About

Laura Benjamin is President, Pinehurst Press Ltd. Communication & Career Strategies, a veteran-owned, woman-owned small business in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Since 1997, Laura has been a reliable resource and trusted adviser to hundreds of private coaching clients, C-suite executives, business owners, boards, HR professionals, community leaders and Executive Directors. Through her customized, creative coaching, interactive seminars, training classes and keynote presentations, she has engaged, entertained and inspired over half a million people on three continents.

Laura is the creator of the CARLA Concept™ Communication Model, a collaborative, problem-solving method that builds personal accountability and self-determination skills. She is the author of the self-published handbook, The CARLA Concept™: How to Raise an Issue, Prove Your Point and Communicate with Confidence and Clarity (2005) and a forthcoming book, Clear Cut Confidence: How to Raise an Issue and Prove Your Point in Five Simple Steps (2011). She was a contributing author to Safety, Health and Asset Protection Management Essentials, edited by Richard W. Lack, 2nd Edition. She writes a monthly business column, three blogs and an electronic newsletter. Her work has been featured on television and radio and her articles published online and in trade magazines.

Laura is a member of the International Association of Facilitators, Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Past-president of the Society for Human Resources Management Colorado Springs Chapter. She is a certified trainer in Situational Leadership®, Leadership Culturelink™, the ConflictLens® and is a skilled facilitator of DiSC® Behavioral Styles profiles. Consulting projects have included board strategic planning sessions, workplace climate and employee engagement projects, customer service and secret shopper initiatives, team interventions and leadership development.

Laura’s professional education includes a BA in Humanities from the University of California, Sacramento, with graduate studies at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. She attended the United States Air Force Leadership and Management Development Center, Tort, Claims and Litigation School at Maxwell AFB AL and the United States Air Force Non-commissioned Officer’s Leadership School at Barksdale AFB LA. She is a graduate of the Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communications and Human Relations and member, Leadership Program of the Rockies, Class of 2010.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, Laura served seven years active duty as a paralegal, where she earned a Marksmanship Medal, USAF Commendation Medal and an Honorable Discharge. As Senior Human Resources and Employee Benefits Specialist for the Rochester Institute of Technology and National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Laura communicated benefit programs for 2500 faculty and staff, including the deaf and hearing-impaired. At Current Inc., she supervised a team of 100+ customer service and sales agents, and led their 400-person Customer Service Center sales program to achieve record-breaking upsell revenue of $970,000 in 18 months.

Laura lives in a historic log cabin near Colorado Springs, she is the mother of three wonderful young adults and is tolerated by two cats. To contact her office, please call 719-266-8088.

SOME OF WHAT PEOPLE SAY…

“Our organization recently required help with two departments to let go of the past, and promote healing of wounds (old and new), allowing the re-establishment of a crucial internal partnership. After carefully considering whether or not we could manage through these team relationships and all the history on our own, we met with Laura Benjamin. With her assistance, I believe the two departments learned a valuable lesson around how to go about making “teamwork” happen.

Laura’s approach with the groups and with our management team was to help one another better understand the critical components of and actions needed across the groups to improve team functioning and performance. She helped the group to voice and then understand the different assumptions each may have had for the other, and those our customers may have of our combined team. Laura also worked with the group to refocus all parties on the mission of our broader enterprise, helping everyone more clearly see how some of the behaviors were not aligned with either the organization’s mission or even our core values. After working with Laura, I believe we have already observed improved morale, and there is a shared perception of optimizing the team’s efficiency and effectiveness.” –Brad Holliday, VP Human Resources, Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs CO

————————————————————

“I wanted to say another big THANK YOU for your incredible job at OLT’s strategic planning weekend. I think you have such a winning combination of wisdom, knowledge, energy and savvy! Your incredible personality made the weekend relaxed yet engaging, and made all the hard work really fun! We all walked away feeling like we had achieved so much and that we have put OLT on a greater course for success!! Thanks again and stay in touch!” Peace & Blessings, Amy Trainer, Executive Director, Orient Land Trust, Valley View Hot Springs, Villa Grove CO (Fall 2009)

————————————————————-

February 19, 2010

It is my pleasure to write a testimonial letter recapping the outstanding consulting project that Laura Benjamin conducted for our organization between late 2009 and early 2010.

In summary, in the autumn of 2009, we conducted our annual employee satisfaction survey. There were numerous statistical findings and employee comments that were quite troubling to our staff leadership team. I think our team did a reasonable job of sorting through 28 pages of comments and determining where we needed to focus our attention to resolve the core issues.

However, we had a number of management staff that felt we were not getting to the true “bottom line” regarding the fundamental issues that were causing an unacceptable level of employee dissatisfaction (e.g. we were addressing symptoms rather than root causes). We decided to engage Laura Benjamin and ask her to conduct a project to identify the most important issues that we should address as an employer (a.k.a. “The big rocks”).

Laura developed and executed a methodology in which she conducted over 25 in-depth interviews with our employees and followed up with two “town hall meetings” which invited open dialogue from our employees. Laura took copious notes in all of those sessions, but more importantly, she told us what it all meant. She skillfully guided us to a commitment to action which I believe will help us be a much better organization going forward.

Laura has exceptional listening skills, is an organizational development genius, knows how to separate noise from substance, is a quick study in understanding the DNA of an organization, and truly knows how to help organizations succeed. Above and beyond that, she has enormous integrity and is one of the most pleasant people with whom I have collaborated in the workplace. She has my heartiest recommendation and vote of confidence. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely, Richard S. Mack, Vice President of Human Resources, Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group, Colorado Springs CO