Claros Group: Sharon Keating

SHARON KEATING

Sharon sets the bar high on integrity as she partners with organizational leaders, business owners, and project work groups. For over 25 years, she has provided organizational change consultation, meeting facilitation, leadership coaching and training services to a wide range of organizations and communities throughout the United States. Sharon has orchestrated complex system change efforts, designed leadership development programs, led work teams, helped professionals enhance their leadership and interpersonal skills, provided guidance to executives, and designed productive meetings critical to business success. She is recognized for her expertise in facilitating large groups of 50 to 400.

Clients value Sharon's insight, thoughtful counsel, and uncanny ability to ask the right question at the right time, prompting insight and mobilizing action. Her pragmatic, flexible approach, coupled with an ability to quickly understand client issues, encourages clients to develop simple, elegant, strategies to address specific challenges. She speaks the truth with clarity and compassion that engenders trust in all those she works with.

In addition to her professional experience, Sharon has a long and rich history of community service. She has been a board member of several Sonoma County non profit organizations and was a volunteer Ropes Course leader and trainer for over 5 years.

Sharon was the internal organizational development consultant for Kaiser Permanente, Santa Rosa for eight years and has had her own consulting practice since 1996. Sharon holds a Bachelors degree in Counseling from the University of California at Davis and a Masters degree in Organization Development from Sonoma State University. She is a Certified Master Practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP).

"Working with Sharon has had a transformative effect on our law firm. Over the last five years the partners have improved our communication with each other, staff problems are dealt with more effectively and we no longer spin our wheels rehashing problems. She believes in us, we believe in her and we trust her completely."

MaryClare Lawrence
Managing Partner
Conner, Lawrence, Rodney & Gurney, Attorneys at Law

"Working with Sharon has given me incredible leverage as our company continues to expand at over 100% per year. During the last three years, she helped me identify priorities, set goals, stay focused on the things that mattered most to me and assess results. As I assumed an executive leadership position, Sharon helped me transition from focusing on my individual priorites to the effectiveness and health of my leadership team."

Derek Newell
Senior Vice President, Client Relationships
LifeMasters Supported SelfCare

"Sharon is an insightful and gifted leadership coach who has helped me resolve conflicts, stay focused on my philosophical priorities in my personal and work life, and enhance my leadership skills. This has been the best professional investment I have ever made."

Wendy Kohatsu, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Oregon Health and Science University

MORE COMMENTS

"When I was selected to be the leader of a highly educated, intelligent, and yet disparate group of medical professionals, I was often uncertain of how to drive change. While working with Sharon I have gained a broad range of skills that have helped me become a much more effective leader. In a short period of time, my group has met many challenges with great success, my confidence and efficiency have grown considerably, and I have gained a number of personal insights. I have also had a good time along the way."

Joshua B. Weil, M.D.
Chief of Emergency Medicine
Kaiser Hospital, Santa Rosa

"Sharon has been a valued colleague and "thought partner". She has helped me strategize for large scale, politically charged meetings that resulted in successful outcomes. She asks thought-provoking questions that help identify "what if" scenarios and develop strategies for potential problems. I thoroughly enjoy working with her."

Stefani Komaru, Principle
s2i Consulting

"While working with Sharon as a consultant & facilitator for a complex, county-wide collaborative change effort, she quickly built trust and confidence and moved the group through a difficult process with respect for all participants. Her organizational skills are exceptional, she provides focus to the process and her insights and clarity support success in the most difficult of group processes. I am truly a fan of her work."

Lorene Irizary, former Director
Sonoma County Human Services Commission

"A round of applause goes out to you for meeting the EXACT expectations that we had individually and collectively for the training you delivered to our association of attorneys, financial planners and mental health professionals. Your expertise and experience is impressive and your enthusiasm is contagious. Thank you for modeling what you taught us!!"

Pam Moultin
Licensed Educational Psychologist
Collaborative Council of the Redwood Empire

"I have been fortunate to work with Sharon over the last few years with both newly forming groups and with existing groups facing difficult decisions or developmental challenges. In every case, Sharon has provided valuable expertise in planning and facilitating meetings which empower group members, support consensus and deliver tangible outcomes. Sharon uses her extensive background and experience in group dynamics and communications to create productive conversations and effective group processes. She's fair, skilled, creative, energetic, and resourceful - all the qualities you need to inspire trust among group members and generate results."

Barbara Graves, Director
Prevention and Planning Division
Sonoma County Department of Health Services

"Sharon workshop helped me see aspects of communication that I can improve in my professional role and as a business owner. Her presentation was informative, entertaining, and pertinent to our current work environment. In addition, she was able to create enthusiasm and a positive attitude about change in my staff. Sharon has a wealth of expertise in all aspects of group and personal communications and plan to use Sharon as a resource and counsel to help us in the future."

Jack Long, Veterinarian
Forestville Veterinary Hospital

"Sharon Keating provided effective guidance and key insights to assist me in developing outcomes for a series of 12 meetings with over 300 participants. Her guidance allowed what could have deteriorated into a dog fight to be focused meetings with clear outcomes. With Sharon's help, I was able to develop effective agendas that led the participants to the outcomes we desired. It was a pleasure to work with Sharon - her enthusiasm was contagious, her advice, often difficult to hear, was on point and very effective. She provided her own insights as well as many written materials that were extremely helpful."

Bobbie Wunsch, Principal
Pacific Health Consulting Group