Our Services

You’ll never find a cookie-cutter approach in our repertoire of organizational consulting & coaching services. Everything we do is finely tuned to your college, university, or nonprofit needs because we firmly believe no two organizations are the same.

We use a customized approach to address the unique needs of our clients. We bring together a team of experienced leaders and industry professionals, dedicated to exploring solutions and developing plans that foster organizational excellence and ultimately, promote success.

Simply put, our services work because we combine your input and our many years of expertise to create practical, effective, and customized solutions for your very specific needs.

We have three divisions at CBT, focused on Strategy & Consulting, Professional Development & Executive Coaching, and Technology Services. Please click below to check out more about our services.

“The CBT team was professional and thorough. They made sure to connect with employees at all of our district locations. Everyone had the opportunity to provide input through scheduled sessions as well as the use of an online survey. The CBT team lead was always available for questions and provided useful suggestions throughout the process. The final report was well organized and detailed with recommendations backed by research and documentation. The report will be an excellent foundational planning tool as we work to optimize our district structure and operational processes.”

Dr. Greg Gillespie | Ventura County Community College District

Here’s a few more words from our organizational partners:

Merced College

Merced, California

Institutional Planning

“The CBT team, and the Project Leader Dr. Nicki Harrington, provided excellent technical support services for the development of our Educational Master Plan and Strategic Implementation Plan. We have contracted further for development of our Technology Master Plan. Dr. Harrington and her team were professional, collegial, open, and transparent. Their work was inclusive of all constituents and campus sites, attentive to our College culture, and focused on the integration of our various planning efforts and student success. They engaged effectively with our executive team, participatory governance structure committees, staff, and students in a comprehensive approach to the project. They gathered extensive quantitative and qualitative data, and led the initiative for an EMP and Strategic Implementation Plan that is forward-thinking, and positions us well for the next five years and beyond to serve our District constituents. We are very pleased with her work and the work of her team, and would highly recommend them to any District seeking such services”

Chris Vitelli - Superintendent/President, Merced College

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Executive Coaching

“The Collaborative Brain Trust (CBT) supports UNLV by providing trusted, certified coaches who are members of our Leadership Coaching Program. CBT's level of expertise in professional development is exceptional. Having CBT as a partner has allowed UNLV to provide staff & faculty with coaches who have deep experience in higher education as well as different backgrounds and certifications. The CBT coaches support coachees in all they do.”

Erin Collier - Former Director of Organizational Development, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

West Valley College

Saratoga, California

Institutional Planning

“West Valley College contracted with the Collaborative Brain Trust to facilitate the development of our 2021-2026 educational and facilities master plan in August, 2020. We were assigned a team of five highly experienced professionals each with decades of experience in our sector (community colleges). Our team leader, Dr. Nicki Harrington, laid out the three phase project for us (discovery, portfolio development, goal setting) and then immediately got to work with her team collecting a massive amount of environmental data both internal and external to the institution. This data told a compelling story about our institution and the CBT team helped us to then use that data to do an interactive, inclusive, and productive process of goal setting with our large strategic planning steering committee. The result was six broad goals and 32 objectives which beautifully captured the input of hundreds of voices while also setting us on a clear path forward. My experience with the CBT team was that they were collaborative, diligent, expert and excellent at managing this large scale project. They proposed a process to our team at the outset, and once we approved, they set out with specific project objectives and an ambitious timeline to have us complete the EMP in one academic year. They kept us on task gently but persistently with regular meetings and reminder emails. And their tight organizational skills ensured there were no balls dropped at any point. They also worked hard to ensure as many broad voices were included as possible. They made recommendations to me regarding steering committee participation (critical voices to include) and the kinds of external partners they wanted to be sure to connect with for input. I can honestly say that all of their suggestions made the outcome a much better document than it would have been without their gentle insistence on even broader inclusion and participation. As a new president, I am most grateful for their guidance and expertise in leading us to our road map for the next five years.”

Stephanie Kashima - Former President, West Valley College

University of Central Arkansas

Conway, Arkansas

Strategic Planning

CBT UC assisted the President of the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) to “facilitate the revisions by the University of its comprehensive Strategic Plan.” The UCA project was led by the former APLU vice president for academic affairs and former provost at the University of Kansas, and included contributions by the senior vice president for global strategic alliances for Elsevier Research Intelligence, and former provost at Texas Tech University and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. As a part of the project, CBT completed an exhaustive Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of UCA including the following areas: 1) institutional finances, 2) enrollment growth, 3) diversity of faculty and students, 4) student success, 5) graduates’ success in the job market, 6) degree program offerings, 7) faculty ratios, and, 8) research performance—all developed against peers and aspirational peers.

In the concluding efforts of the project, CBT advised the leadership of the UCA Strategic Planning Task Force (SPTF) and the SPTF Sub-committees on vision, mission, and goals’ development. Near the completion of the CBT work, President Courtway communicated that the CBT lead consultant: “Did a great job, and his organization was very instrumental in helping the committee and our campus produce this plan.”

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