Brigitte Marshall

Senior Consultant

I understand based on personal experience that high stress, high pressure workplace environments do not position people to do their best work. Failure to pay attention to the relational nature of work undermines the outcomes that organizations are intended to produce. In order to attract and retain the best and the brightest in today’s workforce, organizations need to master the art of creating highly functional workplaces in which employees consistently experience regard, respect and inspirational, supported, professional growth. Healthy organizations create structures of authentic engagement for sustaining high quality professional relationships. This includes intentional strategies designed to prevent unproductive conflict, and restorative practices when conflict has occurred. The Mission of my consulting practice is to support the development of relationally healthy organizations where people can excel and do their best work. My Vision is that organization relational health will be a well-resourced priority across the public, non-profit and private sectors. The Values that inform my work are the following:

• People matter
  • At its core, the success of our work rests on the functionality and health of our workplace relationships
• Regard and respect
  • Respectful recognition of people and their work is the best foundation for organizational effectiveness
• Restorative conflict resolution
  • Constructive and productive disagreement is healthy when the intent is to maintain or restore positive working relationships
• Change management
  • Positive and sustainable change can be achieved if it is well managed
• Communication
  • Effective, comprehensive and inclusive communication is essential for excellent work to be consistently achieved
• Growth and development
  • Employees who feel that their employer is committed to their professional growth and development are well positioned to do their best work
• Health and Wellbeing
  • Supported and healthy work-life balance, and a lived experience of an employer that cares about the health and well-being of its people results in a positive and productive workforce

My Theory of Action is that if an organization…..

• consistently grounds its work in its Mission, Vision and Values;
• commits time and resources to a selection process that screens for alignment with the organization’s Mission, Vision and Values;
• maintains a clear and accessible organizational structure in which roles and reporting relationships are clear;
• prioritizes investment in effective employee growth and development;
• pursues organizational change with intention, transparency, regard and respect for those impacted by change initiatives;
• is committed to frequent and inclusive communication throughout the organization;
• engages in preventive and restorative conflict resolution practices; and,
• supports the health and wellbeing of its employees….

Then good relational health within the organization can be maintained, in support of significantly improved effectiveness. The Practices I offer in support of developing and sustaining organization relational health include:

• Cyclical relational health diagnosis
• Mission, Vision, Values development, engagement and enlistment
• Retreat and meeting facilitation
• Implementing mission, vision, and values-aligned candidate screening practices
• Role clarification
• Comprehensive growth and development systems
• Preventive and restorative conflict resolution practices
• Relationally based change management
• Effective communication strategies
• Employee health and wellbeing focus