The Grove Consultants International

05/26/2026

“The meetings, conversations and collaborative structures we create either reinforce the status quo or open the possibility for new thinking to emerge.”

—Visual Consulting: Designing & Leading Change
By David Sibbet and Gisela Wendling, Ph.D.

Many change efforts stall because the process we design unintentionally keeps pulling people back into familiar patterns.

Moving beyond the status quo requires collaborative processes that help people courageously and creatively engage the uncertainty that is inevitably part of any real change. Without it, transformation is not possible.

In our Designing & Leading Change Workshop, you will learn practical, human-centered approaches for leading change in ways that engage people's hearts and minds, generate new possibilities and support lasting movement.

The Early Bird deadline has been extended through June 1.

Learn more: https://www.thegrove.com/courses/designing-and-leading-change

05/05/2026

When the oil crisis of the 1970s exposed how interconnected the system had become, the challenge was to understand what was actually happening.

In a new article on Oil Crisis Regulations, David Sibbet revisits a poster he created in 1981, prompted in part by current disruptions to global oil supply, a recent conversation in our Team Performance Community call focused on using Graphic Guides® to manage up and a review of decades of work.

The image shows how information graphics can influence higher-level decision making.

The aim was to make complex relationships visible in a way that could guide leadership understanding and action.

David is now sharing this work through his platform, Point of View, where you can explore the full series. Subscription is free.

Read the full piece:

Several things came together and prompted this post about the oil crises we all are facing. The first was the war in Iran of course. The second was spending some time consolidating 50 years of files of agenda designs and graphics in a storage locker as a result of consolidation

04/15/2026

The real challenge in most change efforts lies in working with what actually happens as people engage and the process unfolds. Addressing this challenge is the focus of the latest evolution of our in-person Designing & Leading Change workshop.

Together, we explore how to design effective change processes and critical meetings, while working skillfully with the human dynamics that enable creativity and innovation—and ultimately determine whether change takes hold. You’ll bring a current change challenge and work with it directly using The Grove’s visual frameworks and practices alongside a small group of experienced peers.

You also have the option to extend the experience through a six-session coaching package, designed to help you continue advancing your change challenge and deepen your development beyond the workshop.

San Francisco
July 15 to 17, 2026

If you’re navigating complex change in your organization or with clients, this is a space to deepen your practice and move your organization forward.

You can read more here: https://conta.cc/4dxTugl

03/27/2026

We’re excited to share that the Team Challenge Cards are now available.

After months of development, testing and refinement, the cards have arrived and are ready to be purchased through Grove Tools.

They’re designed to help you work more effectively with what’s happening inside a team, surface patterns that are often hard to name, and guide conversations toward meaningful next steps.

Whether you’re facilitating, coaching or leading, the Team Challenge Cards support you in helping teams move from uncertainty to clarity and from insight to action.

Get your deck: https://grovetools-inc.com/products/team-challenge-cards?variant=50997938716950

If you’d like to build confidence using the cards in real situations, join us for the Making Sense of Team Dynamics Workshop on April 21. You’ll learn how to read team dynamics as they unfold and use the cards to guide more focused, productive conversations.

Register: https://www.thegrove.com/courses/making-sense-team-dynamics-team-challenge-cards

03/02/2026

Read our latest newsletter:
https://conta.cc/46SOcb4

What happens when you make room for real dialogue about what leaders are experiencing and what it takes to meet that moment with intention and resilience?

The response was immediate.

Our March 18 Dialogue on Leadership Coaching event reached capacity quickly. We’re grateful for the number of leaders seeking meaningful space to pause, reflect and think alongside peers.

If you weren’t able to register, we’ve opened a waitlist for the next Dialogue gathering.

You can read more and add your name here:
https://www.thegrove.com/leadership-coaching-dialogue

And if you’re looking for deeper skill-building this spring, we’re also welcoming leaders and practitioners into two upcoming learning experiences:

Team Performance Workshop
March 26–27 & April 2–3, 2026

A multi-session immersion in the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model®—designed to strengthen alignment, clarify roles and build high-performing teams.
Register: https://www.thegrove.com/courses/team-performance

Making Sense of Team Dynamics Workshop
April 21, 2026

This interactive, virtual workshop introduces leaders and practitioners to using our new Team Challenge Cards to explore and make sense of team dynamics.
Register: https://www.thegrove.com/courses/making-sense-team-dynamics-team-challenge-cards

If this season is asking more of you as a leader, we would be honored to support your development.

02/15/2026

Why did Arthur M. Young choose the torus as a symbol of his Theory of Process, the base operating system for The Grove Consultants International? A related question sits side by side. Can humans, and especially consultants, coaches and others who support collaborative practice, discover foundational...

02/06/2026

Our Team Challenge Cards are now at the printer! Join the waitlist to be first in line when the cards are released.

Most teams experience the effects of performance strain well before they can clearly name what’s driving it. Misalignment, disengagement or lingering tension often get framed as “people issues” or “process problems,” when they are often signals of something deeper unfolding in the team’s development.

The cards were created as a practical way to slow down, surface those hidden patterns and help teams focus their attention where it will make the greatest difference. Grounded in the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model®, the deck offers a shared language for exploring team health across the full arc of performance—from early orientation and trust-building through ex*****on, results, and renewal.

We’re looking forward to seeing these tools in the hands of people who care deeply about how teams grow and work together.

Join the waitlist: https://www.thegrove.com/product/team-challenge-cards

01/16/2026

When strategy conversations get complex, what helps groups actually commit and move forward?

In our experience, it’s not more analysis. It’s making the conversation visible.
Across organizations, the most difficult strategic moments arise when groups must converge on a shared vision, agree on current realities and commit to real change that carries consequences. These moments are often ambiguous and hard to navigate through discussion alone.

Our visual templates (Graphic Guides®) do more than capture ideas. They help groups hold complexity without rushing to either-or solutions and support meaningful commitment by making patterns and choices visible. By externalizing thinking, visuals invite reflection and make it easier to move from conversation to aligned action.

On January 22, 2026, The Grove’s Strategic Visioning™ Workshop teaches you how to use these visual templates to guide strategic conversations online or in person. You’ll learn how to help groups align on a clear North Star vision, prioritize what matters now and translate agreement into resourced, actionable plans.

This live virtual workshop reflects The Grove’s latest practices in online facilitation and earns you 20 SHRM Professional Development Credits (PDCs).

Register now for our Strategic Visioning Workshop on 1/22/2026!: https://www.thegrove.com/courses/strategic-visioning

12/23/2025

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou

As we close the year, we’re reminded that transformational change rarely happens all at once. It unfolds quietly, often in those thresholds where what has been no longer fits and what is emerging is not yet fully formed.

This season offers a moment to pause and honor the deeper shifts we’ve each experienced. The challenges that stretched us, the insights that reshaped our perspective and the gradual becoming that occurred out of sight. These unseen moments are the real work of transformation.

May this holiday season give you space to rest, reflect and acknowledge your own process of change—however subtle or profound it has been. And may the coming year open new pathways for imaginative leadership, meaningful connection and steady, transformational change.

12/05/2025

Are you feeling the growing pressure of leading through disruptive change?

For 45+ years, The Grove has helped organizations navigate complexity. Today, many leaders tell us the challenges they face are no longer just strategic—they’re deeply personal. Stress, uncertainty and “polycrises” are stretching their inner capacity in unprecedented ways.

That’s why we’re expanding our service to include one-on-one leadership coaching.

Our coaches integrate The Grove’s frameworks, tools and methods to help develop leaders who navigate complexity with confidence—cultivating personal mastery, relational strength and the capacity to create meaningful change that drives alignment, resilience, and sustainable impact.

If you’re curious about why one-on-one support for leaders is now essential, how we are evolving our practice, want to meet our coaches and see upcoming workshops, read more in our latest newsletter.

https://conta.cc/4oS29Nr