About | Bickford Collaboration | Twin Cities Minnesota

About Barb Bickford

2020 - Barb and Mike - Block Portrait St

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I help people who are frustrated with their meetings. Through my consulting and teaching, I help them have more collaborative, effective and efficient meetings.

Are you creative, practical, enthusiastic, willing to try new things and want to make this world a better, healthier place? I can help you become a more confident leader of meetings people WANT to attend.

I am also happy run meetings (e.g., planning sessions or board retreats) on your behalf so you can fully participate in them.

To learn more about me:
-- Scroll down to read my professional and personal story

-- Sign up for emails
-- Check out my blog
-- Connect with me on Linked In
-- Learn how I approach changing meetings for good

As owner and principal of Bickford Collaboration, here's what I offer:

Acceptance of you, of your group and of things as they are
Knowledge of how to make meetings more effective and engaging
Skill at designing and running meetings, both online and in person
Experience in public health, the environment, government, non-profits, business, facilitation, collaboration and training

Who I am as a professional

There I was, an introverted fact-oriented

Professional Geologist (PG) in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in my cubicle,

happily reviewing groundwater data and technical
plans for landfills.

Suddenly, I got a mid-career assignment

to coordinate Wisconsin's Medical Waste program.

It required me to work closely with people.
How would I do that? What did I know about healthcare -- let alone collaboration?

I set about learning, and I continue to learn

Although shifting gears wasn't easy, I grew to

become well-known statewide and nationally
for collaborating on challenging and emerging issues such as reducing pharmaceutical waste

and managing highly infectious waste.

I observed first-hand how collaborative
leadership (or lack of it) can impact results.
I now focus on guiding people to
transform their resuls and make a greater impact
by transforming their meetings and themselves

Who I am as a person

I've been focused on improving water quality since my first Earth Day.

from preventing groundwater contamination
to recycling and reducing waste
to changing public policies that create waste
to transforming how we meet and supporting leaders to do the same --

-- I'm always moving upstream

I've been moving upstream personally too,

transforming myself by embracing life challenges

such as overcoming low-self esteem, living with persons who have a mental illness,

divorcing, being a single parent, losing a child,

supporting aging parents and starting a business.

I live in a small town near St. Paul, MN,

with my family and a cat who thinks it's human. My husband and I are both Minnesota Water Stewards. We keep busy planting trees, pulling buckthorn and planning our next canoe trip.

And I do what I can to improve the environment as a business, as well.

Read my Green Business scorecard here