You have seen the system. You have done the inner work. You know what you are up against and you know what you bring to it.

Now comes the hardest and most generative part: doing it with other people.

Not the performance of collaboration. Not the meeting that could have been an email, the team that is really just a collection of individuals working in parallel, the dynamic where one person carries the relational labor for everyone else, the conflict that never gets named and therefore never gets resolved. Not that.

The kind of teaming that actually moves difficult work. Where trust is not assumed but deliberately built. Where difference is not tolerated but genuinely used. Where the team becomes more capable than the sum of its parts — not despite the complexity of the humans in it, but because of it.

Build the Team. Move the Work. is a nine-session learning practical grounded in the Extraordinary Teaming framework — developed over two decades of working with teams navigating real complexity across sectors, cultures, and levels of organizational power.

This is not team building. This is team growing.

Why teaming is a particular kind of challenge for women

Women who lead teams carry a specific set of dynamics that most teaming programs simply do not address.

The authority question — how to hold power in a way that is both clear and relational, without defaulting to either command-and-control or the over-accommodation that erodes credibility. The double bind of being expected to create psychological safety for everyone in the room while receiving far less of it yourself. The invisible labor of managing team dynamics, reading the emotional temperature, smoothing conflict — work that is rarely named, never rewarded, and quietly exhausting.

And the particular challenge of building trust across difference in teams where not everyone shares your experience of the system you are all supposedly working to change together.

This practical addresses all of it. Directly.

What you will explore

Teams as living systems A team is not a org chart. It is a web of interdependence — with its own patterns, habits, unspoken agreements, and invisible loyalties. Learning to see your team as a system is the first step toward leading it with genuine skill.

Trust as a practice, not a personality trait Vulnerability-based trust is not about oversharing or performing openness. It is a courageous, deliberate commitment to showing up honestly — and creating the conditions where others can do the same. We will work with what trust actually requires and what consistently undermines it.

Curiosity and listening as leadership superpowers The quality of your attention determines the quality of your relationships. Generative listening — the kind that creates rather than just receives — is one of the most underdeveloped capabilities in organizational life. This practical builds it as a concrete, embodied skill.

Productive conflict Conflict avoided is not conflict resolved. It is conflict deferred, with interest. This practical works directly with the fear of difficult conversations — where it comes from, what it costs, and how to engage with disagreement in ways that deepen rather than damage relationships.

Collective accountability How to hold commitments — your own and others' — not as a form of surveillance but as a genuine expression of care for the work and for each other. The difference between accountability as control and accountability as support.

Psychological safety and the conditions for honest collaboration What it actually takes to create an environment where people bring their real thinking, their genuine concerns, and their full capability — rather than the managed, risk-averse version of themselves that most organizational cultures inadvertently reward.

The somatic dimension of team dynamics Teams have a felt sense. There is something in the room — or on the Zoom — that everyone can feel and almost no one names. Learning to read and work with that collective embodied reality is one of the most powerful and least taught dimensions of team leadership. We will work with it here.

The Extraordinary Teaming framework

This practical is grounded in Extraordinary Teaming — a framework developed by Dorian Baroni and her thought and consulting partner Lilia Abreu-Mawson of Princeton Labs, drawing on the research of Chris Argyris, Peter Senge, Patrick Lencioni, Amy Edmondson, Nancy Glaser, Thomas Kilmann, Otto Scharmer, and two decades of hands-on organizational work.

Extraordinary Teaming identifies six conditions that distinguish teams that do genuinely difficult work well from teams that merely function. These conditions are not personality-dependent or culturally specific. They are learnable. They are practicable. And they are particularly relevant for women leading teams through the kind of complex, contested, high-stakes change that this learning practical is designed to support.

What this practical includes

• 9 weekly live sessions via Zoom

• The Extraordinary Teaming framework — six conditions for teams doing difficult work

• Somatic and embodied practices for reading and working with team dynamics

• The Resilience Layer™ — the foundational capacities that allow teams to stay coherent and generative under pressure

• Peer accountability partnerships

• Application to a real team challenge you are currently navigating

• A resource library including frameworks, reflection tools, and practice guides

• A one-on-one advisory call with one of the guides

Who this is for

Women who lead teams and sense that something in the relational fabric needs attention. Women who are members of teams and want to understand how to contribute to a healthier dynamic without taking on all the labor of creating it. Women who are building new teams and want to do so with intention from the start.

Women who have completed See the System. Change the System. and Change Starts With You and are ready to bring everything they have learned into the crucible of collective work.

Women at any career stage. Across sectors. Across geographies.

This practical can be taken on its own. It is most powerful as the third movement of the arc.

Dates

Winter 2026/2027 | Exact dates to be announced Join the WAOC Newsletter to be the first to know.

Tuition & Access

WAOC programs are designed so that no woman self-selects out before she even begins.

We believe transformational learning should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford full price — and we also believe that the women in this community are resourceful, generous, and honest. So we put the decision in your hands.

Every program is offered at three tuition levels. The difference is what you're able to contribute toward someone else's seat. Choose the level that's true for your current situation. No application. No justification. No guilt.

🔹 $850 — Access Rate For women navigating financial constraint, career transition, or working in the nonprofit or social impact sector. This rate exists because you belong in the room.

🔹 $1,100 — Solidarity Rate For women with steady income who are ready to invest in their own growth. This is the rate that keeps the program sustainable.

🔹 $1,450 — Sustaining Rate For women with financial stability who want to do more than show up — they want to make it possible for someone else to show up too. Choosing this rate directly funds access for another woman.

All three rates include full access to the program, the community, and every resource we offer. What changes is not what you receive — it's what you make possible. We trust you.

Note: If none of these rates works for your situation right now, reach out before you walk away. We may have options. We'd rather find a way than lose you.