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Working to shift paradigms from the ground up

Lending a strategic, helping hand to individuals, changeworkers, organisations, and systems change leaders so that they can move their mission forward

Past clients include

  • Logo of the City of Vienna, featuring a shield with a cross.
  • Logo of Stadt Zürich with a graphic of a person riding a bike above the text.
  • ACB Conventionally logo in black and white
  • Logo with a stylized graphic above the text 'Les Verts'.
  • Logo with the text 'HSLU Hochschule Luzern' in white on a black background.
  • Logo for the Idaho Resource Hub in Tirol with black background and white text.
  • Text on black background listing rules for a social media account, including not to spam, buy followers, share fake news, or use copyrighted content.
  • Logo with text that reads 'Dankeschön für deine Unterstützung' and 'öbu' with smaller text underneath.
  • Logo for SDG Allianz Liechtenstein featuring text and a stylized dollar sign.
  • Text reading 'Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Belonging' with a circular logo surrounding the words.
  • SOB Kinderdoorf logo with an illustrated child face icon.
  • Maastricht University logo with black text and a gray icon.
  • WWF logo featuring a stylized panda bear above the lettering 'WWF'.

For organisations

For organisations wanting to fulfil their highest potential

Whether you’re the founder of an organisation or a leader who is part of a wider team, you’ve realised that your organisation isn’t prepared or equipped to handle the level of change that the future brings.

You know your organisation can do better, but you’re faced with thingslike a board of stakeholders who care mostly about staying profit-driven, a fear of change in your team, or a lack of clarity about how to reach your wider vision.

No matter your sector or whether you’re a not-for-profit or profit-driven with a desire to innovate and make a difference - if your intention to contribute to a more just and regenerative future is genuine, I’m happy to help. I can support you in hosting one intensive workshop for your team on systems change strategies, on a consultative basis of several months, or in an individual way, working with you personally as a leader within your organisation.

I’ll put my experience, expertise and network in service of your impact goals so that you can go beyond ‘business as usual’ and rekindle your sense of hope for the future.

Three women standing and speaking during a presentation on a stage with plants in the background.
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Woman participating in a virtual meeting at a wooden dining table with books, a coffee mug, and a laptop.
A woman with curly hair wearing a rust-colored suit holding a newspaper with the headline "Shifting the paradigm" and a sketch of a woman.
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Inspire

Speeches, guest lectures, podcasts, articles

I am no stranger to speaking to wider and diverse audiences through speeches and guest lectures. In fact, I’ve been speaking on stages since 2012! I also share my expertise on panels, as a guest on podcasts and in articles.

Click the button below to find out how I can share my knowledge and stories with your audience.

Learn

Workshops, learning journeys for leadership & staff, trainings

Workshops that are engaging, interactive, and accessible are one of the best ways to deepen the impact of a topic, learning, or theme. If you book me for a speech, I will typically recommend adding at least one workshop to give your audience the opportunity to not just be inspired by a new model or concept but have the space and time to think it through and apply it to their own context.

Below are some of my most sought-after workshops. I can tweak these to fit your needs or go deeper into one of my core topics. Most are 1-4 hours long, and I can host however many you have the time for!

I can also work directly with teams and people within your organisation to design a customised learning space on a specific topic or area of interest, whether that’s through workshops, a training, learning journey or a retreat.

  • “How can it be that despite all of our efforts to address social and environmental challenges, we are not reaching our goals?” Through different systemic tools, we explore why we are stuck, and how we need to change the way we think and act if we want to shift paradigms.

  • An introduction to systems change, gain foundational knowledge to understand what is meant by systems change, and learn key systems thinking models you can apply to your own work.

  • The process of, digitally or on paper, capturing the key elements of the system you’re a part of or seeking to transform – so you can start to see how the systemic issues are maintained in place and where to potentially intervene to create a shift.

  • We’ll apply different tools to identify leverage points in your ecosystem – points where interventions would be particularly strategic – and how to activate them through systems-informed strategies, such as Social Innovation Labs.

  • A systems-informed workshop on finding your purpose in the co-creation of a more just and regenerative future with my unique S.E.E.D. Framework. A favourite amongst universities and schools in particular.

My most popular workshops include:

A woman with short red hair smiling outdoors in front of a historic yellow building, wearing a white blouse with a bow at the collar, a red cardigan, and a colorful skirt with postage stamp and letter designs.

“I can wholeheartedly recommend this workshop. I have already booked it for the second time, as I consider it not only valuable but essential for all employees in administrations who would like to make a difference. You go home inspired, empowered and full of new ideas to implement.”

Stefanie Neuner, City of Vienna

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A woman with long curly hair, wearing a maroon blazer and white shirt, appears to be giving a speech or presentation to an audience in an indoor setting.

Engage

Convening, multi-stakeholder processes, Social Innovation Labs, conference design & moderation

Once an organisation or team has a burning drive for change and applied systems thinking to understand what is theirs to do, the next step in the journey towards acting more systemically is often a larger internal transformation or, if the time is right, convening stakeholders. Indeed, no one can change a system in isolation.

After going through a strategic process (see description below), ‘Engage’ is all about implementation. By this point, you know what you need to change and why, and now is when I’d help you out with internal (e.g. bringing systems thinking into your organisation at scale) or external (e.g. getting stakeholders on board or co-creating a new strategy) implementation and engagement.

What this looks like will depend on what we identify as a priority for your organisation but I’ve helped past clients with:

  • Designing a participatory and engaging conference for their movement – like I did for the Swiss Green Party, öbu, and SDSN Switzerland, advising on everything from the speaker lineup to the workshop topics and flow.

  • Infusing systems thinking into their organisations – which I’ve helped the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and the City of Vienna with, for example, through training and internal conferences, or by running an ecosystem mapping process like I did for a large Swiss foundation.

  • Convening stakeholders around a complex challenge, for instance to engage them in co-creating solutions like I did for the City of Zurich about sustainable construction, or to strategise how to engage a broader audience which we did with the SDG Alliance Liechtenstein.

  • Initiating a Social Innovation Lab, covering the design of the strategy, finding the right angle to convene stakeholders, potentially resolving the funding question, and facilitating the whole process – which I’ve done in the past with the Gender Lab and the Funding Systems Change process.

Black and white photo of a smiling man in a collared shirt.

“Nora helped us design and co-moderate the Forum Ö, a gathering of >200 sustainable development experts from all around Switzerland. She accomplished this in a marvellous fashion, being very authentic on stage, displaying passion and knowledge of the matter. The audience feedback has been outstanding. I hope I will have the pleasure of being able to work with Nora in the future!”

Olmar Albers, CEO of öbu (the Swiss Business Council for Sustainable Development)

Lead

My approach to strategic consulting for longer-term projects

Helping you to make strides towards change, innovate, and become better equipped to be the kind of organisation that doesn’t just make a difference, but leads the way.

While the methods, advice, and strategies will be unique to your individual situation, I typically go through a similar consultative process so that each organisation leaves with what they need, even if they start without knowing what that is.

Decorative floral border with a large red flower in the center, accented by peach-colored leaves and green foliage.

Step 1: Understand where you’re at

Where are you at? I take time to understand your situation and how you look at it. How are you seeing the challenges you’re addressing or facing? Are you equipped and well-positioned to address them and make your unique contribution as an organisation or team? What are your goals and hopes for collaborating together?

Step 2: Fill in the blanks

We’ll identify what is missing for your organisation to be able to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be, so you’ll walk away with a strategic direction. Sometimes, what comes up are low-hanging fruits which are simple and easy for you to act upon, but other times these are more long-term processes or changes.

Step 3: Make a plan and prioritise

Based on your long-term vision and what we mapped in step two, we’ll prioritise both low-hanging fruits and longer-term changes that hold the most potential. We’ll identify key goals to reach within the next three years, alongside a systems-informed strategy for each of those goals. This strategy might evolve as you start to action it, as it is a living document that should be tweaked based on new insights.

Step 4: Implementation and action

You’re in the lead, but there are many ways I can help you implement the strategy we have created in step three, such as: facilitating a workshop for your team or stakeholders, co-organising a conference or summit, or lending your organisation some of my time in a strategic advisory capacity. I will continuously support you and tap into my wide network to help you reach your goals as needed, including mobilising additional facilitators or recommending other experts.

Get the quickest response from me by filling out this contact form, and letting me know what you need!

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“Nora’s facilitation style is akin to a master conductor leading an orchestra. A perfect example of this was the workshop she co-moderated with the city of Zurich, where she skillfully brought together stakeholders from net zero building technologies and initiatives. The result was greater than the sum of its parts, with the workshop culminating in a well-tuned community, resonating with impact.”

Patrick Jiranek, Coach & Consultant, former Project Lead Climate at the City of Zürich

For changeworkers

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For changeworkers who are ready to make the contribution they’re here to bring

I’m putting my hardest learned lessons, my 16 years of experience, my deep network of trusted professionals and social entrepreneurs, and strategies gained through first-hand experience in service of changeworkers and (aspiring) systems change leaders.

I created Parayma to help changeworkers like you to:

  • feel supported and not alone in your experience (positive and negative!) of changework

  • become a part of a community of peers who deeply understand the challenges of this work

  • receive all the tools, guidance, and strategies you’ll need to advance your purpose and make a deeper contribution

A wooden desk with candles, a glass jar holding paintbrushes, a laptop showing a virtual art class, watercolor paints, a glass of green beverage, and a watercolor painting of a landscape with trees and grass.
Vertical arrangement of pink and orange flowers, including a large pink lily at the center, topped with a branch of small orange flowers with green leaves, on a transparent background.

For changeworkers who feel the weight of the world on their shoulders

We all feel the weight of the world on our shoulders from time to time, no matter the part we play, and no matter if you’re someone who does changework full-time, who is a parent, or just generally someone who deeply cares about the world and all its inhabitants.

We’ve been brought up in a society that rewards productive outputs over rest, and when you care so much about the state of the world, it’s difficult to do anything but focus on the pain or throw yourself into your work.

Yet, we need to replenish our own wells to truly be able to support others. If we don’t care for our wellbeing, we won’t be able to continue on our paths without burning out or feeling emotionally drained.

Reconnect to yourself, rekindle your creativity, and regenerate your body & mind through art-based workshops, tools, and practices.