Key Ring Consulting helps inclusive leaders (community groups, nonprofits, small businesses) transform conflict, stuck dynamics, and disruptive change into resilience and shared responsibility for the future.
Call Sarah when….
You’ve had the same conversation about the same dynamic for too long.
“She helped us do our best work by surfacing the diversity of ideas in the room while identifying shared themes we could build on to move forward. With her help, we had clarity of purpose and unity even as we brought different perspectives.”
You long for more people to participate wholeheartedly.
“When I first came here everything was done by committees – by someone else. This process with everyone putting in their thoughts and feelings is great.”
Meetings and retreats don’t lead to results.
“Flow of the meeting is tight & organized.”
“Follow-up is action oriented with timelines.”
“We found new solutions across silos.”
Opinions are polarized, and you need people to work together.
“She has given us the means to continue this new, transparent, healthy way of communicating…. Would we hire her again? You bet!”
I bring seasoned group facilitation, leadership coaching, and change design. See my testimonials and case studies below for more…
Testimonials
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Sarah Lightfoot listens deeply and does her homework. She arrived at each session well prepared but genuinely curious. Sarah gently holds the balance of thinking and feeling as she facilitates difficult and necessary conversations.
Rhonda James, CEO, STAND To End Family Violence
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Sarah’s facilitation style allows our conversations to flow freely, while providing structure and guidance to create actionable goals to improve the way we function as a team. Her empathetic and responsive facilitation style helped to create a safe space for the whole team to engage.
Joanna French, MA; Research & Policy, Innovate Public Schools
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With Sarah as a thought partner, I am able to make faster and more courageous decisions. I can lead more effectively knowing that we have examined all the angles and set the stage for powerful conversations.
Ginger Jui, Executive Director, East Bay Bike
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In the past, strategic planning has not been worth the effort — it didn’t lead to better outcomes. It’s different this time, though. In working with you, I now have a vision for a process that will set our agency up for success in the years to come.
Carol Carillo, MSW, Executive Director, Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
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Sarah is one of the best listeners I've worked with. She listened carefully and made adjustments to the retreat agenda to meet our needs. At an important moment in our organization, her facilitation of Board and staff led to a new level of mutual understanding and action planning around fundraising and programs.
Tracy Lamb, Executive Director, NEWS Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services, Napa
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I’ve been a participant in Sarah’s work “live” and online, and she is one of the best facilitators I’ve ever seen. She is especially rigorous about leading inclusive, equitable spaces that actualize the voices of everyone in the room.
Julie Hankes, PCC, Leadership Coach & Facilitator
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The way you organized the entire Strategic Planning Committee process, built relationships quickly, and designed a VERY complex strategic planning process utilizing Appreciative Inquiry, Rumelt’s theory, and the latest in Change Theory was truly a sight to behold!
Kia Afcari, Director, Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley and Founder, Caravann Consulting
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Her facilitation style is a rare and skillful blend, deeply empathetic, laser-focused, and free of fluff. She listens with intention, moves with efficiency, and holds both complexity and emotion with grace. In our time working with her, Sarah showed up prepared, curious, and deeply attuned — balancing steady expertise with a genuine warmth that made space for vulnerability and truth. We are grateful for Sarah’s guidance on our community’s journey toward more peace, harmony, safety, and delight.
Anonymous client experiencing community conflict
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![Photo of some public art backed with the side of a church. The art looks like rusty metal shapes, about 12 feet tall, echoing the shape of the church's tower. Colorful shapes are suspended within the metal frames.]()
Everyone listened to each other. Guidelines and norms were set, openness and validation were present.
Large-group convening participant
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I liked the small table groups and how they were led because I and many others have difficulties speaking in big groups. This brought intimacy, and I liked having people taking turns and being able to talk without being judged.
Large-group convening participant
Case Studies
