Executive Summary
From 2020 to 2022, LA Family Housing (LAFH) partnered with EnACT collective’s Founder, Stina Brown to navigate significant organizational growth, strengthen leadership, and improve communication and relationships across senior teams. Through executive, senior and management team coaching, strategic planning, and courageous conversations, Stina’s support brought calm, structure, and shared forward movement. The result: confident, better-resourced leaders, improved department coordination and communication and the establishment of an Office of Strategic Initiatives to sustain in-house strategic planning efforts.
Context and Challenge
LAFH, a leading organization dedicated to helping individuals transition out of homelessness and poverty in Los Angeles, California, faced enormous growth and increasing complexity across its departments and programs during the pandemic. This rapid expansion required cohesive leadership, effective communication, and deepened one on one support to ensure the organization’s success.
Our Approach
- Executive Coaching: Provided personalized coaching to C-suite executives, senior leaders, and managers, equipping them with strategic tools to navigate complex challenges and lead with clarity and confidence.
- Management Experience Reporting: Interviewed Programs Management Team members and provided reporting to offer leadership anonymous insight into Managers’ experiences, prioritizing: care, hearing all voices, building trust and a sense of support.
- Strategic Planning: Facilitated dialogue, prioritizing and planning sessions to align organizational goals with LAFH’s mission and values.
- Team Collaboration: Designed and led Executive and Senior Management Team meetings on Zoom, fostering team collaboration, connection, communication and decision-making.
- Courageous Conversations: Created safe spaces for honest dialogue, addressing tough issues with empathy and focus.
The Results
- Empowered Leadership: Senior leaders gained tools and confidence to guide their teams through growth and complexity.
- Shared Vision and Pride: Teams developed a sense of ownership and alignment with LAFH’s mission.
- Stronger Collaboration: Programs management and leadership and senior leadership worked together more effectively, fostering cohesion across the organization.
- Founding of the Strategic Initiatives Office: To continue the work of strategic planning for the organization.
Key Takeaway
LA Family Housing’s partnership with Stina Brown demonstrates the power of executive coaching, strategic visioning, and authentic dialogue. During a turbulent period, her guidance helped leaders navigate uncertainty, foster collaboration, and emerge with stronger alignment, shared ownership, and transformational growth.
client comments
Stephanie Klasky-Gamer
CEO, LA Family Housing
“Working these past few years on multiple projects with Stina brought calm, perspective, structure, and joy to LA Family Housing’s teams as she helped us navigate through enormous and challenging growth across our agency. Stina recognizes that each person processes differently and she helped leaders within LA Family Housing with tools to slow down and lead their individual teams through a collective visioning and engagement process – the success of which is felt through the shared ownership of – and pride in – our programs and services.”
Katie Tell
(Former) Chief Program Officer, LA Family Housing
“Working with Stina has been transformational in so many ways. I first brought Stina on to facilitate a team-building retreat with my fundraising team. My work with Stina then continued in executive coaching. She has been a constant source of support and guidance for me and several of my colleagues, helping us work through challenges and issues in the workplace. I’ve also seen Stina in action facilitating larger meetings focused on internal agency capacity building and strategic planning, all with the same high level of expertise, kindness, and humor. I can’t recommend Stina enough as a support for any agency and team.
Elda Mendez-Lemus
Chief Real Estate Officer, LA Family Housing
“Having Stina as a resource for our leadership team has brought clarity, validation, and an unbiased perspective to what’s really happening within our organization. Her one-on-one coaching has been especially impactful for me personally—I’ve gained the confidence to communicate more effectively with our executive team and approach my leadership role with assurance. Stina has a unique ability to acknowledge our feelings while providing honest, constructive feedback that propels both individuals and the agency forward. The raw, honest conversations and her outside perspective have been invaluable in helping me grow as a leader.”