Nedra Chandler

Executive and Team Coach , Consulting, Higher Ed, Government

Salt Lake City, United States

I guide people to their own power, wisdom and possibility. I design processes for teams or coalitions of the unalike. I work to facilitate purposeful, designed-to-fit co-learning experiences. Participants might be anyone with a stake in how things turn out -- people working to shape the best possible outcomes.

Contact Nedra Chandler
Area of Expertise:
  • Capacity Building, Training, Advocacy
  • Government, Governance, Reforms
  • Social, Education, Gender, Youth, Child
Professional Experience:

I have guided over 320 groups, including government and private sector organizations, to identify their most important needs, generate options, manage conflict, negotiate, reach agreements and set action plans to achieve higher function.

I have served consistently over the last 33 years as an impartial facilitator and coach in state government and for private sector firms, and on key governmental rosters of specialized intervenors to enable participants in all kinds of conflict to create the best possible outcomes.

I was lucky to be mentored as an impartial third-party mediator by Alice Shorett who is recognized as a key ‘pioneer’ in the field of public conflict resolution since its notable beginning in the US in 1979 (when a group of practitioners including Alice, along with Gerald McCormick and Jane McCarthy decided to “try using labor negotiation” strategies for an environmental conflict over Snohomish River flood control in Washington).

My capacity in this field now hinges on my courage and ease about the work, my commitment to either a coach code of ethics or third-party code of ethics, and lots of practice directly supporting the best possible paths of more skillfulness with conflict and opportunities of all kinds. I see the theory and practice of conflict skills as central to adult development, as are communities of practice.

Overall, my experience in this field has made me willing and able to take deliberate risks on behalf of the processes and outcomes participants and communities need, all the while growing my own awareness, choices, and practices as a reflective practitioner.

It may sound too simple, but the longer I’ve been guiding some pieces and parts of stuck or particularly conflictual governmental team conflict and other public conflict (e.g., In the U.S. these include Endangered Species Act implementation, Clean Water and Clean Air Act conflicts, nuclear waste management and Superfund cleanup agreements, National Park conflicts, Tribal-Federal-State conflicts and so on) the more I believe the “ground” is all of us learning and practicing self-regulation and conflict skills -- re-wiring our neurons and our habitual responses and choices by pausing, breathing, choosing what we say, what we do, and how we deliberately respond.

People need to discover together how they can best move a situation forward toward the best possible outcomes.

Education:

My Master's Degree is in Geography, is from the University of Washington. My thesis was "The Search for Community Vision between Collective Lying and Learning" – I researched theory and practice using 3 case studies of collaboration on public decisions at the community, state level, and regional geographic scales.
1. Additional degree: political science undergraduate degree, Montana State University-Bozeman
2. Certificates/formal professional development:
Multiple professional certificates in mediation skills – the most thorough one through the University of Washington School of Law in 1996. Additional specialized courses in mediation skills, conflict partnership and public consensus building such as:
•International Coach Federation credentialed coach for leaders and teams through the Presence-Based Coaching program led by Doug Silsbee. I maintain my International Coach Federation coach credential every 3 years and am a mentor coach to other coaches.
•Immersion courses in Liberating Microstructures: Seattle and Bozeman and in June 2024 I am registered for advanced course in Amsterdam.
•Investment in Excellence, Pacific Institute’s flagship curricula on change processes
•Institute for Cultural Affairs (ICA) facilitation and strategic planning facilitation courses – Seattle and Minneapolis
•Advanced Facilitation Training, Western Network – Santa Fe
•Graphic Facilitation Training, David Sibbet/The Grove – San Francisco
•International Association for Public Participation Certificates in 3 areas: Planning for Effective Public Participation, Effective Communication for Public Participation, & Techniques for Public Participation
•3-day quarterly trainings over a period of one year with Consensus Associates (Bob Chadwick)
•The Mediation Process (40-hour CDR course) – Boulder
•Conflict Partnership Catalyst Certificate (40 hours with Dudley Weeks)
•Ford Foundation-funded fellow with the Native Network – a group of Native and non-Native conflict professionals who met in Indian Country 4 times a year for 3 days each time to co-learn together (sponsored by the Udall Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution)
•Management training, State of Montana Professional Development Center

Affiliations and Achievements:

• University Network of Collaborative Governance (UNCG)
• Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)
• International Coach Federation (ICF) ACC Coach Credential
• National Roster of Conflict Resolution Professionals & Native Network
• National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation

Available for:

  • Consulting assignments
  • Job opportunities
  • Being headhunted – make me an offer

Years of Experience:

More than 20 years

Highest Qualification:

Masters

Languages:

English, Spanish (minimal)

Nationality:

United States