More recently, I’ve been serving as a senior consultant providing strategy development and change management expertise to increase impact, maximize efficiency, engage stakeholders, and facilitate overall operational excellence.
In the past four years, I’ve co-led, designed, and facilitated 20+ large-scale transformation initiatives to develop achievable long-term strategies addressing organizational opportunities and challenges (e.g. internal growth, market competition, user experience) for clients in healthcare, higher education, culture, and the public sector.
Strategy Development and Stakeholder Engagement
Co-led, designed, and facilitated 20+ team-based interventions to develop achievable long-term strategies that addressed organizational opportunities and challenges (e.g. internal growth, market competition, user experience) for clients in private industry, higher education, and the nonprofit sector. 2016-2020.
Facilitated extensive stakeholder engagements, interacting with thousands of individuals through meetings, workshops, focus groups, interviews, and surveys to unearth needs and identify achievable solutions for organizational change. 2016-2020.
Service Design and User Experience
As a consultant for a Fortune 10 healthcare company, designed a workplace engagement strategy to support multiple uses and employee work styles that developed from an internal needs assessment, analysis of industry trends, synthesis of findings, and reported recommendations. 2016.
Co-led, designed, and facilitated an initiative to integrate a system-wide vision for services, spaces, and staff for an academic library, including development of a service strategy and organizational redesign to more efficiently deliver new services and best meet user needs and expectations. 2017.
Communications Strategy
Designed a playbook for a Fortune 10 healthcare company to serve as a tool for the members of the facilities team to help them better understand their work, communicate with others outside their department, better understand their end users, and help make change easier to adopt by those most impacted. Playbook has served as a reference in assisting the team in addressing their more urgent and pressing challenges. 2016.
Data Analysis
Created a peer benchmarking report for a major U.S. arts museum through quantitative data collection, qualitative research, trends analysis, and identification of innovative models to inform decisions for future growth and direction. 2019.
Conducted a needs assessment and analysis of a next generation leadership development program of a Fortune 100 financial services company, the results of which contributed greatly to the client’s insights and informed their strategy for serving the targeted population. 2015.
Training and Development
Managed, organized, and co-designed quarterly team training workshops to facilitate the personal development of skills and expertise, including a recent focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and executed an annual company-wide learning and development retreat to build team-based skills and develop and refine consulting competencies. 2017-2019.
As a nonprofit leader and advisor, designed, managed and facilitated leadership development conference in under four months, doubling targeted attendance goals and raising $100,000 in sponsorships. 2015.
As a nonprofit consultant for a membership organization, improved upon existing training and professional development programs and designed a communications campaign, resulting in the successful adoption by members and volunteer leaders. 2014.
Specialities
- Change management
- Organization design
- Strategic planning
- Project management
- Data collection and Analysis
- Needs assessment
- Leadership development
- Facilitation and coaching
- Public speaking
- Workshop design
- Design thinking
- User research
- User experience
- Piloting and prototyping
Skills
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- G Suite
- MS Office Suite
- Salesforce
- NationBuilder
- Mac OS
Emily R Kessler 