Terrill Thompson, MSOD
Executive Coach, Senior Consultant, Facilitator
Terrill brings over fifteen years of professional experience and passion to developing leaders, teams, and organizations to reach their full potential. Terrill thrives in complex systems that require working in partnership with clients to untangle challenges and identify leverage points for deep transformational change. A combination of strategic thinking and compassion yields innovative approaches to each situation. As a coach, Terrill specializes in developing leaders’ emotional intelligence and ability to lead in ways that promote vibrant, resilient and sustainable organizations.
Confronted by the lack of organizational models applicable to nonprofits, Terrill created the Nonprofit Organizational Model©, a model that simplifies organizational assessments and strategic planning. He is also author of The Struggles, Experiences and Needs of Children in LGBTQ Families. Terrill works with a wide range of mission-driven organizations, from large international organizations to small community groups, and leads capacity building workshops for audiences across the country. He is active in a range of professional organizations, including serving as a consultant and a member of the Racial Justice Action Team at RoadMap and as a consultant with the Social Transformation Project. Terrill is a member of the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, is a qualified administrator and interpreter of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator® (MBTI) and LIFO® assessments, and is a certified leadership coach. Terrill brings past experience as an executive director and numerous years of board service to client engagements.
Terrill earned a master’s degree in Organization Development from American University/NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, where he was awarded a Segal-Seashore Fellowship for his commitment to social justice. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College.
Terrill lives in community on a homestead and draws energy and joy from producing food and healthy ecosystems, and offering respite to activists, artists, and organizational leaders. Like the organizations Terrill works with, ecosystems are complex interdependent entanglements. Terrill is adept at untangling messy situations to find leverage points for lasting transformational change.
The Science Behind Our Practice
Our work is grounded in established methodologies and models of human and organizational behavior, including, but not limited to the following:
Emotional Intelligence
The competencies of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management) account for an individual’s ability to understand their own and others’ emotions and use that information to guide decision-making and action. Research has shown that leaders who master the competencies of emotional intelligence have a distinct advantage.
Positivity & Resilience
The incredible developments in neuroscience research over the last several decades have enabled a greater understanding of how practices that promote positivity and resilience—both individually and organizationally—have a significant and lasting impact on our capacity for creative thinking, productivity, efficiency, empathy, focus and more.
Intentional Change
Developed by Richard Boyatzis, the Intentional Change Model underpins successful leadership development programs by supporting an individual or group in intentionally moving through five stages of change that close the gap between a current “real” self and a clearly articulated “ideal” self.
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry, developed by David Cooper Rider, is a strengths-based model of analysis, decision-making and strategic change that clarifies the assets and motivations that are an organization’s strengths in order to build or rebuild an organization based on what is working rather than trying to fix what doesn’t.
Resistance and Cycle of Change
People are at their most creative in their resistance. The Gestalt cycle of change maps the critical stages of change that all members of a group must experience in order to optimize success and minimize resistance. Disruption of the cycle manifests in very specific levels of resistance that can be effectively mitigated through intentional responses.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the awareness that one develops through paying attention to the present moment through your five senses without judgment. In addition to relieving stress and building resilience, even a simple mindfulness practice can significantly expand your range of options in any given moment. Incorporating mindfulness into any process of change or development supports an individual or group by rewiring the brain for more intentional responses and behaviors.
Dynamic Inquiry
Dynamic Inquiry, developed by Annie McKee and the Teleos Leadership Institute, is a method of discovery that uncovers an organization’s emotional reality–what people care about, what is working well, and what’s getting in the way. The purpose of the inquiry is twofold: 1) to identify underlying issues related to culture and leadership that are helping or hindering implementation of a strategy; and 2) to build ownership and commitment to the mission, vision, strategy, ideal culture and leadership framework among key stakeholders.