Rhonda’s Story

I haven’t always been a force to be reckoned with. For years, my life wasn’t just chaotic, it was a full-scale survival mission.

But here’s the thing you need to know about me. I go and do. Not in a reckless, ‘don’t think things through’ kind of way. In the ‘I get stuff done others say is impossible’ kind of way.

Every skill I teach, whether communication, leadership, goal setting, or employee development, was forged in real-life experiences.

I once worked with a company that had big ideas but zero traction. They’d been setting the same vague goals for years, wondering why nothing ever changed.

I knew we needed a goal setting framework that forced alignment from corporate objectives all the way down to the daily tasks.

So, I created one where every goal was connected to the bigger mission. Every team understood exactly how their work mattered. Every decision was guided by measurable progress.

Finally, momentum, clarity, and actual progress.

Now, that same framework - The Aim Alignment Framework™ - helps organizations stop spinning their wheels and actually move forward.

I have always known communication was important, but it was during a performance review where I realized most people don’t actually understand communication, they just react to whatever feels good to them.

During that performance review, the only feedback I received was “You should use more emojis.”

That was it. No mention of my leadership, my results, my efficiency. Just a request for more winky faces and thumb-up icons.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am open to feedback, but I refuse to believe the secret to effective communication is a well-placed GIF.

I realized that different people interpret the same communication differently and upon deeper inspection, I found this was often due to personality differences. So, I began looking into personality types, but this is where most personality type programs fall flat. They teach you about YOUR personality type, but what good is that if you don’t know how to communicate with others?

I realized that real communication skills aren’t just about self-awareness, they’re about adaptability.

So, I created a system called The Bird Mapping Framework™ that teaches people how to quickly read and adapt to different communication styles in real time. Not after taking a quiz. Not after months of training. But instantly.

Because what’s the point of knowing yourself if you can’t connect with anyone else?

At one transition in my career, I inherited a team that, to put it bluntly, had no idea what they were doing. I’m not talking about a little confusion or a few skill gaps. I mean absolute chaos. No job expectations – other than to show up and be nice. No metrics – they knew they were behind but had no idea how far behind they were. And no motivation – because why bother when there was no accountability.

The training process was a three-day job shadow, but not even within their own department. Just random exposure to things they would never use.  It was the corporate equivalent of throwing someone into a kitchen and saying, “If you watch the chef long enough, maybe you’ll figure out how to be a doctor.”

The worst part was the other managers wanted to keep it that way. They fought change at every turn because the dysfunction kept the expectations low.

So, I built something better - a high-performance employee development program with clear metrics, structured growth plans, and a system that made people want to excel.

To the shock (and horror) of the other team managers, a team that had been floundering became a powerhouse. In less than 4 months, our processing time dropped from 48 weeks to less than 30 days. Suddenly, we weren’t just functional, we were outperforming every other department.

Since then, my Empowered Employee Growth Framework™ has helped numerous organizations turn disengaged employees into high-performing assets.

I have worked with organizations where I have watched highly skilled teams crumble under poor leadership. I saw talented people walk out the door because no one knew how to manage conflict. Their bosses couldn’t handle conflict, leaders micromanaged their way into irrelevance, companies stalled because of ego-driven decision-making, and executives thought mentorship meant controlling and belittling.

I know this because I lived it. I was accused of lacking emotional intelligence by someone who had none, though I didn’t realize it at the time.

That’s when I began researching what true emotional intelligence looked like, not to defend myself, but because I had been told I didn’t have any and I knew I needed it.

What I discovered was shocking.

Many leaders think emotional intelligence is stifling emotions and avoiding conflict at all costs, when it’s actually the opposite.

Leaders who lack emotional intelligence actually believe they have high emotional intelligence, because they lack self-awareness, which is a key trait of emotional intelligence. Ironically, they believe those who have emotional intelligence are the ones lacking it.

It’s a vicious cycle. Low-EI leaders create low-trust environments. Low-trust environments cause talented people to leave. And when those talented people leave, those same leaders say, ‘They just weren’t the right fit,’ instead of asking themselves why the best people keep walking out the door.

The worst part is that most of these leaders never realize they’re the problem. Their teams suffer. Their companies bleed money. And they keep wondering why people quit.

That’s why I created Intellevate™ to help leaders and teams regulate reactions, build awareness, and model cultures so they can lead with intention and stop being the reason their best people quit.

I haven’t just read about these problems; I have lived them.

• I have had to rebuild broken teams from scratch.

• I have had to figure out how to communicate across personality types.

• I have had to undo the damage of bad leadership.

• I have had to step in where systems didn’t exist and create solutions that actually work.

So, when I teach communication, leadership, goal setting, and employee development, it’s not theory. Its battle tested reality forged in real-life experiences.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Chances are, that’s what your organization has been doing.

Stop the insanity - whether its miscommunication, bad leadership, disengaged teams or goals that never turn into action. Let’s fix it. Right now.

Book a call with me today and let’s build a plan that actually works.