Customized High Impact Leadership and Strategic Support

EXL is your destination for personal, professional, and organizational health. Whether you’re stepping into leadership for the first time, guiding teams through change, or shaping larger strategy, EXL provides the trusted support you need to lead with confidence, clarity, and impact. We do this by connecting our Land-grant partners with our network of expert partners including leaders from higher education, business, and beyond, who bring real-world experience and proven practices to help you succeed.

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Our Partners

Evidence-Based Methodology: As the managing director of Alto Solutions, LLC, Alison integrates brain science and behavioral insights into organizational change, leadership development, facilitation, and strategic communications to create more harmonious and successful workplaces.
Proven Multi-Sector Expertise: With over 20 years of experience across government, nonprofit, higher-ed, and “Big Four” consulting, she has led high-impact initiatives, including a major Defense technology change plan for 7,000 end users and award-winning corporate mentorship programs.
Academic and Professional Credibility: A Cornell and American University alumna, Alison is a published author and authorized DiSC facilitator who specializes in helping leaders improve engagement by understanding the cognitive connections between their people.

We are a consultancy specializing in leadership development, communication strategies, conflict management, and workforce wellbeing for organizations, universities, and leaders navigating challenges like new roles, team conflicts, and organizational change.
Our team includes experts in leadership communication, conflict management, time management, and employee wellbeing, offering tailored solutions to improve performance and relationships.
We provide coaching, training, and programs in leadership, communication, conflict resolution, and workforce wellbeing, including a dedicated HBCU initiative to enhance students’ professional readiness and leadership skills.

Improving People. Transforming Results.

Your strategy is only as good as your people’s ability to execute it. We help people respond more effectively in the moments that shape performance.
Organizations today have more knowledge, technology, and talent than ever, yet the same problems persist. The reason isn’t strategy; it’s the gap between what people know and what they actually do. We help close that gap.
How? We improve how people respond when work is at risk of stalling or breaking down. Drawing on decades of experience with organizations worldwide, we help leaders and teams speak up respectfully, hold each other accountable, follow through on commitments, and navigate the everyday moments that determine whether work and relationships succeed.

Addressing the “Management on the Side” Trap: Paul identifies a systemic failure where high-performing individual contributors are promoted but continue their old tasks, treating actual people management as a secondary burden rather than their primary responsibility.
Prioritizing Support Over Bureaucracy: He advocates for shifting manager focus away from low-value meetings and overflowing inboxes, arguing that a leader’s true job is to simplify the work environment so their team can succeed.
The “People First” Results Model: Based on his experience leading large-scale technology divisions, Paul contends that when managers are trained to genuinely “love” and invest in their people, organizational results follow naturally.

Evidence-Based Discovery: The process begins with an objective, 360-degree investigation that uses interviews and data analysis across all levels of the organization—and its customers—to uncover root causes and eliminate assumptions.
Collaborative Strategy Formation: By synthesizing external research with internal insights, the firm facilitates a non-linear planning process that builds employee buy-in and aligns creative strategy with practical organizational structure.
Aligned Execution and Support: Beyond providing recommendations, the firm develops comprehensive implementation plans and provides ongoing project management to ensure strategies are effectively executed and adjusted until goals are met.

Action-Oriented Transformation: Grace moves beyond “polished language” and scripts to focus on intense, hands-on work that prioritizes real-world experimentation and clear-eyed intentionality over endless processing or generic best practices.
Human-Centered Leadership Philosophy: Rooted in the belief that “you manage things, but lead people,” her work seeks to reduce the personal and organizational damage caused by poor leadership by fostering self-reflection, honesty, and a healthy dose of humor.
Navigating Complexity: Drawing on decades of experience in high-pressure environments, she helps leaders in technology and mission-driven sectors navigate complex transitions by aligning their habits with their strategic goals rather than acting out of fear.

National Network: Led by the Extension Foundation, it brings together land-grant universities and Cooperative Extension professionals across the United States.
Community Co-Creation & Impact: Focuses on empowering individuals and local communities to co-create sustainable Extension programs designed to deliver greater local impact.
Capacity & Skill Building: Equips teams with specialized skills curricula, training, national events, and technical support models to enhance program development, piloting, and implementation.

Lisa Linfield – Instructional Design

Lisa offers flexible support to design and build engaging, Section 508-compliant learning experiences. From initial course reviews to full LMS development, options adapt to specific instructional needs.

Consultation & Course Reviews: High-level guidance on educational technology, thorough reviews of existing courses, and strategic advice for course redesigns.
Course Planning & Structure: Step-by-step course planning, alignment with educational goals, and strategies for engaging participant activities.
LMS Course Development: Course creation within Campus, the Extension Foundation’s LMS, ranging from design consultations to complete course buildouts with custom modules.
Quality Assurance & Accessibility: Thorough content reviews, refinement based on feedback, and built-in Section 508 accessibility.

Strategic Stakeholder Engagement & Science Communication

Transforming Research into Real-World Impact.

When facts alone aren’t enough, we help you gain public trust. Move beyond the data to foster genuine connection and drive the adoption of your practices.

Clarify Your Value: Define what makes your work unique and communicate it to stakeholders across generations so they immediately see why your mission matters.
Compete for Attention: Master storytelling and persona-driven strategies to ensure your research stands out against influencers, algorithms, and misinformation.
Drive Behavior Change: Use neuroscience and story-based frameworks to move your audience from understanding to trust, and then to action.

High-Level Leadership Coaching: Provides confidential, one-on-one executive coaching for senior leaders in higher education, utilizing ICF-certified practitioners and advanced developmental tools like CliftonStrengths and the Leadership Circle Profile.
Scalable Cohort Programs: Offers both open-enrollment and customized in-house training designed to build institutional leadership capacity, foster a shared organizational language, and develop “coach-as-leader” skills across all levels.
Strategic Consulting & Transitions: Partners with top-tier executives (Presidents, Deans, and Boards) to navigate complex organizational changes, including strategic planning, conflict resolution, and change management.

Comprehensive Grant Lifecycle Support: They provide expert assistance in identifying funding opportunities and developing competitive, compliant proposals, alongside specialized temporary staffing for higher education grants offices (both pre- and post-award).
Operational Optimization & Compliance: The firm specializes in “right-sizing” research enterprises by conducting business process and policy reviews, creating operational handbooks, and ensuring strict adherence to federal regulations (IRB, IACUC, and HR).
Targeted Training & Small Business Advisory: They offer customized professional development through their Funding My Research© program and act as a fractional “Office of Grants & Contracts” for small businesses seeking non-dilutive funding strategies.

What to Expect

Collaborating with EXL ensures a customized, data-driven strategy for addressing your institution’s most critical hurdles. From targeted workshops to multi-year organizational transformations, our work is engineered to deliver quantifiable progress.

Direct Specialist Connectivity: Access a hand-picked circle of professionals who offer practical, field-tested insights, moving beyond simple theory to provide solutions specifically tailored to your academic environment.
Implementation-Focused Frameworks: We emphasize the practical application of behavioral shifts. Gain access to functional, science-based resources that convert abstract leadership principles into concrete routines and verifiable outcomes.
Customizable Collaborative Models: Recognizing that unique needs require unique approaches, we modulate our involvement to align with your schedule, resources, and shifting priorities, from brief interventions to permanent partnerships.
Legacy Institutional Health: Our focus remains on durable success rather than temporary trends. We facilitate the deep rooting of cultural shifts and strategic alignment, ensuring your organization remains robust long after our work is done.

Your mission deserves support customized to your unique challenges.

Results You Can Expect

Self-aware, empowered leaders at all levels
High-performing, collaborative teams
Aligned organizational culture with clear purpose
Streamlined time use, reduced resistance to change
Clear, actionable strategies driving sustainable community impact

Don’t wait!

Schedule a discovery discussion today.

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Our mission is to empower a national network of community-based educators, volunteers, and partners to turn knowledge into real-world solutions for stronger communities and people.

The Extension Foundation is a nonprofit established in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators nationwide. Extension Foundation is embedded in the U.S. Cooperative Extension System and serves on Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP).

This website is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation.

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