Our Approach

SEED aims to serve as a catalyst for the largest possible swath of organizations to realize their untapped potential. We bring a different twist to program development and community-asset building.

For one, we offer a strength-based approach. We know from experience that with very little of the right catalysts, most groups can awaken significantly more of the assets and potential they already possess.

We also focus to build capacity in the groups we serve. Our interest is to train program staff, board members and colleagues, as well as technical assistance providers, consultants, leadership program fellows and alumni, civic volunteers and other practitioners as SEED coaches.

SEED coaches listen in ways that guide program teams to become more reflective and deeper self-observers, more adept at seizing creative opportunities in response to challenges. Our coaches walk alongside program teams using a toolset that draws on innate wisdom and gives life to what is most essential in the work. Our planning and assessment services elicit new choices for action to maximize individual, organizational, and systems-level impacts.

SEED's approach is rooted in the ever-available facility in people to shift perspective and direction, particularly when invited and supported by a trusted coach.

In amazingly short time, groups perceive exciting new possibilities, unlock creative energies, and employ resources they didn't even know they had.

Read about outcomes and benefits of working with SEED.

A SEED COACH WILL	A SEED COACH WON'T
Engage everyone in the room as creative co-contributors	Allow some to dominate or others to be silent observers
Draw out insider wisdom and build on existing program strengths	Impose best practices that don’t necessarily fit your context
Promote practices that draw richly on both intellect and intuition	Miss an opportunity to encourage fresh perspectives and approaches
Walk alongside your team until desired results are achieved	Deliver instruction or advice, and then vanish
Bring an outside perspective to promote reflection and inquiry	Bring an outside perspective to tell you what to do
Encourage your use of flexible success markers to guide progress	Rate your performance against unrealistic or uninspiring targets