Community Learning Team

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UT Learning & Development provides full-service group facilitation tailored to your needs. As group learning specialists who serve as your partner and guide, they can integrate their content with your desired outcomes or help build something new, just for you. Popular topics for events are below. Please be aware that there are costs associated with custom programming and coaching, which will be discussed during the consultation process.

Intake Form

  1. Communication: Communicating across reporting levels and teams, having difficult conversations, giving critical feedback, and using different communication style and formats (e.g., oral, email, virtual, text, etc.)
  2. Effective Teams: Collaboration strategies, change management, communication, and emotional intelligence.
  3. Identifying Professional Strengths: Intentionally seeking out strengths in ourselves and others, understanding their roles among groups, and knowing how best to apply them.
  4. Problem Solving: Critical thinking, decision, making, collaborating, methodologies.
  5. Traits and Tendencies: Personality inventories and assessments, interactive exercises to help people see the usefulness (and humor) in different perspectives and approaches.
  6. Workload Management & Productivity: Tools for maintaining focus, being productive, and minimizing distractions, time management principles, workload organization, and prioritizing strategies.

Coaching

Our Community Learning Team also provides one-on-one career and professional development coaching. Contact us to discuss pricing.

Intake Form

Community Learning Team Bio

Susan Franzen

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Susan is a collaborative, strategic, and visionary leader with a focus individual and organizational improvement. She is Founding Principal of PatternShifts, LLC where she leads teams to design and facilitate coaching and leadership development programs that improve performance, shift culture, and align with organizational strategy.

Her most recent previous roles include Vice President for Strategy and Leadership at AXIOM Learning Solutions, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Organizational Effectiveness at The University of Texas System, and founder and president of LifeU, Inc., a national leadership and organizational development consulting firm with offices in Chicago, Boston and Austin.
Additional roles at UT included Director, Shared Services Innovations, where she led the change management and training efforts for various projects, including a multi-institution enterprise resource planning implementation and multi-institution Transformations in Medical Education (TIME) initiative and Director, Leadership Institute.

Susan holds a Master’s in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Elmhurst College. She is a graduate of Coach University, and is certified in DiSC® Behavioral Theory, Training and Development (Boston University), Evaluation (Kirkpatrick), The Leadership Challenge and LPI Online 360-assessment, Prosci Change Management, the PSIndexTM, and as a Professional Teleclass Leader.  She serves as Vice President of the Friends of Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy Board in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.  In her spare time, she reads books on neuroscience “for fun”.

Dawn Adams

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Dawn Adams, a Principal Consultant with PatternShifts, is an accomplished executive coach, consultant, and learning architect with over 25 years of expertise in enhancing organizational performance and leadership across diverse sectors. Specializing in higher education, healthcare, and corporate leadership, Dawn excels in steering educational institutions and businesses towards exceptional growth and operational effectiveness. Renowned for her strategic acumen in learning facilitation, change management, and talent management, she forges high-performing teams and designs innovative solutions that boost employee engagement and overall effectiveness. 

Dawn holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Texas Wesleyan University and a Master’s degree in Human Resource and Training from Amberton University. She is credentialed as a SHRM-Senior Certified Professional, PMI-Project Management Professional, and holds certifications in Leadership Practices Inventory, DISC, Neuro Linguistic Programming, and Diversity Facilitation through the Quan Yin Center. As founder of The Training Ground and Managing Partner at Growth Spurt Group, she continues to drive forward the missions of numerous educational and corporate entities, ensuring the optimization of their most valuable asset—their people.

Thomas Barnette

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Thomas Barnette, a Senior Consultant with PatternShifts brings over 28 years of experience as a transformational consultant, facilitator, trainer, mentor, keynote speaker and coach. His mission is to enhance the professional and personal lives of individuals by transforming their thoughts and behaviors. Thomas specializes in organizational & cultural change, leadership development, project management, conflict resolution, and communication skills. He is renowned for his unique methods, “The Art of Diplomacy” and “The Art of Influence & Persuasion,” which foster effective collaborations and business success. With a diverse clientele spanning industries like healthcare, banking, retail, federal, state and local governments, and technology, Thomas has significantly improved behaviors related to productivity, empathy, active listening, and more. His coaching clients have included corporate executives, mid-level managers, medical doctors, higher education faculty, staff, and students.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology. Thomas is the founder and CEO of Empaxiom LLC, dedicated to helping individuals and teams deliver their best work and live more fulfilling lives. He holds certifications in Project Management, DiSC Personal Assessment & 360, and is pursuing a certification in Executive Coaching and Mentoring.

Bill Taylor

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Bill Taylor, a Consultant with PatternShifts, LLC, specializes in organizational development consulting, executive coaching, and facilitation. With extensive global experience across diverse industries, he is guided by his personal purpose – “I aspire to serve every person, team and organization I meet to help them unleash their talent, potential, accelerate their journey of personal transformation, deliver excellence, and be fulfilled where they live, work, play and serve.”  

Bill’s career journey includes NFL experience with the “then” San Diego Chargers, followed by C-Suite leadership in Community Banking and the last 20 years leading global consulting and B2B Field Sales organizations.  

A life-long Southern California “beach guy” who loves family, friendships, golf, Aloha Shirts and the opportunity to “walk alongside others to encourage, serve and support in any way possible”.  Bill has a BA in Sociology and Psychology from the University of California at Riverside.

Coleen Walker

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Coleen Walker, a Senior Consultant with PatternShifts, brings over 25 years of workforce development experience and a robust history of nonprofit consulting, she has made significant strides in the retail, entertainment, childcare, and sports industries.

Through her seasoned career, Coleen has guided numerous organizations to refine their management practices, enhance client relationships, and optimize employee retention. Her educational journey and professional achievements equip her to deliver exceptional coaching and developmental strategies, helping organizations and individuals to grow and navigate change effectively.  With a nurturing approach, Coleen is dedicated to unlocking potential and supporting her clients in achieving their goals, ensuring that growth is not just a goal but a reality.

Coleen, based in San Antonio, Texas, is the Principal at Inside Crown, Inc. She holds a Master’s in Leadership and Organizational Change from Regis College and a Bachelor's in Chemistry from Hampton University and certifications as a Professional in Human Resources (SHRM-CP) and DISC Trainer.