BARBARA SHIPKA
PO Box 50005, Minneapolis, MN 55422
Phone: 763/656-3343 barbara@lightrivers.com


Areas of Focus for Coaching and Consulting 1980 - 2009

Increasing organizational effectiveness
Leveraging change and transitions
Developing leadership capacity
Building relationships and teams
Creating a global orientation
Working with differences and diversity
Anticipating increasing interdependence
Developing meaningful work roles


Partial List of Clients

Allina Health
Aveda
American Express
Cargill
Chemical Bank
Cray Research
General Mills
Hazelden
Honeywell
Levi Strauss
Medtronic
US Banks


Examples of Projects

Designed and led process for a 100+ person department to move toward a structure of self-directed work teams with infusions of virtual project teams.

Coached numerous executives and teams at all levels in greatly varied industries to become more skilled at relationship building, creating high performing teams, conflict assessment, creative problem solving, effective decision-making, and at understanding human systems.

Served as an executive coach during the merger of two global organizations and assisted in the integration of like functions within the two organizations.

Facilitated a team development process for US managers (primarily in administration, finance, marketing, and sales) and Mexican managers (primarily in manufacturing) in a maquiladora on the US/Mexican border.

Facilitated two software development groups with conflicting goals to merge their work and relationships and to become one high-performing team.

Facilitated cross-functional team composed primarily of Information Systems and Finance professionals in a Fortune 100 organization in moving from failing to becoming a cohesive and effective team so that they were able to achieve their goal of implementing a new global finance system effectively and on time.

Designed and led process for a 100+ person department to move toward a structure of self-directed work teams with infusions of virtual project teams.

Mediated in several delicate and discrete situations where diversity issues needed great attention and particularly where there were the result of differences of culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexual preference.


Representative Publications

Author, Leadership in a Challenging World: A Sacred Journey, Butterworth Heinemann, 1997

Examples of articles and anthology chapters

“Putting the Pieces Together Again,” Perspectives on Business and Global Change, Journal of The World Business Academy, Berrett-Koehler, 1999

“Relieving Spiritual Poverty in our Corporations,” The New Business of Business, Berrett-Koehler, 1997

“A Soft Stuff Application,” Building Community: Renewing Spirit and Learning in Business, NLPress, 1995

“A Sacred Responsibility,” Leadership in a New Era: Visionary Approaches, New Leaders Press, 1994


Representative Presentations

Building Community at Work
The Power of Relationships and Teams, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Building Teams That Work, Oakland, CA

Leadership, Spirituality, Service and Work
Dynamic Balance, Guidant, Arden Hills, MN
Leadership Presence, Medtronic, Fridley, MN

Our Global Citizenship
Organization Transformation in a Shifting Environment, Oberlin, OH
Why2K? An Inquiry into Global Systems, Chicago, IL


UNIQUE EXPERIENCE AND RECOGNITION

Global Work, Study, and Travel,
eight years total on six continents

Mentor
, Menttium 100

Board of Directors
, The Conscious Business Alliance

Board of Directors
, Fellow, Editorial Committee and Fellows Committee, Community Building Task Force, The World Business Academy

Founder
, MN Chapter of The World Business Academy

Manuscript Reader
, Berrett-Koehler and Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers

Local Organizer and Steward

• Earth Wisdom Teachings, The Ehama Institute
• Coaching for Excellence, New Ventures West
• The Empowerment Workshop, David Gershon and Gail Straub

Profiled in

Who We Could Be At Work, Margaret Lulic, “A Quiet Change of Mind”
Merchants of Vision, Jim Liebig, “Achieving a Global Vision”
• The Effective Executive, “Bringing Spirituality into the Workplace”
• Executive Forum, “Redefining the Meaning of ‘Global’”

Professional Excellence Awards
• Organizational Impact from MN Chapters of ASTD and OD Network
• Organization Development Practitioner of the Year, MN OD Netwnork

Convener
, Business Focus Group, Women of Vision, Washington DC

Delegate
, Soviet-American Summit Meeting, Washington, DC


INTERNATIONAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

Director, Mogadishu, SOMALIA
Management Development Project with the National Refugee Commission, Somali Government, USAID, and The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
Team Leader and Director, Addis Abba, ETHIOPIA and Asmara, ERITREA
Management Training Program, Catholic Relief Services and the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
Research Consultant, Khartoum, THE SUDAN
Management Development Project, The Sudan Government and The US State Department


OTHER PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

Program Manager, China Adoption Program, CHSFS, Minneapolis, MN
Manager, Human Resources, Honeywell, Minneapolis, MN
Human Resources Specialist, Honeywell, Minneapolis, MN
Leadership Director, The Experiment in International Living (EIL),
Brattleboro, VT
Teacher, Burnsville Public Schools, Burnsville, MN
Teacher, Falconbridge Dominicana, Bonao, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Teacher, American Community School, Beirut, LEBANON
Teacher, Hopkins Public Schools, Hopkins, MN


EDUCATION

Representative Examples of Professional Development
• Coaching for Excellence, New Ventures West
• A Gathering of Learning Organization Practitioners with Peter Senge
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Certification Program, Association for Psychological Type
• The Empowered Manager, Peter Block
• Consultation Skills Lab, Co-trainer, NTL Institute
• Team Building and Process Consultation, NTL Institute
• Leadership and Mastery, Innovations Associates
• Integrated Management Development Program, Honeywell
• Quality Circle Facilitator Certification, Honeywell

Graduate Study, University of Minnesota
• Interpersonal and Intercultural Communications
• Human and Perceptual Geography

Bachelor of Science, University of Minnesota
• Education
• Student Project for Amity among Nations (SPAN) Scholarship to CZECHOSLOVAKIA

International Work, Study, and Travel, eight years total on six continents