FAQ

I help organizations navigate the human side of running a business. That means working with founders, leadership teams, and operators to improve communication, resolve conflict, and build stronger team structures so the business can move forward and scale more effectively. Most of what I do falls into three areas: mediation, conflict and leadership coaching, and workshops. Sometimes I work with organizations on an ongoing basis as a Fractional Chief of Staff or facilitator.

Mediation is a structured conversation where a neutral third party helps people work through conflict and make decisions together. I’m not there to decide who’s right, I’m there to help you have a better conversation than you’re currently able to have on your own.

You hire a mediator when the people involved in a conflict can't get there on their own. Maybe the stakes are too high, the relationship too important, or the conversation has already broken down once. A neutral facilitator changes the dynamic. It's also faster, less damaging, and considerably cheaper than letting things escalate, or than litigation.

Absolutely. In fact, that's pretty common. Most people know something is off before they know exactly what to call it. Reach out and we'll figure it out together.

Yes,  while hospitality is my home base, the people challenges I specialize in aren't unique to any one industry. If the work resonates, let's talk.

Mediation addresses a specific conflict between specific people. Conflict management support is broader,  it's about helping an organization build the systems, communication structures, and leadership capacity to handle disagreement more effectively over time. That might look like coaching a leader through a difficult situation, facilitating a team session on communication norms, or helping a founding partnership build a framework for how they make decisions together. The goal isn't to eliminate conflict, it's to make sure it doesn't become destructive.

Not exactly. Traditional HR focuses on compliance, hiring, compensation, and policy. Operations focuses on execution. My work sits in the gap between them. I focus on communication, conflict, leadership development, and team dynamics: the conversations that are avoided, the tensions that slow teams down, and the relational patterns that quietly impact performance. HR and operations leaders often know how to do this work. They just don’t have the bandwidth to hold it alongside everything else. That’s where I come in.

Many of my clients engage me as a Fractional Chief of Staff to support the human side of the business, thinking alongside leadership, flagging what’s not working, and helping build teams people actually want to stay on.

I work primarily with small to medium-sized organizations in the restaurant and hospitality industry-  though the challenges I focus on (conflict, communication, culture, scale) show up across industries. My clients are usually founders, operators, and leaders who care deeply about their people and know something isn't working, but aren't always sure exactly what or why.

If you're dealing with tension on your leadership team, struggling to communicate across roles, preparing to scale, or just sensing that your culture has drifted from where you want it to be then yes. Often what looks operational on the surface is relational underneath. I also work with teams proactively, before things escalate. The best way to find out is to get in touch. We'll have an honest conversation about what's going on and whether working together makes sense.

Every engagement starts with an assessment to understand what's actually happening in your organization, not just what's visible on the surface. From there, I tailor my approach to your specific situation. There's no one-size-fits-all here.

It depends on what you need. Some clients come to me for a focused, limited engagement:  a mediation, a workshop, a one-time offsite. Others work with me on an ongoing retainer basis as a Fractional Chief of Staff. We'll figure out what makes the most sense for you.

I prefer in-person, especially for workshops, offsites, and mediation work. There's something that happens in the room that's hard to replicate over video. That said, I'm flexible and can work with your team's reality.

Mediation brings two or more parties together with me as a neutral facilitator to work through a specific conflict. Conflict coaching is one-on-one,  it's for someone who wants to navigate a difficult situation more effectively, build their own conflict skills, or prepare for a hard conversation. Both are confidential, and both are grounded in the same approach: clarity, empathy, and a focus on what's actually possible.

Workshops are interactive, practical sessions designed to help teams improve communication and navigate difficult conversations. Most run about 90 minutes and can be tailored to leadership teams or broader staff groups.