Hilgart is an organizational development and leadership strategy firm that believes engaged, inspired employees build great companies – and successful teams are built by leaders that inspire.
At Hilgart, we listen to, measure, and evaluate companies and their cultures.
We partner with leaders to define their vision and map out their future success. We work with teams to add inspiration and purpose for every individual, every day – and when we do these things, we build stronger companies.
Hilgart will craft a customized plan of services to meet each client’s unique needs.
Teams are stronger when each person understands how their work contributes to the company’s future. We work with leaders to align business strategy and corporate vision, and to help translate those tenets to the everyday activities of employees.
“Hilgart is committed to truly understanding an organization’s culture, it’s strengths & challenges and customizing programs accordingly. Erin never takes a “one size fits all” approach to leadership development. The partnership [Hilgart] has forged with our company has enabled them to design and deliver high quality, engaging programs and essential tools for managers and their teams.”
Director, Human Resources, Fortune 500 Company
“I wanted to offer my heartfelt thanks for facilitating our board retreat last week. We got great feedback on the retreat from our fellow board members. Everyone left the room feeling energized and with a clear sense of purpose for the work ahead. You offered us just the right amount of structure and guidance, and did so in such a lovely low-key manner. I can’t thank you enough for making the day so productive, thought-provoking, and truly enjoyable.”
Board Chairperson, Non-Profit Organization
Nothing is more important to a company’s success than building an engaging and inspiring culture across all dimensions. Using qualitative and quantitative measures, we quickly assess and track company culture, and then design and develop the programs that help a business shape its culture into the desired one, while maintaining the essence of who it is. We help ensure that a company’s values don’t just live on paper but are lived and seen across the behavior of all employees.
“(Hilgart) provided learning and development training, facilitated leadership off sites and developed our culture strategy which has been invaluable given the journey of integrating (two organization’s) cultures. Her innovation and thoughtful guidance has assisted our team in the difficult cultural transition.”
Business Division COO, Fortune 500 Company (post-merger)
“Erin is able to build credibility and engage with even the most challenging people. We have brought Erin in to deliver workshops for us during times of change in our organization. Even when employees have been “trained out” and inundated with other topics, Erin has been able to get people thinking and addressing the issues that matter.”
Vice President, Human Resources, Financial Services
Good leadership starts from within – from understanding the beliefs and passions that drive you, and from discovering where that best fits with your company’s vision. We partner with leaders to find opportunities to align business strategy with real leadership and career objectives, and offer the custom tools and skills that help leaders succeed in inspiring their teams, while using a leadership style that is their own.
“A year ago, I sought out Erin’s coaching because I needed to improve the leadership (survey) scores in my department. A year later, those scores have improved – but that is not all. The results of the coaching are obvious in the improved work environment and interactions across my team. I am a stronger leader than I was 12 months ago, and it shows.”
Department Leader, Fortune 500 Company
“Erin pushed me to think beyond the context of the challenges I was confronting to the more meaningful question of why I was confronting those things, and helped increase my self-awareness of patterns into which I was unintentionally falling. As with any discipline, executive coaching can be challenging as a forced means of confronting your weaknesses. However, Erin adapted her style of engagement to ensure that the sessions were always constructive and continued to progress on my objectives.”
Executive, Financial Services
“I highly recommend Erin as an executive coach and mentor. Through a sustained coaching relationship, Erin shared ideas and experiences that allowed me to consider my approach in a different way. Her ability to understand and challenge me to develop a strategy to reinvent myself and my career has changed my actions and thought processes. I am extremely appreciative of Erin’s coaching and found her to be one of the main contributors to my success in a new role.”
Hector, Compliance Technology Professional, Fortune 500 Company
Soft skills, such as personal and new manager effectiveness, play a vital role in both professional development and reinforcing corporate culture and expectations. We offer the support and tangible training needed so ensure each participant walks away with new skills. We ensure ongoing success by working with a company’s learning and development team to refine or create from a scratch a complete training solution.
“With vast knowledge of the Finance sector, (Hilgart) was able to propose an excellent solution to the many challenges we previously had engaging both graduate mentees and their mentors within the business. Erin was a pleasure to work with, she always connects the dots, sees the big picture and provides realistic and tangible solutions. The feedback was extremely positive on (Hilgart’s) workshops, a big difference to feedback received on previous vendors. This new mentoring program has much greater traction than in previous years and Erin has fully equipped me and my team to continue to monitor the success and implementation of her solutions.”
Michele, Graduate Training Manager, Financial Services (UK)
“Erin designed our award-winning Career Management Program which not only included a career management workshop but also follow-up programs to help employees keep on track through further workshops and express coaching. These programs were delivered across America and received very positive feedback. (Hilgart’s) approach was highly consultative – partnering with colleagues across the business to ensure the program design truly met our needs. Given the success of this initiative, we continued partnering with (Hilgart) on broader areas including employee engagement, culture and generational training.”
Head of Leadership, Learning & Talent, Fortune 500 Company
No matter how effective Hilgart’s solutions are, we know that when all is said and done, it’s a company’s Human Resources team that is accountable for the ongoing success of organizational and people strategies. That’s why we work hard to partner with HR throughout each stage of our work, involving them as internal consultants to the business. Some HR leaders engage us in developing their teams’ internal consulting skills even further. From HR Business Partners to Specialist teams and Learning & Development functions, we offer accreditation, coaching, and even co-design and co-facilitate workshops. This positions HR to own and drive strategies and initiatives long after Hilgart has completed a project.
“Hilgart has become my Consultancy benchmark – Erin has set the bar high.
Erin is probably the best consultant I have had the pleasure of working with. She manages to understand the organisation so well that she feels like part of the HR team, yet manages to keep the value-add of a consultant – bringing independence, appropriate challenge and expertise. She is able to grasp where you are coming from and works with you to ensure that the end result is suitable and value-add. Erin and I have worked closely on a number of projects; I still talk about them to colleagues, and reference the quality of the material produced and the rave reviews they received.
In one project, Erin created a USA-wide workshop series, designed for our HR team to deliver to internal clients. Erin worked with the HR team to ensure they were comfortable and able to train using the materials to all levels of employees, from Directors through to those starting out in their careers. During the train-the-trainer process, she was naturally engaging, amicable and patient when members of the HR team were out of their comfort zone. This made it a safe environment to learn – which is key to me as an HR professional.”
VP, Human Resources, Fortune 500 Company
Ancillary to our other offerings, we work with clients to ensure the ongoing success of a project by providing a range of complimentary services. Whether partnering with a company’s internal experts, or using the expertise of our Hilgart team and affiliates, we work with clients to maximize their opportunities to tell and demonstrate consistent, compelling messages.
Employees want to feel heard, and to hear from their leaders, especially at times of change. In conjunction with our other service offerings, we create an approach for clients that builds the right messaging into everyday company and leader communications. By consistently hearing an aligned message, employees keep their belief in the company strong.
“Hilgart worked closely with us to provide an internal communications strategy that integrated all components of our overall career services strategy, and helped us reach diverse stakeholders within the organization. What made it stand out from other communication strategies is that it took advantage of the multiple channels available to share key messages – from articles in our internal news to leaders’ speaking points – giving employees and managers numerous opportunities to learn about the intended message and incorporate it into their behavior. The communications strategy opened the possibility for real change in our culture, which would not have been possible if we relied on training and toolkits alone, and continues to positively impact the success of the initiative today.”
Head of Career Center, Fortune 500 Company
Motivating people to perform is every leader’s responsibility. That job is made easier when corporate processes, like evaluations and incentives, are aligned with business strategy and vision. We assist clients in designing performance goals, measures, and rewards in ways that support individual employees, motivate teams and align with a company’s strategy and vision.
Drawing on years of experience working with dynamic organizations around the world, our team of accredited organizational development professionals will craft a customized plan of services to meet each client’s unique needs.
As an expert change consultant, certified executive coach, and thought-provoking facilitator with twenty years of experience in over twenty countries, Erin brings a holistic approach to helping great leaders build great companies. From working with leaders to envision the future of their organizations, to coaching them to have the skills needed to embark on that visionary path, to assessing the reality of an organization’s current culture and developing the training and policies that will better engage employees, Erin considers the full scope of a company and its people. She and her team forge true partnerships with clients and develop leaders to be the drivers of change, rather than doing the change for them.
Erin holds a BA from Alverno, an MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and a doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership, also from Columbia University.
With vast experience managing projects small and large, across global platforms, Jo knows how to help companies get to success efficiently and effectively. By focusing on processes that really work, Jo is a true optimization expert. Jo has deep expertise in aligning performance and recognition processes to company priorities, and is known for getting the best outcomes for both individuals and the organization, though her knowledge goes far beyond HR. Jo has supported businesses through periods of major change and has helped with the transfer of knowledge to new locations and structures. After spending years in the corporate world, especially with financial institutions, Jo has the relevant experience to understand how to design and bring to life scalable, holistic, and strategically-aligned corporate projects.
Drawing on over fifteen years of experience as a media and public relations expert and corporate marketing strategist, Rob takes a uniquely external-in approach to strategy and writing. Rob deeply understands the connection between a company’s external, brand view and its internal culture and ensures alignment between the two. Whether writing HR policies, crisis and contingency communications plans, program launches, website copy, newsletters or Learning & Development training materials, Rob considers both the individual and the company, and how words can best connect to both.
Rob holds a BA in English from State University of New York at Albany.
With a truly unique professional journey from a career as an attorney to operating in finance and retail, Denise approaches every project and conversation with a wealth of experience and inspiring insights. Her captivating story enables her to deeply connect with leaders and employees in an authentic way, and to deliver a broad perspective on organizational strategy. Her ability to engage employees is evidenced by her frequent role as a mentor, whether to a corporate staff member who needs motivation, a creative practitioner who needs business acumen, or an executive who needs polish. Denise’s work includes designing performance systems, codifying company policies, and delivering training, as well as contributing to business publications with articles that showcase success stories of leaders and their businesses.
Denise holds an LLb (Hons) in English and European Laws from University of Essex.
Living all over the world as a workshop facilitator and trainer, Thomas has the rare ability to relate to all types of people across levels and industries of business. Thomas offers a welcome change from the static style of many trainers. This ability to immediately build credibility with audiences and then engage them supports him whether delivering global or company-focused information. Especially expert in helping people adapt, manage, and excel in various environments, Thomas applies his past work across many cultures and countries. In addition, his engaging train-the-trainer programs equip internal trainers to conduct training in-house. Across different audiences and geographies, Thomas designs and implements training programs that are meaningful, memorable, and effective in reaching individual and company goals.
Thomas holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia.
Sample Client List Available Upon Request.
Get to know us better as we share insights, anecdotes, and success stories. Hilgart Journal features our candid thoughts and polished best practices pulled from years of work across industries and project types.
On December 8th, Dr. Erin Hilgart will lead an interactive webinar session, “Rethinking Organizational Change Management in 2020” hosted by Teachers College, Columbia University. Hilgart’s research is focused on ‘HOW’ change happens; specifically, how professionals successfully upskill and shift for changing expectations. This topic quickly became ever-so-central in 2020, as
Dr. Erin Hilgart discusses how your pandemic experience can give insight into your leadership through reflection and understanding of your purpose, to inspire future action.
In 2020, how we engage and develop employees is changing fast. For the past six months, fueled by the pandemic, many employees have transitioned to working online and using advanced technology in scenarios from strategy sessions to team engagement meetings to leadership programs. The pace of change often consumes us
