Cheryl Hammond builds teams. Whether it’s admissions volunteers for her alma mater, regional recruiters for multiple competing Ivy-caliber colleges, high-achieving low-income first-gen college applicants, amateur colonial-to-medieval genealogists, or software engineers and IT pros, you’ll find Cheryl corralling dozens or hundreds of cross-functional high-performers and uniting them in pursuit of a common mission even when she didn't mean to. She can't not.

Cheryl is obsessed with agile and Lean principles and has used them to successfully plan and execute weddings, house moves, world travel, and her exchange student’s midterm grades recovery plan just in time for graduation. Cheryl has run family meetings using StrengthsFinder. [Because you know you want to know: Strategic, Ideation, Context, Significance/Competition, Command.]

Cheryl doesn't like or pursue certifications, though she’s picked up a few over the years (some for mercenary reasons). She learns and does and teaches these things because they are valuable and fun, not because someone allowed her to pay them for the privilege.

Cheryl’s colleagues (and sometimes clients) call her an agent of chaos because she delights in upending conventional wisdom and showing people a new way to think about—and love—their everyday work. If "the usual'' hasn't worked for you, she can help. She’s anything but.

Find out more at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsktcase/

Title of presentation: Fortress Agile: Nurturing and Growing Healthy Practices in a Hostile Environment.

When the broader organization isn’t agile, teams can get stuck. They’re waiting for their knight in shining armor – the ‘enlightened’ executive – to transform it all. What happens when the hero isn’t coming? Is it possible to realistically accept an organization’s limitations without killing morale? Can a manager or coach ‘shield’ a team without losing momentum? Is there any point in making incremental change at the team or division level when ‘real’ progress seems eternally blocked by external impediments? This session explores practical tips to care for the humans in your realm; provide them a safe, comfortable, and defensible space in which to work; and make it inviting enough to win over (some of) the forces outside. Help your teams become self-rescuing princesses, and create the happily-ever-after that your people deserve!