, when we can all shine a bright light. In this candle season, let’s tend our own flames and fortify each other.

Join us!

January Collective Conversation

Join us as we lean into connection to start the new year. Our focus for our January Collective Conversation will be community. What does “being in community” mean to us? How can we make space for and nurture relationships that restore us? How do we build circles of care and connection, especially in challenging times?

Please grab a mug of tea, coffee or hot cocoa and join us on Friday, January 10th at 12 PM ET. We hope to see you there!

Illuminate at Work

Understand the Foundations of Leading Change

As human beings moving through this complex and beautiful world, we are constantly experiencing change. In our work with leaders, we’ve found that the topic of leading change always feels timely and relevant. We focused on change management as part of a Manager Learning Series with a longstanding client last month, giving managers the opportunity to reflect on the critical role they play in leading their teams through change as well as the time and space they need to process change themselves.

Our Foundations of Leading Change are grounded in our Illuminate Collective Management Foundations and informed by our experience navigating change as team members and team leaders. You can access our Foundations of Leading Change resource here. We hope it will be a helpful reference through whatever changes you and your team move through together in the coming year.

Deepen Self Awareness with the Enneagram

We had an amazing time sharing the foundations of the Enneagram with guests at The Lodge at Woodloch in August. The Enneagram is a powerful framework for deepening awareness of self and others. This awareness is useful for individuals looking to develop their leadership impact as well as for teams seeking to deepen trust and collaboration.

We are returning to Woodloch from January 31st – February 2nd to lead our Enneagram Learning Series with our friend Cat McLaughlin of Rosemary Collaborative. We’d love to share the Enneagram with you and/or your team as well! Contact us to explore leadership coaching with an Enneagram lens and Enneagram for Teams sessions that are ideal for retreats and stepbacks and designed for your context.

Partner Spotlight

Laura Owens

We’re thrilled to feature our friend and frequent collaborator Laura Owens of L Owens Consulting, LLC in our Partner Spotlight this month. When Laura was newly venturing into independent consulting several years ago, she emailed Marion to schedule a virtual coffee on the exact same day that Marion was seeking a partner to help build a performance review process for a new client. Their connection, sparked through the both Tide Risers program and White Leaders Working on Antiracism, felt meant to be.

Since then, Laura has collaborated with us on a range of people-focused projects – helping organizations prioritize their people by creating impactful employee engagement programs, coaching managers to provide timely feedback that fosters employee development and designing systems and processes that make work more effective and, hopefully, more fun!

Laura’s superpowers are being an energizer and a systems builder. She loves being part of a team and helping teams grow stronger. In her free time, Laura enjoys coaching her kids in youth sports, walking her mini husky Kai Kai, and exploring new places – preferably while eating her way through them. You can check out her LinkedIn here.

Circles of Care & Community

Art by: Suzanne Vinson of Silver Tree Art

To celebrate this season of love and light, we wanted to shout a few circles of care and community that we are grateful to be part of. We’re excited to keep leaning into community and expanding our circles in the new year.

Anoa + Flow
“To Be Continued . . . “ Writing Community

Voices of Jubilee
Accompanying incarcerated youth and their families in Richmond and throughout Virginia

Cheltenham Education Foundation

As we move into the new year, we’d love to know, what circles of community and care are you grateful to be part of? Please respond to let us know! We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

Gratitude

We continue to be thankful for the bright lights in our lives – the family, friends, colleagues and clients who inspire us every day. Thank you for being an important part of our community!

Keep shining,