"Rising Festival Leaders" Strengths-Based Team Coaching | EJ Encalarde

"Rising Festival Leaders"
Strengths-Based Team Coaching

Transform silos into synergy through cross-functional collaboration

Your team is full of talented people. So why does it feel like you're constantly working against each other instead of with each other? Festival and live events teams face impossible timelines, high-stakes decisions, and intense pressure—all while trying to coordinate across departments that speak different languages, have different priorities, and rarely understand what the other side is dealing with.

WHO This Is For

You're leading a festival, live events, or creative industry team where everyone is excellent at their individual jobs—but collaboration feels like pulling teeth. Operations thinks Programming is unrealistic. Marketing doesn't understand Production's constraints. Everyone's working hard, but the friction is exhausting.

You've tried team-building exercises. You've had the "we need to communicate better" conversation. But nothing has actually changed the dynamic.

Your team is struggling with:

  • Departmental silos—each team operates in their own world with minimal understanding of others' challenges
  • Constant friction and miscommunication—what feels like personality conflicts are actually clashing work styles and priorities
  • Inefficient handoffs—projects stall at transition points because teams don't know how to work together effectively
  • Talent walking out the door—high performers leave because the environment is more stressful than the work itself
  • The same conflicts repeating—every festival cycle brings the same breakdowns between the same departments

Here's the truth: The problem isn't your people. It's that they don't understand how each person's strengths show up—and how to leverage those differences instead of fighting against them.

WHY This Workshop Changes Everything

Most team development focuses on surface-level communication skills or generic personality types. This workshop goes deeper.

Using the Gallup CliftonStrengths framework combined with holistic leadership practices designed specifically for high-stakes creative industries, your team will finally understand:

  • Why certain departments naturally clash—and how to turn that tension into productive collaboration
  • What each person actually brings to the table—beyond their job title and department
  • How to communicate across different working styles—so Operations and Creative can finally understand each other
  • Where the gaps are in your collective strengths—and how to fill them strategically

This isn't another workshop where everyone nods along and nothing changes. This is experiential, festival-specific, and designed to create immediate shifts in how your team operates.

The Transformation

In just 3 hours, your team will learn how to use their individual strengths to work as cross-functional collaborators—transforming silos into synergy and friction into flow.

They'll stop trying to change who they are and start leveraging exactly who they are to work better together. This is where understanding meets action, and differences become advantages.

WHAT Your Team Will Achieve

After This Workshop, Your Team Will:

  • Understand each other's strengths at a practical level—not just theory, but how it shows up in daily work and decision-making
  • Break down departmental silos—see why other departments operate the way they do and how to bridge the gaps
  • Communicate more effectively across functions—speak each other's language instead of talking past each other
  • Reduce conflict and miscommunication—recognize when friction is about different strengths, not difficult personalities
  • Create a shared framework for collaboration—practical tools your team will actually use after the workshop ends
  • Build psychological safety and mutual respect—understand that everyone's approach has value, even when it's different from yours

This isn't a lecture. It's a highly interactive, experiential workshop with activities, real festival scenarios, and immediate application. Your team will leave with tools they can use the very next day—and a fundamentally different understanding of how to work together.

This Workshop Is Ideal For:

  • Festival and live events production teams navigating complex, cross-functional projects
  • Creative industry teams in hospitality, advertising, production companies, and entertainment
  • Teams of 8-15 people where collaboration matters more than individual excellence
  • Leaders tired of the same conflicts playing out every festival season
  • Organizations investing in their people and committed to creating healthier, more effective team dynamics

Why This Works: Industry Expertise Meets Proven Framework

I don't teach team dynamics from a corporate training manual. I teach it from 36 years leading teams in the festival and live events industry—as President and Chief Operating Officer of Festival Productions Inc., producing the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Essence Music Festival.

I've navigated every cross-functional challenge your team faces: the Operations vs. Programming battles, the Marketing vs. Production tensions, the Finance vs. Creative conflicts. I've seen what breaks teams apart and what brings them together under impossible pressure.

As a Gallup-certified strengths coach and faculty member at Tulane University's Freeman School of Business, I combine proven frameworks with real-world festival industry application. This workshop is built specifically for teams that operate in high-stakes, fast-paced, creative environments where collaboration isn't optional—it's survival.

The Workshop Experience

Investment: $4,000

Duration: 3 hours | Highly interactive and experiential

Ideal Team Size: 8-15 participants (can accommodate up to 20)

Pre-Workshop Assessment
All participants complete CliftonStrengths assessment before the workshop (assessment codes included)
Custom Workshop Design
Tailored to your team's specific challenges and industry context
Interactive Activities
Festival-specific scenarios, strengths mapping exercises, and cross-functional collaboration simulations
Participant Workbooks
Professionally designed materials with reflection prompts and practical tools
Team Strengths Analysis
Visual mapping of your team's collective strengths, gaps, and collaboration opportunities
Post-Workshop Resources
Digital toolkit with frameworks and conversation starters to sustain the learning

What's Included in Your Investment:

  • Discovery call to understand your team's specific dynamics and challenges
  • Custom workshop design tailored to your industry and context
  • CliftonStrengths assessments for all participants
  • 3-hour facilitated workshop (in-person or virtual)
  • All workshop materials and participant workbooks
  • Team strengths report and analysis
  • Post-workshop implementation resources
  • 30-day email support for questions as your team applies the learning

This workshop is designed for organizations ready to invest in their teams. The $4,000 investment breaks down to approximately $267-$500 per participant—a fraction of what turnover costs when talented people leave because the team environment is unsustainable.

This Isn't For Everyone

This workshop is designed for teams and leaders who:

  • Recognize collaboration is breaking down—and are ready to do something about it beyond surface-level fixes
  • Value their people—and understand that investing in team dynamics is investing in results
  • Are open to a different approach—willing to look at differences as assets, not problems to fix
  • Want practical application—not just theory, but tools they can use immediately
  • Are committed to follow-through—ready to apply what they learn, not just check a box for "team building"

If your team is ready to transform how they work together, let's start the conversation.

Let's Build Your Team's Collaborative Power

Your team's potential isn't missing—it's trapped in silos and misunderstanding.

The question isn't whether your people can collaborate better.
It's when will you give them the framework to finally do it?

SCHEDULE A CLARITY SESSION →

The Discovery Call is a complimentary 30-minute conversation to understand your team's specific challenges and ensure this workshop is the right fit. We'll discuss your team dynamics, goals, and how the workshop can be customized for your context. No pressure, no sales pitch—just an honest conversation about whether this is right for your team.