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• Holding Space is Not Enough: How Physical Environments Shape Transformation ~ with Kristin York Brennan

  • When
    January 07, 2026
  •  
    5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Meeting

  Register

  Holding Space is Not Enough: How Physical Environments Shape Transformation

  
  

  Kristin York Brennan, MBA, NCIDQ, CID (VA), PMP, LSSBB, LEED AP (she/her)  

  We say we want transformation—but do we design the space for it? As we face the challenge of change, this session invites a new perspective: What if the physical environments we create are just as important as the conversations we hold? Organizational development professionals and transformational leaders often focus on mindset, culture, and systems, but we frequently overlook the silent collaborators in transformation: the physical environment, sensory cues, and spatial rhythm. These elements profoundly shape how people feel, think, and engage. Drawing from interior design, neuroscience, and real-world experience in high-performance and high-stress settings, Kristin York Brennan highlights neurodivergent needs as visible expressions of universal human truths—drawing from inclusive design and behavioral science to bring these insights into the practice of transformational leadership. Participants will explore how spatial elements affect regulation, trust, creativity, and insight. They will leave with tangible practices to assess their own environments (and those they help shape), a renewed understanding of the role physical space plays in transformation, and a deeper ability to support meaningful change—whether in a moment, a meeting, or a long-term engagement.
  

  As a participant, this session is for you if…
  

  • You’re ready to stop saying “I’m not creative” and start owning your power to support transformation with accessible and inclusive spaces
  

  • You want to design more intentional physical and psychological conditions for insight and action

  • You’re curious about how environment and sensory experience shape trust, creativity, and learning

  Learning Outcomes:

  1. Understand how sensory and physical environments influence psychological safety, creativity, and insight in transformational work.

  2. Reframe neurodivergent needs as design guidance that benefits all humans, supporting inclusive and effective transformation.

  3. Apply neuroscience-informed design principles to assess and intentionally shift the environments where you support change.
  

  About Your Facilitator:
  

  Kristin York Brennan is a strategist, facilitator, and human-centered designer with over 20 years of experience at the intersection of spatial experience, organizational systems, and transformation. She holds a BS in Interior Design and an MBA from Virginia Tech, along with certifications in facilitation (Georgetown ITL) and advanced applied neuroscience coaching (KCI).

  Her career spans creative studios, federal agencies, and complex organizations—where she’s tackled everything from workplace strategy and change management to culture transformation and leadership development. This diverse path gives her a unique ability to connect spatial, behavioral, and cultural dynamics into a cohesive whole.

  As the founder of Studio B Collaborative, Kristin helps individuals, teams, and leaders reimagine their environments—physical and organizational—not as passive backdrops, but as active catalysts for insight, creativity, and growth. Her curiosity about how space shapes experience has driven her cross-disciplinary work, blending systems thinking, creative process, and practical tools into transformational outcomes.

  When she’s not designing environments for transformation, she’s likely brainstorming wildly ambitious projects—or getting schooled in advanced negotiation techniques by her eight-year-old daughter.

  A believer in the power of unexpected metaphors, Kristin once built an enterprise experience office and internal comms strategy using insights from The Happiest Toddler on the Block—proving that even toddler psychology can transform how grownups lead, listen, and engage.
  

  AGENDA:

  4:45 - 5:00 pm Join Zoom Meeting

  5:00- 7:00 pm Workshop

  Please be aware that our trainings could be recorded or photographed.

  ---

  Consider joining PNODN - members savings over the course of the year are substantial and we need your voice in the conversation!

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• Special Event: Heart Centered Leadership: In Honor of MLK ~ with Derick Carter

  • When
    January 19, 2026
  •  
    5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Meeting

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  Special Event for MLK Day with Derick Carter!

  Heart Centered Leadership:

  In Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

  
  

  Derick Carter
  
  Leadership Coach | Workplace Well-Being | Cultural Change Agent

  Please join us for this special event! We're excited to have Derick join us for this timely workshop, and are offering free and discounted tickets for BIPOC!

  In today’s changing world, many people are longing for workplaces where they feel valued, connected, and able to contribute with meaning. This is calling for a different kind of leadership — one rooted in care, authenticity, and our shared humanity.

  Heart-Centered Leadership invites us to reconnect with the deeper part of ourselves — our heart — where qualities like peace, calmness, and happiness naturally arise. From this place, we can create environments that strengthen trust, support collaboration, and bring out the best in ourselves and others.

  In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this session explores what it means to lead from love and from the higher qualities within each of us. Together, we will engage in simple, experiential practices to activate and strengthen the heart, followed by space for reflection and shared insights.

  Learning Objectives
  

  Participants will walk away with:

  1. A gentle sense of relaxation and ease in the body.

  2. A lived experience of heart-centered well-being

  3. A felt understanding of why Heart-Centered Leadership can unlock new ways of working together.

  About Your Facilitator

  Derick Carter guides groups, organizations, and communities to discover more collaborative and human ways of working together.  He is the founder of Building Togetherness, an initiative dedicated to supporting leaders and teams in creating cultures rooted in well-being, connection, and shared purpose.
  

  With a background that bridges organizational design, process improvement, and leadership development, Derick has guided transformation efforts across nonprofits, communities, and businesses. He currently serves on the board of the Heart Based Institute, a nonprofit advancing heart-centered approaches to well-being.

  Derick’s work integrates practical tools with a deep commitment to the heart, helping leaders access empathy, care, and courage to lead in ways that are authentic and elevate trust.

  
  

  AGENDA:

  4:45 - 5:00 pm Join Zoom Meeting

  5:00- 7:00 pm Training

  Please be aware that our trainings could be recorded or photographed.

  ---

  Consider joining PNODN - members savings over the course of the year are substantial and we need your voice in the conversation!

  Show details
• GRACE UNDER PRESSURE: Dealing With Unexpected Moments In Your Facilitation ~ with Abby Yanow

  • When
    February 06, 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom Meeting

  Register

  GRACE UNDER PRESSURE:
  Dealing With Unexpected Moments In Your Facilitation

  with Abby Yanow, Executive Coach and OD Consultant 

  -- Lunchtime meeting! --

  
  

  • What do you do when you’re facilitating a meeting and the client or the group springs something unexpected on you?

  • Has your client ever changed the agenda in mid-course? How do you handle that?

  So many of us have had this experience – it’s part of being a facilitator! We need to hone our skills to be prepared – to not freak out, to stay centered and to respond with poise.

  In this unique program, we will hear a few scenarios from the presenters, up to the “cliffhanging” moment. Then, we’ll break into groups and discuss what we would do in their shoes, and how our background and experience influence our choice of interventions. Then we’ll hear what really happened and what the presenters learned from the situation – as well as what lessons we can take away from their experience. Thank goodness it was them and not us! (smile)

  Here are some participants’ takeaways from previous programs:

  • It is incredibly valuable to have people reflect on the things they notice about "their" responses--with no sense of rightness--and hear from others.

  • I realized the option to stand back for a moment before reacting, and trying to fix something that may not need fixing.

  • The format and structure was quite conducive to shared learning.

  • Another amazing evening. Thank you so much for your skill at creating the container for this lovely group of facilitators to learn from each other.

  Learning Objectives

  • Learn from other consultants and facilitators how to deal with unexpected changes

  • Gain insight into your reflexive reactions and surface your assumptions about “appropriate” reactions

  • Learn from each other some strategies for staying present in the midst of confusion.

    Audience

    Anyone who consults with clients, teams or groups will benefit from participating.

  AGENDA:

  11:45 - 12:00 pm: Join Zoom Meeting

  12:00 - 1:30 pm: Training

  Please be aware that our trainings could be recorded or photographed.

  ---

  Consider joining PNODN - members savings over the course of the year are substantial and we need your voice in the conversation!

  Show details