Innovation and Agile Coaching
Design Thinking •
Agile •
Change Design
About
We believe that organizations need rebels!
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Grounded in Agile and Design Thinking, grow!ngpains is in the business of activating you and your team’s inner rebel in times of rapid change and growth.
Our Agile Certified Practitioners guide you through the adoption of Agile and Design Thinking – as well as provide implementation services to help you navigate rapid growth or new transitions. We co-create Agile processes with clients, tailored to entrepreneurial and organizational needs for non-techies.
Advisory & Training Services
Implementation Services
DESIGN FOR GROWTH
Certified Agile Practitioners coach emerging leaders and/or teams on adopting and adapting Agile that is grounded in empathy and incorporates Design Thinking. We let the environment and team influence our methodologies, and not the other way around. We hold ourselves accountable by minimizing the growing pains, and ensuring that all teams and individuals we work with are self-sufficient as soon as possible. Our goal is not to make the team dependent on us, but provide the right guidance, so they no longer need us. Our unique coaching model is five stages (MELAA): Motivation, Empathy, Learning, Adaption, and Adoption.
TAILORING AGILE
Trying to make your team more nimble? When we force nimble practices on our teams, we are comforted with painful resistance. To alleviate those pains, we use research in behavioral economics and learning practices, to tailor trainings to the learning styles of your team. Our hands-on and rigorous workshops use Agile and Design Thinking to emphasize iterative planning, quick response to constituents, rapid prototyping, and science based practices for nurturing creativity.
AGILE &
DESIGN THINKING COACHING
For Individuals.
DESIGN THINKING &
AGILE CUSTOMIZED TRAINING
For Teams.
MEET LILO
Lilo has extensive experience leading agile and design thinking innovation projects across the nonprofit sector. He has developed innovation processes for notable NGOs, including TSNE MissionWorks, Ceres, and the United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley. Lilo has trained numerous nonprofit professionals in design thinking and agile practices. In 2020, Bridge Innovate awarded Lilo the “Innovation for Good” leadership award. At Northeastern University, Lilo teaches across programs, including Project Management, Business Analysis, Nonprofit Management, and Public Relations. Lilo has also developed a “Project Management and Innovation Leadership” program at Nichols College, where he taught for four years. Lilo has also taught Program and Portfolio Management at Clark University and Business Analysis at Villanova University. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Product Manager (CPM), Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), and Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
As a Syrian immigrant, Lilo is deeply committed to understanding global issues and the role of innovation and nonprofits in advancing or hindering development and progress. He has worked on various research projects at the Boston Human Rights Commission and Inclusive Development Partners. Lilo is currently pursuing a PhD in Global Inclusion and Social Development at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His research areas focus on innovation management practices, gig/platform work, global development programs, and design thinking. Lilo holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Science in Health Care Management from Newbury College, where he was awarded the Presidential Scholarship.
Featured Work
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BA
EXPLORE!
HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN
HABIT: THE FRENEMY OF CHANGE
What People Are Saying!
Christina Brown
Founder & Executive Director
The Free Soil Arts Collective
Lilo is incredible. He coached me to leverage my theater background to become stronger in nonprofit communications and development, helping me envision options I had never considered before.
Training Participant
Summer 2019
It actually works! Design Thinking actually works!
Jeremy B.
Commonwealth Corporation
Lilo challenges non-profit leaders to design for and with their constituents, testing possible innovations against the real needs of the people and communities they serve. Lilo shows that by understanding real needs at a human scale, we can design interventions that make a BIG impact.
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
William Arthur Ward