Gisela Wendling, Ph.D.
CEO and Senior Consultant
Dr. Gisela Wendling is CEO at The Grove Consultants International. She supports leaders, their teams and their organizations to realize visionary futures by befriending the unknown, embracing change as transformational opportunity and supporting others in doing the same.
She is the author of The Liminal Pathways Study and is the originator of the Liminal Pathways Change System. She is also co-author (with David Sibbet) of Visual Consulting: Designing and Leading Change (published September 2018), the fourth book in the Wiley Visual Facilitation Series.
Working with generative and challenging dynamics of change is at the center of Gisela’s practice. In her consulting work, she collaboratively engages people from across the organization or stakeholder groups to tap into their intelligence, vision and capabilities to initiate and realize their desired future.
Gisela pairs a process orientation with systemic perspectives, as well as dialogic and visual approaches. Drawing on this synthesis, she creates unique, highly interactive, content-rich and outcome-focused transformative group experiences. When guiding professional development programs, she engages participants in learning experiences that combine conceptual understanding, practical application and personal growth.
As a leadership and team coach, Gisela works with senior executives wishing to develop their competence as transformational leaders. She supports them in learning to lead change processes more effectively, connect to their own vision, grow their self-awareness and relational skills and increase their capacity to stay centered through turbulent times.
She holds a doctorate from Fielding Graduate University’s School of human and organization development, and an M.A. in organization development and a B.A. in humanistic psychology from Sonoma State University in California. Her approach integrates disciplines from across the social sciences and builds on three decades of practical experience across four continents.
Earlier career experiences include working as an internal consultant for one of the top five consulting firms, time in the high-tech industry as director for learning and development, and as tenure track professor at Sonoma State University, where she also directed its MA Program in organization development. For several years Gisela had the opportunity to facilitate the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply at Ag Innovations to support a statewide dialogue with key stakeholders to envision new solutions.
Born and raised in Germany, Dr. Wendling has lived in Australia and Canada and has spent most of her adult life on the West Coast of the United States. Having traveled widely, she has a particular affinity for the wisdom traditions of indigenous peoples. Gisela lives in Petaluma, California, with her husband David Sibbet. For more information about Gisela’s services and approach, see her website and her blog.