Thank you for visiting Trailhead Consultants! Our goal is to support natural resource management through strategic work improvements.
Our site is new, but our goals are not: we want to improve the state of our natural resources. As natural resource management has become more interdisciplinary and has moved toward more engaging public involvement, managers have been searching for solutions (e.g. people, processes, policy, tools, etc) to assist them to keep up with these demands. Natural resource managers seeking to improve their processes face all of the challenges that anyone in any organization do, but also face a unique context:
- Culture: While all people are social by nature, natural resource managers are known for a propensity toward solo-work (a la Herbert Kaufman's The Forest Ranger) and being masters of their domain.
- Public: Natural resources are an inherently public good. In the US, that is codified to require public input in most public natural resource decisions; a requirement not necessarily faced in other arenas.
- Unpredictable Contexts: Budgets are going down, while needed work is increasing. Climate change adds new, unquantified layers of complexity to getting work done. What may seem like a routine project may grab national attention.
Consulting should be approachable, understandable, and results-oriented; its end product should be a solution that has been developed iteratively with stakeholder input throughout. Consultants who understand your context, your mission, and your goals can meet these expectations more easily and with better end results. Our consulting process, "The Path" is tailored to speak to natural resource professionals needs and context.
Trailhead Consultants is experienced in supporting strategies for natural resources law, policy, and regulation; natural resources research; natural resource process improvement; training natural resources professionals; and information technology to support natural resources including database/case management, public web management, application development, and tool adoption.
This blog will serve as a portal for though work design to support natural resource organizations. We intend to update this blog frequently, so please check back!
Again, welcome! We hope to see you on the path!