About Us

We  equip our clients with the skills necessary to solve complex problems collaboratively. 

The name Iron Connections came from the quote “As Iron Sharpens Iron, so one person sharpens another.” Iron Connections’ goal is to create individuals, communities, and organizations that amplify each other’s greatness. As Iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. 

In one of my prior professional roles, I was the Executive Director at a large and diverse collection of collaborative workspaces. In this role, I had the privilege of moving beyond growing my own community to training community members. It was my role to build the community’s leadership capacity. This experience was transformative in allowing me the opportunity to observe and experiment in growing communities, growing leadership capacity, bringing others together to collaboratively solve problems, and in implementing strategic planning. In only a few years, I saw an abundance of amazing collaborations. I also saw more blow ups and failed collaborations in one week than I previously could have imagined I would see in a lifetime.

Some collaborations produce incredible results. They are not without challenges. However, they are productive. They leave you feeling you did something meaningful and maybe had fun or hopefully made a new friend and supported others in the process.

Other attempts at collaborations suck everything you have out of you. Projects that started out with amazing potential never come to fruition because of relationship issues among key stakeholders. Businesses partnerships blow up during a peak time resulting in catastrophe for all involved. Volunteer projects languish as members spin their wheels and lose community support.

I found myself seeking answers to how to increase positive collaborations. This was not an entirely new topic to me. I have a degree in psychology and focused most of my studies on social psychology and group dynamics. However, this was a play ground of sorts to experiment with how groups worked first hand. With a simple goal of creating more awesome collaborations and fewer time bombs and lethargic time sucking wheel spinning exercises in futility, I began to really study the groups that were able to accomplish great things.

Further, I began to experiment with teaching the skills I observed in successful collaborations to see if I could help groups avoid the spiral of doom. The more I experimented, the more I had people ask me to come in and help their organization and that is how Iron Connections was born.

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Trish Gillam, Iron Connections President and Founder