RHD LLC
Rachel Huff-Doria,
Owner & Director
Strengthening leadership, community, and strategy through participatory design and facilitation.
RHD LLC helps communities, non-profit organizations, and civic leaders build on their strengths, get clear on their vision, values, and strategies, and get comfortable with the discomfort of learning and growing in community.As owner and director of RHD LLC, Rachel's work is informed by over a decade of experience leading non-profit organizations, campaigns, coalitions, leadership programming, civic engagement, and community organizing efforts.
About RHD LLC
About Rachel
Prior to founding RHD LLC, Rachel spent over a decade leading work at the intersection of electoral, policy and advocacy, and cultural change.As a former executive director, campaign manager, registered lobbyist, and member of countless boards, committees, and coalitions, Rachel has seen first-hand the pitfalls that can happen when planning and engagement processes fail to account for the complexities of real people.Pitfalls like...
A stalled out plan because your team is moving in different directions.
A watered down plan because compromise was the only vision for success.
A checklist of activities that fails to connect with the desired impact.
A process that leave stakeholders feeling like you were simply checking a box when connecting with them.
That’s why I help non-profit organizations, communities, and leaders...
Build on their strengths
Get clear on their vision, values, and strategies
Get comfortable with the discomfort of learning and growing in community
Who we work with
Planning firms
Government agencies
Cross-sector collaborations
Non-profit organizations
Coalitions
Leaders...who desire to have collaborative, playful, and equitable processes, plans, and partnerships that strengthen community, leadership, and strategy.
How we help
At RHD LLC we provide facilitation, thought partnership, and co-design for collaborative processes with civic and non-profit leaders who are looking to strengthen leadership, community, and strategy while planning for the future.
Rachel uses the tools and mindsets curated from the fields and practice of participatory design, facilitation, non-profit management, and organizing to assist clients in achieving their goals.Applied principles include:
Empathy - based research builds deeper understanding of challenges and desires, resulting in more effective solutions.
Strength - based leadership builds confidence in one’s strengths and a culture of honoring each others’ diverse contributions.
Clarifying roles and expectations gives everyone space to succeed.
Vision and values alignment allows stakeholders to build the big picture together.
Commitment to practice helps groups get comfortable with the discomfort of learning and growing in community.
Facilitation and participatory design Services
non-profit strategy and capacity
Rachel uses the tools of facilitation and participatory design to support non-profit organizations and coalitions in developing strategic vision, alignment, and capacity.This includes:
Mission, vision, and values statement creation and refinement
Strategic plan and priority facilitation and development
Critical conversation facilitation
Strategic visioning facilitation and alternate pathway planning
Organizational development and capacity building
Highlighted Project: Strategic Vision and Framing with American Jobs for America’s Youth - Montana
Leadership, Civics, and communication
Rachel uses the tools of facilitation and participatory design to better understand and strengthen leadership, communication, and civic development skills with individuals and groups.This includes:
Leadership and civic program co-facilitation
Leadership transition and onboarding co-design and facilitation
"Visioning workshops" for teams who need to develop an aligned vision for shared leadership or collaboration
"Reset workshops" for teams who are working through challenges and need to redevelop a vision and ground rules for collaboration
"Leadership advising" for leaders and teams in need of thought partnership to reach a particular goal
Highlighted Project: Facilitation with Montana Nonprofit Association's Catalyst Leadership Development for Nonprofit Professionals
community engagement and collaboration
Rachel uses the tools of facilitation and participatory design to support work with communities on planning efforts.This includes:
Community and stakeholder engagement planning co-design and facilitation
Collaborative community decision-making and leadership co-design and facilitation (ex: advisory and leadership committees)
Highlighted Project: Grassroots Engagement and Community Design for the Missoula Midtown Masterplan
Highlights
on facilitation
"Rachel shows up in a way that invites participation and intention, and is constantly leading from that space. She makes space for everyone to contribute and show up. Her attention to detail, clarity, and thoughtfulness stand out, as well as her ability to adapt and improvise as needed. She is deeply present as a leader."
- Shelby Rogala, Montana Nonprofit Association Professional and Organizational Development Director
on strategic planning
"Rachel's input and guidance was pivotal to our successful strategic planning retreat. She brought a wealth of experience to our preparation and planning phase, and during the retreat itself demonstrated her ability to balance flexibility while still achieving the organization's planning goals."
- Andrew Valainis, former MT Renewable Energy Association Executive Director
on organizational development
"Working with RHD LLC and LAS Visions was an incredibly positive experience. They brought a level of expertise and professionalism that was both reassuring and inspiring. Their thorough and thoughtful approach to the assessment process made us feel confident that we were in good hands. They were not only evaluators but also partners in our journey towards greater organizational effectiveness."
- Dakota Hall, Alliance for Youth Organizing Executive Director
on thought partnership
"Facing a very short timeline, Rachel was able to develop and implement a strategic plan that she was executing on within 48 hours of her arrival. She was hard working, organized, insightful, and excellent at anticipatory problem solving. We grew quickly to rely on her input and recommendations."
_- Frank Garner, Former MT Representative _
Approach
Social Impact Design
“We spend a lot time designing the bridge, but not enough time thinking about the people who are crossing it.” - Dr. Prabhjot Singh
Design thinking is a creative process and approach to solving complex challenges that focuses on:
Empathy (a deep commitment to Understanding human experience)
Idea generation
Developing prototypes (ex: a model or a mock-up)
Testing and evolving solutions
Many people use "design thinking" to create a website or a physical building. At RHD LLC we use the tools and methods from design thinking to facilitate and co-create collaborative engagement processes and projects that support community, leadership, and strategic goals.Rachel is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design & Social Policy Executive Program for Social Innovation Design and holds a B.A. in Communication Studies with an Organizational Communication emphasis from Marshall University.
practice.
practice.
practice.
a goalkeeper approach
During planning processes, we often act as if we can think and write our way to achieving innovative solutions to complex, uncertain and interconnected challenges.In doing so, we often miss a key ingredient to collaborative problem solving - practice.That's why I encourage leaders to approach collaborative planning processes like a goalkeeper.As a goalkeeper, perfection is impossible but consistency and commitment are key when a single save can make or break a 90 minute game.As a former Division I soccer goalkeeper, I trained over and over to catch the ball in the exact same way.The purpose of this practice was to develop “muscle memory,” or to train your mind and body to catch a ball cleanly so during a high-stakes game, your body will instinctively react and catch a much more difficult save in the same way.
building "muscle memory" for collaboration
In parallel, I ask organizations, coalitions, and leaders to go beyond having a strategic plan (ex: an organizational plan, an engagement plan, a transition plan, etc.) and to practice and learn during the planning process.To develop capacity to transform systems, we must go beyond designing a road map to follow - we must do the messy work of creating things together, trying things together, and sometimes failing and re-trying things together.We must practice, practice, practice being in community and collaborating together.Practice is challenging - it creates tension.But with tension comes growth.
- Rachel
Rachel Huff-Doria, Owner / Director
RHD LLC
Contact
Want to learn more about RHD LLC's work, availability or inquire about a project? Send a message and we'll set-up a 15 min call to see if we can help.