Stay Curious Consulting
Asking the right questions changes everything.
Change can be difficult to measure—especially the elusive cognitive, affective, and social shifts needed to change minds, open hearts, and disrupt entrenched systems.
It's essential to capture the progress you're making—as well as make informed decisions and course-corrections along the way. That happens when we get curious. As Warren Berger says, questions help us "decide, create, connect, and lead."
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I specialize in questions, in the hard-to-measure, and in teaming with organizations, companies, and governments working to make the world more kind, humane, and beautiful.
About
I'm Kate Livingston,
and I'm passionately curious.
Since 2010, I have consulted with mission-minded individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments to help them get out of their own way and get on to amazing things. Through qualitative, embedded evaluation approaches, I prioritize facilitating honest conversations, elevating marginalized voices, building capacity, engaging creatively, and strong, clear communication to inspire change, inform strategy, drive decision-making, and lead to action.
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Equal parts evaluator, coach, facilitator, strategist, creative, and change-maker, I am based in beautiful San Marcos (just north of San Diego, California) and work worldwide. I am committed to inclusion and anti-racism, which I embed deeply in my work. My pronouns are they/them and she/her.
Consulting + Coaching Services
I work alongside non-profits and for-profits, entrepreneurs and start-ups, K-12 and higher ed schools, arts and cultural organizations, and municipal, state, and federal governments. The three things they all have in common are: 1) a commitment to change things for the better, 2) innovative ideas about how that can happen, 3) a bias toward action.
Evaluation
Whether rolling out a pilot program, gearing up for an initiative, or supporting a grant-funded project, understanding community and participant perspectives, learning, and growth is essential for planning and decision-making.
Capacity Building
& Training
Develop the skills you need in-house to better understand your participants, communities, and audiences. Write stronger survey questions. Mobilize staff to collect data. Conduct focus groups. Expanding your toolkit can lead to a dedicated culture of internal evaluation.
Individual & Team Coaching
Through powerful questions, mindful experimentation, and the exploration of new approaches, professional goals can be achieved. Get the support you need to navigate transitions, culture change, leadership, and effective teams. Learn more here.
Community
Insights
Who is currently not engaged with your work--and what can we learn from them? Meeting and listening to people where they live, work, and play helps provide often-overlooked insights, particularly into marginalized communities.
Meeting & Retreat Facilitation
Facilitation means “to make easy.” External facilitation of team meetings or board retreats can bolsters effective, collaborative teamwork so you can stay present, participate fully, and focus on your most innovative, exciting work.
Digital Engagement & User Experience
What do you know about your website audience? Is your social media presence providing a viable return on investment? Do you need an app? Keep pace with new media audiences through analytics, strategy, and user testing.
Grant Writing &
Evaluation Plans
Have an upcoming proposal with no evaluation plan? Unsure how to embed evaluation into your grant writing? Unclear on how to tailor your proposal to the specific funder and potential reviewers? Teaming on grant writing ups your chances for funding success.
Organizational Development & Change
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Take a closer look at your team's or organization's effectiveness, internally and externally.
Through inquiry, organizational assessment, systemic learning, and change management, you will be better prepared for the future ahead, whatever it brings.
Strategy
Whether embarking on a new strategic plan, revisiting an existing one, or venturing in a bold new direction, a solid theory of change, clear goals, and measurable outcomes are essential in envisioning the future and staying the course.
Clients
I have the best job in the world.
My clients are why.
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I have worked with some of the most interesting, inventive, curious, visionary, focused, collaborative, reflective, and ready-to-learn people out there. My clients are ready to take risks, do things differently, challenge themselves, and grow throughout the process.
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I prioritize clients and projects with clear inclusion, access, equity,
and anti-oppression missions and values.
PROJECT PROFILES
Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (Worldwide)
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How does a successful international seminar model adapt and adjust to meet the unique needs of U.S. government participants?
The Global Lemkin Seminar has a goal of creating a worldwide network of State officials and human rights practitioners who use the training to become agents of genocide and mass atrocity prevention. For the seminar's U.S. pilot, focused on preventing identity-based violence, Kate is working with the AIPG team to better understand its promise and potential in a U.S. context.