HOW WE WORK
Build on experience.
Practice with purpose.
We begin with what your team already knows and the situations they want to handle more purposefully. Together, we agree on a practical starting point and the support that fits the work.
THE EXPERIENCE
What working with AMIGA can involve.
These four parts explain the learning approach. The scope, format, and schedule are agreed with your team.
01
Start with a situation
Identify the audience, existing experience, role, desired practice, and constraints. What are we working toward, and what does this moment need?
02
Practice with purpose
Examine a relevant situation, try a response, and receive feedback. Notice what you observed, what you assumed, and what the response may make possible.
03
Bring learning into work
Agree opportunities to apply and reflect. Coaching or supervision may support this where relevant to the engagement.
04
Use what you learn
Revisit the experience, what it suggests, and the next useful adjustment. Decide what to keep, change, or seek support with.
Practice with situations your team recognizes: examine a situation, try a response, and reflect on what it makes possible.
FROM BELIEF TO PRACTICE
Start with what is happening in the work.
A familiar difficulty gives us something useful to examine: a conversation that stalls, an expectation people interpret differently, or a decision that keeps returning to a supervisor. We explore what people are noticing, how they understand the situation, and what might help them respond differently.
The intention
The everyday question
We value partnership.
How do we invite someone’s perspective when a requirement is fixed?
People learn a useful skill.
What will help them use it in a difficult conversation?
Expectations are written down.
Would two people recognize the same standard in practice?
People care about the work.
What support, clarity, or resources would help them carry it forward?
VALUES PEOPLE CAN EXPERIENCE
Make respect visible in the work.
Respect becomes more useful as a standard when people can describe what it looks like. We help leaders connect their commitments with observable ways of making decisions, supporting staff, and holding responsibility.
01 · LISTEN
A concern receives attention.
Ask what the person is seeing and how they understand it. Check that you have understood before deciding what the concern means.
02 · MAKE IT CLEAR
People understand the expectation.
Explain the standard and the reasoning behind it. Distinguish what is required from what people can help shape.
03 · PROVIDE SUPPORT
Responsibility comes with practical support.
Examine whether time, resources, information, and authority fit the work. Clarify what the leader needs to do as well as what staff need to do.
04 · FOLLOW THROUGH
Commitments show up in action.
Recognize contributions, return to agreed actions, and address obstacles. Make it possible to see whether the support promised was provided.
For example: If an agreed deadline keeps slipping, a useful conversation examines the expectation, the workload, and the available support. It ends with a clear next step for each person—not simply another reminder.
ADAPTIVE BY DESIGN
The situation shapes the response.
A useful conversation may begin with an expectation, a boundary, a practical barrier, or a need to understand. We use MI to explore the person’s own reasons for change when that is the task.
- Clarity
- Are we working from the same understanding of what is expected?
- Readiness
- Is the person able and willing to engage with this conversation now?
- Ownership
- Who can decide, contribute, act, or seek support?
- Interpretation
- What have we observed, and what meaning are we adding?
- Boundaries
- What is fixed, and where is there room to choose?
- Follow-through
- What did each person understand, and what happens next?
The standard
The expectation
The boundary
Where ownership belongs
How expectations connect to everyday practice.
Shared beliefs become visible in leadership, standards, roles, and the support people receive in daily work.
Leadership philosophy
The beliefs that guide how we lead and engage.
Cultural standards
The shared expectations that shape how we work together.
Employee standards
Clear behaviors that show those expectations in practice.
Role competencies
The skills and behaviors that turn standards into everyday work.
Supervision & daily practice
Where standards are coached, reinforced, and carried into practice.
BEYOND THE ROOM
Bring the experience back into the learning.
What happened when you tried it? What did you notice about your own response? What would you try next? Reflection and coaching connect the next learning step to your experience.
We can discuss field coaching alongside training and supervision. The setting, participants, and opportunities for practice depend on the agreed engagement.
SUPPORT IN PRACTICE
Connect the learning to the organization around it.
People’s practice is shaped by what leaders expect, how work is organized, and what supervision reinforces. We help these parts support one another.
01
Leadership support
Make the purpose of the work clear and consider how your own decisions and responses reinforce it.
02
Systems support
Examine whether everyday standards and routines support the practice you are asking people to develop.
03
Supervision support
Use reflection and feedback to connect expectations with a person’s growing ability to make decisions.
04
Frontline support
Practice responding intentionally in the conversations and decisions that are part of your role.
FEEDBACK IN PRACTICE
Invite the person’s thinking before—and after—feedback.
A supervisor can make their perspective useful while leaving room for the worker to interpret it. That also means checking what support or action is needed from the supervisor.
First, ask: “What were you noticing, and what were you hoping your response would do?”
Then, offer: “I noticed we moved to a plan before asking which part mattered most to them. I wonder what we might hear if we explored that first.”
Ask again: “What do you make of that, and how does it affect what you want to do next?”
The final question checks how the feedback was understood and invites a considered next step. Appropriate consultation, clear boundaries, and support remain part of the conversation.
A USEFUL STARTING POINT
Tell us what your team is working through.
A brief description is enough to begin. We can talk through the audience, existing experience, practical constraints, and useful support.